Players the French keep (6)
I believe the answer is:
castle
'keep' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'players the french' is the wordplay.
'players' becomes 'cast' (I've seen this before).
'the french' becomes 'le'.
'cast'+'le'='CASTLE'
(Other definitions for castle that I've seen before include "Chess piece and fortified building" , "Fortified place on the chess board" , "Imposing residence, perhaps fortified" , "the home of a Sassenach?" , "Fortified stronghold" .)