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The launch of the bid is getting plenty of coverage in their respective markets: Vanuatu: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=121976386172380&id=101425058227513 https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=114084440294908&id=101425058227513 New Caledonia: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=118823506487668&id=101425058227513 https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=112458940457458&id=101425058227513 Solomon Islands:

A New Caledonian has just signed for Montpellier Sharks in the French third tier.

Pacifique Treize will run their first 'talent identification' event this Saturday at Stade Numa Daly in Noumea.

In that case there will be some cracking tunes on the stereo in the changing room.

I agree; Inside No.9 has been remarkable for variety as well as quality.

I enjoyed the newsroom, really interesting take on the real news of the time.

Some huge hurdles to overcome but let’s hope it gets off the ground and is successful.

Just listened to the Chasing Kangaroos podcast with the Treize X111 media manager Laurent Garnier. Interesting guy, grew up in Perpignan before meeting an Australian girl and moving to Brisbane. Coached in the Queensland Cup and then took on the job of coaching Carcassonne. Seems that the plan is to follow the Silktails path and play in a lower league while they build a squad ready for 2023. They seem to have put a board of like minded people together although he didn't provide details of their financial strength. He was very keen to promote league throughout the region and thinks the opportunity to play high standard rugby whilst staying in their home country would appeal to the many union players.

The Queensland Cup (Intrust Super Cup) is no doubt one of the top Rugby League competitions in the world, both from a historic and talent / standard perspective. Whether it is second, third, fifth or whatever doesn't really matter and is all subjective anyway, but naturally from a Pacifique Treize perspective, they are going to want to hype it up as much as they can. This is no different than the Wolfpack who have claimed that the Super League is the best competition in the world. Anyway with regards to the bid, Pacifique Treize will be recruiting from overseas to help compete in the QCup, with the club working with the FFRXIII to embed it into the Development pathways. How this will look is still being negotiated, but it at least gives another option for talented French players to consider, especially as it is arguably easier for a young French player to move to New Caledonia for a couple of seasons than to Australia or New Zealand (and arguably the UK once you take into account language and culture, etc). So arguably it will give a third pro channel after Catalans and Toulouse, and an opportunity for young French players to showcase their skills Infront of NRL talent scouts. Naturally the bid is also looking to grow the game in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands as well reintroduce it to New Caledonia and create outposts in French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna. How long it will take to start producing QCup standard players from those markets is unknown, but there is no doubt talented individuals in that region, like most of the Pacific Islands, who could make it in League. There has been players who have gone from playing in New Caledonia to playing Pro Rugby in France in Union to further support that thought process. From a funding process, there is money in the region, including from the Australian Government to 'limit' China's influence in the region, as well New Caledonia is fiscally better off than some other islands in the region.

Ok havent been to New Caledonia so dont know anything about the health system but I have been to French Polynesia, that was some time ago but prices are also expensive there. Regarding the standard of living from what i understand New Caledonia has the next highest standard of living in the pacific region aside from Australia & NZ. The New Caledonia union comp switched to league around 15 years ago but they switched back to Union a few years later. Former Cronulla, Canberra, Catalan Dragons and French Rugby League representative Dimitri Pelo was born in New Caledonia but his parents were originally from Wallis & Futuna. As for Standard of the Queensland Cup id say its currently probably the best semi pro comp in the world

New Caledonia seems like the best location for a French Pacific 13 side as it has a population of 300,000, is a 2 hour flight from Brisbane to Noumea, has a similar standard of living to Australia & NZ due to Mining, French Government support & Tourism. But rugby league hasnt been played in New Caledonia since 2006. The distances between Queensland, Wallis & Futuna & French Polynesia are massive and no Rugby League is played in those territories, but there are communities from those territories living in New Caledonia. The game would have to be reestablished on New Caledonia as well as guaranteed funding and player recruitment from the pacific and France confirmed, before QRL would consider accepting a Queensland Cup bid.

Since 2017, I had put forward this idea of basing a French team in Nouméa and that the distance with Australia was less than that with Papua or Auckland. I had even sent a letter to this effect to the president of the federation and created topics on the forums to launch the idea. The new Caledonia is economically isolated and this team could be a link with the Australian continent nearby. Everyone could be a winner: rugby league, Australia, Caledonia, France, etc.

It's an interesting idea, a bit like the Wolfpack in that it's come from left field. Whether it'll work or not completely depends on how much backing they can get to support it, and I can't see where the money will come from. I also think that it'd be best for them if they started at a lower level and built their way up like the Silktails were doing in NSW, but that would be harder to do in Queensland. Good luck to them though.

It made the TV news in QLD

Godwin's Law proven again. Anyway, Mainz 05 lived up to their name by losing 0-5 at home to RB Leipzig. RB definitely stands for RasenBall (Lawn Ball) not Red Bull. Definitely. And the 17 shareholders are absolutely RB fans. Anyway, enough DB politics. Back to the EFL, from the BBC: The English football pyramid will be destroyed - unless the game starts to plan for the financial impact of Covid-19 beyond the 2019-20 season, says Phil Hodgkinson, the owner of Championship club Huddersfield. Hodgkinson thinks as many as "50 or 60" clubs could go out of business. He is also looking at a "worst-case scenario" of no fans allowed in stadiums for the 2020-21 season. "The problem is not whether we finish [this] season or not, it is what happens after that," he told BBC Sport. "If we don't come to an agreement there will be no football pyramid. There are clubs I know of that are only still trading because they are deferring wages and [tax] and other creditors. They will need paying at some point."