Stade Charles-Mathon

The ground carries the name of a player who died in 1940. The surface is synthetic, the first of its kind in the French first division.

Stade Charles-Mathon sits at the end of a long concrete forecourt. The entrance is marked by a ticket booth painted in the club’s colours, and the main stand is labelled Tribune Mathon. There is no running track around the pitch, only the grass. The light towers are tall and thin, positioned to cut across the wind that funnels down from the mountains.

Oyonnax Rugby are the only tenants. They have played in the top flight and in the second tier, but the ground does not distinguish between the two. On match days the parking lot fills with cars from the surrounding towns. When the team played against Stade Toulousain in 2014, the crowd filled the concrete benches. The record has not been broken since.

The stadium has hosted international touring sides, including the Toyota Cheetahs and Ulster, but it has never staged a Rugby World Cup match. The stands are cramped when the team plays in the top division, with fans sitting close to the action. A match against Ulster in 2016 was postponed and later cancelled due to events in Paris, but the fixture in the cups remains a memory for those who attended. The South End Stand is sponsored by Hyundai, a name that appears on the signage above the entrance. The club moved to the second tier after the 2023–24 season, and the stadium now holds a smaller crowd than before.