RFL officials vetoed a match intended to promote rugby league in France

[Manfred Mann]

RFL's small minded men with no vision:

 

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/sydney-roosters/world-club-series-2016-sydney-roosters-trent-robinson-angry-at-missed-opportunity-20160216-gmvxj5.html

[Heritage XIII]

that Nigel Wood is a dumb f$%#k

[barnyia]

They were speaking about this well before the season in France, at first they mentioned the roosters training in France with the catalans maybe playing them, I reckon they'd have got a massive crowd,

[Guest]

They were speaking about this well before the season in France, at first they mentioned the roosters training in France with the catalans maybe playing them, I reckon they'd have got a massive crowd,

If that's the case then shame on the RFL but if it was all suggested just a few weeks in advance then you can't really blame the RFL.

Would you have liked to have seen the game played in Perpignan or maybe somewhere like Bordeaux, marseille, Lyon etc?

[super major]

Storm in a tea cup. If they wanted a game they should have arranged one in Aus.

I have a lot of time for Robinson and the Roosters but they cannot be allowed to disrupt our season at this stage.

What about Hull? I understand that no games are to be played when the world championship games are on. So that would have meant a trip to France and game on sunday, then back to be on the TV game on Thursday.

 

It would have been good to see Catalan involved with the Roosters but the integrity of the SL has to come first

[JoneslessBishop]

As always the RFL are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

The RFLs main priority has to be a successful WCS. To that end they have endevoured to keep this weekend free of other fixtures to ensure the WCS gets the max coverage.

The RFL got a lot of criticism last year for making teams play mid-week fixtures to accommodate the bottom 4 teams entering the challenge cup a round earlier than top 8. Obvious response would have been to allow bottom 4 to play SL games against each other on WCS weekend, and then Top 8 teams could play SL games on the challenge cup weekend. However the RFL took the decision to maintain the primacy of the WCS, and would no doubt have attracted criticism of they hadn't.

Given the huge strides the RFL have taken both domestically and Internationally in recent months/ years, jumping on the back of Trent Robinsons pro-Catalan bias is unfair. The suggested fixture seems hastily organized and thus would have attracted little attention outside of Perignan, and it is elsewhere in France that need to profile raised. a bit of long term thinking could have seen a game in Toulouse (who haven't started there season yet, and how strong would the Roosters team have been with players appearing in Auckland 9s?) or a Catalan game in Paris for max effect with sufficient planning to ease the fixtures. But Trent had a big idea late on and spits his dummy when the Red Sea doesn't part for him.

And for the Roosters to criticise RFL for not supporting interntional growth when it was them who drove through expansion of WCS, had to hastily organise a Kiwi tour when Oz pulled of a GB tour, and as the article emphasises the Roosters themselves ignorantly set up camp in Dubai where RL has been so heinously disrespected is very galling.

[Futtocks]

From the OP's linked article, it seems like St Helens and Hull FC were the ones objecting.

 

The idea of the Roosters playing in France is a good one, and if they are in the WCC next year, they should organise one in advance.

[Dave T]

Im not a fan of just gifting Catalans a game whether they qualify or not. To build the integrity of this comp they should have to qualify and the criteria should be laid out clearly.

Now, if teams want to come over and play over two weekends then surely we are moving into proper expanded wcc territory?

[bromleybulldog]

I imagine the Hull fans who had booked flights and hotels might  just have had something to say about this if the game had been put back a week. If the Roosters really wanted to help out in France they should have organised something months ago before the Catalan fixtures were published. They then go to Dubai and claim to know nothing of the Sol Mokdad affair. Pathetic.

[Dave T]

If we want exhibition games i'd rather it was a France XIII select as Catalans werent good enough to get a game.

A game in London and a game in Cumbria could be good too.

[JoneslessBishop]

Some nice considered responses following the initial, predictable, out-dated knee-jerk RFL bashing.

[yanto]

RFL's small minded men with no vision:

 

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/sydney-roosters/world-club-series-2016-sydney-roosters-trent-robinson-angry-at-missed-opportunity-20160216-gmvxj5.html

Its not just the RFL.

It's even happening at amatuer level in Australia.

 

A CRL Group club is planning to travel to Europe on a short tour to assist in developing the game and are having major problems getting clearence from their governing body.

 

"How will you going over to Europe help the game" is what they have been asked.

 

All the boys are funding it themselves, the draw for their competition has yet to be made and they have asked for a two week window in their fixtures.

 

Little distruption will take place in their division yet the CRL groups big wigs are making things difficult.

 

Small minded self interest it seems.

[brooza]

I'm guessing that Hull fans wouldn't have been happy with the RFL switching their away trip to Catalans by a week

[brooza]

They then go to Dubai and claim to know nothing of the Sol Mokdad affair. Pathetic.

Don't worry about it, the RU 7s people were very friendly

[Farmduck]

Its not just the RFL.

It's even happening at amatuer level in Australia.

 

A CRL Group club is planning to travel to Europe on a short tour to assist in developing the game and are having major problems getting clearence from their governing body.

 

"How will you going over to Europe help the game" is what they have been asked.

 

All the boys are funding it themselves, the draw for their competition has yet to be made and they have asked for a two week window in their fixtures.

 

Little distruption will take place in their division yet the CRL groups big wigs are making things difficult.

 

Small minded self interest it seems.

 

Does anyone know which club it is?

[marklaspalmas]

Im as happy as the next staunch RL fan to stick the boot into TPTB but all this "The RFL ate my hamster" stuff is a bit lame.

[yanto]

Does anyone know which club it is?

Yep and which group but cant say to much as its at a delicate stage.

[Just Browny]

If Manfred Mann is who I think he is, we should count ourselves lucky he doesn't post his tripe in the same quantities as he does on RLFans. Massive trouble-causer and his support for French RL is not that helpful.

[redjonn]

I think RFL where right.   Catalan should quality for the WCC.   Otherwise why shouldn't any teams offer themselves a warm-up game, thus negating need to qualify for WCC.  For me integrity of the competition if we want it to be successfully sustained is important.

 

If it was a French representative game then I may have a different view. Just as if say a Championship select team was formed to give the Aussie teams a warm-up game.

[The Daddy]

I'm a big France RL supporter but don't see how it's justified that Catalan can organise a fixture during the season without causing disruption.

[Wellsy4HullFC]

It's a good idea in principle, but you can't just rearrange a Catalans home game last minute. The Hull fans had planned a trip.

I see the RFL have (correctly) moved from the ridiculous situation last year of having to rearrange (bottom 4) SL games to mid week to accommodate for their extra round of the CC by moving them to this weekend whilst the WCS is on. There's no issue with games being on at the same time.

There'll be 5 clubs with no games this weekend. I've read rumours of looking to expand to 4 clubs from NRL. If we're continuing to host the series, why not have clubs in 5th-8th play the NRL clubs on the first weekend, then the main WCS the second weekend? Everyone plays every weekend still then.

[barnyia]

The game against the roosters was mentioned before the fixtures came out, but I agree the Catalans should earn the right to play the aussie teams.

[Lounge Room Lizard]

Poor excuses from the Roosters regarding Dubai and Sol Mokdad. Its made worse by the fact they intend to go back. As regarding Catalans, again Roosters are being ignorant. Catalans Play in the Super League and have commitments to that first. Especially with home games, you can not just Change games just because the Roosters want a game. English fans have payed hundreds of Pounds to get there to see Hull and no doubt Hull and the RFL have payed Money for flights and Hotels etc. I am sure Roosters could have looked to play a France XIII, if they really wanted. The RFL have made mistakes in the past, but I fail to see how the RFL are at fault in this. The Roosters, as mentioned at the beginning, have lost respect for me over a number of issues, from the Training in Dubai, to its Statement on Catalans etc.

[Yakstorm]

I can get the frustration on both sides.

The Roosters put forward a fair proposal. Play a match in France the week before their WCS game to help generate some interest and press.

Naturally as the Roosters put forward this plan a good month before the SL draw was announced they thought it was something that could be accomodated and understandably so they were disappointed when the RFL proceeded to put out the draw whilst discussions were ongoing and then block the plan due to club and other stakeholder pressure.

On the RFL side I get that they most likely had the draw locked down (just not announced) by the time the Roosters engaged with them. I'm sure groups like Sky, WCS sponsors and so on would have been reluctant to allow any match take place that would potentially detract from the main event.

Clearly just one of those scenarios where both sides could have done things better.