France Rugby League Leaders Meet V'Landys and Abdo

[The Daddy]

- French Leadership are very excited after meeting them and expressed that they have many, many options to work with the NRL in the future

- Keen to switch the French League to summer and tap into unused union talent in that season 

- Want to bring clubs from Paris and Lyon into their top league 

- Going to provide the NRL with their 3 year strategic plan

- French TV are interested in covering a summer product as they are looking for content in that time

- NRL want to support French RL and RL in Europe

Details are in the following article:

https://www.intrl.sport/article/695/we-want-to-attract-the-big-cities-french-officials-buoyed-about-future

[Jim from Oz]

We can only hope, or should I say, "Espoir"  

[StandOffHalf]

I think investment in France would have more chance of bearing fruit long-term and wouldn't be as expensive.

[Eddie]

Lots of ‘we want to’s’ in there and little that we haven’t heard before. I hope it works out for them but looking forward to hearing some concrete plans. 

[The Daddy]

32 minutes ago, Eddie said:

Lots of ‘we want to’s’ in there and little that we haven’t heard before. I hope it works out for them but looking forward to hearing some concrete plans. 

Were you in the meeting?

[Trebian]

If the NRL do buy into SL, I think they will up the ante in France.  Rugby Australia regularly send their best players to France to keep them in the game so the NRL will be well aware of the opportunities and the potential in the French market.  PVL tends to view lucrative R.U. markets as opportunities for R.L.

If SL brush the NRL aside, anything could happen. What would $100m/yr pumped into the French market achieve ?

Edited April 13 by Trebian

[Tommygilf]

If I were the NRL I would put $20 to $30 million dollars on the table to Super XIII, insisting that there had to be clubs in Paris and Lyon. A fully professional League funded as currently plus the NRL money, potentially also covering TV production which would then be sublet for the Rights.

I'd want Catalans and Toulouse back in.

I'd then want to discuss a reformatting of the Challenge Cup with the RFL to make it a European Competition supplementing fixture demand for both countries whilst not burdening either with international league matches. London still makes perfect sense for the final.

Having "created" 2 new major Competitions, bringing up the FFRXIII and dipping their toe in with the RFL Challenge Cup in the process, I think the NRL would be in a far stronger bargaining position with the RFL going forwards.

[gingerjon]

34 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

If I were the NRL I would put $20 to $30 million dollars on the table to Super XIII, insisting that there had to be clubs in Paris and Lyon. A fully professional League funded as currently plus the NRL money, potentially also covering TV production which would then be sublet for the Rights.

I'd want Catalans and Toulouse back in.

That's still a pretty small sport in a French and European sense.

[Henson Park Old Firm]

And bring back Treize Tournio

[lucky 7]

3 hours ago, StandOffHalf said:

I think investment in France would have more chance of bearing fruit long-term and wouldn't be as expensive.

Exactly and the French would be more welcoming

[Eddie]

2 hours ago, The Daddy said:

Were you in the meeting?

No I just read the article. Were you?

[Trebian]

17 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

That's still a pretty small sport in a French and European sense.

But it shouldn't be.

History and a complete lack of funding is what as largely killed French Rugby League. With good funding behind it and help from the NRL, France could be a big opportunity. 

[Tommygilf]

19 minutes ago, gingerjon said:

That's still a pretty small sport in a French and European sense.

I was being conservative, but in the RL sense its still significant.

[The Rocket]

2 hours ago, Trebian said:

Rugby Australia regularly send their best players to France to keep them in the game so the NRL will be well aware of the opportunities and the potential in the French market. 

What planet are you on ?  I`ve never heard of one Oz union player going to French union because the aru asked them.

If Oz union players go to France they are deserting Oz union and rarely return.

 

2 hours ago, Trebian said:

PVL tends to view lucrative R.U. markets as opportunities for R.L.

More likely.

[Damien]

As i said a few days ago on the NRL takeover thread when this was first posted we get this almost yearly from French RL with the same goals. Lets see if this leadership can make any of them happen.

[gingerjon]

3 minutes ago, Tommygilf said:

I was being conservative, but in the RL sense its still significant.

It is - and would represent success. But any talk of challenging even second tier RU in France in a meaningful sense is irrelevant to any discussion about developing French RL.

As discussed before, RL in France is, by participation, on a level with handball in England. It sits outside the top 20 sports in France. The fact that it has two full time teams at all is close to miraculous. There really aren't foundations to build from to do significantly more - unlike RL in England, in France, the work needs to start right at the most fundamental level.

[Henson Park Old Firm]

NRL France (4 games and 1 bye per week)

Perpignan

Toulouse 

Villeneuve 

Albi

Avignon 

Carcassone 

Paris

Marseille

Lyon

And teams like Pia, Limoux etc would become feeder/reserve grade clubs which would play in the Super XIII

[M j M]

10 hours ago, The Daddy said:

- French Leadership are very excited after meeting them and expressed that they have many, many options to work with the NRL in the future

- Keen to switch the French League to summer and tap into unused union talent in that season 

- Want to bring clubs from Paris and Lyon into their top league 

- Going to provide the NRL with their 3 year strategic plan

- French TV are interested in covering a summer product as they are looking for content in that time

- NRL want to support French RL and RL in Europe

Details are in the following article:

https://www.intrl.sport/article/695/we-want-to-attract-the-big-cities-french-officials-buoyed-about-future

The ghost of Jacques Fouroux is going to sue for copyright infringement.

[Tommygilf]

1 hour ago, gingerjon said:

It is - and would represent success. But any talk of challenging even second tier RU in France in a meaningful sense is irrelevant to any discussion about developing French RL.

As discussed before, RL in France is, by participation, on a level with handball in England. It sits outside the top 20 sports in France. The fact that it has two full time teams at all is close to miraculous. There really aren't foundations to build from to do significantly more - unlike RL in England, in France, the work needs to start right at the most fundamental level.

Exactly, that ambition is silly. But there is still a place to be reasonably successful in RL terms that work fine and would produce good results on various levels (more pro opportunities, particularly for French players).

[JohnM]

7 hours ago, Jim from Oz said:

We can only hope, or should I say, "Espoir"  

Nous ne pouvons qu'espérer

[Worzel]

12 hours ago, The Daddy said:

- French Leadership are very excited after meeting them and expressed that they have many, many options to work with the NRL in the future

- Keen to switch the French League to summer and tap into unused union talent in that season 

- Want to bring clubs from Paris and Lyon into their top league 

- Going to provide the NRL with their 3 year strategic plan

- French TV are interested in covering a summer product as they are looking for content in that time

- NRL want to support French RL and RL in Europe

Details are in the following article:

https://www.intrl.sport/article/695/we-want-to-attract-the-big-cities-french-officials-buoyed-about-future

This all sounds great. Think their comments on French TV if they switch the season to the summer are a bit optimistic though - they've hardly fallen over themselves to broadcast Catalans and Toulouse matches in their summer season.

But the real opportunity is in growing participation. Summer enables more people in Union systems to at least try rugby league in the off season, and if they like it and have potential then possibly switch lanes. We saw some similar benefits in southern England participation development from the same change.

[Trebian]

18 minutes ago, The Rocket said:

What planet are you on ?  I`ve never heard of one Oz union player going to French union because the aru asked them.

If Oz union players go to France they are deserting Oz union and rarely return.

 

More likely.

It is a strategy often talked about on RU fan sites in Australia and it is believed by many that RA (not aru) has on quite a few occasions suggested to its players that they should go play in either France or Japan. The logic is that RA do not care about Super Rugby, it doesn't make any money, it isn't very popular and there are only 4 teams in it anyway. The salaries paid by SR clubs are very poor compared to what they can earn elsewhere most notably in the NRL. The last thing that RA wants is to lose the really good players from being able to play for the Wallabies in major international competitions such as next year's RWC. 

So RA would sooner see good players leave SR and earn money and gain experience playing union in Japan or France and from where RA can call them up for the Wallabies to play internationals, than see them permanently lost to the NRL. The only exceptions are where that player wants to play in Australia when RA will often pay them a top up. RA do not like doing that because up until last year, they were technically bankrupt.

[Eddie]

3 hours ago, Henson Park Old Firm said:

NRL France (4 games and 1 bye per week)

Perpignan

Toulouse 

Villeneuve 

Albi

Avignon 

Carcassone 

Paris

Marseille

Lyon

And teams like Pia, Limoux etc would become feeder/reserve grade clubs which would play in the Super XIII

Just on this, why would Limoux, Lezignan or Pia want to be a feeder or reserve grade club? Who is going to fund and set up clubs in Paris, Lyon and Marseille? Avignon get about 50 people to their games, why would they be in it?

[The Rocket]

24 minutes ago, Trebian said:

It is a strategy often talked about on RU fan sites in Australia and it is believed by many that RA (not aru) has on quite a few occasions suggested to its players that they should go play in either France or Japan. The logic is that RA do not care about Super Rugby, it doesn't make any money, it isn't very popular and there are only 4 teams in it anyway. The salaries paid by SR clubs are very poor compared to what they can earn elsewhere most notably in the NRL. The last thing that RA wants is to lose the really good players from being able to play for the Wallabies in major international competitions such as next year's RWC. 

So RA would sooner see good players leave SR and earn money and gain experience playing union in Japan or France and from where RA can call them up for the Wallabies to play internationals, than see them permanently lost to the NRL. The only exceptions are where that player wants to play in Australia when RA will often pay them a top up. RA do not like doing that because up until last year, they were technically bankrupt.

The fact remains mate they rarely return and I`m just not seeing that many o/s players getting picked for the Oz team. Doesn`t say much for their strategy of encouraging them to go o/s.

Union fans online might think that the aru don`t care about super rugby, but I`d suggest they care deeply because without it, and without competitive teams against the Kiwi`s, it is game over for union in Oz.

[The Rocket]

6 hours ago, Eddie said:

Lots of ‘we want to’s’ in there and little that we haven’t heard before. I hope it works out for them but looking forward to hearing some concrete plans. 

Just the fact that Abdo`s there suggests somethings afoot, it`s a big difference from the French blokes just putting out their usual well documented list of ambitions.