Evil Homer Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 New club formed in Montpelllier aiming for immediate inclusion in Elite 1. https://www.facebook.com/Sharks.MRLXIII Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henson Park Old Firm Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damien Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 That's great news. It's always good to see more clubs in France, particularly in the bigger towns and cities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricardo07 Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 How big a place is Montpellier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teessidewire Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 It certainly isn’t small. Great city, stayed for a couple of nights a few years ago en route to Perpignan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
welshmagpie Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Great news, I like the logo. Realistic target for French RL in the next 5-10 years should be to get Montpellier, Lyon and a Paris team into Elite One. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doc Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 Did they get any advise from Rimmer? Good luck to them. Always in favour of more clubs anywhere. Even Liverpool... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yosser Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 53 minutes ago, ricardo07 said: How big a place is Montpellier. Population of 450,000, so just a touch smaller than Leeds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiltshire Warrior Dragon Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 49 minutes ago, ricardo07 said: How big a place is Montpellier. It seems to have grown incredibly quickly, and possibly still is. The current population estimate is about 456,000, up from 99,000 in 1950. it is said to be France's eighth largest city. Treizistes should note that Lyon is the third largest and Toulouse the fourth. 2 hours ago, Damien said: That's great news. It's always good to see more clubs in France, particularly in the bigger towns and cities. The realist in me, Damien, says potentially great news. OK, the grumpy realist... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleD Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 3 hours ago, Evil Homer said: New club formed in Montpelllier aiming for immediate inclusion in Elite 1. https://www.facebook.com/Sharks.MRLXIII Wasn’t there a club already in Montpellier? Or am I getting mixed up with Marseille? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BallPlayingProp Posted February 14, 2019 Share Posted February 14, 2019 3 hours ago, DoubleD said: Wasn’t there a club already in Montpellier? Or am I getting mixed up with Marseille? The Montpellier Diables Rouges since the 50s. According to FFRXIII website they are bottom of third tier's eastern division. Name quoted here is Julien Lasserre, who is the Diables Rouges coach (according to their Facebook). Think he played a couple of games at Newcastle and Toulouse https://treizemondial.fr/lambitieux-projet-du-nouveau-club-de-montpellier/?fbclid=IwAR2pjbrFJhLtxyn3eWpt73VAHhmA7YkwxmowA8NJPCyjHLBPgk56VPCP0OY Was talk a couple of years ago of Louis Nicollin (owner of Montpellier football club) getting involved, but he is now dead although his sons have taken over running of the club. Syrian Mohed Altrad (of Altrad on the back of the new Catalans jersey) owns the union side in the town. Both very rich, so let's see if it is anything to do with Altrad or the Nicollin family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cookey Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Seems to be a lot of positivity around the French ame at present.Hope it continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowdesert Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 11 hours ago, Yosser said: Population of 450,000, so just a touch smaller than Leeds Very vibrant city that is well worth a visit for those going to Catalans games. University town and seems (to me, every time I’ve been, which is many!) to have a really low population age. They are a just over an hour from the clubs in the west and less to Avignon. Facilities, in schools, colleges, municipals, will be 1st class compared to England. Great place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowdesert Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 10 hours ago, BallPlayingProp said: The Montpellier Diables Rouges since the 50s. According to FFRXIII website they are bottom of third tier's eastern division. Name quoted here is Julien Lasserre, who is the Diables Rouges coach (according to their Facebook). Think he played a couple of games at Newcastle and Toulouse https://treizemondial.fr/lambitieux-projet-du-nouveau-club-de-montpellier/?fbclid=IwAR2pjbrFJhLtxyn3eWpt73VAHhmA7YkwxmowA8NJPCyjHLBPgk56VPCP0OY Was talk a couple of years ago of Louis Nicollin (owner of Montpellier football club) getting involved, but he is now dead although his sons have taken over running of the club. Syrian Mohed Altrad (of Altrad on the back of the new Catalans jersey) owns the union side in the town. Both very rich, so let's see if it is anything to do with Altrad or the Nicollin family. Altrad already have sponsorship links with Catalans and Guasch was motivated to increase participation within the Regions (obviously to benefit available choice to Catalans) in meetings with relevant influencers. Seems that the South, with all the history, remaining prejudices etc are motivated to make things work by collaboration yet English clubs continue to work as individuals and are, on the whole, standing still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barnyia Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 They've not made a team or been accepted, it's probably never going to happen, hopefully it will, When I played for Montpellier we had a massive player turn over as we managed to attract the foreign students, even an Irish légionnaire, Every year the team would change, we had a good set up and built slowly, then all the original volunteers got pushed out by business men and false promises, then the team disappeared, Then they got forced to back directly into elite 1 and the club died again because of in fighting, politics and mines bigger than yours attitudes. Even when they played elite no-one new àbout the team and there was hardly anything in the local press, In Montpellier there is football, union, handball, basketball, baseball, American football, ice hockey, field hockey, and quite a few more sports before rugby league is mentioned, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJW Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Lovely place to visit and Red Devils have nice ground. Wondering why this new entity couldn't work with existing club ? Politics ? Past experiences ? Or just hoping a new name/club could attract more attention in the city ? What will this new team have as their theme tune ? Bizarre to be at Red Devils game and them playing 'Highway to Hell' when they scored. At 50 something I was probably youngest paying speccie in the ground ! My wife complains I selfishly stop her fulfilling her true ambition - she really wants to be a rich widow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowdesert Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 16 minutes ago, barnyia said: They've not made a team or been accepted, it's probably never going to happen, hopefully it will, When I played for Montpellier we had a massive player turn over as we managed to attract the foreign students, even an Irish légionnaire, Every year the team would change, we had a good set up and built slowly, then all the original volunteers got pushed out by business men and false promises, then the team disappeared, Then they got forced to back directly into elite 1 and the club died again because of in fighting, politics and mines bigger than yours attitudes. Even when they played elite no-one new àbout the team and there was hardly anything in the local press, In Montpellier there is football, union, handball, basketball, baseball, American football, ice hockey, field hockey, and quite a few more sports before rugby league is mentioned, That puts the kibosh on this thread then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Knight Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 59 minutes ago, barnyia said: They've not made a team or been accepted, it's probably never going to happen, hopefully it will, When I played for Montpellier we had a massive player turn over as we managed to attract the foreign students, even an Irish légionnaire, Every year the team would change, we had a good set up and built slowly, then all the original volunteers got pushed out by business men and false promises, then the team disappeared, Then they got forced to back directly into elite 1 and the club died again because of in fighting, politics and mines bigger than yours attitudes. Even when they played elite no-one new àbout the team and there was hardly anything in the local press, In Montpellier there is football, union, handball, basketball, baseball, American football, ice hockey, field hockey, and quite a few more sports before rugby league is mentioned, What a party pooper you are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiltshire Warrior Dragon Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 39 minutes ago, Yorkshire Knight said: What a party pooper you are! Or you could see barnyia as a realist and, in this particular situation, historian, all based on first-hand experience! To be fair, YK, you probably are doing just that and have written with tongue in cheek! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cdd Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Needs to be a top to bottom strategy with French expansion. If the game really wants to expand to some larger places like Montpellier then Catalanews and the French national team need to be part of the strategy to supplement the work being done on the ground. Catalans have taken games to Montpellier in the past, lets make it a double header with one of their biggest fixtures with a big away following and put it together with one of the bigger Toulouse fixtures. They desperatly need more home international matches against England, New Zealand and Australia to take to these places as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BJW Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Let's just hope this isn't another Marseilles ! My wife complains I selfishly stop her fulfilling her true ambition - she really wants to be a rich widow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowdesert Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 9 minutes ago, Cdd said: Needs to be a top to bottom strategy with French expansion. If the game really wants to expand to some larger places like Montpellier then Catalanews and the French national team need to be part of the strategy to supplement the work being done on the ground. Catalans have taken games to Montpellier in the past, lets make it a double header with one of their biggest fixtures with a big away following and put it together with one of the bigger Toulouse fixtures. They desperatly need more home international matches against England, New Zealand and Australia to take to these places as well. I think they are already. Still prejudices to overcome which doesn’t help. I’m not sure Willancy’s recent claims of participation are accurate either. RL has been stimulated in the south after the CC success but growth, realistically, will be slow. Avignon was chosen for the International with England a couple of years ago iirc so that should be tried again before Montpelier imo. Avignon have RL interest with teams competing up to Elite 1 standard and it appears there are good relationships between RL and RU there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate90 Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Good luck to them, will they work alongside or against the team already in the City? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoubleD Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 15 hours ago, welshmagpie said: Great news, I like the logo. Realistic target for French RL in the next 5-10 years should be to get Montpellier, Lyon and a Paris team into Elite One. There's a lot of good things happening on the ground in Lyon at grass roots level with junior participation, so that's certainly realistic. Paris less so...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manfred Mann Posted February 15, 2019 Share Posted February 15, 2019 Get Montpellier into Elite 2 first and see how they go. However we need Toulouse playing in Super League before we will see any real public awareness of the game in other French cities. It is public awareness that is necessary to stimulate paying customers and sponsors for other new teams. After Toulouse, we have Avignon already in Elite 1 and doing well. They have a decent sized stadium and no major professional sport in the town to compete with rugby league. If I was responsible for building the game in France I would put Avignon next in line to follow Catalans and Toulouse for a spot in the England based structures, and focus my attention on that. If Montpellier was to emerge and start a semi-pro team in Elite 1, then its success would probably hinge upon the above mentioned teams becoming more successful first. Having said that, it would be nice to see Montpellier become a force in French Elite 1. But on the other hand I think that, comparatively speaking, growth in Lyon and especially Paris would be more helpful for the French game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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