1995 French domestic league

[Cumbrian Mackem]

Seem to remember a little about this prior to super league. Was this France’s equivalent of super league in the U.K. and down under??

 

[Cumbrian Mackem]

Seems to have been an 8 team competition with teams from Paris, Perpignan, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon, Marseille, avingion and carcassone.

Not exactly sure why RU officials are being interviewed?

[thebrewxi]

1 hour ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Seems to have been an 8 team competition with teams from Paris, Perpignan, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon, Marseille, avingion and carcassone.

Not exactly sure why RU officials are being interviewed?

Fantastic stuff. Great crowds! Jacques Fouroux was one of the leading lights behind it; that's why hes being interviewed. Seem to remember him saying rugby's future only lay on League / XIII. Think he was a bit involved in  PSG XIII too? He soon flipped back to union once the pro money was flowing in. Theres a great chapter in it in Seasons In The Sun: the chapter's called "Fouroux the Bell Tolls"

[BJW]

6 hours ago, thebrewxi said:

Fantastic stuff. Great crowds! Jacques Fouroux was one of the leading lights behind it; that's why hes being interviewed. Seem to remember him saying rugby's future only lay on League / XIII. Think he was a bit involved in  PSG XIII too? He soon flipped back to union once the pro money was flowing in. Theres a great chapter in it in Seasons In The Sun: the chapter's called "Fouroux the Bell Tolls"

Not exactly encouraged to stay in RL after his experiences with SL/PSG and apparently clashed with Lindsay (ever heard the Concorde story or the one about how SL thought they knew the French approach better than the French ?)

The competition was an attempt to bring interest back to French RL, played for TV and attracted healthy crowds then SL war broke out and Murdoch bought UK RL & with it, launched PSG. As games were played in Summer in Fouroux competition it'd have been in direct competition plus denuded of best French players. IIRC it was launched at a France V Australia match (announcement to press etc) at Beziers and the fact it was Fouroux attracted much attention and he get much unpleasant 'attitude' from the other code.

[EastLondonMike]

Seem to recall reading something in a book about fouraux being interviewed on a sports chat show where a couple of ex-union players were bad mouthing RL, and Fouraux firmly putting them in their place by claiming they were never good enough to have been able to play RL. Not sure who the players were. Maybe some of our French posters may remember the incident better than I can.

wasnt his RL comp called the Rugby Grand Prix? Or something similar.

[Cumbrian Mackem]

12 hours ago, thebrewxi said:

Fantastic stuff. Great crowds! Jacques Fouroux was one of the leading lights behind it; that's why hes being interviewed. Seem to remember him saying rugby's future only lay on League / XIII. Think he was a bit involved in  PSG XIII too? He soon flipped back to union once the pro money was flowing in. Theres a great chapter in it in Seasons In The Sun: the chapter's called "Fouroux the Bell Tolls"

Indeed. Pretty amazing stuff when you think about it how one man can create so much hype, media attention and generate big crowds from nowhere for a domestic French RL competition. It also shows what can be done and achieved within French RL.

[Cumbrian Mackem]

6 hours ago, BJW said:

Not exactly encouraged to stay in RL after his experiences with SL/PSG and apparently clashed with Lindsay (ever heard the Concorde story or the one about how SL thought they knew the French approach better than the French ?)

The competition was an attempt to bring interest back to French RL, played for TV and attracted healthy crowds then SL war broke out and Murdoch bought UK RL & with it, launched PSG. As games were played in Summer in Fouroux competition it'd have been in direct competition plus denuded of best French players. IIRC it was launched at a France V Australia match (announcement to press etc) at Beziers and the fact it was Fouroux attracted much attention and he get much unpleasant 'attitude' from the other code.

So this competition was played after the regular elite1&2 season?

also what’s the deal with all the French teams using jerseys from winfield cup sides? Did the winfield cup/ARL have any thing to do with this i.e. funding and supplying players?

[Cumbrian Mackem]

3 hours ago, EastLondonMike said:

Seem to recall reading something in a book about fouraux being interviewed on a sports chat show where a couple of ex-union players were bad mouthing RL, and Fouraux firmly putting them in their place by claiming they were never good enough to have been able to play RL. Not sure who the players were. Maybe some of our French posters may remember the incident better than I can.

wasnt his RL comp called the Rugby Grand Prix? Or something similar.

“Rugby Grand Prix” rings a bell. Think I saw something about it on “boots n all” back in the day and also fouroux was also a sky sports studio guest at the wigan v saints derby match in the centenary season. I also think that all of the 4 games of each round of the competition were held at the same venue a la magic weekend style.

 I think he(fouroux) left union under a bit of a cloud before setting up his league competition.

[M j M]

Consulting my 1994/95 scrapbook I see this matter exercised the greatest minds of the age.

Depressing that 25 years later this pair are still churning out the same old s***e.

 

[thebrewxi]

I remember reading that Sunday Times article! wow, proper jogged the memory banks!

[BJW]

14 hours ago, Cumbrian Mackem said:

So this competition was played after the regular elite1&2 season?

also what’s the deal with all the French teams using jerseys from winfield cup sides? Did the winfield cup/ARL have any thing to do with this i.e. funding and supplying players?

From memory it was played during the summer with most players coming from the domestic comp, may have been a few Antipodeans playing on spec to earn deals in Elite 1 or 2 but not a great number.

AFAIK there was no Australian input apart from a few players who were already involved in the game in France.

[ATLANTISMAN]

Saw Didier Cabestany (Sadly no longer with us) in one of the videos used to love watching him play hard as nails:)
 

Paul

[kiwis 13 6]

On 11/01/2021 at 02:57, Cumbrian Mackem said:

Paris, Perpignan, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon, Marseille, avingion and carcassone.

Imagine if Elite one had a line up like this today. I remember reading articles about Jacques Fouroux setting up a summer competition in France might have even been in Open Rugby Magazine and i think it might even have been mentioned in NZ newspaper sports pages. 1st time ive seen footage from the competition a few names i recognize from French National Side back in the day and til now i never knew OG Warriors Icon Hitro Okesene played a season in France for Paris. I think Rugby League grassroots were a bit bigger and geographical spread of the game was further in France back in 95 compared to today. I think Corbeil and Hussards were Paris based teams in Elite 1 0r 2 at the time and i think places like Paris & Bordeaux and even Corsica had local amateur rugby league sides participating in the sport. But i think entry to Fouroux's summer league games was free with lives music before games to entertain crowds,,, must have all been funded by sponsors and TV money.