It's like an old chorus that has been looping for over a hundred years.
Since its first day of existence in 1906, the students of the Paris Université Club (PUC) have never had an easy destiny.
All they were able to get was thanks to the determination of a community that is both Parisian and provincial, intellectual and popular.
An alchemy that makes it a club apart.
The PUC has built up one of the best prizes with Olympic medalists and champions in spades.
Who else can count in its ranks stars (Colette Besson, Marie-José Perec), legendary trainers (Daniel Herrero), but also writers (Albert Camus, Antoine Blondin) or famous students (the aviator Roland Garros , who started his career in the… cycling section)?
"I was athletic but I had friends in rugby, summarizes Claude-Louis Gallien (78), president of the club from 1983 to 1996. At the PUC, we played sports and not a specific sport.
"
A need for unity
Its creation responds to a need for unity.
Many student associations exist, created according to the regions of origin but also by subjects taught.
At the same time, students are made redundant in traditional clubs such as Racing or Stade Français.
When the latter increased their contributions in 1905, a solution had to be found.
Two men manage to unite the different student trends: Edouard Villain, former Racing member, and Louis Lebel, a Norman student.
The PUC was born on May 1, 1906 at the Voltaire café in the Latin Quarter.
A birth of course, but without facilities.
The Pucistes first took up their quarters in Vincennes, in Saint-Gratien in the park of the castle of Princess Mathilde, in Antony à la Croix de Berny.
The PUC finally found “its” stadium in 1922, thanks to Jean Petitjean (president from 1920 to 1925), when the sports park was created at Porte Dorée.
The boss of the PUC also invented the first University Games held there in 1923.
But in 1929, the City of Paris wanted to build a museum there for the Colonial Exhibition of 1931. The Pucistes migrated to the Pershing stadium in Vincennes until 1937 on a fortified area in the 13th arrondissement next to the university city.
"Our values are sharing and abnegation"
The future headquarters of the PUC is not yet acquired.
A rector of the Paris Academy plays an important role in ensuring that the City of Paris keeps its commitments.
His name: Sébastien Charléty.
Touched by his investment, the team of Paul Chailley-Bert (president from 1926 to 1939 then from 1949 to 1966) asked him if he could give his name to the future stadium.
Charléty replies: “People will wonder who this Charléty was.
They will say it was a boxer or a cyclist… ”
Here, the PUC takes on another dimension as the stadium grows with the extension to Gentilly.
Decades go by and the stadium gets old.
In 1989, a new one was built.
“For six years, we had to go into exile all over the place,” says Michel Samper (president from 1999 to 2019).
This is also the strength of the PUC.
Do you know a lot of clubs that would have survived this breakup?
The hand, for example, evolves on 13 different sites.
For this to hold, you need a particular state of mind.
Our values are sharing, abnegation, without having sporting or financial goals to achieve.
"
The threat of Paris FC
Back in its stadium in 1995, the PUC saw a new threat pointed out with the emergence of Paris FC.
Since 2007, the current resident of Ligue 2 has moved to Charléty.
"We have seen the statements of Pierre Ferracci, its president, who wants to do work there for the L1," explains Samper.
It went well with the rugby players of the Stade Français (between 2010 and 2013).
We hope for the same with the PFC.
"
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“The Charléty stadium is above all an athletics stadium,” explains Claude-Louis Gallien.
More oval than a football stadium.
It is also the only one in France.
It is important to keep the athletics track for our practitioners.
»Another twist in the life of a 114-year-old club which has always been able to overcome obstacles ...
Paris University Club
Foundation:
May 1, 1906.
Chairman:
Guillaume Truttmann.
Sections:
30 (including two independent rugby and volleyball).
Licensees:
9,071.
Headquarters:
17, avenue Pierre-de-Coubertin in Paris XIIIe.
Facilities:
Sébastien-Charléty stadium + around fifty sports facilities (gymnasiums, large playgrounds, swimming pools, etc.) in the City of Paris or in the Private Park (Cité universitaire de Paris, Crous Jean Sarrailh).
Awards:
12 Olympic titles (the first in 1908 with swordsman Emile Olivier, the last in 2004 with foil player Brice Guyart), 8 in silver and 4 in bronze, i.e. 24 medals at the Olympic Games.
168 titles of French champions: baseball (22 titles from 1955 to 2000), cricket (10 titles from 1993 to 2013), basketball (2 titles, 1947, 1963), women's basketball (7 titles from 1954 to 1965), handball (5 titles from 1942 to 1974), women's handball (7 titles from 1942 to 1981), volleyball (9 titles from 1941 to 1998), women's volleyball (5 titles from 1945 to 1978).
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