History.

With "Peyton Place", ABC hoped to bring the success of the British serial "Coronation Street" to America. Inspired by that serial, it was decided that it should be aired in prime time. Producer Paul Monash wanted to launch a revival of Grace Metalious' novel of the same name. He refused to acknowledge it as a soap opera, calling it a 'high-class anthology drama'. An hour-long pilot was shot in 1962. Originally, the Cross family from the novel was included, but when Irna Phillips was contacted to change the pilot, she decided to scrap it. Various disagreements between the makers ensued, and the official pilot was not aired until September 15, 1964.  When the series premiered in late 1964, it marked the birth of the prime time American soap opera. The early stories were adapted from the 1956 book and 1957 film of the same name, although some principal character names, backstories and occupations were changed or simply eliminated. The time setting was changed from the early 1940s (of the novel and film) to the present day, and the town's location, which had previously been unidentified, was established as being in the commonwealth of Massachusetts in the fourth episode. Some sensational plot lines from the novel (like incest) were replaced with

Plots.

The series opens with a shot of a church's steeple, and the words "Peyton Place" superimposed, with a tolling of church bells. Announcer Dick Tufeld announces "This is the continuing story of "Peyton Place"." The scene changes to scenes of the town square, a rolling brook, and a panoramic view of Peyton Place. It dissolves to cast members, and then narration of previous episode events by Warner Anderson, who also played Matthew Swain. In 1966 the message was changed to "In color, the continuing story of "Peyton Place"." Warner Anderson left the series after the first season, but continued as narrator to the series until the final episode.

Season 1 (1964–1965).

In the first episode, Dr. Michael Rossi (Ed Nelson) arrives from New York City to set up practice in town. Newspaper editor Matthew Swain (Warner Anderson) tells him people usually try to get away from towns like Peyton Place, not move to them. Matthew's third cousin Allison MacKenzie (Mia Farrow), a close friend of classmate Norman Harrington (Christopher Connelly), has begun to fall in love with his older brother, Rodney (Ryan O'Neal); she is smitten as soon as they share their first kiss. At the end of the episode, Allison's mother, Constance (Dorothy Malone), makes it clear she disapproves of her daughter's newfound relationship with Rodney.  Rodney is startled to find his father, Leslie (Paul Langton), in a passionate embrace with his secretary, Julie Anderson (Kasey Rogers), the mother of Rodney's girlfriend, Betty (Barbara Parkins). Both Leslie and Julie are in unhappy marriages, but Leslie can't explain this to his son in the moment. Confused, Rodney tells Betty he cannot date her anymore and begins to see Allison instead. Betty, confused and hurt because he offered no reason for breaking up with her, discovers she is pregnant and

Season 2 (1965–1966).

The first half of the second season focused on the Rodney Harrington murder trial and the concurrent struggle of Allison Mackenzie after she was injured in a hit-and-run accident and left in a coma.  Rodney is accused in the death of Joe Chernak, who refused to accept Rita's dumping him and falling for Norman. District Attorney John Fowler (John Kerr), son of the former DA who retired heartsick over learning he got a wrongful conviction against Elliot, is also unaware his wife Marian (Joan Blackman), is the driver who struck Allison. Elliot and Steven suspect the younger Fowler wants to avenge his father via another Harrington, since Leslie's original failure convicted Elliot. Against his family attorney's advice, Rodney gives a statement to the police and the DA. Leslie returns to Peyton Place, and ultimately succeeds in getting Rodney bail. Only Allison truly believes in Rodney's innocence before her accident, which happened after she visited Rodney in jail. Norman is haunted by his wish that Joe were dead because he abused Rita. The return of autocratic patriarch Martin Peyton (George Macready) fascinates and unnerves Peyton Place.  A changing Betty also believes in Rodney's innocence: she answered Rodney's original call for an ambulance after Joe fell. Leslie can't convince Rodney to file for a change-of-venue, fearing his own past will prejudice a local jury. Joe's sister Stella Chernak (Lee Grant), a biochemist, arrives home from California and wants Rodney behind bars though she knows he didn't intend to kill Joe. Her father, Gus Chernak (Bruce Gordon), struggling to overcome alcohol, blames Leslie for his own failures -— Leslie demoted then tried to

Season 3 (1966–1967).

The first season in color, Season Three focuses on three things: Constance and Elliot and their newborn son; the preliminary hearing for Lee Webber; and, the arrival and troubles of young Rachel Welles (Leigh Taylor-Young).  The season begins with Connie going into premature labor and giving birth to the son she names Matthew [gift from God]. Rita is happy for the Carsons but desires her own baby, but Norman says if she does he'll have to drop out of college to work full-time. Rita abandons the idea and works as Matthew's babysitter as a second job. Baby Matthew is a hit with the townspeople, especially over-doting grandfather Eli. Connie and Elliot balance being doting parents to their new son with continuing concern over Allison's disappearance.  Steven takes heat for serving as Lee's reluctant defense attorney. The hearing's early highlights include troubling testimony and new doubts from Michael over his fiancée Ann's death. Ground down by Lee's abuse, his estranged wife Sandy shows interest in Rodney. Blind brother Chris testifies against Lee, convinced Lee is guilty. Both John and Steven try to outsmart each other---directly as well as in court. Norman and Rita are shocked to find Rachel hiding in an old abandoned cabin---in possession of a bracelet Elliot once gave Allison as a gift. Hannah first tries to slip out of Peyton Place but returns and tries to distance herself from Martin. Betty is aghast when she determines Steven intends to grill his mother on the witness stand if need be. The hearing draws a

Season 4 (1967–1968).

The primary focus of season four remains Adrienne Van Leyden and Eddie Jacks and the havoc they provoke, until the arrival of young mother Jill Smith and a crisis she provokes for Constance and Elliot Carson, Michael Rossi, and Rev. Tom Winter and his wife, but the season ends with the immediate aftermath of Rodney Harrington's injury in a motorcycle accident.  Adrienne has mixed feelings at first about Martin's manipulations between her and Steven, even as Martin buys her an engagement ring and proclaims their engagement. Steven strains to relieve Betty's suspicions about Adrienne's interest in him, but Adrienne seems to fall in love with Steven. Steven has mixed feelings about Adrienne but gives in to her temptations. Meanwhile, shocking facts about her past come to light, particularly her having driven her husband—a highly respected medical researcher under whom Michael once studied—to suicide, when he found himself too ground down to resist the pressure of her demands after he sacrificed his career for her.  Betty follows Steven and Adrienne to Martin's Boston home and confirms her suspicions. Returning home, she leaves Steven and stays at the Colonial Inn. Rodney, to whom Betty now turns for comfort, can't convince Norman his interest in her is friendship alone. Adrienne visits Betty at the inn but Betty rebuffs her and tells Rod she plans to hire an out-of-town attorney to handle her divorce. Steven confronts Martin and Adrienne about their maneuvers, then storms to the Shoreline Garage and awakens Rod, accusing him of being in on the plot. When Steven accuses Rod of being in on the plot, he angrily turns Rod's bed over with Rod still in it, and Rod knocks him down with a punch.  Adrienne tells Martin she plans to leave Peyton Place.

Season 5 (1968–1969).

Ed Nelson remains the show's lead actor following Dorothy Malone's departure near the end of Season Four; Elizabeth Walker (Carolyn) and Barbara Rush (Marsha) are added to the opening credits. The final season revolves largely around Michael Rossi and Marsha Russell, but also around Rodney Harrington's painful try at recovering from paralysis, Jill and Joe, and African-American neurosurgeon Harry Miles (Percy Rodriguez) who is hit with an unexpected family crisis involving his young son.  Michael offers Jill a nursing job while Carolyn becomes more serious with young bandleader Jeff. Joe objects to Norman and Rita having custody of baby Kelly. Rod isn't comfortable with his therapist. Tom plans to divorce Susan. Norman is concerned about Betty turning to Steven for comfort as Rod's recovery continues painfully. Carolyn learns a truth about her parents' marriage the hard way, when she discovers father Fred is dating a much younger woman, Donna. Betty criticizes Norman for not trusting her. Tom walks out of the ministry and goes to work on a fishing boat. Marsha admits to Carolyn she knew about Fred and Donna before she divorced Fred, but Carolyn blames her mother for the affair. Susan threatens to claim Tom and Jill had an affair if Tom tries divorcing her. Judge Chester reveals Jill leaving the Winter home wasn't the reason he awarded custody of Kelly to Norman and Rita.  Rod fears Betty no longer wants to be with him. Michael persuades reluctant Jill to take a job as a nurse's aide in training to become a full nurse. Fred admits to Carolyn his affair began after the day he feared he no longer loved Marsha. Susan threatens to ruin Tom unless he takes her back. Joe can't admit he still has feelings for Jill—even as he accuses Tom falsely of hiding her and beats him viciously. Marsha tries to convince Carolyn her father is the reason for the divorce. Betty goes to work at the Harrington brothers' motorcycle shop. Harry tries to convince Rod to find his will to use his slowly recovering body

Characters.

Minor characters played by recognizable actors.

Thomas was Martin Peyton's chauffeur, originally portrayed by James Doohan from "" in about a dozen episodes; just one episode after Thomas leaves town on an errand, another "Star Trek" actor, Nichelle Nichols turns up for two episodes as Martin Peyton's nurse. Later Doohan returned for an episode before the character Thomas was taken over by another actor.  Another recurring policeman character was portrayed by Greg Morris.  The member of the

Schedules.

When the show premiered in 1964, "Peyton Place" aired twice a week. Both installments of the show were Top 20 hits in the Nielsen ratings and this inspired ABC to air the show three times a week starting in the summer of 1965. This move caused trouble for people who followed the show religiously, and many people tuned out. The season ratings for "Peyton Place" never rose into the Top 30 again and the serial's production was dropped back to two episodes a week. In 1969, with the show losing viewers with each episode, "Peyton Place" aired in one installment a week until the final episode was shown in June.  The show was one of the first seen on US network television to talk about sex and infidelity in a frank manner. As such, ABC executives would only allow the show to be aired at 9:30 p.m. Eastern/Pacific time, a time at which many children and teenagers were expected to be

Home media.

"Peyton Place: Part One", was released on May 19, 2009 by Shout! Factory as a five-disc set containing 31 half-hour episodes. Shout! Factory released "Peyton Place: Part Two", a five-disc set including 33 half-hour episodes, on July 14, 2009. Shout! Factory released "Peyton Place: Part Three", a five-disc set including 33 half-hour episodes, on March 27, 2018. Shout! Factory released "Peyton Place: Part Four", a five-disc set including 33 half-hour episodes, on June 26, 2018. "Peyton Place: Part Five", a five-disc set including 33 half-hour episodes, was released on September 11, 2018.

Peyton Place is an American prime-time soap opera which aired on ABC in half-hour episodes from September 15, 1964, to June 2, 1969.

En France, la première partie de la saison 1 (les 31 premiers épisodes du feuilleton) fut diffusée du au sur TF1 (deux épisodes chaque samedi soir) ; la même chaîne française diffusa la dernière partie de la saison 2 (9 épisodes en noir et blanc) et la première partie de la saison 3 (18 épisodes en couleurs) du au (deux épisodes chaque samedi soir), ainsi que quelques-uns des épisodes suivants de la saison 3 du au (toujours le samedi soir). TF1 rediffusa tous ces épisodes — en tout 65 épisodes de 30 minutes — pendant l'été suivant, du au (au rythme de deux épisodes par jour tous les après-midi). Enfin, ces mêmes 65 épisodes furent rediffusés ensuite sur Antenne 2, tous les matins du au.


Club career.

Völler started his career with 1860 Hanau, then played for second division sides Kickers Offenbach and TSV 1860 Munich, before joining Bundesliga club Werder Bremen in 1982, winning his first cap for West Germany that same year. Following a successful season in which he was the Bundesliga's top scorer, foreign clubs became interested in the striker, and in 1987 he was transferred to Roma, where he became a mainstay of the team and earned the nickname ""er tedesco"" ("the German") and also ""il tedesco volante"" ("the flying German"). He won the Coppa Italia in 1991 and was the club's top scorer on several occasions.  In 1992, Roma decided to sell Völler to Marseille, where he was intended as replacement for superstar striker Jean-Pierre Papin. That also allowed Roma to add Claudio Caniggia as its third foreigner to the squad, so both parties were happy to let the deal go through. There he won his biggest club honour in a very successful first season, thanks to the UEFA Champions League won with Olympique de Marseille against AC Milan coached by Fabio Capello, in 1993 (1-0, goal scored by Basile Boli). Völler started the match, playing 78 minutes. Marseille was then caught in a bribery scandal, however, and was stripped of its 1993 league title, and were relegated despite a second-place finish in 1994. Völler scored 24 league goals for the club but departed after its relegation. Returning to Germany, he joined Bayer Leverkusen in 1994, where he ended his career as a player in 1996 and started a career in the management of the club.

International career.

Völler was capped 90 times for the Germany national team, scoring 47 goals, including eight in World Cup final rounds.  Völler also played at three UEFA European Championships, starting with Euro 1984, where he scored twice in a group match against Romania which the Germans won 2–1. A 90th minute defeat against Spain in their next match, however, saw West Germany eliminated when all they needed was a draw.  At the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Völler scored the West Germans' equalizer in a 2–1 win over Scotland in the group stage. He bagged a last minute goal against France in the semi-final to seal a 2–0 win and in the final itself his 80th-minute goal made it 2–2 against Argentina. Germany had recovered from 2–0 down but eventually lost the match 3–2. Völler became the third player to score as a substitute in the World Cup final, after Dick Nanninga in 1978 and Alessandro Altobelli achieved this feat in 1982.  West Germany hosted the Euro 1988, and Völler scored twice in a 2–0 win over Spain but the hosts lost to eventual winners the Netherlands in the semi-final.  Völler was a member of the team that won the 1990 World Cup in Italy. He scored three times in the tournament, including one goal in a 4–1 win over Yugoslavia, and then found the net twice against the United Arab Emirates in a 5–1 win. During the second-round match against the Netherlands, Völler and Dutch player Frank Rijkaard were sent off the field after the Dutchman spit on Völler twice. Völler came back to play and start for Germany in both the semi-final against England and the final against Argentina, which Germany won 1–0 to claim their 3rd World Cup title.  The unsavoury incident that took place during the second-round match with the Netherlands started when Rijkaard was booked for a bad tackle on Völler. As Rijkaard took up position for the free kick, he spat in Völler's hair. Völler complained to the referee and was booked as well. From the resulting free kick, a furious Völler then jumped up and punched the ball with his hand (although it looked like he had used his head) and then dived to avoid a collision with Dutch goalkeeper Hans van Breukelen, although it did also look as if he dived for a penalty. Van Breukelen was angry at this, but Rijkaard again confronted Völler by twisting his ear and stamping on his foot. The temperamental and tough Argentine referee Juan Carlos Loustau finally had enough of Völler and Rijkaard's antics and he sent both players off. Rijkaard then again spat in Völler's hair as they left the pitch and was rumoured to have repeated this on the touchline. Rijkaard later stated that it was his fault: "That day I was wrong. There was no insult. I always had much respect for Rudi Völler. But I went berserk when I saw that red card. I talked to him after the match and I apologized. I'm very happy that he accepted. I have no bad feeling about him now. We even posed for a very funny advert together, years after." (Rijkaard had family problems in this time).  Völler was again selected for the Euro 1992 but was sent home when he suffered an injury in the opening game with CIS.  At the 1994 World Cup, Völler was kept out of the starting line up for all three group games by Jürgen Klinsmann and Karl-Heinz Riedle who scored five between them. He made just one sub appearance in the group stages. He did start the second round tie with Belgium and scored twice in a 3–2 win.

Managing career.

After a disappointing Euro 2000 for Germany under manager Erich Ribbeck, the German Football Association (DFB) appointed Völler as new manager, accepting his lack of coaching qualifications at the time. Initially he only planned to take interimistic responsibility for one year, following the decision by Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Völler himself (as Sporting Director of the Club) not to make Christoph Daum step down from the national team before 2001. However, Völler extended his contract due to good results, after Daum became involved in a controversial drug scandal. Despite losing to England 5–1 at home and two disappointing draws against Finland during qualification he managed to lead the team to a surprising appearance in the final of the 2002 World Cup against Brazil.  After a first-round exit from Euro 2004, he resigned from his post.  Following his resignation from the German national job, Völler briefly made a comeback at Roma in 2004 as manager. Hired in late August as a last-minute appointment after the shock resignation of Cesare Prandelli, he left the club only one month later after a series of poor results and high-profile disagreements with players, notably Antonio Cassano. He only signed a one-year contract to allow a return of Prandelli the next year, but presided over only one draw and two defeats in the league.  Moving back to the support ranks at Bayer Leverkusen, Völler was named caretaker manager of Leverkusen on 16 September 2005 after the club sacked coach Klaus Augenthaler. Völler served in that role until Michael Skibbe was named as the club's new permanent coach that October. After the arrival of Skibbe, Völler was promoted to become for the second time sports director at Leverkusen.  Völler was (and still is) very popular in Germany. Even when the national squad achieved only modest results, Völler never lost his popularity as the German public knew he was achieving as much as possible with a relatively limited squad. His predecessor Berti Vogts, by contrast, was widely "slagged off" by everybody even during periods of success with a far more talented German squad. The public even forgave Völler when – during a TV interview after a 0–0 draw against Iceland in September 2003 – he lost his temper and yelled at the presenter Waldemar Hartmann in order to defend his team against, what he thought was, unfair press statements.

Career statistics.

International.

National teams statistics.

Source:

Honours.

Player.

Club.

Roma  Marseille

International.

Germany

Manager.

International.

Germany

Personal.

His son Marco Völler is a professional basketball player currently with the Skyliners Frankfurt.

Rudolf "Rudi" Völler (; born 13 April 1960), nicknamed ""Tante Käthe"" (English: "Aunt Käthe"), is a German former professional footballer and a former manager of the Germany national team. A forward, he won the FIFA World Cup in 1990 as a player. He also scored an equalizing goal to make it 2–2 in the 81st minute of the 1986 FIFA World Cup Final vs Argentina, but it ended up with a 3-2 victory for Argentina.

Rudolf Völler, né le à Hanau, est un footballeur allemand, qui évoluait au poste d'attaquant. Ce buteur prolifique fut à son époque l'un des cadres majeurs de la sélection allemande qui a remporté la Coupe du monde 1990. En raison de son efficacité et de son caractère à attendre la balle décisive plutôt que de participer au jeu, il était surnommé « Le Renard des Surfaces ». Après sa carrière de joueur, il s'est reconverti entraîneur et a notamment été sélectionneur de l'équipe d'Allemagne.


History.

Stade Rennais Football Club was founded on 10 March 1901 by a group of former students living in Brittany. Football had quickly become widely circulated in nearby regions and it was soon brought to Brittany. The club's first match was played two weeks later against FC Rennais, which Stade lost 6–0. In 1902, Stade Rennais joined the USFSA federation and, subsequently, became a founding member of the Ligue de Bretagne de football, a newly created regional league founded by the federation. In the second league season, the club won the competition after defeating the inaugural league winners FC Rennais 4–0 in the final. On 4 May 1904, Stade Rennais merged with its rivals FC Rennais to form Stade Rennais Université Club, with the primary objective being to overcome the recent domination of the Ligue de Bretagne by US Saint-Malo, then known as US Saint-Servan, which fielded mostly British players. The new club adopted the colours of Rennais, which consisted of a red and black combination with black vertical stripes on the shirt. After three years of Saint-Malo dominating the league, Rennes finally eclipsed the club in 1908 under the leadership of Welsh manager Arthur Griffith. In the following season, Rennes won the league again, but in 1910 Rennes was unable to win a third, as Saint-Malo won the league by two points. The champions subsequently went on an impressive run in which it won the league for the next four seasons over.  After World War I, Rennes began focusing its efforts on winning the recently created Coupe de France. Strengthened by the arrivals of internationals Bernard Lenoble, Maurice Gastiger, Ernest Molles and captain François Hugues after the war, in the competition's fourth campaign, Rennes reached the final. In the match, the club faced two-time defending champions Red Star Olympique, which was led by attacker Paul Nicolas, defender Lucien Gamblin and goalkeeper Pierre Chayriguès. Red Star opened the scoring in the fourth minute and the match was concluded following a late goal from Raymond Sentubéry. After the disorganisation of the USFSA in 1913, Rennes joined the Ligue de l'Ouest. In 1929, Rennes departed the league after disagreeing with the increased number of games the league sought to implement in the new season. The departure led to Rennes becoming a "free agent", and the club played numerous friendly matches to compensate for the loss of league matches.  In July 1930, the National Council of the French Football Federation (FFF) voted 128–20 in support of professionalism in French football. Under the leadership of club president Isidore Odorico, Rennes was among the first clubs to adopt the new statute and, subsequently, became professional and became founding members of the new league. In the league's inaugural season, Rennes finished mid-table in its group. Two years later, in 1935, the club reached the final of the Coupe de France for the second time. Rennes, however, lost to Marseille 3–0 after failing to overcome three first-half goals. The club's attack was also limited in the match due to being deprived of its top two attackers, Walter Kaiser and Walter Vollweiler, who were both injured. Rennes spent four more years in the first division before suffering relegation to Division 2 in the 1936–37 season. Rennes played in Division 2 before professionalism was abolished due to World War II. After the war, Rennes returned to Division 1. Led by the Austrian-born Frenchman Franz Pleyer, Rennes achieved its best finish in the league after finishing fourth in the 1948–49 campaign. Despite the domestic resurgence under Pleyer, the club struggled to maintain the consistency and, in the 1950s, rotated between the first division and the second division under the watch of the Spaniard Salvador Artigas and Henri Guérin, who acted in a player-coach role.  Under the leadership of new president Louis Girard, Rennes underwent a major upheaval, which included renovations to the stadium. Girard sought to make Rennes competitive nationally and the first objective was achieved when the club earned promotion back to Division 1 in 1958. After finishing in the bottom-half of the table for six-straight seasons, Rennes, now managed by former club player Jean Prouff, finished in fourth place in the 1964–65 season. In the same season, the club earned its first major honour after winning the Coupe de France. Rennes, led by players such as Daniel Rodighiéro, Georges Lamia and Jean-Claude Lavaud defeated UA Sedan-Torcy 3–1 in the replay of the final. The first leg of the match ended 2–2, which resulted in a replay. After the cup success, Rennes played in European competition for the first time in the 1965–66 season. The club, however, lost to Czechoslovakian club Dukla Prague in the first round.  In the ensuing years, Rennes struggled in league play but performed well in the Coupe de France, reaching the semi-finals on two occasions in 1967 and 1970. In 1971, Rennes captured its second Coupe de France title after defeating Lyon 1–0 with the only goal coming from a penalty conversion by André Guy. On 23 May 1972, Rennes officially changed its name to its current form. After another season in charge, Prouff departed Rennes and the club entered free-fall. From 1972 to 1994, Rennes was supervised by 11 different managers and, during the years, consistently hovered between Division 1 and Division 2. In 1978, the club was on the verge of bankruptcy and, as a result, was order by a tribunal to sell its biggest earners and enter a policy of austerity. In the 1980s, the city's municipality gained a majority stake in the club.  In 1994, Rennes returned to Division 1 and entered a period of stability mainly due to the utilisation of the club's youth academy. Instead of entering bidding wars for players, Rennes groomed its youngsters and inserted them onto the senior team when coaches felt they were ready. This strategy proved successful with players such as Sylvain Wiltord, Jocelyn Gourvennec and Ulrich Le Pen. In 1998, the club was sold by the municipality to retail magnate François Pinault. Pinault invested a substantial amount of funding into the club and sought to increase Rennes' production of youth talent by constructing a training centre, which was completed in 2000. Pinault also paid for a completed re-construction of the stadium and also invested in the transfer market, recruiting several players from South America, most notably Lucas Severino, whom Rennes paid a record €21 million for.  The results were immediate in the decade from 2000 to 2010, with Rennes appearing in UEFA-sanctioned European competitions in five of the ten seasons. In youth production, the club produced several youth talents such as Yann M'Vila, Yacine Brahimi, Jimmy Briand and Abdoulaye Diallo, among others. In league competition, Rennes tied its best finish ever in the league by finishing fourth in 2004–05. Two seasons later, the club accomplished this feat again. In 2009, Rennes reached the Coupe de France final for the fourth time in its history. In the final, Rennes faced Breton rival Guingamp and was the heavy favourite. Despite taking the lead in the second half, however, Rennes was defeated 2–1 after Guingamp scored two goals in a ten-minute span. In 2014, Rennes made the Coupe de France final and once again their opponent was Guingamp. In a tense final, Rennes lost the match to their fierce rivals 2–0. In the 2017/2018 Ligue 1 season, Rennes had one of their best campaigns in recent memory finishing 5th and qualifying for the UEFA Europa League.  In 2019, Rennes claimed its third Coupe de France win on 27 April. In the final, Rennes played Paris St Germain. The French Cup winners for the last four years were heavy favourites to beat Rennes having already been crowned Ligue 1 champions for the 2018-19 season on 21 April. Rennes rallied back from two goals down to beat Paris St Germain 6-5 on penalties.

Stadium.

Rennes has played on the land where the club's stadium, the Roazhon Park, situates itself since 1912. The Roazhon Park, then named Stade de Route de Lorient, which is its address, was constructed in 1912. The facility was inaugurated on 15 September 1912 in a match between Rennes and SA du Lycée de Rennes. The Stade de la Route de Lorient was officially inaugurated a month later when Rennes took on Racing Club de France in front of 3,000 spectators.  The Roazhon Park is owned by the city of Rennes and has undergone renovations three times, in 1955, 1983 and 1999. In 1983, the club renovated the stadium in an attempt to resemble the Olympiastadion in Munich. After nearly four years of renovation, the new stadium was unveiled on 7 March 1987. In 1999, the new renovations, which were designed by architect Bruno Gaudin, cost €37.3 million and took four years to complete. The stadium's inauguration was celebrated twice: in a match between France and Bosnia and Herzegovina in August 2004, and another football match contesting by Rennes and Metz two months later. The current capacity of the stadium is 29,778.

Training centre.

The Centre d'entraînement Henri-Guérin (Henri-Guérin Training Center), colloquially known as "La Piverdière", was inaugurated in June 2000. Named for former club player and manager Henri Guérin, "La Piverdière" is located on the outskirts of Rennes just southwest of Roazhon Park. The centre hosts the senior team's training sessions, as well as the club's reserve and youth teams. In 2007, "La Piverdière" became the home of the club's administrative and business headquarters.  Since its inception, "La Piverdière" has become reputed for its consistent production of youth talent, bringing through players that have become household names at the international level. In that time, the club's youth system has made up most of the club's first team. Current first-team players Eduardo Camavinga and Joris Gnagnon were graduates of the academy. Rennes has been awarded the honour of having the best youth academy in France.  Rennes has won the Coupe Gambardella, the under-19 national youth competition, three times, in 1973, 2003 and 2008. In 2003, the team that won was anchored by Yoann Gourcuff and Marveaux. Gourcuff went on to win both the UNFP Player of the Year and French Player of the Year awards and established himself as a French international. Marveaux graduated from the academy after the Gambardella triumph and went on to appear in over 100 matches for Rennes. He had his best season in the 2009–10 season, appearing in 38 matches and scoring 12 goals. In 2008, the team that won the competition was composed of Brahimi, M'Vila, Souprayen, Yohann Lasimant, Quentin Rouger, Kévin Théophile-Catherine, and Damien Le Tallec. Six of the seven players made appearances with the first-team. Le Tallec moved to German club Borussia Dortmund before he could make an appearance.

Supporters.

Rennes have several supporter groups associated with the club, ranging from groups of senior supporters to "ultras". The oldest, most structured and frequented is Allez Rennes. The group was founded in 1962 and together with "Les Socios", founded in 1992, is the largest group of traditional supporters.  The section of the stadium popularly called "Tribune Mordelles" is occupied by the Roazhon Celtic Kop (RCK). Although the group was founded in 1991, its roots date back to 1987 when a group of supporters known as Ultras Roazhon was formed. The RCK was formed by three young supporters who decided to establish the Mordelles stand as the true hot spot of the stadium. The group marks its presence not only through continuous singing and the use of flares, but also through numerous tifos and choreographic celebrations. The Breton identity is regularly displayed and the use of Celtic symbols is frequent. A special feat of the RCK is that the group is responsible for having made the largest Gwenn-ha-du in history measuring 270 square metres. It was displayed at the Mordelles stand during the 1994–95 season.  The RCK functions as an unconditional supporters' group present at all matches, including those at European level, and gathers supporters mainly of the "ultra"-mentality, but also holds on to its values describe by the group as "Amitié, Respect et Fête" ("Friendship, Respect and Party"). The Kop keeps an open attitude towards those supporters of Rennes who share them. The group has taken a strong position against "football business", the suppression of the "ultra"-movement and racism. Although the group is not officially political, it regularly manifests anti-fascism. The RCK is a member of the RSRA (Réseau Supporter de Résistance Antiraciste), a French network of football supporter groups against racism, and involved in Fare, a European network of football supporter groups against racism and discrimination.  Another major supporter group of the club is the Section Roazhon Pariz. It is a section of the RCK that is situated in Paris. The group supports the team at important away matches, such as those against Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain. The RCK makes no attempt to hide its chaotic and festive appearance. In 2003, a second group of ultras, the Breizh Stourmer ("Breton Warriors") was formed through a break with the RCK. The group was created around the idea of a small, strong core of supporters and chose to situate themselves on the opposite side of the RCK. The Breizh Stourmer has been accused by elements of the RCK for certain members holding extreme-right views. Violent clashes between radical members of the two groups have occurred. The main rival of the RCK has, however, not been the Breizh Stourmer, but for many years, the Brigade Loire, a supporters' group of Rennes' rival club Nantes. The Breizh Stourmer has since dissolved. In 2008, a new group of supporters, the Unvez Kelt (UK) ("Celtic Unity"), was founded. The group was initially refused by the club as an official group, however, with the help of Les Socios, it was finally accepted. Failing to establish itself and after several problems, among them a fire that destroyed its premises in November 2010, clashes with the National Police and incidents resulting in several of its members becoming arrested during an away match at Auxerre in 2012, the Unvez Kelt decided to dissolve in 2012.

Players.

Notable players.

Below are the notable former and current players who have represented Rennes in league and international competition since the club's foundation in 1901.  "For a complete list of former Stade Rennais F.C. players with a Wikipedia article, see."

Management and coaching.

Coaching history.

"Coaches since 1906 and later to the accession to professional status in 1932, with the exception of 1939–1941, where the Stade Rennais reverted to amateur status, and 1942–1944, where no coach was appointed by the board, and 1945 where the club didn't compete in any competition."

Stade Rennais Football Club (), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais FC, Stade Rennais, Rennes, or simply SRFC, is a French professional association football club based in Rennes in Brittany. They compete in Ligue 1, the top tier of Football in France, the club plays its home matches at the Roazhon Park, located within the city. The team is managed by Julien Stéphan. The team's president is Jacques Delanoë (interim) and its owner is Artémis, the holding company of businessman François Pinault.

<mapframe text="Localisation du Roazhon Park et du Centre d’entraînement Henri-Guérin par rapport à la ville de Rennes." latitude="48.114722" longitude="-1.679444" zoom="12" width="300" height="300" align="right"> "type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [ "properties": { "title": "Roazhon Park", "marker-color": "CA0000", "marker-symbol": "soccer", "marker-size":"medium", "description": ""} }, </mapframe>Le Stade rennais football club (SRFC) est un club de football français, fondé le à Rennes.


Distribution.

Its range is in the western Mediterranean Basin, extending from Portugal and Northern Spain (especially in Galicia) to southern and Western France, east to western Italy, Croatia and south to northern Tunisia, Algeria and northern Morocco. It favors a Mediterranean climate, which is one that has cool, rainy winters and hot, dry summers.  It generally occurs at low to moderate altitudes, mostly from sea level to 600 m, but up to 2,000 m in the south of its range in Morocco. The high degree of fragmentation in the current natural distribution is caused by two factors: the discontinuity and altitude of the mountain ranges causing isolation of even close populations, and human activity.

History.

"Pinus pinaster" is a popular topic in ecology because of its problematic growth and spread in South Africa for the past 150 years after being imported into the region at the end of the 17th century (1685–1693). It was found spreading in the Cape Peninsula by 1772. Towards the end of the 18th century (1780), "P. pinaster" was widely planted, and at the beginning of the 19th century (1825–1830), "P. pinaster" was planted commercially as a timber resource and for the forestry industry. The pine tree species invades large areas and more specifically fynbos vegetation. Fynbos vegetation is a fire-prone shrubland vegetation that is found in the southern and southwest cape of South Africa. It is found in greater abundance close to watercourses. Dispersal, habitat loss, and fecundity are all factors that affect spread rate. The species favors acidic soils with medium to high-density vegetation, but it can also grow in basic soils and even in sandy and poor soils, where only few commercial species can grow.

Description.

"Pinus pinaster" is a medium-size tree, reaching 20–35 m tall and with a trunk diameter of up to 1.2 m, exceptionally 1.8 m.  The bark is orange-red, thick, and deeply fissured at the base of the trunk, somewhat thinner in the upper crown.  The leaves ('needles') are in pairs, very stout (2 mm broad), up to 25 cm long, and bluish-green to distinctly yellowish-green. The maritime pine features the longest and most robust needles of all European pine species.  The cones are conic, 10–20 cm long and 4–6 cm broad at the base when closed, green at first, ripening glossy red-brown when 24 months old. They open slowly over the next few years, or after being heated by a forest fire, to release the seeds, opening to 8–12 cm broad.  The seeds are 8–10 mm long, with a 20–25 mm wing, and are wind-dispersed.  Maritime pine is closely related to Turkish pine, Canary Island pine, and Aleppo pine, which all share many features with it. It is a relatively non-variable species, with constant morphology over the entire range.

Ecology.

Larvae of the moth "Dioryctria sylvestrella" feed on this pine. Their boring activity causes large quantities of resin to flow from the wounds which weakens the tree and allows fungi and other pathogens to gain entry.

Uses.

"Pinus pinaster" is widely planted for timber in its native area, being one of the most important trees in forestry in France, Spain and Portugal. Landes forest in southwest France is the largest man-made maritime pine forest in Europe. "Pinus pinaster" resin is also a useful source of turpentine and rosin.  In addition to industrial uses, maritime pine is also a popular ornamental tree, often planted in parks and gardens in areas with warm temperate climates. It has become naturalised in parts of southern England, Argentina, South Africa and Australia.  It is also used as a source of flavonoids, catechins, proanthocyanidins, and phenolic acids. A dietary supplement derived from extracts from "Pinus pinaster" bark called Pycnogenol is marketed with claims it can treat many conditions; however, according to a 2012 Cochrane review, the evidence is insufficient to support its use for the treatment of any chronic disorder.

Invasiveness.

Results of "P. pinaster" invasion.

"Pinus pinaster" is a successful invasive species in South Africa. One of the results of its invasion in South Africa is a decrease in the biodiversity of the native environment. The increase of extinction rates of the native species is correlated with the introduction of these species to South Africa. Invasive species occupy habitats of native species often forcing them to extinction or endangerment. For example, invasive species have the potential to decrease the diversity of native plants by 50–86% in the Cape Peninsula of South Africa. As discussed above, "P. pinaster" is a tree species found in shrubland in South Africa. When compared to other environment, shrublands have the largest decline of species richness when invaded by an invasive species (Z=–1.33, p<0.001). Compared to graminoids; trees, annual herbs, and creepers have a larger effect on decline of species richness (Z=–3.78; p<0.001). Lastly, compared to other countries, South Africa had the largest species richness decline when faced with invasive species. South Africa is not home to many insects and diseases that limit the population of "P. pinaster" back in its native habitat. Not only is there evidence that alien plant invasions decrease biodiversity, but there is also evidence that the location of "P. pinaster" increases its negative effect on the species richness.  In addition, depending on the regions "P. pinaster" invades, "P. pinaster" has the potential to dramatically alter the quantity of water in the environment. If "P. pinaster" invades an area covered with grasses and shrubs, the water level of the streams in this area would lower significantly because "P. pinaster" are evergreen trees that take up considerably more water than grasses and shrubs all year around. They deplete run-off in catchment areas and water flow in rivers. This depletes the resources available for other species in the environment. "P. pinaster" tends to grow rapidly in riparian zones, which are areas with abundant water where trees and plants grow twice as fast and invade. "P. pinaster" takes advantage of the water available and consequently reduces the amount of water in the area available for other species. The fynbos catchments on the Western Cape of South Africa are a habitat negatively affected by "P. pinaster". Twenty-three years after planting the pines, there was a 55% decrease in streamflow in this area. Similarly, in KwaZulu-Natal Drakensberg there was an 82% reduction in streamflow 20 years after introducing "P. pinaster" to the area. In the Mpumalanga Province, 6 streams completely dried up 12 years after grasslands were replaced with pines. To reinforce that, there is a negative effect from the invasive species "P. pinaster", these areas of dense "P. pinaster" were thinned and the number of trees in the area decreased. As a result, the streamflow in the fynbos catchments of the Western Cape increased by 44%. The streamflow in the Mpumalanga Province increased by 120%. As a result of "P. pinaster" growth, there is often less understory vegetation for livestock grazing. Once again there was a positive effect when some of the pines were removed and agreeable range grasses were planted. The grazing conditions for the sheep of the area were greatly improved when the "P. pinaster" plantation was thinned to 300 trees per hectare. The invasion of "P. pinaster" leads to the decrease of understory vegetation and therefore a decrease in livestock.  It is sporadically naturalizing in Oakland and San Leandro in northern California.

Ecological interactions.

"Pinus pinaster" is particularly successful in regions with fynbos vegetation because it is adapted to high-intensity fires, thus allowing it to outcompete other species that are not as well adapted to high-intensity fires. In areas of fire-prone shrubland, the cones of "P. pinaster" will release seeds when in a relatively high-temperature environment for germination as a recovery mechanism. This adaptation increases the competitive ability of "P. pinaster" amongst other species in the fire-prone shrubland. In a 3-year observational study done in Northwestern Spain, "P. pinaster" showed a naturally high regeneration rate. Observations showed a mean of 25.25 seedlings per square metre within the first year and then slowly decreased the next two years due to intraspecific competition. So not only does "P. pinaster" compete with other species, they also compete within their own species as well. When the height of "P. pinaster" increased there was a negative correlation with the number of "P. pinaster" seedlings, results showed a decrease in "P. pinaster" seedlings (r=–0.41, p<0.05).  Several other characteristics contribute to their success in the regions they have invaded, including their ability to grow rapidly and to produce small seeds with large wings. Their ability to grow quickly with short juvenile periods allows them to outcompete many native species while their small seeds aids in their dispersal. The small seeds with large wings are beneficial for wind dispersal, which is the key to reaching new areas in regions with fynbos vegetation. Vertebrate seed dispersers are not commonly found in mountain fynbos vegetation; therefore those species that require the aid of vertebrate dispersal would be at a disadvantage in such an environment. For this reason, the small seed, low seed wing loading, and high winds found in mountainous regions all combine to provide a favorable situation for the dispersal of "P. pinaster" seeds. Without this efficient dispersal strategy, "P. pinaster" would not have been able to reach and invade areas, such as South Africa, that are suitable for its growth. Its dispersal ability is one of the key factors that have allowed "P. pinaster" to become such a successful invasive species.  In addition to being an efficient disperser, "P. pinaster" is known to produce oleoresins, such as oily terpenes or fatty acids, which can inhibit other species within the community from growing. These resins are produced as a defense mechanism against insect predators, such as the large pine weevil. According to an experiment done in Spain, the resin canal density was twice as high in the "P. pinaster" seedlings attacked by the weevils compared to the unattacked seedlings. Since "P. pinaster" has the ability to regulate their production of defense mechanisms, it can protect itself from predatory in an energy-efficient manner. The resins make the "P. pinaster" less vulnerable to damage from insects, but they are only produced in high concentrations when "P. pinaster" is under attack. In other words, "P. pinaster" does not waste energy producing resins in safe conditions, so the conserved energy can be used for growth or reproduction. These characteristics enhance the ability of "P. pinaster" survive and flourish in the areas it invades. Both the traits of "P. pinaster" and the habitat in South Africa are conducive to the success of "P. pinaster" in this region of the world.

Options for biological control.

Insects and mites that feed on the seeds and cones of "P. pinaster" can be effective biological control options. An insect or mite that acts as an ideal biological control should have a high reproductive rate and be host-specific, meaning that it preys specifically on "P. pinaster". The life cycle of the predator should also match that of its specific host. Two key characteristics the predator should also exhibit are self-limitation and the ability to survive in the presence of a declining prey population. Seed feeding insects are an effective control because they have high reproductive rates and target the seeds without diminishing the positive effect of the plant on the environment. Controlling the spread of "P. pinaster" seeds in the region is the key to limiting the growth and spread of this species because "P. pinaster" has the ability to produce a large number of seeds that are capable of dispersing very efficiently. One possible option is Trisetacus, an eriophyid mite. The main advantage to using this mite to control the population of "P. Pinaster" is its specificity to "P. pinaster"; it can effectively control the population of "P. pinaster" by destroying the growing conelets in "P. pinaster" while limiting its impact to only this species. Another possible option is "Pissodes validirostris", a cone-feeding weevil that lays eggs in developing cones. When the larvae hatch, they feed on the growing seed tissue, preventing "P. pinaster" seeds from forming and dispersing. Although the adults feed on the trees as well, they do not do any damage to the seeds and only feed on the shoots of the tree, so they do not appear to negatively impact the growth of the trees. Different forms of "P. validirostris" have diverged to become host-specific to different pine trees. The type of "P. validirostris" that originated from Portugal appears to have specialized to "P. pinaster"; therefore, this insect may be used in the future to control the spread of "P. pinaster" in South Africa. The uncertainties regarding the host-specificity of different types of "P. validirostris", however, require more research to be completed before the introduction of the weevils into South Africa. An introduction of a species that is not host-specific to "P. pinaster" can lead to detrimental effects on both the environment and commercial industries that are dependent on certain tree species. Two other biological control possibilities include the pyralid moth species "Dioryctria mendasella" and "D. mitatella", but these species attack the vegetative tissue instead of just the seeds of "P. pinaster", harming the plant itself. As of now, the eriophyid mite and cone-feeding weevil seem to hold the most potential to controlling the spread of "P. pinaster" in the regions it has invaded because they destroy the reproductive structures of the target invasive species.

Pinus pinaster, the maritime pine or cluster pine, is a pine native to the Mediterranean region. It is a hard, fast growing pine containing small seeds with large wings.

Le pin maritime, pin des Landes, pin de Bordeaux, pin de Corte ou pin mésogéen ("Pinus pinaster"), est une espèce de conifères de la famille des pinacées. Il est parfois confondu avec le pin d'Alep ou le pin de Calabre.


Early years.

Lemieux was born in Montreal to Pierrette, a stay-at-home mom, and Jean-Guy Lemieux, an engineer. He and his older brothers Alain and Richard grew up in a working class family in the Ville-Émard district. Mario began practicing hockey at age three in his basement; before using real equipment, he and his brothers used wooden kitchen spoons as hockey sticks and bottle caps as pucks. His father created a rink on the front lawn so that the boys could practice as much as possible, and according to family legend, the family sometimes packed snow onto the living room carpet so the brothers could practice indoors when it was dark.  The young Lemieux was a teammate to future NHLers Marc Bergevin and J. J. Daigneault, on the same minor ice hockey team from Ville-Émard. Lemieux and Daigneault played together with RJ Donnelly and Gail Swann in the 1977 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament, with Lemieux, Cornish and Swann also competing in the 1978 tournament. Lemieux started his career with the Laval Voisins of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). When he was drafted at age 15, he declared that he would break league records. He made the request to coach Jean Bégin to play on a forward line

Playing career.

1984–1988: Early career.

At the start of Lemieux's career, the Penguins were in financial turmoil and there were rumours of relocation. The team had declared bankruptcy after the 1974–75 season, and by 1983, they were averaging fewer than 7,000 fans per game—less than half of the Civic Arena's capacity. They had not made the playoffs since 1982, and had not had a winning season since 1979.  He debuted on October 11, 1984, against the Boston Bruins and on his first shift, he stole the puck from Hall of Fame defenceman Ray Bourque and scored a goal with his first NHL shot against Pete Peeters. Later that season, Lemieux played in the NHL All-Star Game and became the first rookie to be named the All-Star Game's Most Valuable Player. Despite missing seven games during the season, Lemieux scored 100 points and won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the rookie of the year.  The next season, Lemieux finished

1988–1992: 199 points.

In the 1988–89 season, Lemieux led the league with 114 assists (tied with Gretzky) and 85 goals for 199 points; he is the only player to approach Gretzky's mammoth 200+ point seasons. Lemieux finished the season a close second to Gretzky in voting for the Hart Trophy, and set several milestones and records in the process, becoming the second player to score 70+ goals in two seasons, the fourth player to score 50 goals in 50 games, and the only player to score 13 shorthanded goals in one season. Buoyed in part by Lemieux' performance, the Penguins made the playoffs for the first time in seven

1992–1997: Cancer, return, and retirement.

The Penguins started the 1992–93 season well, and Lemieux set a franchise record with at least one goal in twelve consecutive games, from October 6 to November 1. He was on pace to challenge Gretzky's records of 92 goals in one season (1981–82) and 215 points in one season (1985–86), until January 12, 1993, when he made the shocking announcement that he had been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. He was forced to undergo energy-draining aggressive radiation treatments, leaving his career and possibly his survival in doubt. He missed two months of play, and without him, the Penguins struggled. When he returned, he was 12 points behind Buffalo's Pat LaFontaine in the scoring

1997–2000: Post-retirement.

The Penguins' free-spending ways of the early 1990s came at a high price. Through most of the 1990s, Penguins' owners Howard Baldwin and Morris Belzberg mismanaged the team, owing over $90 million to various creditors. As a consequence, the Penguins asked Lemieux and other prominent players to defer their salaries. The team was also forced to make several trades to stop the bleeding, most of which backfired.  The situation became so dire that the Penguins were forced to declare bankruptcy in November 1998. For most of the 1998–99 NHL season, it looked like the Penguins would either move out of town or fold altogether. At this point, Lemieux stepped in with an unusual proposal to buy the team. Years of deferred salaries, adding up to $32.5 million, had made him the Penguins' largest creditor. He proposed to convert $20 million of his deferred salary into equity, with another $5 million in cash, enough to give him controlling interest. He also promised to keep the team in Pittsburgh. The U.S. bankruptcy court gave preliminary approval to Lemieux's bid on June 24 Lemieux later said that

2000–2006: Out of retirement.

Late in 2000, there were rumours that Lemieux was attempting a comeback. Upon announcing his comeback, Lemieux also signed a "career spanning deal" with Nike to wear their equipment on the ice, and to endorse their products off the ice. This deal would include Lemieux endorsing their line of footwear and their golf equipment. It is said that the deal was worth $500,000 (US) a season and would remain in effect for the rest of his career. At the press conference confirming his return, Lemieux indicated part of his reason was that his only son Austin, then four, wanted to see his father play.  On December 27, 2000, he returned to the NHL against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The game was nationally broadcast on ESPN2 in the US and on "Hockey Night in Canada". Lemieux proved that his scoring touch had not disappeared by scoring a goal and three points, including an assist 33 seconds into the first shift of his return. While Jaromír Jágr remained captain of the Penguins, Lemieux was named captain of the North American All-Stars during the midseason All-Star game in Denver, Colorado. Despite playing in only 43 games in 2000–01, Lemieux scored 76 points to finish 26th in scoring, finishing the season with the highest points-per-game average that season among NHL players. In fact, he had the highest points-per-game average amongst NHL players for the entire period from his 2001 return until his final retirement in 2006. Lemieux was one of the three finalists for the Hart Memorial Trophy and Lester B. Pearson NHLPA awards and earned a selection on the postseason NHL All-Star Second Team.  Lemieux led the Penguins in the postseason and led in playoff

2006–present: Second retirement.

On January 24, 2006, Lemieux announced his second and permanent retirement from professional hockey at the age of 40. This followed a half-season in which he struggled not only with the increased speed of the "new NHL" but also with atrial fibrillation, which caused him to experience irregular heartbeats. Although he had put up points at a pace that most NHL forwards would be very content with (22 points in 26 games) in his last season, Lemieux still remarked that "I can no longer play at a level I was accustomed to in the past." In October 2006, Lemieux's ownership group announced that it had reached an agreement to sell the Penguins to Research In Motion Chairman and Co-CEO Jim Balsillie. However, Balsillie unexpectedly rescinded his offer two months later after an apparent dispute with the NHL Board of Governors over purchasing conditions, despite Balsillie having earlier pledged to the Board that he would not relocate the team. Lemieux was offended that Balsillie had pulled out at last

International play.

Lemieux played for Canada in the 1983 World Junior Championships (bronze medal), 1985 World Championships (silver medal), 1987 Canada Cup (championship), 2002 Winter Olympics (captain, gold medal) and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey (captain, championship).  At the 2002 Winter Olympics, having been selected by Gretzky to captain the roster, the then-36-year-old Lemieux led the Canadian men's team into Salt Lake City, United States. The team had failed to win a gold medal at the Olympics in fifty years but were still considered favourites to win. Lemieux was second to Joe Sakic in team scoring with six points in five games, and led the team to gold by defeating the United States 5–2 in the final game. Lemieux showcased his amazing hockey intelligence during the gold medal game against the United States. With Team Canada trailing 1–0 in the first period, Lemieux made one

Personal life.

The youngest of three sons of Jean-Guy and Pierrette Lemieux, he was raised by his stay-at-home mother, and his father, who was a construction worker.  Off the ice, Lemieux smoked a half a pack of cigarettes daily. He finally gave it up, perhaps due to Hodgkin's Disease.  Mario Lemieux married Nathalie Asselin on June 26, 1993. They have four children: Lauren (born April 1993), Stephanie (born 1995), Austin Nicholas (born 1996) and Alexa (born 1997). Austin was born prematurely, weighing just two pounds, five ounces, but he is perfectly healthy today, and plays college hockey for Arizona State University. The family lives in the affluent Pittsburgh suburb of Sewickley. Lemieux

Charitable causes.

He created the Mario Lemieux Foundation during the same year he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma (1993), to fund medical research projects. Additionally, the foundation supports other organizations, including the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Leukemia Society, the Lupus Foundation and the Children's Home of Pittsburgh. In 2007, he was among the well-known athletes who founded Athletes for Hope, a charitable organization which helps professional athletes get involved in charitable causes and inspires non-athletes to volunteer and

Legacy.

A statue in his honour, created by sculptor Bruce Wolfe, was erected in Pittsburgh on March 7, 2012, outside of Consol Energy Center. The statue is modelled after a play in a 1988 game against the New York Islanders where Lemieux slipped in between Islanders defencemen Rich Pilon

Celebrity golf.

Lemieux has competed at the American Century Championship, an annual competition to determine the best golfers among American sports and entertainment celebrities. He won the tournament in 1998 and has two top ten finishes. It was this year when he shot a 3-under 69 to earn him the ACC trophy. The tournament, televised by NBC in July, is played at Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

Mario Lemieux (; ; born October 5, 1965) is a Canadian-American former professional ice hockey player. He played parts of 17 National Hockey League (NHL) seasons with the Pittsburgh Penguins from 1984 to 2006, assuming ownership in 1999. Nicknamed "The Magnificent One" or Le Magnifique (as well as "Super Mario"), he is widely acknowledged to have been one of the greatest players of all time. A gifted playmaker and fast skater despite his large size, Lemieux often beat defencemen with fakes and dekes.

Mario Lemieux,,, est un joueur canadien de hockey sur glace. Surnommé « "Le Magnifique" » du fait de son talent, récompensé par de nombreux titres, il est considéré comme l’un des plus grands joueurs de l’histoire du hockey et de la Ligue nationale de hockey (également désignée par le sigle LNH). Ses statistiques parlent d'elles-mêmes : il fait partie du petit cercle des joueurs avec plus de 500 buts, ainsi que de celui de ceux avec plus de et il figure tout en haut des classements des meneurs de la Ligue nationale de hockey.


Plot.

As summer draws to a close, a violent downpour interrupts a beach-side beauty pageant in a provincial town on the Adriatic coast. Sandra Rubini (Leonora Ruffo), elected "Miss Mermaid of 1953", suddenly grows upset and faints: rumours fly that she's expecting a baby by inveterate skirt chaser Fausto Moretti (Franco Fabrizi). Under pressure from Francesco (Jean Brochard), his respectable father, Fausto agrees to a shotgun wedding. After the sparsely attended middle-class ceremony, the newlyweds leave town on their honeymoon.  Unemployed and living off their parents, Fausto's twenty-something friends kill time shuffling from empty cafés to seedy pool halls to aimless walks across desolate windswept beaches. During the interim, they perform childish pranks. Taunting honest road workers from the safety of a luxury car they never earned, they're given a sound thrashing when it breaks down.  Moraldo Rubini (Franco Interlenghi), Sandra's brother and the youngest of the five "vitelloni", uncomfortably observes Fausto's womanizing as he ponders his own existence, dreaming of ways to escape to the big city. Riccardo (Riccardo Fellini), the baritone, nourishes unrealistic ambitions to sing and act. Alberto (Alberto Sordi), the daydreamer, is supported by his mother and self-reliant sister, Olga (Claude Farell). Vulnerable and effeminate, he's unhappy that Olga is secretly dating a married man. Leopoldo (Leopoldo Trieste), the aspiring dramatist, writes a play that he discusses with Sergio Natali (Achille Majeroni), an eccentric stage actor he hopes will perform in it.  Back from his honeymoon and settled in with Sandra, Fausto is forced to accept a job as a stockroom assistant in a religious-articles shop owned by Michele Curti (Carlo Romano), a friend of his father-in-law's. Incorrigible, he pursues other women even in his wife's presence.  At the annual masquerade ball, Fausto is bedazzled by the mature beauty of Giulia Curti (Lída Baarová), his employer's wife. Alberto, in drag and half-drunk, executes a surrealistic dance across the ballroom floor with a goofy carnival head made of papier-mâché. Returning home at dawn, Alberto is devastated to find his sister running off for good with her married lover. Fausto's naive attempt to seduce Giulia results in his being humiliated and then fired by her husband. In revenge, he steals the statue of an angel in gold paint from his former employer, enlisting the loyal Moraldo to help him sell it to a monk. Suspicious, the monk turns down the offer. Fausto ends up giving the statue to a simple-minded peasant (Silvio Bagolini) who sets the angel on a mound outside his hovel, caressing it.  One evening after a variety show, Leopoldo agrees to accompany old Sergio for a walk along the seashore to discuss the merits of his play but when the actor propositions him, he takes to his heels in horror. Learning of Fausto's one-night stand with an actress, Sandra runs away from home, taking the baby with her. Riccardo, Alberto, Leopoldo, and Moraldo all join in Fausto's desperate search to trace his wife and child. When they find her at the home of Fausto's father, Francesco pulls off his belt in a rage and finally whips his son. Later Fausto and Sandra walk home happily, with optimism about their life together. Resolved to abandon the provincial monotony of his dead-end town, Moraldo boards the train for anyplace else (Rome), imagining his "vitelloni" friends sleeping their lives away.

Production.

Writing.

Having completed an early version of "La Strada" with co-screenwriter Tullio Pinelli in 1952, Fellini offered their "modern fairy tale" to producer Luigi Rovere with whom he was still under contract. Rovere had solid reasons for turning it down: apart from the script of "La Strada" being an unrecognizable genre, Fellini's last film, "The White Sheik", had been a critical and commercial flop. In a show of soildarity, Rovere loaned the script to a Venetian professor of calligraphy turned film producer, Lorenzo Pegoraro, who had admired "The White Sheik". Convinced that "La Strada" would never attract an audience, Pegoraro requested that Fellini develop a comedy instead. Biographers differ as to who conceived "I Vitelloni". For Tullio Kezich, it was Fellini who hit on the idea "after an afternoon-long consultation" with Ennio Flaiano. For Hollis Alpert, it was Pinelli brain-storming with Fellini and Flaiano who came up "with a notion the other two liked: the pleasures and frustrations of growing up in a provincial town". Under Fellini's supervision, all three together rapidly wrote the script, pooling their adolescent memories while inventing new ones.

Title.

Distributors interested in the script demanded a title change: incomprehensible to a general audience, "I vitelloni" was a liability to an already risky venture. Fellini adamantly refused to change it, having chosen the film's title after "being called a "vitellone" by an elderly woman expressing disapproval of one of his pranks". For him, "vitelloni" were "the unemployed of the middle class, mother's pets. They shine during the holiday season, and waiting for it takes up the rest of the year". According to biographer Alpert, the term was Romagnol for "veal, or calf... used to refer to callow youths". Today, the term is widely translated as "big calves".  The actual origin of the term has been defined as a cross between the Italian words for veal ("vitello") and beef ("bovino") implying "an immature, lazy person without a clear identity or any notion of what to do with his life". In a 1971 letter, co-screenwriter Ennio Flaiano offered a fuller meaning of the word: "The term "vitellone" was used in my day to define a young man from a modest family, perhaps a student – but one who had either already gone beyond the programmed schedule for his coursework, or one who did nothing all the time... I believe the term is a corruption of the word "vudellone", the large intestine, or a person who eats a lot. It was a way of describing the family son who only ate but never 'produced' – like an intestine, waiting to be filled."

Casting.

Despite his reputation as box office poison, and against Pegoraro's express wishes, Fellini once again cast Alberto Sordi in a major role. Intent on playing the lead, however, Sordi didn't accept Fellini's offer until later in production. Pegoraro's skeptical distributors, far from closing the deal, demanded a clause in the contract banning Sordi's name from theatrical posters. To make matters worse, Fellini also cast Leopoldo Trieste (the lead in "The White Sheik" fiasco) as the budding dramatist, and his brother Riccardo, a total unknown, to interpret his own role. Further unknowns included Franco Interlenghi and Leonora Ruffo who had just wrapped on "The Queen of Sheba". Although Czech actress Lída Baarová had a cult following, she was more famous for her love affair with Nazi Joseph Goebbels than for any of her film roles. Fellini topped things off by casting Franco Fabrizi as Fausto, an actor who had begun his film career in 1950 with Michelangelo Antonioni's "Chronicle of a Love" but had recently bombed in "Christ Passed by the Barn". Pressured by his financial backers – a Florentine business group and the Paris-based Cité Film, Pegoraro finally balked at the lack of a star. "Sordi makes people run away," he complained to Fellini. "Leopoldo Trieste is a nobody. Meet me half way – bring in a name."  To placate him, Fellini contacted Vittorio De Sica, hoping to convince him to play the part of Sergio Natali, the aging ham actor. When Fellini outlined the homosexual overtones of the role, De Sica accepted provided it were written with "a great deal of humanity". In the end, he rejected the offer, "concerned about being marked as actually gay". Fellini then decided that De Sica would have been "too nice, too fascinating, too distracting" and cast Achille Majeroni, a respected stage actor, in the part.

Filming and editing.

Described as an "itinerant production", shooting was tailored to accommodate Sordi's variety show schedule, requiring Fellini and his troupe to follow him from town to town across Italy. On tour in the "Big Ruckus", Sordi rehearsed his role and was ready for filming during his hours off. Accordingly, when the actor toured Florence, shooting began as an all-night party at the city's Teatro Goldoni in early December 1952. Supervised by production manager Luigi Giacosi whom Fellini had first met while on location in Tripoli during the war, and photographed by veteran cinematographer Otello Martelli, the rushes served as the basis of the masquerade ball, a major sequence. With a break in production for Christmas, shooting resumed on January 15, 1953. Constrained by the shoestring budget, many scenes were shot in a natural decor. In Ostia, a quay provided the winter setting for Fausto and his gang to wander around listlessly staring at the sea. In Fiumicino, the terrace of the Kursaal Hotel was the backdrop for the beauty pageant that opens the film. Accustomed to movies produced on promises, Giacosi maintained morale by ensuring that cast and crew dined in the best restaurants in the towns they visited.  Working with several cinematographers over a six-month period, Fellini developed a predominant camera style based on slow tracking shots that "match the listless, purposeless lives" of his characters. Zooms underscored dramatic events, most notably when Sandra falls ill at the beauty pageant, after the birth of her child, and when Francesco beats his wayward son.  With editor Rolando Benedetti, Fellini established a rhythm in which short sequences were separated by abrupt cuts while longer sequences used dissolves. The numerous brief and disparate episodes "governed by their own internal logic" were thus held together by a particular editing pattern. A freeze-frame was used to immobilize the young Guido, Moraldo's friend, at the end of the film when he balances himself on a railtrack.

Critical response.

Italy and France  Screened in competition at the 14th Venice International Film Festival on 26 August 1953, the film was awarded the Silver Lion by Italian poet Eugenio Montale who headed the jury, along with a public ovation and acclaim from the majority of critics. "Belying all doubts about its appeal", the film opened on September 17, 1953 to both commercial and critical success.  Reviewing for "La Stampa", Mario Gromo argued that it was a "film of a certain importance because of its many intelligent moments, its sound portrayal of provincial life, and because it is the second film of a young director who evidently has considerable talent... The Italian film industry now has a new director and one who puts his own personal ideas before any of the customary traditions of the trade. Fellini's is a fresh approach". "It is the atmosphere that counts most in this unusual film," wrote Francesco Càallari of the "Gazzetta del Lunedi", "an intensely human and poetical atmosphere altogether estranged from the provincialism of the setting... Fellini has something to say and he says it with an acute sense of observation... Here is someone apart from the other young directors of post-war Italian cinema. Fellini has a magical touch." First published 31 August 1953 in the "Gazzeta del Lunedi" (Genoa). After praising Fellini's Venice triumph, Ermanno Contini of "Il Secolo XIX" outlined the film's weaknesses: ""I Vitelloni" does not have a particularly solid structure, the story is discontinuous, seeking unity through the complex symbiosis of episodes and details... The narrative, built up around strong emotions and powerful situations, lacks solid organic unity, and at times this undermines the story's creative force, resulting in an imbalance of tone and pace and a certain sense of tedium. But such shortcomings are amply atoned for by the film's sincerity and authenticity." Arturo Lanocita of "Corriere della Sera" wrote: ""I Vitelloni" gives a graphic and authentic picture of certain aimless evenings, the streets populated by groups of idle youths... The film is a series of annotations, hints, and allusions without unity... With a touch of irony, Fellini tries to show the contrast between the way his characters see themselves and the way they really are. Despite its weaknesses, the film is one of the best in recent years." For Giulio Cesare Castello of "Cinema VI", the film proved "that Fellini is the Italian film industry's most talented satirist, and an acute observer and psychologist of human behaviour. Like any good moralist, he knows how to give his story a meaning, to provide more than just simple entertainment".  Fellini's first film with international distribution, "I Vitelloni" did reasonable box office in England and North America while performing "huge in Argentina". Opening in France on 23 April 1954, it was especially well received. André Martin of "Les Cahiers du Cinéma" insisted that by "virtue of the quality of the narrative, and the balance and control of the film as a whole, "I Vitelloni" is neither commercial nor does it possess those traits that usually permit a work of art to be consecrated and defined. With a surprising and effective sense of cinema, Fellini endows his characters with a life both simple and real". Film critic Geneviève Agel appreciated the maestro's symbolism: "Fellini films a deserted piazza at nighttime. It symbolizes solitude, the emptiness that follows communal joy, the bleak torpor that succeeds the swarming crowd; there are always papers lying around like so many reminders of what the day and life have left behind."  United States  "I Vitelloni" opened in the United States on 7 November 1956 to generally positive reviews. In his "New York Times" review, Bosley Crowther reported that Fellini, with "his volatile disposition and a desire to make a stinging film... does certainly take a vigorous whiplash to the breed of over-grown and over-sexed young men who hang around their local poolrooms and shun work as though it were a foul disease. He ridicules them with all the candor of his sharp neo-realist style, revealing their self-admiration to be sadly immature and absurd. And without going into reasons for the slack state of these young men, he indicates that they are piteous and merit some sympathy too". For John Simon, Nino Rota's music was one "of the most brilliant features of the film... The first [of its two main themes] is a soaring, romantic melody that can be made to express nostalgia, love, and the pathos of existence... Slowed down, [the second main theme] becomes lugubrious; with eerie figurations in the woodwinds it turns sinister. The quicksilver changes in the music support the changing moods of the story".  The film was re-released internationally on the tenth anniversary of Fellini's death in 2003. For the "San Francisco Chronicle", Mick LaSalle noted that "I Vitelloni" was "a film of sensitivity, observation and humor – a must-see for Fellini enthusiasts and a worthwhile investment for everyone else. Those less taken by the maestro may find "I Vitelloni" to be a favorite among his works". Michael Wilmington of the "Chicago Tribune" wrote: "In Italy, it remains one of Fellini's most consistently loved movies. It should be in America as well... If you still remember that terrific drunk scene, Alberto Sordi's pre-"Some Like It Hot" drag tango or the way the little boy balances on the train track at the end, you should know that this picture plays as strongly now as it did in 1956 or whenever you first saw it. I know I had a ball watching "I Vitelloni" again. It reminded me of the old gang."

Influence.

One of Fellini's most imitated films, "I Vitelloni" inspired European directors Juan Antonio Bardem, Marco Ferreri, and Lina Wertmüller, and influenced Martin Scorsese's "Mean Streets" (1973), George Lucas's "American Graffiti" (1973), and Joel Schumacher's "St. Elmo's Fire" (1985), among many others according to Kezich. These include Philip Kaufman's "The Wanderers" (1979). While Barry Levinson's "Diner" (1982) features a similar group of young men, Levinson has said he never saw "I Vitelloni" before making his own film.  In a 1963 edition of "Cinema" magazine, acclaimed director Stanley Kubrick cited the film as one of his top 10 favourite films.

Awards.

Wins  Nominations

I vitelloni (; lit. "The Bullocks/The layabouts") is a 1953 Italian comedy-drama directed by Federico Fellini from a screenplay by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano and Tullio Pinelli. The film launched the career of Alberto Sordi, one of post-war Italy's most significant and popular comedians, who stars with Franco Fabrizi and Franco Interlenghi in a story of five young Italian men at crucial turning points in their small town lives. Recognized as a pivotal work in the director's artistic evolution, the film has distinct autobiographical elements that mirror important societal changes in 1950s Italy. Recipient of both the Venice Film Festival Silver Lion in 1953, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing in 1958, the film's success restored Fellini's reputation after the commercial failure of "The White Sheik" (1952).

Les Vitelloni ("") est un film franco-italien de Federico Fellini, de style proche du néoréalisme italien, sorti en 1953, tourné en noir-et-blanc, qui fut commercialisé aussi en France sous le titre Les Inutiles. Il reçut le Lion d'argent au Festival de Venise en 1953.