FRANCE’S Rugby League chief has urged the game’s Gallic factions to come together during the countdown to the 2025 World Cup in the country.
FFRXIII president Luc Lacoste wants to bring together the notoriously quarrelsome groups within the Treiziste set-up in a bid to create unity and understanding ahead of the 18th tournament.
Lacoste has set up a series of meetings, inviting the presidents of each club in the federation, but is already “confused and disappointed” by an apparently apathetic response.
A two-day seminar has been arranged in Carcassonne on January 21/22, with clubs asked to share their views on the development of Rugby League in France.
But a dismayed Lacoste has sent a stinging letter to those who have so far failed to respond.
“Despite several reminders, I note that many clubs have not registered for the meeting,” he writes.
“I thank those who have. To the others, I wish to express my incomprehension, even my disappointment.
“These meetings seem to me to meet an expectation. We tried to organise them a year-and-a-half ago, but the sanitary conditions of the time (i.e. the pandemic) prevented them from taking place.
“Many clubs often complain of a lack of communication and consultation, so we decided to organise the meeting – for all of you.
“Beyond the fact that it is difficult for us to effectively organise, you will understand my disappointment at this contradiction. How can we hear your regrets and criticisms when you do not respond to the invitation to come and express yourself and bring your ideas?
“How do you give yourself a voice if you don’t take the opportunity?
“How can we advance a collective project, in the general interest, if you do not want to participate in the movement?
“Pursuing my desire to straighten out French Rugby League will not happen without you.
“The management committee can, of course, take decisions without consulting all the clubs.
“But for us, today, it is a question of involving everyone in a common approach and actions, so alone, we will not succeed.
“Your support for our projects, your involvement, your ideas, the expression of the difficulties you encounter, are really necessary to us.”
Lacoste continued: “The participants will be divided into round tables of a limited number of 20 people, who will all work on the ten themes selected, all of which touch on the life of the clubs.
“And on the Saturday evening, a dinner will bring us together, where informal exchanges can continue in a moment of great conviviality.
“From the richness of the debates of each round table will emerge real lines of force that will allow us to prioritise them and implement many of them, with a single objective shared by all: the renewal of French Rugby League.”
