Club ·
1936: the origins of Rhexia
A group of friends from the Journal de Genève, a rejected name, long debates… and a Romansh word that made history.
In the spring of 1936, a group of friends working at the Journal de Genève newspaper decided to create a football team to play friendly matches.
A serious society
On Thursday 30 April 1936, at 8.45 pm, a meeting was held at the Moulin-Rouge café. The tone was set straight away: Mr Jaccard asked “that we proceed in an orderly manner, since we are founding a serious society and not one just for a laugh”. He was elected the club’s first president.
That evening, the first committee was formed:
- President: Mr Jaccard
- Vice-president: Mr Jacquier
- Treasurer: Mr Tranchet
- Secretary: Mr Zbinden
- Steward: Mr Lucien Fetz
- Assistant member and coach: Mr Chevigny
The meeting also set the first rules: a monthly fee of one franc for active members, training every Wednesday from 6 pm to 7.30 pm, and steps to obtain permission to play at Varembé, “the ground that seems the most central for the team”.
The battle for a name
The team was first called AMICAL FC, a name rejected by the Swiss Football Association (ASF), which felt it could cause confusion. Long debates followed, during which the names Mail, Rex, Bourdon, Alliance, Standard, Coriolan, Léman and Dufour were proposed one after another.
In the end, the name Rhexia FC was adopted unanimously.
This strange-sounding word must have caught people’s imagination. Of Romansh origin, it means “little queen” or “little flower”.
The original document
The handwritten minutes of this founding meeting have been preserved. You can discover them, with a full English translation, on The club page.