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| Coordinates | 43°7′8″N5°56′12″E / 43.11889°N 5.93667°E /43.11889; 5.93667 |
|---|---|
| Public transit |  Toulon |
| Owner | City ofToulon |
| Capacity | 17,500 |
| Surface | grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1919 |
| Opened | 1920[1] |
| Renovated | 1947, 1965 |
| Expanded | 1983 |
| Tenants | |
| RC Toulonnais | |
TheStade Mayol is amulti-purpose stadium inToulon,France. It is currently used mostly forrugby union matches and is the home stadium ofRC Toulonnais. The stadium is able to hold 17,500 people.It is one of the few French stadiums to be embedded in the city and surrounded by high buildings. It was built at the foot of the Mont Faron, the hill on which Toulon is partly built, and overlooks the Toulon military harbour (La Rade) on the Mediterranean.
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It is named afterFélix Mayol, a very popular concert hall singer from Toulon who had succeeded inParis in the early 20th century. A true-blue city boy, he offered to buy a piece of land for the club on which the stadium would be built. And so he did. He gave his personal money and gave up the rights on some of his songs to raise the rest. The least that could be done was to give the place the name of its generous patron.
It was inaugurated on March 28, 1920 by the mayor of Toulon and Félix Mayol himself. A cross-country race was organised, as well as a soccer match between Stade Raphaëlois fromSaint-Raphaël and the RC Toulon football team (4-0) and a rugby match between RCT and TOEC from Toulouse (3-3).
All Blacks andWallaby tourists played matches there against regional South-East selections.
The atmosphere is famous for a specific chant calledPilou pilou, created at the end of the 1940s by a club player, Marcel Bodrero, which describes the Toulon players as terrible primitive warriors coming down from the mountain towards the sea (exactly what Toulon's topography is). A cheerleader leads the chants and asks fans to answer and repeat the words. It generally comes up when players get on the pitch, then early in the game and also when the team's forwards, the club's historicalforte, start to dominate. The chant may also occasionally be heard after the game. The club presidentMourad Boudjellal famously led thePilou pilou after a Toulon home victory overRacing Métro in2008 that secured Toulon's promotion to the Top 14.
| French | English translation |
|---|---|
| Ah ! Nous les terribles guerriers du Pilou-Pilou Qui descendons de la Montagne vers la Mer | Ah! We are the ruthless Pilou-Pilou warriors |