TREIZISTE DIARY
The French Rugby League Federation will soon be under new leadership following the resignation of Luc Lacoste.
AT THE time of writing, the French Rugby League Federation no longer has a chairperson. Luc Lacoste resigned for medical reasons, according to a FFR XIII media statement on June 28th, 2023.
This is not the first time the 57-year-old businessman has resigned in his sports management career; in 2017 he left the board of the USAP club (the major rugby union club of Perpignan). At the time, he pointed to his other professional activities which didn’t allow him to devote all his attention to the club.
But this time it seems to be slightly different.
A previous heart problem he had in 2021, for which he was hospitalised for three days, can leave no doubt about the reason given for his resignation from FFR XIII.
The stress related to the cancellation of the France 2025 World Cup project may have interfered with his health, but at that time Lacoste offered to be challenged by a vote of confidence and 80 per cent of the voters said he could keep his job. But the physicians have now given other advice.
According to FFR XIII rules, Lacoste will be temporarily replaced by Vice-President and Secretary General Dominique Baloup, a 66-year-old former international player who played for France in the 80s.
Baloup, who said to the rugby union magazine ‘Rugbyrama’ that he was “speechless” after the resignation, will be in charge until September. He also announced two interesting developments for the next few months of transition.
The first one gives priority to the U17 and U19 categories. I assume for both men and women, but it wasn’t specified. Let’s hope the women are not forgotten.
The second is a well-worn subject: the professionalisation of Elite 1. If you read previous Treiziste Diaries, you may realise that the problem of that semi-professional competition is that it is played almost exclusively by Occitan teams, and small cities, sometimes even by villages. Baloup mentioned the cities of Toulon and Nice as possible expansion areas. Both cities presently host rugby league clubs. Two exciting perspectives, if they come true.
Anyway, even if, in times of crisis, it’s good to focus on concrete issues, two linked problems will soon occur for Baloup or Lacoste’s successor in September; communication and the image of the game in France.
Because, I may surprise you, but there’s a handicap which could become an asset for rugby league in France: the fact it’s not covered by the mainstream media.
Paradoxically, it is indeed an opportunity for French rugby league to quietly work on the image of the game in France. To experiment what could work the best for the French public.
A public which is not difficult to understand. The more the media hype an event, the more they follow it. We French, rebels in many matters, are just like sheep when it comes to our taste in sport.
Chauvinism is also a clear motivation for the French public; ask the American tennis player Taylor Fritz about his last game at Roland Garros against Arthur Rinderknech; he was booed because he committed the crime of playing and beating a French tennis player.
The public we want to attract is deadly chauvinistic. This is something that French Rugby League cannot ignore.
Unfortunately, except at junior levels, French rugby league cannot provide at the moment competitive French national sides in the all too rare international rugby league competitions. Indeed, the Men’s U19 encounter between England and France, played in Saint-Gaudens, was quite a balanced game with a spectacular French rebound in the second half (20-33).
When the French public cannot satisfy their chauvinistic appetite, they find a substitution. France is fortunately a country of various origins, and some will support foreign clubs; French people of Spanish origin will follow Real Madrid or Barça, those of Italian descent will follow Juventus Football Club, Napoli or AC Milan. Those of African origin have numerous teams to support and the chance to have every two years an international competition to watch; the football Africa Cup of Nations.
Now, as a substitution what can Rugby League offer to the French public?
NRL is the easiest competition to follow in France on television, it’s an appealing competition with atmosphere but barely promoted by the pay channel BeIN sport which broadcasts it. It is promoted only by their commentators on the social networks. Plus, the NRL themselves don’t seem to be interested in promoting their competition to French viewers.
The Dracs (Dragons in Catalan), that wonderful winning machine, who are leaders of the Super League at the time of writing, are, if I want to fudge a line from FC Barcelona’s motto, ‘Més que un club’ (more than a club in Catalan).
Catalans Dragons are not only a competitive team. Even if they are a 21st century creation, they can rely on an impressive network of ‘Penyes’ (old established club of fans, pronounced ‘penias) making of that club much more than an off-shore structure. Not only are they are now well established in the French rugby league narrative, but they also conquered the digital world: a joint effort with ‘Seven League’ (digital agency of IMG) led them to get impressive digital results; for instance, as noticed by Bruno Onteniente in ‘L’Indépendant’ they are the number one club on Tik Tok, more and more followed by youngsters (between 12-20 years old), and the Dragons claim to be the most important digital community of the ‘Département’ (753,000 fans).
Yet, their positive sport results are not relayed nationally. North Catalonia’s Dracs remain confined to Catalonia, their image being used sometimes in the Southern Catalonia political fight for independence. And despite the obvious business qualities of Bernard Guasch, even with his flourishing butchery business, he probably doesn’t fit the image of a ‘start-up nation’ that President Macron wants to show the world. The French presidency seems to neglect the soft power of Catalans Dragons, at the border of a strategic region. Unlike the Generalitat de Catalunya (government of Catalonia) who regarded them as heroes when they won the Challenge Cup.
Catalans Dragons and the FFR XIII sometimes seem to follow parallel paths. A recurrent tension point being the selection (or the non-selection) of the Dracs players for the Chanticleers. Luc Lacoste seemed to have ironed out this problem a little bit.
Nevertheless, I do hope that, for the sake of rugby league in France, the future president will find the perfect gentlemen’s agreement with this ‘imperium in imperio’ (a state within the state) that Catalans Dragons are nowadays. Both could benefit from it in terms of promotion. The Federation could surf on the success of the Dracs, the Dracs could rely on the official structure to try to reach that national fame that has eluded them for so long.
This article was due to appear in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 487 (August 2023) but due to a publishing error, the previous month’s column was repeated in its place. The RLW Editorial Team would like to apologise to Pierre, and to all our readers, for the inconvenience caused. We hope you enjoy the latest Treiziste Diary, presented here free of charge, on TotalRL.com this month instead.
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