Lyon turns it on for the Rugby World Cup
September 20th 2007 18:02
As one of the ten French host cities of the Rugby World Cup, Lyon is certainly doing the event proud.
Its prestigious Stade de Gerland with its heritage-listed gates, designed by the architect Tony Garnier in the 1920s, has been the venue for three games; Australia/ Japan on September 8, Argentina/ Georgia on September 11 and New Zealand/ Portugal on September 15. Two teams (Argentina and United States) are hosted here throughout the event.
To welcome the teams, the organizers, the officials and the fans, Lyon has decked itself out in Rugby colours, emblazoned its buildings with the Cup logo, decorated its railway stations with life-sized cardboard citoyen and citoyennes tossing rugby about, hoisted the flags of all the participating nations and rolled out the proverbial welcome mat. But, most importantly, in the words of Mayor, Gerard Coollomb, it has “fully embraced the spirit of the Cup, the passion for the sport and the values of solidarity and respect which are so much a part of it”
An impressive line-up of Rugby-themed spectacles and activities has been calendared for the duration of the Cup; an open-air rugby film festival, “Ciné-ovale sous les étoiles”, a worthy and fitting tribute to the sport from the city where cinema was invented; a penalty goal-kicking competition; a Mexican wave competition has put together samples of fans waves to be posted on the internet as the world’s largest virtual Mexican wave; Saga Rugby, a photograhic exhibition, is on show in the Atrium at the Hotel de Ville; down on the banks of the Rhone you can see Rives sur les Berges, a sculpture exhibition and Changing Rooms, the Rugby sketch by Michel Bellatante and Nino d’Introno played at the Theatre de la Croix Rouge from September 11 to 16. The festival culminates on the 20th of October with the Jour d’Ovalie in the Place de Bellecour with sporting activites, a sponsors’ village and a giant screen where the final will be shown.
Yes Lyon has certainly turned it on for the sport that is played in heaven. In the brief weekend that we were there, we could feel that passion for Rugby, you could see those values of solidarity and respect.
Stade de Gerland
Its prestigious Stade de Gerland with its heritage-listed gates, designed by the architect Tony Garnier in the 1920s, has been the venue for three games; Australia/ Japan on September 8, Argentina/ Georgia on September 11 and New Zealand/ Portugal on September 15. Two teams (Argentina and United States) are hosted here throughout the event.
To welcome the teams, the organizers, the officials and the fans, Lyon has decked itself out in Rugby colours, emblazoned its buildings with the Cup logo, decorated its railway stations with life-sized cardboard citoyen and citoyennes tossing rugby about, hoisted the flags of all the participating nations and rolled out the proverbial welcome mat. But, most importantly, in the words of Mayor, Gerard Coollomb, it has “fully embraced the spirit of the Cup, the passion for the sport and the values of solidarity and respect which are so much a part of it”
An impressive line-up of Rugby-themed spectacles and activities has been calendared for the duration of the Cup; an open-air rugby film festival, “Ciné-ovale sous les étoiles”, a worthy and fitting tribute to the sport from the city where cinema was invented; a penalty goal-kicking competition; a Mexican wave competition has put together samples of fans waves to be posted on the internet as the world’s largest virtual Mexican wave; Saga Rugby, a photograhic exhibition, is on show in the Atrium at the Hotel de Ville; down on the banks of the Rhone you can see Rives sur les Berges, a sculpture exhibition and Changing Rooms, the Rugby sketch by Michel Bellatante and Nino d’Introno played at the Theatre de la Croix Rouge from September 11 to 16. The festival culminates on the 20th of October with the Jour d’Ovalie in the Place de Bellecour with sporting activites, a sponsors’ village and a giant screen where the final will be shown.
Lyon at dusk
Yes Lyon has certainly turned it on for the sport that is played in heaven. In the brief weekend that we were there, we could feel that passion for Rugby, you could see those values of solidarity and respect.
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