Interview with FFRXIII President Dominique Baloup

[Gomersall]

Interview with La Dépêche du Midi:

How is the discipline at the level of licensees?

Dominique Baloup: We are on a growth curve with 18,000 to 20,000 licensees all combined. It is the lesser known activities that carry this increase: wheelchair rugby, health sport, but also competition categories. We have to deal with a decline in rugby schools: U7, U 9 and U 11. The problem is that in four to five years, the categories above may experience an air hole. We must therefore work specifically on these categories by improving the reception of young people and moving towards the school environment.

 

Where is the project to move the federation's headquarters?

We are progressing well but we have fallen a little behind. The idea is to sell our headquarters in Paris to settle in Toulouse quite quickly. I am hopeful that by the end of September we will have settled everything. In Toulouse, we found the dream product: an 800 m2 building on two floors where we will install the headquarters of the FFR XIII and the European federation.

 

What about your Super XIII development project?

The goal is to change rugby XIII, make it more attractive. We must be able to offer a quality show in chartered stadiums. Some clubs still have operating modes of the last century, which prevents evolution. I was hoping to organise the final of the next championship in Paris when the Dragons curtain rises on July 4th. But clubs opposed it because it was postponing the end of the season. It's a shame... A discussion is still launched to evolve the calendar towards a championship that would go from February to September from 2027. This important change would prevent us from competing with the major media sports and would allow us to align with the English and Australian championships in order to have more international exchanges. In 2027, the change of seasonality will have to be imposed with the clubs that want to participate. Of course it poses problems but I still have in mind the adventure France rugby league in 1995 (Editor's note with Jacques Fouroux) which was fabulous with full stadiums and shimmering rugby XIII. Of the twenty Super XIII and Elite 2 clubs, eighteen have committed themselves favourably to the idea of change and are open to discussion. We still have some time to work on it. Clubs are very favourable to it because they understood that the French championship was going around in circles.

 

What will be the schedule of the French team this year?

We were hoping to play a match against Australia who will be on tour in England in the Autumn. Unfortunately, the Australian players' union opposed additional playing time when the president of the Australian federation and the coach agreed. On the other hand, the Australian coach invited the XIII of France to share two days of training with them in England. This will be useful to us because a few days later on Saturday, October 25, the French team will be grouped in Albi to play Jamaica, a qualifying match for the 2026 World Cup. The following week, I also hope to be able to organise a match in New Caledonia against Papua or Fiji as part of the structuring of the XIII in this Pacific island. Then, in the year 2026, we agreed with the English, to organise in France in June two wheelchair matches, one men's match and another women's match, which would make four test matches against the English. This is essential before competing in the World Cup in Australia in October and November 2026.

 

France is also a candidate to host World Cup events?

We applied for the Girls' World Cup in 2028 and wheelchair rugby in 2029. For girls, it would be in Brittany and Loire-Atlantique and for wheelchairs in the Auvergne Rhône Alpes region which is very interested before the 2030 Winter Olympic Games. The cities are already chosen with Lyon and Saint-Chamond. The decision should be taken in September by the International Board. We have a good chance of hosting the wheelchair event.

 

And the TV file?

France 3 has the will to put rugby XIII back on the air. It's in the middle of negotiation. France v Jamaica will be broadcast live on France 3 perhaps on the national network. There could be a three-year commitment from France Télévisions. But this step will have to be successful. It's a great opportunity.

[Tommygilf]

A lot in there.

The lack of match against Australia is depressing from the RLPA - they really do not want to play RL matches. I'd advocate that even a PMs XIII level supporting tour squad would have been fine too but zero imagination to get around "problems" yet again.

Paris 2026 for Catalans seems pretty much confirmed. Hopefully it can become a regular thing.

Aligning the season with the UK seems logical - hopefully it leads to more co-operation and international club matches.

Brittany/Loire Atlantique for the Womens world cup seems an odd choice.

Moving the HQ to Toulouse seems logical if Paris is just for show and Toulouse can really maximise value. That said France has been in some ways more Paris focused than the UK is with London, so removing that presence must be carefully considered.

The France 3 deal would be great for French RL. 

[Damien]

These kind of articles by new French RL Presidents always get me optimistic about the future of RL in France. I think there's a lot of good stuff in there and hopefully the game can take the steps it needs to progress.

[langpark]

The shared FFRXIII and ERL HQ in Toulouse is very positive news too.  That will make ERL eligible for EU grants again, after nearly 6 years in the wilderness.

[Henson Park Old Firm]

it's the standard French annual statement... but nothing will get done. Still waiting for the French Pro League

[Eddie]

Not being familiar with French TV stations, does anyone know anything about France 3, ie is it a pay channel, FTA etc. 

Also moving from Paris (100s of miles from where the game is played) to Toulouse sounds like a great idea. 

[Tommygilf]

41 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Not being familiar with French TV stations, does anyone know anything about France 3, ie is it a pay channel, FTA etc. 

Also moving from Paris (100s of miles from where the game is played) to Toulouse sounds like a great idea. 

I think its a bit like BBC2 - national stuff but with regionalised content too.

[Archie Gordon]

No ENG-FRA again in 2026? I couldn't understand that bit of text.

[Eddie]

17 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I think its a bit like BBC2 - national stuff but with regionalised content too.

That sounds great then 

[langpark]

2 hours ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

Still waiting for the French Pro League

How comfortable is that armchair you are sitting on?  You say it as though it's as easy as flipping a switch.

[The Rocket]

42 minutes ago, Archie Gordon said:

No ENG-FRA again in 2026? I couldn't understand that bit of text.

So much for Mal`s "we`ll play a match in France on the way over" to help the local game.

 

What will be the schedule of the French team this year?

We were hoping to play a match against Australia who will be on tour in England in the Autumn. Unfortunately, the Australian players' union opposed additional playing time when the president of the Australian federation and the coach agreed.

[Tommygilf]

12 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

So much for Mal`s "we`ll play a match in France on the way over" to help the local game.

 

What will be the schedule of the French team this year?

We were hoping to play a match against Australia who will be on tour in England in the Autumn. Unfortunately, the Australian players' union opposed additional playing time when the president of the Australian federation and the coach agreed.

I read that as Mal agreeing to a match but the RLPA not wanting it?

[barnyia]

7 hours ago, Tommygilf said:

I think its a bit like BBC2 - national stuff but with regionalised content too.

It's a national Channel and as you say régional content, so only people in the région will get to see rl, I don't think it will happen, via occitanie is shutting down too, 

[The 4 of Us]

I think something lost in translation as it looks like an old Nigel Wood interview about Superleague that has been translated into Catalan and then picked up by a French publication and then back into English. Different countries, same game, same problems. 

[NRLandSL]

On 23/06/2025 at 17:23, Henson Park Old Firm said:

it's the standard French annual statement... but nothing will get done. Still waiting for the French Pro League

It takes time and resources. Nothing is going to happen overnight. The good thing is that there is intent, and they seem to be moving in the right direction. 

[NRLandSL]

Great too hear the England test will be back next year, still can't understand not happening this year. You'd think England would be keen to get a game in before the ashes.

[Eddie]

1 hour ago, NRLandSL said:

Great too hear the England test will be back next year, still can't understand not happening this year. You'd think England would be keen to get a game in before the ashes.

There’s no time to fit it in with the club season. 

[Barley Mow]

4 minutes ago, Eddie said:

There’s no time to fit it in with the club season. 

They worked a gap into this season for it (or some other representative game) before deciding it wouldn't go ahead.

consequently SL round 20 at the end of this month has been split over two weeks to fill the gap in the schedule - 3 games in each week.

[Eddie]

1 minute ago, Barley Mow said:

They worked a gap into this season for it (or some other representative game) before deciding it wouldn't go ahead.

consequently SL round 20 at the end of this month has been split over two weeks to fill the gap in the schedule - 3 games in each week.

Thanks, I didn’t know that. Still it’s better than a game against the Exiles in front of 2,000 in Warrington. 

[NRLandSL]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

There’s no time to fit it in with the club season. 

Are you kidding. Every other sport does it, the NRL have 3 origin games. Of course they can fit in 1 fixture. They could fit in 3-4 if they really wanted.

[Sports Prophet]

1 hour ago, Eddie said:

There’s no time to fit it in with the club season. 

Surely there they could play the week before Wembley?

[Eddie]

2 hours ago, Sports Prophet said:

Surely there they could play the week before Wembley?

Players could probably do with a break. Also I suspect an end of season England v France test a week before a three game Ashes series starts would be a loss maker. 

[Eddie]

2 hours ago, NRLandSL said:

Are you kidding. Every other sport does it, the NRL have 3 origin games. Of course they can fit in 1 fixture. They could fit in 3-4 if they really wanted.

The difference is that origin is massively popular and a money spinner. If it was as popular as an England v France test match they wouldn’t play it. 

[Welshleaguelover]

On 23/06/2025 at 07:28, Tommygilf said:

Brittany/Loire Atlantique for the Womens world cup seems an odd choice

My girlfriend is from Bretagne. Not a rugby place at all. Gives us a reason to visit and for me to not moan about it.

[Eddie]

9 minutes ago, Welshleaguelover said:

My girlfriend is from Bretagne. Not a rugby place at all. Gives us a reason to visit and for me to not moan about it.

To be fair other than in the SW of France there’s little sign of rugby when you go over there, not even any posts on sports fields etc, it’s all football.