5-point strategy announced in France

[langpark]

This sounds very promising. As always though, time will tell.

https://www.intrl.sport/news/international-rugby-league-meets-with-incoming-president-of-french-rugby-league/

 

[Damien]

I do like everything I have heard from Lacoste so far. It is obvious he knows what the issues are and has identified areas in which the game needs to do better, highlighted in this link and other threads. If he can deliver improvements in these areas then real progress can be made in France,

[kiwis 13 6]

without leaving the realms of reality if FFR13 could in the next 5 years do the following

- increase grassroots participation of players, refs, coaches, administrators by 5% each year

- Increase Sponsorship for example Sponsors for French National teams & find Elite One & two competition naming rights sponsors 

- Work towards making Elite One equivalent in playing standards to UK Championship and getting direct P & R from Elite One to Super League for French sides

- Employ at least one good development officer with a proven track record of success to work in Paris/North of France to help increase participation and awareness of the sport.

-FFR13 to generally improve administration, organization, promotional abilities and communication both online and by traditional media.

[fevtom]

22 hours ago, langpark said:

This sounds very promising. As always though, time will tell.

https://www.intrl.sport/news/international-rugby-league-meets-with-incoming-president-of-french-rugby-league/

 

It all sounds good but making bullet points is much easier than implementing them. Best of luck to them though!

 

54 minutes ago, kiwis 13 6 said:

without leaving the realms of reality to much if FFR13 could in the next 5 years do the following

- aim to increase increase grassroots participation by a least 5% each year - to increasing number of players, refs, coaches, administrators

- Increase Sponsorship for example Sponsors for French National teams & find Elite One & two naming competition rights sponsors 

- Work towards making Elite One equivalent in playing standards to UK Championship and get direct P & R from Elite One to Super League for French sides

- Employ at least one good development officer with a proven track record of success to work in Paris/North of France to help increase participation and awareness of the sport.

-FFR13 to generally improve administration & organization of competitions and communication both online and by traditional media.

 

Promotion to Super League would be very ambitious. A League One equivalent with promotion to the Championship could probably be done now in terms of playing quality and could end up with a number of French clubs playing at Championship level but of course that's harder in terms of making it financially and logistically viable. 

[GeordieSaint]

The school/university programme is essential. 

[kiwis 13 6]

20 minutes ago, fevtom said:

It all sounds good but making bullet points is much easier than implementing them. Best of luck to them though!

I enjoy a good collection of bullet points as much as the next person... but actually doing and achieving things is the way to go.                          

[langpark]

Nobody is saying it will be easy, but I think it is good that they are openly stating their targets and that they are showing ambition but also being realistic.

Give the guy a chance, he literally just got elected.

[Harry Stottle]

Excellent, I have been saying for a very long time on these pages that the FFR need to give the game in France a good dose of looking at to realise the potential it could acheive, and not just sit back as many on these pages consider it should be down to the  RFL/SL and having 2 French clubs in SL will appease everything.

[Harry Stottle]

12 minutes ago, ShropshireBull said:

Its also financially worthless and unattractive. If the French team only has a year the publicity and kudos makes people putting money in more 

Yes, but if they play in the same competition equal measures should apply to all, it is totally unethical and immoral that teams who could fare better on the field of play IN THE VERY SAME LEAGUE STRUCTURE should suffer jeapordy whilst a worse performing team can be saved.

[JohnM]

Followed the link, liked what I read and also  found this. Don't want o divert the topic, though.

RLIF - About the IRL (intrl.sport)

[Cardypaul]

6 hours ago, kiwis 13 6 said:

without leaving the realms of reality if FFR13 could in the next 5 years do the following

- increase grassroots participation of players, refs, coaches, administrators by 5% each year

- Increase Sponsorship for example Sponsors for French National teams & find Elite One & two competition naming rights sponsors 

- Work towards making Elite One equivalent in playing standards to UK Championship and getting direct P & R from Elite One to Super League for French sides

- Employ at least one good development officer with a proven track record of success to work in Paris/North of France to help increase participation and awareness of the sport.

-FFR13 to generally improve administration, organization, promotional abilities and communication both online and by traditional media.

You want direct promotion to SL for clubs from Elite one so are you proposing to relegate 2 clubs from SL or deny promotion to clubs from the championship?

[langpark]

It is time France stood on their own two feet.

I supported Catalans joining SL and support Toulouse joining also. But I don't agree with people immediately pointing to integration with England as the 'magic solution'. 

They have the population and the playing numbers to develop a good national league of their own, eventually. If they continually keep haemorrageing their strongest clubs to England, they will only keep on weakening their own competition. 

They should have ambitions of rivalling SL themselves some day. 

[Cumbrian Mackem]

28 minutes ago, langpark said:

It is time France stood on their own two feet.

I supported Catalans joining SL and support Toulouse joining also. But I don't agree with people immediately pointing to integration with England as the 'magic solution'. 

They have the population and the playing numbers to develop a good national league of their own, eventually. If they continually keep haemorrageing their strongest clubs to England, they will only keep on weakening their own competition. 

They should have ambitions of rivalling SL themselves some day. 

Never going to happen in the foreseeable future unfortunately unless rugby league in France gains traction in terms of popularity and increased funding through the dragons and hopefully Toulouse using super league as a vehicle and shop window to expose itself to the French public.

I too hope that one day French RL becomes so strong that both Catalan and Toulouse rejoin the domestic league structure in France but until then their needs to be 2-3 French teams competing in the U.K. league structures playing with a majority French playing squad and academy sides.

[DoubleD]

I found the first bullet point particularly curious: 

• Re-launch the sport to players and address the number of active club players, initially by attracting back players who have dropped out of the sport

I wonder how they intend on addressing this

[Harry Stottle]

16 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

Chanpionship and Élite 1 should be equal.  If we have p and r it is no different than conference north and south. 

OK then, well I propose a play of for each of the Champion clubs on a home and away basis, would that suit? 

 

[Harry Stottle]

14 hours ago, ShropshireBull said:

No because I would have a promotion spot for both and 2 french teams minimum in SL.  Will mean a french team will probably be relegated from SL every year for several years but offers a clear pathway for clubs and investors in France as well as areason for French Tv to show SL and Elite 1.  This is all pie in the sky because you would need a 14 team SL and 2 relegation spots. 

Considering there is only one P&R spot in either direction up for grabs, and I doubt because of financial restraints SL will ever increase in numbers, so if the FFR as you suggest were to be accepted into the British game per se as a seperate conferance then the only way to decide the promoted team would have to be a final eliminator between the respective Champion teams, how else would it be done?

[ATLANTISMAN]

After a fruitful conversation yesterday with the new head of PR for the FRL (Jean Charles Tolsa) he informed me that the No 1 priority is the Elite 1 league and to add 2 extra clubs in time.

Toulon/Lyon are priorities as well as helping Carpentras improve standards (This would re-create the local derby with Avignon) 

Meeting up in the new year to assist with the plan re sponsors etc.

 

P 

[The Daddy]

8 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

After a fruitful conversation yesterday with the new head of PR for the FRL (Jean Claude Tolsa) he informed me that the No 1 priority is the Elite 1 league and to add 2 extra clubs in time.

Toulon/Lyon are priorities as well as helping Carpentras improve standards (This would re-create the local derby with Avignon) 

Meeting up in the new year to assist with the plan re sponsors etc.

 

P 

Are there any plans for Marseille Avenir?

[langpark]

What happened to Montpellier (Diables Rouges) since they left Elite 2? Did they fold altogether? I see a club called Montpellier Sharks seem to have popped up recently, any connection between the two? 

[Eddie]

If Valencia are still serious about a professional club it would seem sensible for them to join the French system, at least initially. They’re obviously not wanted by SL/RFL and a big city Spanish presence might help raise the game’s profile in France also. 

[ATLANTISMAN]

12 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

Are there any plans for Marseille Avenir?

Wasnt mentioned but I will find out.

 

P 

[sentoffagain2]

         Just looking through my old Rugby mags.Results from Internationals in the 60's GBvFrance played 22 GB w11 -France w 10 and 1 draw.France v New Zealand  New Zealand w7 France w 5 -2 draws. France v Australia played 16  Aussies w10 France w4 and 2 drawn games.So France did have enough quality players to compete at a good level then.With proper investment and a will to improve they should be able to be competitive again if enough players can be attracted to the game along with coaches.

[barnyia]

36 minutes ago, langpark said:

What happened to Montpellier (Diables Rouges) since they left Elite 2? Did they fold altogether? I see a club called Montpellier Sharks seem to have popped up recently, any connection between the two? 

Montpellier are in the lowest division, montpellier sharks are the same, no connection between the clubs and the sharks play in a village near montpellier now, 

Toulon are making a big effort and setting up good connections, but with the elite 2 not playing its complicated, lyon too are making efforts. These are the only 2 cities that can make the step up if they have financial help. 

Toulon set up a very good u19s team with very good but raw union players, unfortunately the fixtures didnt work well for them and the costs became too much. 

Marseille are just building a very good base for the moment. 

I think Toulouse and catalans are enough teams in the uk. Lacoste needs to work with the established teams as well as big cities  like st gaudens, etc who don't have a very big player pool. 

Elite 1 have 5 or 6 well run and stable clubs, after that it's run by hardworking people but lack funding. If they get toulon and lyon in there, it'll be a good statement and may interest people. For the moment it's mainly village and town teams playing each other which is interesting for local people but someone from lyon or paris sat at home aren't going to be interested in palau playing against st gaudens on tv. But maybe interested in toulon v palau or st gaudens, But then again its a little like that in the uk at the moment. 

 

 

[barnyia]

Even people in perpignan aren't interested in elite 1 at the moment, but now it's being shown on tv they're starting to check out the young players in the reserves. I've not seen as many people around lezignan talking about the team and players for a long while either. 

You need to imagine that super league never existed and a championship team suddenly went into the nrl with the best players from the England team with big name aussies and a new renovated stadium, home games versus the storm, roosters etc instead of workington, Featherstone or halifax . Who would you choose to go and watch? The nrl teams or the old championship teams playing in a small league? 

That's what french rl is fighting against. But if the catalans had never gone to super league the french championship would have died or been in a worse position. 

[langpark]

47 minutes ago, barnyia said:

Montpellier are in the lowest division, montpellier sharks are the same, no connection between the clubs and the sharks play in a village near montpellier now, 

Is there any chance we will see either Montpellier team in Elite 2 in the coming years? Or have either one stated it as their target?