Re: Toulouse : Tue Sep 21, 2021 2:29 pm  

jarol wrote:

Did Catalans play this weekend with only two Frenchmen in their starting 13 and five in the 17? How is this helping french rugby league? For me the biggest fear for super league has to be Catalans reaching the grand final! Unlike Wembley where plenty of neutrals go it tends to be club supporters at Old Trafford.

If that’s your biggest fear then the rest of the game must be hunky dory…

Re: Toulouse : Tue Sep 21, 2021 8:13 pm  

jarol wrote:

Did Catalans play this weekend with only two Frenchmen in their starting 13 and five in the 17? How is this helping french rugby league? For me the biggest fear for super league has to be Catalans reaching the grand final! Unlike Wembley where plenty of neutrals go it tends to be club supporters at Old Trafford.

You’ve never been to a grand final then.

Re: Toulouse : Tue Sep 21, 2021 9:57 pm  

jarol wrote:

Did Catalans play this weekend with only two Frenchmen in their starting 13 and five in the 17? How is this helping french rugby league?

The OP was just looking for bites as usual.

All SL clubs will look to sign the very best players they can from wherever they can.

Les Catalans and Toulouse are only doing what the English clubs do.

It is a European league.

It may put RL in France back on French TV.......

Re: Toulouse : Thu Sep 23, 2021 1:16 pm  

TheWarringtonWolve69 wrote:

You’ve never been to a grand final then.

Fortunately I’m a Rhinos fan so been to plenty of finals. First one Wembley 71/72. Only missed the Wembley 2020 final and not missed a Premiership or Grand final involving Leeds. Anyway I may have not have put my point across very well. While I congratulate Toulouse and hope they bring a much needed injection of interest to rugby league both in France and here. Rugby league is a spectator sport! Simple economics is no spectators no professional rugby.

Re: Toulouse : Thu Sep 23, 2021 6:30 pm  

jarol wrote:

Simple economics is no spectators no professional rugby.

If only you'd had th decency to tell David Hughes that in 2007, the London Broncos wouldn't be bolted on for League 1 in 2023. Mind you, he did his best to disprove your simple economics by replacing leaving fans with mor.of his cash every year....
Toulouse & Catalans in SL is good for the game. They'll struggle to attract travelling fans to France in large numbers but rather than whine about it in true RL style, they'll do more to attract bigger home crowds........
It really wouldn't hurt if the fixture people worked with the sides and dare I suggest that UK sides spend a week in France taking in 2 games.....joined up thinking might be in order and fans would certainly take the opportunity for 7 day break in France in greater numbers and the clubs could offer (and make coin from) official tours???

Re: Toulouse : Mon Sep 27, 2021 7:46 am  

jarol wrote:

Fortunately I’m a Rhinos fan so been to plenty of finals. First one Wembley 71/72. Only missed the Wembley 2020 final and not missed a Premiership or Grand final involving Leeds. Anyway I may have not have put my point across very well. While I congratulate Toulouse and hope they bring a much needed injection of interest to rugby league both in France and here. Rugby league is a spectator sport! Simple economics is no spectators no professional rugby.

Thanks for giving us a post, apologies for the troll getting at you in both his disguises.... Toulouse have a theoretical right to be in Superleague (Europe) but I can't see them "bringing a much needed injection of interest to rugby league both in France and here".

We know crowds are down when Catalans come here even if that's just on no away fans, notwithstanding many English fans disinterest in French clubs. With respect I don't think you can have it both ways If say Wigan went to play in France how would that do anything but seriously deplete the game here, and send a message that English Rugby League is dying?? How many borderline season ticket holders would renew if Wigan were off the Superleague Fixture list? How would SKY and English fans react if Wigan were not in the English game anymore??

Re: Toulouse : Mon Sep 27, 2021 11:15 am  

In the 2019 season (the last before Covid hit), Catalans had an average attendance of over 10k

Wigans average has plummeted from 16k in 2011 to circa 11k in 2019. I know you hate the french, but you cant blame Catalans for that

Re: Toulouse : Mon Sep 27, 2021 1:54 pm  

TheWarringtonWolve69 wrote:

In the 2019 season (the last before Covid hit), Catalans had an average attendance of over 10k

Wigans average has plummeted from 16k in 2011 to circa 11k in 2019. I know you hate the french, but you cant blame Catalans for that

Your team the Warrington Wolves, what’s their average?

Re: Toulouse : Mon Sep 27, 2021 9:14 pm  

DallasMead2 wrote:

Your team the Warrington Wolves, what’s their average?

Whilst the Donnyman searches for imaginary trolls, I'll answer the question for you.

Warrington Wolves average attendance in 2011 was 10,598 (according to the statisticians over at RLproject) This dropped to 10,431 in 2019...a 1,5% drop.
Wigan went from 14,833 to 11,420 in the same period....a drop of some 23%

For some comparison, SL averaged 9,970 and then 9,379...so about 6% drop.....but both Warrington and Wigan average more than the competition average that was dragged down in both instances by London

Re: Toulouse : Tue Sep 28, 2021 6:42 am  

In the same period that Wigan lost 6000 fans, the Wolfs average has remained fairly static

The average attendance that Catalans gets puts a lot of heartlands clubs to shame.

Once Toulouse get in SL they will probably get similar attendances as Catalans