Founded in April 1902, the Section paloise de ligue girondine is an all-round sports club in Pau. Since 1905, it is simply called Section paloise. At that time, rugby or "rugby football" was hugely popular. The club was first established as a Barette (sport) team, yet the club very quickly turned towards this new sport of rugby union. A rugby club had already been formed on November 12, 1899, since the Stade palois, had been founded in café on rue Bayard. The Stade Palois was thus integrated into Section to form the dominant club in bearnese rugby. In 1912, Section Paloise abandoned its blue and black jerseys, in order to definitively adopt green and white as its colours. The club was then led by Welshman Tom Potter, who took on the role of player-coach until the outbreak of the Great War. The club (all sports combined) paid a heavy price, with around forty deaths on the battlefields.
