France

2023

Commemorative coin

Rugby World Cup France 2023

Official Journal of the European Union

On the occasion of the Rugby World Cup organised in France, Monnaie de Paris celebrates rugby and this competition which will bring together teams from twenty nations. The design represents a stylized rugby player making a pass. In the background, the rugby field is the globe on which the rugby goalposts are placed. The set is part of an imaginary rugby galaxy where the other planets are oval. The emblem of the competition is inserted next to the player, while the name of the competition surrounds the design. The indication of the issuing country ‘RF’, the mintmark and the mint master mark are inserted under the image on the right-hand side. The name of the competition, the issuing country ‘FRANCE’ and the year ‘2023’ are inserted on the left hand side. The name of the competition surrounding the design, as well as and the ‘RF’ mention appear in the official font of the event, called Mobius. The coin’s outer ring depicts the 12 stars of the European flag.

Additional information

Rugby, a team sport that originated in England together with football and is played with a ball in the shape of an elongated ellipsoid of revolution, was, according to legend, first practised in 1823 at the private boarding school 'Rugby School' in the town of Rugby (Warwickshire). In 1845, the first sporting rules were written by students there. From Rugby, the sport spread not only to public schools in England, but further afield in the British Empire. In 1895, clubs from working-class areas in the north of England left the Rugby Football Union and founded an association that has been called the Rugby Football League since 1922 and plays according to different rules with 13 players each (also widespread in Australia, apart from the area of origin in the north of England). 15-a-side rugby was an Olympic discipline in 1900, 1908, 1920 and 1924; since 2016, 7-a-side rugby, played according to the classic rules of rugby union, has been on the Olympic programme. Since 1987, World Championships in 15s rugby have been held every four years - this year from 8 September to 28 October. After 2007, France will host for the second time in 2023. Coin designer Joaquin Jimenez has depicted a stylised rugby player in full run, with a ball in his hands. The field of play appears like the cap of a globe represented by circles of longitude and latitude, delimited by the two goals formed by two tall vertical painting poles and a cross pole each. The background is a firmament of radiating dots and two rugby-shaped planets, one of them surrounded by rings like Saturn.

Edge lettering