Carlos Zalduendo (French: Charles Zalduendo) (born in Peralta, 17 August 1952) is a French former rugby league footballer and the chairman of the Toulouse Olympique club.

Carlos Zalduendo
Zalduendo at the France-Australia match in the Four Nations, 2009
Personal information
Full nameCarlos Zalduendo
Born (1952-08-17) 17 August 1952 (age 72)
Peralta, Navarre, Spain
Playing information
PositionProp, Second-row, Hooker
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1969–80 Toulouse Olympique 0 0 0 0 0
1980–82 Villeneuve Leopards 0 0 0 0 0
1982–84 Saint-Gaudens 0 0 0 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0 0
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1971–82 France 25 0 0 0 0
As of 23 Aug 2021
TitleChairman of Toulouse Olympique

Between 2012 and 2016, he was president of the French Rugby League Federation.

He is also a former police inspector (later police officer, after the 1995 reform which made obsolete the dichotomy between plainclothes and uniformed agents[1]).

Biography

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He was the youngest of a family with five sons. He arrived in France at the age of 5 years.[2] His father was a bricklayer who settled in Artix, near Pau, while his mother settled in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. During his childhood, he dominated three languages, Spanish, Basque and French.[3] Wanting to become a curate, he attended the Gimont seminar from the seventh to the fourth year and then, the Christ Roi in Toulouse until the first year.[4] Parallelly, he practiced many sports activities such as track and field, handball and rugby union, attending the Section Paloise's club.[5] Scouted at the age of 16 by the Toulouse Olympique talent scout, he engaged himself and quickly demonstrated real attitude to play for Toulouse Olympique in First Division at the age of 17 and become a French international at age 17.[6] As rugby league could not afford him a living, he parallelly sat and passed a police inspector competitive exam in Toulouse and occupied this activity between 1975 and 2007, appreciating the "feeling of usefulness" of said profession,[7] attending the criminal justice, vice unit and liquor licence services. He allied for his entire rugby league player career with his police inspector work.[8]

Player career

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He played for Toulouse (1969–80), Villeneuve-sur-Lot (1980–82) and Saint-Gaudens (1982–84). During his playing career, he was selected 25 times to play for the France national team and beat Australia twice in 1978. He was twice French Champion with Toulouse in 1973 and 1975.

After his playing career, he became vice-president of the French Rugby League Federation between 1985 and 1994 and took the presidency of the Toulouse Olympique club in 1995[9] until 2012.[10]

As chairman of Toulouse Olympique, he created the association "La Table Ovale" in 1995 by placing a partner network around Toulouse Olympique, to allow the club to join the Super League.[11]

Honours

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References

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  1. ^ Mouret, Aimé, ... (December 2011). Le Who's who du rugby à XIII (Editions de l'Ixcea ed.). Toulouse: Éd. de l'Ixcéa. p. 289. ISBN 978-2-84918-118-8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ "Toulouse. Carlos Zalduendo, l'homme tout terrain". ladepeche.fr (in French).
  3. ^ "Toulouse. Carlos Zalduendo : le XIII lui porte bonheur". ladepeche.fr (in French).
  4. ^ "Toulouse. Carlos Zalduendo : le XIII lui porte bonheur". ladepeche.fr (in French).
  5. ^ "Toulouse. Carlos Zalduendo : le XIII lui porte bonheur". ladepeche.fr (in French).
  6. ^ "Toulouse. Carlos Zalduendo, l'homme tout terrain". ladepeche.fr (in French).
  7. ^ "Toulouse. Carlos Zalduendo, l'homme tout terrain". ladepeche.fr (in French).
  8. ^ "Toulouse. Carlos Zalduendo, l'homme tout terrain". ladepeche.fr (in French).
  9. ^ "Carlos Zalduendo "raconte sa ville"" [Toulouse. Carlos Zalduendo "tells about his city"]. ladepeche.fr (in French). La Depeche. 4 April 2007.
  10. ^ "Toulouse. Carlos Zalduendo : Le XIII lui porte bonheur".
  11. ^ "Toulouse. Carlos Zalduendo : le XIII lui porte bonheur". ladepeche.fr (in French).
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