France v Lebanon test series (Merged Threads)

[Click]

5 hours ago, langpark said:

Why only these matches? Who had a gun to their heads? It is their money and they are choosing how to spend it. 

From what someone said, it is being funded by Lebanese ex-pats in Sydney, so I imagine it isn't "their" money. 

[GeordieSaint]

Huff…

[BristolDevonCharlie]

18 hours ago, Odsal Outlaw said:

This schedule could be a good move by France, they ultimately need to beat (likely) Wales to get to the World Series and then hopefully the RLWC. They have two games against Lebanon to prepare for a game against Wales. By sending their B team out against Ukraine their A team gets a full weeks rest where as Wales will be playing a second game in 4 days.

Though, surely as it is a World Cup qualifying tournament they will have to submit a limited squad, and so using 34 players in the two matches would not be allowed?

[BristolDevonCharlie]

8 hours ago, langpark said:

Frustrating but not surprising, given their closed door policy they seem to have against their local players.

Not closed door, there were three Lebanon-based players in the RLWC 2021 squad in 2022.

I mean, there kinda of is a war going on, and shed loads of other issues, so I can see why the local comp has slipped.

Interesting that Tonga were just allowed to reclaim their membership status after getting a new governing body recently. 

I assume the IRL are giving Lebanon comparatively similar slack for situations out of their control. Scotland and Ireland have no such excuses. 

[langpark]

1 hour ago, Click said:

From what someone said, it is being funded by Lebanese ex-pats in Sydney, so I imagine it isn't "their" money. 

The Sydney Lebanese are supposedly part of the LRLF. They simply need to get their priorities in order if they prefer to spend big money on things that do not bear any long-term fruit (the proof is in the pudding, they have been using this method for the last 24 years). 

 

[langpark]

31 minutes ago, BristolDevonCharlie said:

Not closed door, there were three Lebanon-based players in the RLWC 2021 squad in 2022.

I mean, there kinda of is a war going on, and shed loads of other issues, so I can see why the local comp has slipped.

Pretty much closed door. There were two at the WC and they were not even allowed to train with their own team. One got fed up and flew home early. The other had to settle for being the bell boy role, carrying the team gear on and off buses etc. 

Ask yourdelf this. Will the best player in Lebanon be a part of this France tour? If not, then what motivation is there for any of the top players right now in Lebanon to keep practicing RL and improving? These are the potential future players and adminstrators, don't forget. Alienate them, and your game has no future. 

Also, I do not accept the war as an excuse. Lebanon played in RLWC 2000. Forget the war, forget the pandemic, what was actually done in the 19 years prior to both of those events? 

[Odsal Outlaw]

1 hour ago, BristolDevonCharlie said:

Though, surely as it is a World Cup qualifying tournament they will have to submit a limited squad, and so using 34 players in the two matches would not be allowed?

This is rugby league

[Click]

1 hour ago, langpark said:

The Sydney Lebanese are supposedly part of the LRLF. They simply need to get their priorities in order if they prefer to spend big money on things that do not bear any long-term fruit (the proof is in the pudding, they have been using this method for the last 24 years). 

 

I have no idea on the make up of the LRLF, but as much as this tour won't fund that much growth in the country, it isn't like it is taking away from France playing someone else. 

[BristolDevonCharlie]

25 minutes ago, Odsal Outlaw said:

This is rugby league

Which has squad limits for major tournaments. 

Edited September 6, 2024 by BristolDevonCharlie

[BristolDevonCharlie]

1 hour ago, langpark said:

Pretty much closed door. There were two at the WC and they were not even allowed to train with their own team. One got fed up and flew home early. The other had to settle for being the bell boy role, carrying the team gear on and off buses etc. 

Ask yourdelf this. Will the best player in Lebanon be a part of this France tour? If not, then what motivation is there for any of the top players right now in Lebanon to keep practicing RL and improving? These are the potential future players and adminstrators, don't forget. Alienate them, and your game has no future. 

Also, I do not accept the war as an excuse. Lebanon played in RLWC 2000. Forget the war, forget the pandemic, what was actually done in the 19 years prior to both of those events? 

Your opinion may not accept war as a mitigating factor, but my point, and wider enquiry, was about whether the IRL do. I suspect they probably don't but didn't want to renege on their previous qualification promise.

If all you allege is true then it is more fool them (Lebanese Rugby League) and they will not get their Full Member status back and will be unable to compete in RLWC 2030. 

As it should encourage nations to buck their ideas up, I think that rule is a very good idea.

[Big Picture]

11 hours ago, Eddie said:

Zero value, the team shouldn’t be called Lebanon if it has no Lebanese players in it either. Much like an American lacrosse team of Americans with English grandparents shouldn’t be called England. 

That would never happen in lacrosse.  As you can see here, in lacrosse at least 85% of players on any national teams must be citizens who hold that nation's passport and the rest but all be eligible for citizenship under its laws.  That's serious international sport for you.

[Click]

6 minutes ago, Big Picture said:

That would never happen in lacrosse.  As you can see here, in lacrosse at least 85% of players on any national teams must be citizens who hold that nation's passport and the rest but all be eligible for citizenship under its laws.  That's serious international sport for you.

Sorry, who cares about Lacrosse? I know it's a national sport in Canada ... But seriously?

[Big Picture]

16 minutes ago, Click said:

Sorry, who cares about Lacrosse? I know it's a national sport in Canada ... But seriously?

@Eddiementioned it, I was just clarifying things.

Lacrosse might not be your radar but as you can see here World Lacrosse has 96 members in four continental federations, not that different from RU and cricket and way bigger than RL.

[Click]

1 minute ago, Big Picture said:

@Eddiementioned it, I was just clarifying things.

Lacrosse might not be your radar but as you can see here World Lacrosse has 96 members in four continental federations, not that different from RU and cricket and way bigger than RL.

Apologies, I neglected to read Eddie's original post. 

My point still stands  

[Eddie]

10 hours ago, Click said:

Sorry, who cares about Lacrosse? I know it's a national sport in Canada ... But seriously?

It also has a professional league in the USA. 

[ATLANTISMAN]

11 hours ago, Click said:

Sorry, who cares about Lacrosse? I know it's a national sport in Canada ... But seriously?

It's actually massively popular in the USA with a pro league 

[gingerjon]

12 hours ago, Click said:

Sorry, who cares about Lacrosse? I know it's a national sport in Canada ... But seriously?

Rugby league fans should always be careful when casting aspersions about the international credibility of other sports. With the exception of AFL and GAA, virtually all are going to be bigger and better organised - and probably have far fewer heritage teams on our scale.

[Dave T]

I don't think heritage players are an issue in themselves. The real problem here is that since we moved to larger multi-team world cups in the 90's there has been very little development on nations that play in our tournaments.

[gingerjon]

4 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I don't think heritage players are an issue in themselves. The real problem here is that since we moved to larger multi-team world cups in the 90's there has been very little development on nations that play in our tournaments.

At some point, and that point was years ago, there should be a crossover so you can be confident teams are truly representative of their nation (and how that looks will not be the same for every nation).

We are as far away from that as ever, right now.

[Dave T]

31 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

At some point, and that point was years ago, there should be a crossover so you can be confident teams are truly representative of their nation (and how that looks will not be the same for every nation).

We are as far away from that as ever, right now.

I think most of us would accept even baby steps, but in reality, we took the easy option. Then did it again. And again. 

[JM2010]

Hopefully this test series can be built upon with France and Lebanon getting more regular fixtures. Would like to see PNG and Fiji playing against these two nations as well plus
Maybe use the middle year of a WC cycle to have Fiji and PNG available to play against France, Lebanon and Wales with the Pacific Cup/Bowl played the other 2 years of the cycle

[Griff]

19 hours ago, BristolDevonCharlie said:

Though, surely as it is a World Cup qualifying tournament they will have to submit a limited squad, and so using 34 players in the two matches would not be allowed?

I'm not convinced that they need to name a squad for the qualifiers.

[Griff]

17 hours ago, BristolDevonCharlie said:

Which has squad limits for major tournaments. 

Can you point me to the squad limit rule for the qualifying tournament?

[Dave T]

I'm not sure of the details other than the claim of substantial costs for Lebanon to fly a squad from Australia, but if that is the case, why is that money not made available for France to go the other way and play PNG, Fiji etc?

[gingerjon]

3 minutes ago, Dave T said:

I'm not sure of the details other than the claim of substantial costs for Lebanon to fly a squad from Australia, but if that is the case, why is that money not made available for France to go the other way and play PNG, Fiji etc?

Because then it wouldn't be a jolly for Lebanon.