National Rugby Centre
The National Rugby Centre was opened by then French president Jacques Chirac in November 2002. The facility cost GP£46 million (approx. €68 million, c.2007), and is located in the village of Marcoussis, south of Paris. The facility covers 20 hectares (49 acres) and includes five rugby pitches (one of them covered, and two floodlit), a gym, medical facilities, a swimming pool, media centre, and library. Living quarters are also included, with 30 rooms which are each named after a championship winning French club. The living quarters also have a dedicated restaurant. France's under-19 team are permanently based at the NRC, and provide regular opposition for the French national team during training.
Read more about this topic: Rugby Union In France
Famous quotes containing the words national and/or centre:
“Public speaking is done in the public tongue, the national or tribal language; and the language of our tribe is the men’s language. Of course women learn it. We’re not dumb. If you can tell Margaret Thatcher from Ronald Reagan, or Indira Gandhi from General Somoza, by anything they say, tell me how. This is a man’s world, so it talks a man’s language.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)
“A toddling little girl is a centre of common feeling which makes the most dissimilar people understand each other.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)