Rugby Club Toulonnais was founded on 3 June 1908 as a merger of
Étoile Sportive Varoise and members of the
Stade Varois, a club based in nearby
La Seyne-sur-Mer. It took the club 23 years to reach the top of French rugby, when they won the 1931 championship against
Lyon Olympique Universitaire (6–3, 2 tries to 1). The players were greeted by 30,000 people when they returned from
Bordeaux, where the final had been held. Toulon remained one of the top French clubs, but they lost four finals scattered over 35 years (1948, 1968, 1971 and 1985). The 1985 extra-time defeat by
Stade Toulousain left them with many regrets, and playing a spectacular final (36–22) did nothing to alleviate the pain of losing. The Red and Black waited only two more years to finally lay their hands on the Bouclier de Brennus, as they defeated
Racing at the
Parc des Princes. The third title came in 1992, against
Biarritz Olympique, in
Serge Blanco's last match and his last chance to win the title. For eight years, Toulon were not particularly successful and were in heavy financial trouble (a 10 million franc deficit) forced the
Ligue Nationale de Rugby to demote them to the Second Division in July 2000. The club missed an immediate return the next year, going down in the final to
Montauban, as only one club was promoted that year. It took them five more years to do so as Toulon went on to win the
Pro D2 title. But despite immense popular support (gates averaged more than 12,000), and much enthusiasm, they managed to win only three games out of 26 and were relegated after only a season.
Toulon signs star players A new president,
Mourad Boudjellal, a
Toulonnais who made his fortune in the
comic strip business, promised to build a huge team. He said: "I invented the Top 15, with a team that could be competitive in the Top 14". He signed a high number of first-class players, some of them well above 30, like
Jean-Jacques Crenca,
Yann Delaigue,
Gonzalo Quesada and
Dan Luger. He created buzz around the team as he managed to sign former
All Blacks captain
Tana Umaga, who arrived in Toulon right after the end of the
Air New Zealand Cup on 26 October 2006. The contract was rumoured to be around €300,000 (£200,000), which Boudjellal claimed to pay from his own pocket, for only eight to ten matches. In a 2010 interview, Boudjellal would say about his decision to pursue Umaga, "It was incredible, because we were in the second division and I was speaking with the best player in the world. But he said yes and came to play with Toulon." Boudjellal continued to sign high-profile veteran players, including captain and former all-time international caps leader
George Gregan, reportedly paid €400,000 out of Boudjellal's pocket, All Blacks' former all-time scoring leader
Andrew Mehrtens, and
Jonny Wilkinson. Back in
Pro D2 for the 2006–07 season, Toulon finish fourth in the league, putting them in the promotion playoffs for a place in the
Top 14, but they lost in the promotion semi-finals 21–17 at
La Rochelle. The following season Toulon headed the table from early on, never dropping from the top spot on their way to clinching promotion with two rounds to spare. The 2008–09 season proved to be one of consolidation. Umaga had been handed the coaching reins, but as Boudjellal would later say, "The first season in the Top 14 was very difficult and I learned that Tana Umaga was not yet ready to give up playing – and that he's not a manager." and would also be recalled to the England national team. Domestically, Toulon finished second on the league table, losing out to
Perpignan for the top spot on a tiebreaker. This finish gave them a spot in the 2010–11 Heineken Cup, and also a first-round bye in that season's Top 14 playoffs. Toulon's domestic campaign ended in the semi-finals with a 35–29
extra-time loss to eventual champion
Clermont in
Saint-Étienne. Toulon's
2009–10 Challenge Cup campaign proved more successful. They finished top of their pool and advanced to the knockout stage, crushing
Scarlets 38–12 in the quarterfinals and surviving a hard-fought match against
Connacht 19–12. Toulon got their preferred final venue of the Vélodrome on 23 May, where they lost to the
Cardiff Blues 28–21, missing out on silverware for the season. In May 2013 Toulon won the
2013 Heineken Cup Final by 16–15 against
Clermont Auvergne. ==Emblem==