Looks to be a few issues in France : Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:24 am  

http://www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/RLP/Ar ... _Paris.htm We hear a lot about all the good things happening in France but very little about the effect the Dragons promotion to Super League has had on the Elite competitions. Jamie gives a no holes bared answer about the state of the game. "The state of the game down the south of France is alive barely. The code is relying upon a die hard supporter base to sustain a sport that is barely recognisable in this country. When people talk about rugby it is met with the reference of the 15 a side code. Proper grass root development is what this country needs. Pouring more money into Catalans while the national competition is dying a slow death is not what's required. The game will never grow while you continually rob Peter to give to Paul". The Catalan Dragons are still struggling to get main stream media attention in France. Could this be addressed with a team in Paris?

http://www.rugbyleagueplanet.com/RLP/Ar ... _Paris.htm We hear a lot about all the good things happening in France but very little about the effect the Dragons promotion to Super League has had on the Elite competitions. Jamie gives a no holes bared answer about the state of the game. "The state of the game down the south of France is alive barely. The code is relying upon a die hard supporter base to sustain a sport that is barely recognisable in this country. When people talk about rugby it is met with the reference of the 15 a side code. Proper grass root development is what this country needs. Pouring more money into Catalans while the national competition is dying a slow death is not what's required. The game will never grow while you continually rob Peter to give to Paul". The Catalan Dragons are still struggling to get main stream media attention in France. Could this be addressed with a team in Paris?

[John_D]

Re: Looks to be a few issues in France : Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:30 am  

I don't think anyone is pretending everything is rosy. St Gaudens going into administration this week clearly highlights the issue in case anyone wasn't paying attention.
I don't think there's a clear focus on what the LER is actually for, especially as it's the only professional league played during the European winter. This is something the FFRXIII could do with getting to grips with rather than dallying with the quinzistes of Stade Francais. I don't have a ready answer, but I'd love to at least kick-start a debate.

National recognition for the sport only comes when a club does something great - Toulouse to the Challenge Cup semis, Dragons to the final - when a page in L'Equipe is about as good as it gets. Having a club in Paris won't change that unless they do likewise. The excuses for not covering a Parisian team will be fewer, but they'll still exist. Moreover, having a team in Paris for the sake of having a team in Paris is a foolhardy, short-sighted idea - like a toddler giving it the 'look at me's. We've built houses on sand before and, who could have foreseen, they duly collapsed. Doing it again would only, again, financially imperil the FFRXIII and/or Super League. The Dragons and Toulouse are built on a solid foundation, as would be the proposed Aude club about which discussions are ongoing.

With clubs playing in the English leagues, aspiring players have something to aim for. An inability to tap into that is to the shame of the FFRXIII and club boards.

Re: Looks to be a few issues in France : Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:48 am  

In my opinion the key to any future success in French rugby league has to be a rock solid base. The grassroots of the game need to be a priority because as much as Catalans and possibly Toulouse achieve what will it actually mean if there are no junior clubs around to supply the players of the future.
I agree with John with regards to the idea of 'having a team in Paris for the sake of having a team in Paris'. Surely the best idea would be to look at giving the club as much time as possible to grow naturally and establish a supporter base and then and only then look at admitting them to the Championship or Super League.

Re: Looks to be a few issues in France : Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:01 pm  

It has been my argument all along that if you take clubs out of a national competition and put them in another country's comp then you weaken the first country's structure. I understand Catalans as French Internationals were leaving the game causing damage to the International game.

As Toulouse is such a long way from Perpignan and fills a gap at NL1 level I can see the benefit however Elite 1 would look so much better with Toulouse in it.

Re: Looks to be a few issues in France : Sun Jan 31, 2010 12:03 pm  

rs wrote:

It has been my argument all along that if you take clubs out of a national competition and put them in another country's comp then you weaken the first country's structure. I understand Catalans as French Internationals were leaving the game causing damage to the International game.

As Toulouse is such a long way from Perpignan and fills a gap at NL1 level I can see the benefit however Elite 1 would look so much better with Toulouse in it.

But would they be able to attract the same quality of player? If the answer to that is yes surely they'd walk the Elite 1. Having one team so far ahead of the others does nothing for the club in question or the competition as a whole in my opinion.

Re: Looks to be a few issues in France : Sun Jan 31, 2010 1:15 pm  

rs wrote:

It has been my argument all along that if you take clubs out of a national competition and put them in another country's comp then you weaken the first country's structure.....

Les Catalans aren't in another country's competition..they're in the top level European League. Toulouse are another story however and their inclusion in our National Leagues does seriously undermine the status of the French competition.

Re: Looks to be a few issues in France : Sun Jan 31, 2010 1:52 pm  

Catalancs wrote:

But would they be able to attract the same quality of player? If the answer to that is yes surely they'd walk the Elite 1. Having one team so far ahead of the others does nothing for the club in question or the competition as a whole in my opinion.

Not sure they would have the same stregnth if the were in Elite 1 as I believe they have recruited from other French clubc mainly because of their current status.

Re: Looks to be a few issues in France : Mon Feb 01, 2010 12:58 am  

As I have said before, they need to go back to the structure circa 1945-55.

Worked well then.

France were top of the rugby league world.

Re: Looks to be a few issues in France : Mon Feb 01, 2010 4:05 am  

Nothing wrong with having a 3tier system so that players can stay in the game and work there way up to whatever level they are capable of playing at. The question is more can France sustain a semi prof league with the current funding they have? In theory the promotion of Les Cats and Toulouse should be a positive as it should be giving more recognition to the game and be giving kids an opportunity to make a career out of RL.

[John_D]

Re: Looks to be a few issues in France : Mon Feb 01, 2010 3:52 pm  

Gijou wrote:

As I have said before, they need to go back to the structure circa 1945-55.

Worked well then.

France were top of the rugby league world.

That's fine so long as England, Australia and New Zealand also revert to 1950s structures.