Montpellier Fire Sharks

Montpellier Fire Sharks

Names
Nickname(s)	Fire Sharks
Club details
Founded	8 April 2008
Colours	Blue and Orange
Competition	Union Française de Football Australien
Coach	Benjamin Hamon
Premierships	0
Ground(s)	Annexe du Stade de Rugby, rue des Prés, 34 430 Saint-Jean-de-Védas
Other information
Official website	[http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36468098553

The Fire Sharks of Montpellier are a French Australian Rules Football club based in Montpellier. They're the 7th Australian football club in France, after the Tasmania Montivilliers, Paris Cockerels, Strasbourg Kangourous, Senlis Razorbacks, Saint-Estève Saints and the Bordeaux Bombers. The Fire Sharks are the 4th oldest active club from the Mediterranean Coast in France, seeing that the clubs of Montivilliers, Senlis and Saint-Estève have all since folded.

History

The Australian football club of Montpellier was founded in April 2008 by Benjamin Hamon, 2 months after he had discovered the sport on the Internet. The primary goal of the club is very ambitious : to take part in the first Coupe de France of Australian football, which took place at the end of June, 2008 in Paris. However, the very young President (18 years old at the time) succeeded in assembling a team and thus confirming the presence of the Montpellier Fire Sharks at the first French Championship in history.

The first Coupe de France was played between the Paris Cockerels, Strasbourg Kangaroos, Bordeaux Bombers and the Montpellier Fire Sharks at stadium Polygon, in the woods of Vincennes, Paris. The opening match was between Bordeaux and Montpellier, and showcased the first match of the French championship. Montpellier lost the game 67 to 13. The team found the following matches difficult against Strasbourg (77 to 18) and against Paris (70 to 8). However, this first run proved to be a valuable test and was very encouraging for their continuation.