Stade Bollaert-Delelis

History

In 1906, Racing Club de Lens was created and played its matches on the Place Verte of the city. The players, mostly young high school students, created unrest that eventually annoyed the local residents and forced them to move the club several times. The Compagnie des Mines de Lens finally gave the club a field to play in before taking it over in 1912 to build housing for the miners. The club then moved to the Parc de la Glissoire, but its field was destroyed during the First World War. The director of the American Relief Committee then decided to transform a former training track for racehorses into a soccer field for the club. Since 1920, RC Lens has been developing rapidly and in 1929 it won its first successes by joining the Division d’Honneur. In 1929, the Compagnie des Mines de Lens decided to buy a piece of unused land to build a new stadium. The construction of the stadium started in 1932 and was completed in 1933. The stadium, named the Félix-Bollaert stadium in 1936, was inaugurated in June 1933 and has since become an important symbol of the city of Lens. RC Lens became a member of the French soccer elite in 1937, and the stadium continues to be the pride of the city to this day.

Who is Bollaert ?

Félix Flavien Aimé Bollaert, born in Lille on August 13, 1855 and died in Paris on December 26, 1936.

Commercial director of the Compagnie des mines de Lens, he took the initiative in 1931 to build a stadium between the pits n°1 and n°9 of the company to support the development of sports clubs in the region.

Who is Delelis?

André Delelis, born on May 23, 1924 in Cauchy-à-la-Tour (Pas-de-Calais) and died on September 4, 2012 in Lens1, was a French politician.

He was the mayor of Lens and a minister in the government of Pierre Mauroy, who “saved” the stadium and the team when, at the end of coal mining, the coalmines divested themselves of it.