Rugby Magazines

Midi Olympique Magazine

It’s no secret that just like the rest of the world, Europe is mad about rugby. Every country has its dedicated publications, and some of them stand out due to their long history, such as the Rugby Leaguer & League Express in the United Kingdom, and the celebrated Midi Olympique in France. Nowadays, Midi Olimpique is still a rugby-oriented periodical which appears twice a week.

Midi Olympique Magazine

The story of Midi Olympique began in 1929, when it was founded in the city of Toulouse. It’s one of France’s oldest newspapers and certainly the oldest which is wholly dedicated to rugby. It is often abbreviated as Midol and also nicknamed “le jaune”, meaning the yellow one, due to the yellow paper used in the making of its pages; it is also commonly referred to as the rugby journal. Before the spring of 2006, it only used to appear once a week, every single Monday, but the decision was made to release a second issue on Fridays.

Therefore it now appears twice a week, is still based in Toulouse and is owned by a company called La Depeche. For convenience, according to the colour of the titles, the issue released on Mondays is nicknamed “le rouge”, the red one, whilst the one that comes out Fridays is known as “le vert”, the green one. Special issues are released at the beginning or end of a rugby season, either to make a presentation of upcoming events ort to summarize and comment on the outcome of the events throughout the season. Every first Monday of the month, this newspaper comes with an addition, Midi Olympique Magazine, which is written in a similar way and covers the same themes, namely all aspects related to rugby, from the amateur game to leagues at the highest level.

This publication is both comprehensive and an interesting read, carefully selecting the relevant details which accompany the main stories. It stays true to its original conformation, meaning it does not overlook talented teams and players for being in less important leagues. It includes meticulous coverage of matches, with an entrancing display of photographs that tell the story of the matches in high quality images. In the special issue released at the start of a season you will find all the fixtures as well as experts’ predictions and estimations, which will get you into the atmosphere of the following competitions, whilst when the season has ended, you can catch up on all the match details you might have missed and have an all-comprising outlook on the results.

Considering its special status and prestige, Midi Olympique offers various awards at the end of each year, a custom that was started back in 1954. The awards are called “les Oscars Midi Olympique” and give recognition to players and coaches with the greatest merits in that particular year. If this periodical used to be popular a few decades ago, the number of its subscribers keeps growing constantly, as rugby mania captures the attention of the whole country, and why not, the entire world. If you are a rugby fanatic yourself, don’t hesitate to subscribe.