French Federation make statement after World Cup elimination

[Harry Stottle]

12 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

Harry the reality is there is no interest from Paris TV stations in French RL (Under the current set up) the only chance for French RL to be on national TV (Without paying the production costs) is a fully professional league with a good geographical spread throughout France

Well that ever happen god only knows although the president is convinced it can work and has investors lined up.

He is really between the devil and the deep blue sea and will have to keep all the traditional clubs/areas on side where there is lots of self interest (I think in England we can all relate to that)

I have followed and been involved in FRL for years and enjoy going to the Dragons and Toulouse however to be honest at my age i prefer the real local stuff nice day out food wine rugby but that's me i have more enjoyment now at Pia or Lezignan  and find the SL matches basically boring same old same old for me nowadays its a social thing.

 

P 

Thanks for the reply Paul, the way I look at it RL in France is not that very much removed from the game over here, apart from a couple of Satellite clubs the British Rugby League is confined to one area (and a smattering in Cumbria) of the country being the M62 corridor, in France it very much mirrors the regional theme being in the South close to the Med Coast. That being said we have been trying for years and years to expand the game nationally in Britain to no avail, has the same took place in France in it's 90 year history?

We are a niche sport that most nay probably nearly all who follow it have a connection with from birth, pity is it is only those followers who claim it to be "The Greatest Game" it is a proven that others do not have the same desire in sufficient numbers for a Professional RL Football Club on their doorstep.

If the President can make a fully Professional League work nationally through his stated "investors" that would be excellent news, how many clubs are we talking about and where do the players come from to populate more teams to the standard required, and would not the investors be requiring national exposure through a TV contract? It seems a chicken and egg situation to me, neither nay not have the will to take the plunge without the other being in place first, would that be correct?

[kiggy]

An hour before the France v Samoa game we were out with the dogs and met 3 local lads we know, all under 12, all play Rugby 15's for the local club. We asked if they were excited about the French match...blank looks. The Rugby world cup... blank looks... You know, le Rugby a treize ?  The response ... "Oh, no idea that was on, anyway, who wants to play treize? "

That's the problem the FFR have. 

[DoubleD]

40 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Maybe throwing money at unnecessary professionalism in Elite 1 isn’t such a good idea?

Depends who's money it is, doesn't it? If it's external private investment, as has been touted, then it should be welcomed

[Tosh]

38 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Maybe throwing money at unnecessary professionalism in Elite 1 isn’t such a good idea?

For me any money would be better spent on the FFR setting up a scholarship and academy team to play against their English counterparts.

preferably based in Lyon, marseille or Montpelier.

[ATLANTISMAN]

31 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Thanks for the reply Paul, the way I look at it RL in France is not that very much removed from the game over here, apart from a couple of Satellite clubs the British Rugby League is confined to one area (and a smattering in Cumbria) of the country being the M62 corridor, in France it very much mirrors the regional theme being in the South close to the Med Coast. That being said we have been trying for years and years to expand the game nationally in Britain to no avail, has the same took place in France in it's 90 year history?

We are a niche sport that most nay probably nearly all who follow it have a connection with from birth, pity is it is only those followers who claim it to be "The Greatest Game" it is a proven that others do not have the same desire in sufficient numbers for a Professional RL Football Club on their doorstep.

If the President can make a fully Professional League work nationally through his stated "investors" that would be excellent news, how many clubs are we talking about and where do the players come from to populate more teams to the standard required, and would not the investors be requiring national exposure through a TV contract? It seems a chicken and egg situation to me, neither nay not have the will to take the plunge without the other being in place first, would that be correct?

I think you are right Harry although in England i would 100% include London now in the mix as the junior set up nowadays is first class (Also Wales has great potential) in France though even confined to the South its a massive area in fact the region that has produced the most SL players for the Dragons has been Provence (Avignon area) there is a fantastic jnr club called St Martin Le Crau (Maybe wrong spelling) last successful local player for the Dragons was Morgan Escare.

 

Paul

[Harry Stottle]

4 minutes ago, ATLANTISMAN said:

I think you are right Harry although in England i would 100% include London now in the mix as the junior set up nowadays is first class (Also Wales has great potential) in France though even confined to the South its a massive area in fact the region that has produced the most SL players for the Dragons has been Provence (Avignon area) there is a fantastic jnr club called St Martin Le Crau (Maybe wrong spelling) last successful local player for the Dragons was Morgan Escare.

 

Paul

Correct me if I am wrong Paul, but the investors that the President suggests are willing, they would be on a top down basis not a bottom up approach in that put a pro club in an area and let the rest grassroots etc hopefully follow?

[Exiled Wiganer]

4 minutes ago, Harry Stottle said:

Correct me if I am wrong Paul, but the investors that the President suggests are willing, they would be on a top down basis not a bottom up approach in that put a pro club in an area and let the rest grassroots etc hopefully follow?

I have tried to understand the points you are making, but I am really struggling to do so. 

First, your response to my comment that if you got rid of the qualification by ancestry rule, then France would easily be in the top 8 made no sense. You have to read both parts of that sentence to understand the point I am making. Applying that test, we would have strong teams from Australia, New Zealand, England, PNG and France. 

Second, your suggestion that our game cannot expand geographically is defied by actual facts. We have far more countries playing our game than was ever the case in my day, and we are at the point at which the interest in our game makes it clearly the biggest football code in the Australia/NZ/Island region (I am not sure what the right term is for that). This is a game that gets billion dollar TV deals. It can be done because it is being done as we speak. 

Third, league was once a much bigger sport in France and indeed the bigger code of rugby, but for various reasons, including the inevitable union interference, it declined. But that market was there once, and it can be created again. 

However, leaving aside those points, and focussing on France, I don’t know what the solution is, but it’s very much in England’s interests to do all we can to help them. 

[Jughead]

1 hour ago, DoubleD said:

Depends who's money it is, doesn't it? If it's external private investment, as has been touted, then it should be welcomed

Not really. You can have professional clubs with nothing underpinning them, rugby league is very, very good at that, and that’s a problem. It’s a series of clubs fighting over a small pool of players to fill x amount of professional clubs with little to nothing underneath many of them. Without proper investment in pathways and a growth strategy that encompasses the French clubs and the French national set up, it’s a bit of a waste of money. Of course, people are free to spend how they see fit but looking at the successful clubs in NRL and Super League, it’s those with pathways and strategies that are the biggest and best clubs. 

[DoubleD]

1 minute ago, Jughead said:

Not really. You can have professional clubs with nothing underpinning them, rugby league is very, very good at that, and that’s a problem. It’s a series of clubs fighting over a small pool of players to fill x amount of professional clubs with little to nothing underneath many of them. Without proper investment in pathways and a growth strategy that encompasses the French clubs and the French national set up, it’s a bit of a waste of money. Of course, people are free to spend how they see fit but looking at the successful clubs in NRL and Super League, it’s those with pathways and strategies that are the biggest and best clubs. 

I don't disagree, but if there's an opportunity for the sport in France to attract new money and increase it's exposure and widen it's presence, that should be welcomed................because it's better than the status quo

[Harry Stottle]

13 minutes ago, Exiled Wiganer said:

I have tried to understand the points you are making, but I am really struggling to do so. 

First, your response to my comment that if you got rid of the qualification by ancestry rule, then France would easily be in the top 8 made no sense. You have to read both parts of that sentence to understand the point I am making. Applying that test, we would have strong teams from Australia, New Zealand, England, PNG and France. 

Second, your suggestion that our game cannot expand geographically is defied by actual facts. We have far more countries playing our game than was ever the case in my day, and we are at the point at which the interest in our game makes it clearly the biggest football code in the Australia/NZ/Island region (I am not sure what the right term is for that). This is a game that gets billion dollar TV deals. It can be done because it is being done as we speak. 

Third, league was once a much bigger sport in France and indeed the bigger code of rugby, but for various reasons, including the inevitable union interference, it declined. But that market was there once, and it can be created again. 

However, leaving aside those points, and focussing on France, I don’t know what the solution is, but it’s very much in England’s interests to do all we can to help them. 

Thanks for the reply Wiganer, on the first point I knew exactly what you meant  re the ancestry rule and I was being a tad facetious in my reply that France  would come third in a two horse race, yes they would be a top 5 nation if the ancestry rule was no more, but they would still be 5th and a long way from the forth - in my opinion.

Secondly in respect of expansion I was comparing our country with France and some of the parallels that exist in either country, I did not mention global expansion anyhere, for what it's worth I have lived through many- as I expect you have, from your comments - incarnations of Pro SL clubs being evolved in the UK away from the heartlands of the M62 corridor and they are very noticable now by their absence, London keeps plodding along, will Newcastle survive I hope so but have reservations they will, on that point I was asking Atlantisman does he envisage that France could break the shackles of the confined area RL is played in France?

Thirdly I am well aware of the history of RL in France Mike Rylance's excellent book The Forbidden Game is a good place to start, I hope you are correct that it can make a resurgence and be as strong and even better than it was in it's prime, but the world has changed hell of a lot since those days, there are far more distractions and other sports and pastimes to pry people away from than there has ever been, and it is a big consideration to get newbies playing the sport especially the kids and persuading the parents to let them play this game with all the bad publicity that is being afforded by the media to heavy contact sports and future life possible impairments.

I think England is doing all it can to help France, it is not as though we can throw loads of money at it, we ain't got any of that to spare, what else do you suggest that comes without a financial outlay we can help with? If you are talking regular test matches considering in the short future of 3 years before the next WC do you think that would be welcomed by Mr Wane if he is the coach, he rejected the notion of playing France as part of this season's preperation in respect of what he considered to be more testing opponents.

 

[Tosh]

13 minutes ago, Jughead said:

Not really. You can have professional clubs with nothing underpinning them, rugby league is very, very good at that, and that’s a problem. It’s a series of clubs fighting over a small pool of players to fill x amount of professional clubs with little to nothing underneath many of them. Without proper investment in pathways and a growth strategy that encompasses the French clubs and the French national set up, it’s a bit of a waste of money. Of course, people are free to spend how they see fit but looking at the successful clubs in NRL and Super League, it’s those with pathways and strategies that are the biggest and best clubs. 

Yes and no really.

penrith panthers probably have the best junior/youth setup in the NRL and it’s paying off big time in recent years while a club like the roosters just seem to throw money at everything and have I believe a poor junior/youth setup and just poach all the best junior talent from other clubs as well as just signing the best players.

[ATLANTISMAN]

2 hours ago, Harry Stottle said:

Correct me if I am wrong Paul, but the investors that the President suggests are willing, they would be on a top down basis not a bottom up approach in that put a pro club in an area and let the rest grassroots etc hopefully follow?

Looks like most areas i have been told already have juniors in place apart from 1/2

Most remember would be an extension of existing clubs.

 

Paul

[Yakstorm]

On 02/11/2022 at 03:51, Gomersall said:

@Yakstorm has a PT avatar, maybe he has some idea of what, if anything, is  happening with them?

Apologies for the delay writing back on this one, a few things needed to get signed off before I could announce what Pacifique Treize is up to for 23/24.

Now whilst the hope is still to enter the QCup / Hostplus Cup, the immediate focus is to enter teams in the QRL's U16s & U18s competitions (Cyrill Connell & Mal Meninga Cups) in 2024 (which has been provisionally approved by the QRL).

In the lead up to this, HPS will be run in New Caledonia & Vanuatu, with a New Caledonia squads to face Vanuatu & Fiji at the U16s & U18s levels later this year.

In addition, a number of U16s players will also have the opportunity to join the Cowboys Jnr Reps program in April.

[Henson Park Old Firm]

8 hours ago, Yakstorm said:

Apologies for the delay writing back on this one, a few things needed to get signed off before I could announce what Pacifique Treize is up to for 23/24.

Now whilst the hope is still to enter the QCup / Hostplus Cup, the immediate focus is to enter teams in the QRL's U16s & U18s competitions (Cyrill Connell & Mal Meninga Cups) in 2024 (which has been provisionally approved by the QRL).

In the lead up to this, HPS will be run in New Caledonia & Vanuatu, with a New Caledonia squads to face Vanuatu & Fiji at the U16s & U18s levels later this year.

In addition, a number of U16s players will also have the opportunity to join the Cowboys Jnr Reps program in April.

great news... i thought the dream died (website is dead)