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Aude Cathars


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According to the French Forums all three Aude clubs Carcassone, Limoux and Lezignan met on Friday with French Federation president Luc Lacoste. At this stage the purpose of the discussions are unknown, but there is a speculation that it involves the clubs coming together to reform some sort of entity, possibly a reformation of Aude Cathares. 

The meeting was the 3rd or 4th between the clubs and each of the municipalities are involved in the discussions this time.

http://www.rugbyforumxiii.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=73587 

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25 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

According to the French Forums all three Aude clubs Carcassone, Limoux and Lezignan met on Friday with French Federation president Luc Lacoste. At this stage the purpose of the discussions are unknown, but there is a speculation that it involves the clubs coming together to reform some sort of entity, possibly a reformation of Aude Cathares. 

The meeting was the 3rd or 4th between the clubs and each of the municipalities are involved in the discussions this time.

http://www.rugbyforumxiii.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=73587 

I like the idea of another team in the English (sorry European) league system, though an immediate concern would be what would this do to Elite 1 which already seems to be struggling for teams, and team mergers in sport rarely work. 
 

If they could enter one team in League One and then play individually in Elite 1 that might work. 

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They'd keep a team each in elite, players not playing for the Cathares can drop back to their club of origin, it could work as a lot of young aude players are good enough for elite but not good enough to play in the best 3 teams in the elite so would be able to stay at their club and play elite instead of drifting down the divisions and often disappearing from the game., the level may drop in elite but the games will be tighter and another opening for the talented players to play a higher level, I think they want to go directly into the championship so they'd  get more funding from the region as they'd expect more traveling supporters from the UK, 

I think it's the only way forward as the elite league is good to watch but not attracting people into the stadium or interest as most prefer to watch the super League, just look at the Catalan team, their reserve team gets hardly any fans in the stadium even though there's often a very good game and super League squad players in the team. 

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Is there any potential for something similar in Provence, maybe based around Avignon?

Avignon, Carpentras and Salon (I think they have a team) could be used as feeder teams. 

I think they would get good attendances and Avignon seems to have some success in producing players

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23 minutes ago, JM2010 said:

Is there any potential for something similar in Provence, maybe based around Avignon?

Avignon, Carpentras and Salon (I think they have a team) could be used as feeder teams. 

I think they would get good attendances and Avignon seems to have some success in producing players

According to Toulouse/Catalan Media Avignon done a financial assessment last year of entering the English league system and concluded that it was too expensive 

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58 minutes ago, The Daddy said:

According to Toulouse/Catalan Media Avignon done a financial assessment last year of entering the English league system and concluded that it was too expensive 

Well yeah, they’d have to pay everyone’s cost of going to France, plus their own cost of going to England, on gates of about 800. 

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It is quite a catch 22 situation here.  If there was enough depth in the playing ranks, Aude could be the SL team, with the 3 clubs; Carcassonne, Lezignan and Limoux, playing out of Elite 1 as its feeder clubs, supplying them with players.

But, if such depth was there, we probably would not be even discussing it, as the French League would be in a much better place.

Personally, I prefer they stay in Elite 1 and focus on building that up into a professional league.  Hopefully it can eventually get to the point where Catalans and Toulouse are tempted to return.

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11 hours ago, langpark said:

It is quite a catch 22 situation here.  If there was enough depth in the playing ranks, Aude could be the SL team, with the 3 clubs; Carcassonne, Lezignan and Limoux, playing out of Elite 1 as its feeder clubs, supplying them with players.

But, if such depth was there, we probably would not be even discussing it, as the French League would be in a much better place.

Personally, I prefer they stay in Elite 1 and focus on building that up into a professional league.  Hopefully it can eventually get to the point where Catalans and Toulouse are tempted to return.

There will never again be a fully professional French league. That ship has long since sailed.

"Just as we had been Cathars, we were treizistes, men apart."

Jean Roque, Calendrier-revue du Racing-Club Albigeois, 1958-1959

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35 minutes ago, nadera78 said:

There will never again be a fully professional French league. That ship has long since sailed.

Never say never. I am not saying it is going to happen tomorrow either. But it should be their long-term goal. 

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1 hour ago, nadera78 said:

There will never again be a fully professional French league. That ship has long since sailed.

The only way it is possible is by building enough French clubs up to Super League so that eventually they can start a conference of their own and ultimately a Pro-League from that. Imo that would need at least 6 pro teams

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14 hours ago, langpark said:

IPersonally, I prefer they stay in Elite 1 and focus on building that up into a professional league.  Hopefully it can eventually get to the point where Catalans and Toulouse are tempted to return.

That’s pipe dream stuff, it simply isn’t going to happen. We need to focus on making 1 professional European league (Super League) as strong as we possibly can. Another pro French club with feeder sides playing in Elite 1 would help achieve that imo.

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2 hours ago, langpark said:

Never say never. I am not saying it is going to happen tomorrow either. But it should be their long-term goal. 

How long term are you looking? Bearing in mind it's taken 20 years to get two French clubs strong enough to be fully professional.

Almost all French RL club are based in small towns and villages - that's why the 3 Aude clubs are considering this option, they're simply not big enough to support fully professional clubs individually. The only other club in a large enough conurbation is Avignon. 

"Just as we had been Cathars, we were treizistes, men apart."

Jean Roque, Calendrier-revue du Racing-Club Albigeois, 1958-1959

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5 minutes ago, nadera78 said:

How long term are you looking? Bearing in mind it's taken 20 years to get two French clubs strong enough to be fully professional.

Almost all French RL club are based in small towns and villages - that's why the 3 Aude clubs are considering this option, they're simply not big enough to support fully professional clubs individually. The only other club in a large enough conurbation is Avignon. 

There are lower league clubs from larger places, Montpellier, Lyon and Marseille for starters. The size of the place doesn’t matter so much imho, as Castleford / London show, or Widnes/Sheffield etc. 

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11 minutes ago, nadera78 said:

How long term are you looking? Bearing in mind it's taken 20 years to get two French clubs strong enough to be fully professional. 

Well, how far back are you going when you refer to the ship sailing?

It could take 20, 30, 40 years I really don't know. But I can see the first seeds of a brighter future being planted, ever since Luc Lacoste came onto the scene. 

Also, I find it baffling/hilarious when people tell me NARL and Euro XIII can work, then call a professional French League "impossible".

 

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Just now, langpark said:

Well, how far back are you going when you refer to the ship sailing?

It could take 20, 30, 40 years I really don't know. But I can see the first seeds of a brighter future being planted, ever since Luc Lacoste came onto the scene. 

Also, I find it baffling/hilarious when people tell me NARL and Euro XIII can work, then call a professional French League "impossible".

 

Well I've never said any of those other things are going to work. They're clearly a nonsense.

So, just to clarify, you don't think we should aim for 3 or 4 professional French clubs playing in the UK competitions, but instead wait 40 years for a fully professional French competition? Okey dokey. Good luck.

"Just as we had been Cathars, we were treizistes, men apart."

Jean Roque, Calendrier-revue du Racing-Club Albigeois, 1958-1959

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14 minutes ago, Eddie said:

There are lower league clubs from larger places, Montpellier, Lyon and Marseille for starters. The size of the place doesn’t matter so much imho, as Castleford / London show, or Widnes/Sheffield etc. 

Give over. The three cities you've mentioned can't even sustain a team in Elite 1.

"Just as we had been Cathars, we were treizistes, men apart."

Jean Roque, Calendrier-revue du Racing-Club Albigeois, 1958-1959

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22 minutes ago, Eddie said:

There are lower league clubs from larger places, Montpellier, Lyon and Marseille for starters. The size of the place doesn’t matter so much imho, as Castleford / London show, or Widnes/Sheffield etc. 

Hopefully getting more French sides into SL/Championship might encourage investors to get involved in places like Lyon etc

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7 minutes ago, nadera78 said:

Well I've never said any of those other things are going to work. They're clearly a nonsense.

So, just to clarify, you don't think we should aim for 3 or 4 professional French clubs playing in the UK competitions, but instead wait 40 years for a fully professional French competition? Okey dokey. Good luck.

I am not saying that at all. Either formula is fine,.as long as we get there.

But in the meantime, clubs getting stronger, wealthier etc, we may get to a point where it becomes like the Championship and some clubs start going full time (or a large portion of their squad does). It will not be an overnight thing, as I say, but could bw a gradual process that takes 40 years to complete. People need to stop this "all or nothing" way of thinking. 

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59 minutes ago, JM2010 said:

Hopefully getting more French sides into SL/Championship might encourage investors to get involved in places like Lyon etc

And a successful 2025 World Cup, imperative I’d have though. 

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