Les Catalans crowd today is very good for a team that is failing badly.

[ParisSurtout]

Catalans lost again and sit at the bottom of the table, below even sorry old Salford.

The crowd today for Les Catalans Dragons vs Harlequins RL was 6,152. One can assume that Harlequins brought less than 152 fans.

So there has to be a devoted core of 6,000 fans in Perpignan and the region who are sticking by their club regardless. Clubs like Harlequins, Crusaders, and Salford would love to have such a strong core fan base.

One must note that the ground has a reduced capacity of around 8,500 because of reconstruction work.

What this tells us is that rugby league has a deep base in Perpignan and French Catalonia, which should be well augmented once the team improves under its new coach, and after the new stand is completed in 2011.

So it is definitely time to conclude under these conditions of real adversity (which also include the early season loss of playmaker Adam Mogg, and injuries to other key players), that licensing Les Catalans Dragons by the RFL has been a smashing success.

Bravo!

Edited August 14, 2010 by ParisSurtout

[Spicer]

This is very good to see Paris, and long may it continue.

You never know come 2012 I may have an occasional trip over myself

as no doubt by then will have to look elsewhere for my SL action.

[l'angelo mysterioso]

this cannot be true because they have nothing to play for and they didn't defeat championship hopefuls and cup finalists warrington the other week either.

Ity's all lies put out by lewis, wood, lyndsay, hetherington and caisley.

[Tommy The C5t]

this cannot be true because they have nothing to play for and they didn't defeat championship hopefuls and cup finalists warrington the other week either.

Ity's all lies put out by lewis, wood, lyndsay, hetherington and caisley.

Don't mention that name

[l'angelo mysterioso]

Don't mention that name

they make you sick

[TheDuke]

its not a good crowd if they have 6000 season ticket holders

[ParisSurtout]

its not a good crowd if they have 6000 season ticket holders

Season ticket holders are, I think, in the vicinity of 5,000.

But that is still a good crowd since some ticket holders don't go to all games, and there are more of these absentees in the summer holiday months of July and August.

Edited August 16, 2010 by ParisSurtout

[BJW]

Good turnout for August & prime holiday season, most people don't appreciate the way France behaves in August & the mass migration that occurs.

[BirstallDog]

just my opinion.

Catalans and Toulouse should be left to play in France....with their fellow french clubs. They add nothing to our game. They bring no supporters over to the uk so why should the rfl tollerate, and support it ?

English Rugby League deserves more back from our french frends, i believe it is just one way traffic.

Edited August 16, 2010 by BirstallDog

[steef]

just my opinion.

Catalans and Toulouse should be left to play in France....with their fellow french clubs. They add nothing to our game. They bring no supporters over to the uk so why should the rfl tollerate, and support it ?

English Rugby League deserves more back from our french frends, i believe it is just one way traffic.

have you got your hard hat ready?

[ParisSurtout]

just my opinion.

Catalans and Toulouse should be left to play in France....with their fellow french clubs. They add nothing to our game. They bring no supporters over to the uk so why should the rfl tollerate, and support it ?

English Rugby League deserves more back from our french frends, i believe it is just one way traffic.

Les Catalans and Toulouse bring plenty of things other than visiting supporters.

Most important:

(1) They expand both the supporter base and the player base of the game in France;

(2) They expand the number of stakeholders (i.e. individual, corporate and government investors) in the game in France, because only professional sports attract large numbers of paying spectators, TV viewers, and sponsors;

(3) As the number of professsional teams in France is increased, the value of a French TV contract will increase, so that eventually France will go from being a financial burden to becoming a financial asset to Super League;

(4) Les Catalans and Toulouse provide the core building blocks for a future strong French national team, which the game needs if it is ever to be a credible international sport. They are not sufficient building blocks for a strong French national team (another club in Paris at the minimum is also needed), but they are necessary.

International sport is the most financially lucrative dimension of sport. Because rugby league has been allowed to stagnate on the international level for so many years, it has lost many opportunities for corporate sponsorship that rugby union has grabbed with both hands.

Only when France and England are both strong will the game of rugby league have a strong and attractive international profile, from which can be developed a substantial stream of sponsors' income needed to develop the game in established nations, as well as to expand further into new playing nations.

A strong France is the key to any possible further developments of the game in Spain, Italy, elsewhere in Europe, as well as in the Middle East and North Africa.

Edited August 17, 2010 by ParisSurtout

[JohnM]

Because rugby league has been allowed to stagnate on the international level

I agree with all of that except the above extract. Delete: Allowed, insert:encouraged!

Stagnation implies some level of stability, whilst in fact through parochialism, carelessness, lack of creativity,lack of imagination and want of strong leadership at international level the international game has more or less sunk without trace.

Recent attempts to revive the game at international level have merely stopped the situation from getting any worse and there is a long, long way to go. Here at least we could start with a decent coach, full time, with the squad training and playing together much more frequently and throughout season. The current set up is a shambles and id delivering exactly the results you'd expect from a shambles, too.

[skep155]

just my opinion.

Catalans and Toulouse should be left to play in France....with their fellow french clubs. They add nothing to our game. They bring no supporters over to the uk so why should the rfl tollerate, and support it ?

English Rugby League deserves more back from our french frends, i believe it is just one way traffic.

The European Super League was founded with the intention of being a European competition with continental teams playing in it, it was never intended to be an entirely domestic league. Only in Rugby League would people propose kicking a team with decent crowds and a decent stadium to the curb because they bring 200 less away fans than Salford, Huddersfield or Harlequins. I