Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques

Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA) is a former French sports governing body. During the 1890s and early 1900s it organised numerous sports including athletics, cycling, field hockey

Field hockey

Field Hockey, or Hockey, is a team sport in which a team of players attempts to score goals by hitting, pushing or flicking a ball into an opposing team's goal using sticks...

, fencing

Fencing

Fencing, which is also known as modern fencing to distinguish it from historical fencing, is a family of combat sports using bladed weapons.Fencing is one of four sports which have been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games...

, croquet

Croquet

Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...

and swimming. However it is perhaps best known for being the principal governing body of both football

Football in France

Football is the most popular sport in France. The Fédération Française de Football is the national governing bodyand is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the game of association football in the country, both professional and amateur...

and rugby union in France

Rugby union in France

Rugby union is the second most popular team sport in France, after association football, and is the dominant sport in most of the southern half of the country. It was first introduced in the early 1870s by British residents. Elite French clubs participate in the professional domestic club league,...

until it was effectively replaced by the French Football Federation

French Football Federation

The French Football Federation is the governing body of association football in France, as well as the overseas departments and territories . It was formed in 1919 and is based in the capital Paris...

and the French Rugby Federation. The USFSA rejected any form of professionalism

Professional sports

Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athleticism has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations...

and were strong advocates of amateur sport.

As well as contributing to the growth of sport in France

Sport in France

Sport plays an important role in French society and the country has a strong sporting history. The most-watched sports in France are football and rugby union.-Football:...

, the USFSA also helped pioneer the development of international sport. Among its founding members were Pierre de Coubertin

Pierre de Coubertin

Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin was a French educationalist and historian, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games...

, founder of the modern Olympic Games. In 1900, together with the Union Vélocipédique de France, it was also one of two federations that represented France at the inaugural meeting of the Union Cycliste Internationale

Union Cycliste Internationale

Union Cycliste Internationale is the world governing body for sports cycling and oversees international competitive cycling events. The UCI is based in Aigle, Switzerland....

. Then in 1904 Robert Guérin

Robert Guérin

Robert Guérin was a French journalist and the 1st President and founder of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association. A journalist with Le Matin newspaper, Guerin was actively involved in football through his role as secretary of the Football Department of the Union des Sociétés...

, secretary of the USFSA football committee, was one of the principal movers behind the foundation of FIFA

FIFA

The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...

. He also served as its first president.

Foundation

On 29 December 1887 Georges de Saint-Clair, the secretary-general of Racing Club de France and delegates from Stade Français had formed the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Course a Pied. Then on 1 June 1888 Pierre de Coubertin

Pierre de Coubertin

Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin was a French educationalist and historian, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games...

, with the support of Jules Simon

Jules Simon

Jules François Simon was a French statesman and philosopher, and one of the leader of the Opportunist Republicans faction.-Biography:Simon was born at Lorient. His father was a linen-draper from Lorraine, who renounced Protestantism before his second marriage with a Catholic Breton. Jules Simon...

and Henri Didon

Henri Didon

Henri Didon was a French Dominican preacher, writer, and educator.The Olympic motto Citius altius fortius, suggested by his friend Pierre de Coubertin in 1894 and official since 1924 dates back to one that Didon coined for a Paris youth gathering of 1891.-Life:At the age of eighteen he left the...

, formed the Comité pour la Propagation des Exercises Physiques. This group was also known as the Comité Jules Simon. The USFSA was founded in November 1890 when these two groups merged. Initially the USFSA was centred in Paris but its membership soon expanded to include sports clubs from throughout France.

Influence on Olympic Games

In 1891 when the USFSA organised its first athletics championship, Henri Didon

Henri Didon

, as honorary president, announced that the organisation's motto would be Citius, Altius, Fortius
Citius, Altius, Fortius
Citius, Altius, Fortius is Latin for "Faster, Higher, Stronger" and may refer to: * The Olympic motto, "Citius, Altius, Fortius", "Faster, Higher, Stronger"* The Journal of Olympic History, formerly Citius, Altius, Fortius...

(Faster, Higher, Stronger). In 1924 this motto would be adopted by the Olympic movement. The Olympic symbol of five interlinking rings was also based on a design used by the USFSA. Teams representing the organisation wore a uniform based on the colours of the flag of France

Flag of France

The national flag of France is a tricolour featuring three vertical bands coloured royal blue , white, and red...

. This included a white shirt with two interlinking rings, one red and one blue. The two rings represented the two groups that had merged to form the USFSA while the Olympic version represented five continents. Pierre de Coubertin

Pierre de Coubertin

Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin was a French educationalist and historian, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games...

also hoped that the USFSA would be responsible for organising the 1900 Paris Olympics

1900 Summer Olympics

The 1900 Summer Olympics, today officially known as the Games of the II Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1900 in Paris, France. No opening or closing ceremonies were held; competitions began on May 14 and ended on October 28. The Games were held as part of...

. However a dispute, which saw de Coubertin resign as USFSA secretary general in April 1899, meant this never happened

Rugby union

On 20 March, 1892

French Rugby Championship 1892

French Rugby Championship 1892. On 20 March 1892 the USFSA organised the first ever French rugby union championship, a one off game between Racing Club de France and Stade Français. The game was refereed by Pierre de Coubertin and saw Racing win 4–3. Racing were awarded the Bouclier de Brennus,...

the USFSA organised the first ever French rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

championship, a one off game between Racing Club de France and Stade Français. The game was refereed by Pierre de Coubertin

Pierre de Coubertin

Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin was a French educationalist and historian, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games...

and saw Racing win 4–3. Racing were awarded the Bouclier de Brennus

Bouclier de Brennus

The Bouclier de Brennus, or Brennus Shield in English, is a trophy awarded to the winners of the French rugby union domestic league.The shield was not named, as it is often believed, after the famous Gallic warrior Brennus but rather artist Charles Brennus, co-founder of the USFSA, the original...

, which is still awarded to the winners of the French championship today. The trophy was the idea of de Coubertin, who commissioned Charles Brennus, a member of the USFSA and a professional engraver, to design it.

Football

In 1894 the USFSA also organised the first recognised French football champions

French football champions

The French football champions are the winners of the highest league of football in France, Ligue 1. Since the National Council of the French Football Federation voted in support of professionalism in French football in 1930, the professional football championship of France has been contested...

hip
The first competition featured just four Paris teams and was organised on a knockout basis with Standard Athletic Club

Standard Athletic Club

The Standard Athletic Club is a British social club in Paris, created on 1 March 1890, as one of the first football clubs in France. The Standard Athletic Club won the first French football championship in 1894, and then again in 1895, 1897, 1898 and 1901...

beating White Rovers 2–0 after a replay. However by 1896 it featured a league with nine teams and after 1899 the winners of a Paris League played off against the champions of other French regions and cities. In 1899 Le Havre AC

Le Havre AC

Le Havre Athletic Club Football Association is a French association football club based in Le Havre. The club was founded originally as an athletics and rugby club in 1872, thus making it the oldest association football and rugby club registered in France...

became the first club from outside Paris to be declared French football champions

French football champions

.

In 1900

Football at the 1900 Summer Olympics

At the 1900 Summer Olympics, a football tournament was contested for the first time. Only two demonstration matches were held between the three club sides, and no medals were awarded...

a USFSA XI also represented France at the Olympics.
On 1 May 1904 the USFSA also selected the first official France national football team

France national football team

The France national football team represents the nation of France in international football. It is fielded by the French Football Federation , the governing body of football in France, and competes as a member of UEFA, which encompasses the countries of Europe...

. They held Belgium to a 3–3 draw in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

In the same year, Robert Guérin

Robert Guérin

, secretary of the USFSA football committee, was also one of the principal movers behind the foundation of FIFA

FIFA

. He also served as its first president.

However the USFSA did not have a monopoly on organising football in France

Football in France

. Between 1896 and 1907 the Fédération des Sociétés Athlétiques Professionnelles de France (FSAPF), who as their name suggests advocated professionalism, also organised a championship. Then in 1905 a rival organisation the Fédération Gymnastique et Sportive des Patronages de France (FGSPF), led by Charles Simon and Henri Delaunay

Henri Delaunay

Henri Delaunay was a French football administrator.After playing for the Paris team Étoile des Deux Lacs, he became a referee...

and supported by the Catholic Church

Roman Catholicism in France

The Roman Catholic Church of France, sometimes called the "eldest daughter of the Church" owing to its early and unbroken communion with the bishop of Rome, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church...

, also began organising competitions. In 1906 the Fédération Cycliste et Amateur de France (FCAF), a forerunner of the Fédération Française de Cyclisme

Fédération Française de Cyclisme

The French Cycling Federation or FFC is the national governing body of cycle racing in France.The FFC is a member of the UCI and the UEC...

also began to organise a football championship. In 1907 the FGSPF and the FCAF, together with several regional organisations that also organised football formed the Comité Français Interfédéral (CFI). The CFI organised the Trophée de France which would challenge the USFSA equivalent, the Coupe National, as the recognised French championship.

In 1907 the USFSA fell out with FIFA when the latter refused to admit the (English) Amateur Football Association. FIFA only recognised one national association per country, and so stood by the (English) Football Association, whereupon the USFSA left FIFA. They were replaced as France’s representative by the CFI. As a result they also lost the right to select the national team

France national football team

. By 1913, however, the USFSA football committee had also become a CFI affiliate and in 1919 the CFI was reorganised as the French Football Federation

French Football Federation

. 1919 was also the last year that the USFSA organised the Coupe National as a national football championship.

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