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Italian club enters French local comp.

Hvy wg

By Hvy wg
in The General Rugby League Forum

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Futtocks

Futtocks

Posted
Posted

Great news. Hope it works out.

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JonM

JonM

Posted
Posted

They have already played a couple of friendlies against St. Martin de Crau & Carpentras. It's about a 5 hour drive, so they've been staying over in Avignon on Saturday nights and were guests at the recent France/England game.

 

http://www.ffr13.fr/actualite-international/un-club-italien-integre-le-championnat-francais-de-dn2/

 

I believe it's an existing rugby union club which has been participating in Italian RL and has formed a separate section which wanted  to play a full season of RL. Their captain played in the recent Italy/Belgium game.

Yakstorm

Yakstorm

Posted
Posted

Fantastic news. The quality of DN2 - PACA would be significantly higher than the FIRL local competition, exposing the Italian players to a better playing standard.

Hopefully we will see over time the Italian team also add sides to the Age based competitions in that PACA region.

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JonM

JonM

Posted
Posted

What kind of standard is this league like? Are we talking village teams or are there a few Elite 1/2 reserve sides involved?

 

It's the lowest level in France.  Reserve teams from Caumont & St. Martin de Crau, plus Vedene.

 

The worrying thing is that team numbers in France keep falling year after year - fewer than 70 adult teams in the country now.

 

There is also talk about Brussels taking part in the Paris area competition. As this now includes Nantes in Brittany and only 1 Paris Club, travel distances could be quite big.

Hvy wg

Hvy wg

Posted
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Posted

 

 

The worrying thing is that team numbers in France keep falling year after year - fewer than 70 adult teams in the country now.

 

There is also talk about Brussels taking part in the Paris area competition. As this now includes Nantes in Brittany and only 1 Paris Club, travel distances could be quite big.

Say thanks to the previous administration that made the costs skyrocket. 

Nantes is not in Brittany, it is in Pays de la Loire. I'm telling you because there's actually very agressive people about this.

JonM

JonM

Posted
Posted

Nantes is not in Brittany, it is in Pays de la Loire. I'm telling you because there's actually very agressive people about this.

 

Ha, yes, I know :-)

 

Actually, it seems like the situation in the north of France is not very good. The plan for the first part of the season was to play a series of triangular 9's tournaments every couple of weeks, potentially involving 3 Paris clubs plus Nantes & Brussels, but only Chatillon were able to find 9 players.

MatthewWoody

MatthewWoody

Posted
Posted

I'm gonna talk to their press officer this afternoon, to set up an interview about their championship, how and why they're doing it. 
 

Of course it's a good news, as it gives the players the chance to play RL all the season. 

 

Step by step. 

 

It had been already announced, although unofficially, by FIRL's president in an interview. 

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deluded pom?

deluded pom?

Posted
Posted

Yes of course it was. I wanted to know if it was going to be genuine Italians, or a team of Aussie Italians.

It's low level French RL. A team of Aussie Italians would waltz through the league.

rldfsignature.jpg

londonrlfan

londonrlfan

Posted
Posted

It's low level French RL. A team of Aussie Italians would waltz through the league.

I would have thought they were trying to get up to Elite 1, I guess not then. Shame none of these players were involved in WCQ.

langpark

langpark

Posted
Posted

Yes of course it was. I wanted to know if it was going to be genuine Italians, or a team of Aussie Italians.

 

None of the Italian heritage players actually live or play in Italy.  This team, like all teams in Italy will be 100% Italian, with the ocassional expat amongst them.

Hvy wg

Hvy wg

Posted
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None of the Italian heritage players actually live or play in Italy.  This team, like all teams in Italy will be 100% Italian, with the ocassional expat amongst them.

I hope, in a few years time, to see a couple Italian Italian-grown players in the Elite 1. 

Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

Wiltshire Warrior Dragon

Posted
Posted

I think that whether or not you think having Australians in the team is a 'good thing' depends on why they might be in a team like this.  If they have come across specifically to play rugby league, then one or two might be a good thing, but no more (and even that that small number would need to be set in the context of the capabilities of the French teams against whom they are playing)  On the other hand, if Aussies have come across to pursue other careers and want to play TGG purely as recreation, then I don't have a problem with their being included.  On the contrary, it would be good to have their expertise and amateur enthusiasm.

 

To put it another way, if I went to live in Australia and was banned from playing table tennis (which I currently do in the heady heights of Salisbury & District League Division 2) simply because I was Scottish, then I would feel pretty miffed!

JonM

JonM

Posted
Posted

I would have thought they were trying to get up to Elite 1, I guess not then. Shame none of these players were involved in WCQ.

 

It's an Italian rugby union club from a small town in NW Italy where the coach and some of the players have decided they really want to play RL. They have taken part in some RL in Italy and their captain played for the Italy 'A' team against Belgium in Monza, before the full Italy team played Wales. They want to play a fuller season, so have entered the French league at the lowest level, probably similar to the London merit league. They got beaten pretty easily by the u-19 side of one of the French clubs they played, in one of their friendlies, think they had some impromptu coaching at their friendlies too. This is a bunch of amateur Italian sportsmen playing for fun. Not sure how they're funding their stopovers in France, but it's a long way from elite, world cup etc etc. Nice for the French clubs too, they get to say they're playing international matches.

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