STEVE BRADY makes a plea for Toulouse Olympique to be elevated to Super League next season.

NORTHERN HEMISPHERE Rugby League faces a dilemma this week, which is whether or not to include Toulouse Olympique as members of Super League for 2026.

The Championship Grand Final-winners are rumoured to be clear leaders in the IMG gradings for twelfth slot in the top flight.

And despite finishing second in the Championship table, their final showpiece win at impressive York Knights has them rightly staking a claim to be the best team on the pitch in the second tier.

But there is resistance within the game to having two French sides in Super League, with concerns over a lack of travelling support, the absence of a French television contract (Sky is unavailable across the Channel) and the inability to promote sponsors Betfred in France.

But here’s why I think it’s an absolute no-brainer to bring in the Olympians.

As we saw in the Grand Final and repeatedly this season, we have the greatest game in the world. But it’s also a game running out of resources, with dwindling TV deals and just one single sponsor of note. It deserves so much better.

It’s a game that has resurrected a former leader to head yet another Strategic Review to analyse itself once again and come up with the same grim conclusions.

So how can we get the respect we deserve from the main stakeholders – the TV broadcasters, the sponsors and the supporters?

We do it by returning to Rugby League’s roots of bold vision and long-term ambition, instead of endless rounds of in-fighting and introspection, and we then take advantage of exciting new developments.

But my concern is that we have lost our visionary eye for an opportunity. And Toulouse represents that opportunity, staring us in the face.

I am a fully-fledged Francophile. I don’t need persuasion, but don’t just take my word for it.

Peter V’Landys (ARL chief), Troy Grant (IRL leader and accomplished politician) and visionary expansionists like Trent Robinson and Tas Baitieri are all of the same opinion.

There is no future for the game in the northern hemisphere without France.

I needn’t add that these people are at the helm of the game’s most successful and respected organisation, the NRL, and if we are to have a cat in hell’s chance of achieving just a shred of their success we have to listen to them.

Because of Catalans Dragons we now have quality French players throughout Super League. Without Catalans there would have been no French team creating history at Wembley or record attendances at Barcelona’s Camp Nou.

Now double it, or in fact treble it, because Toulouse represents so much more potential than Perpignan ever could. France’s third largest city is the centre of the country’s space and aviation industry, a vibrant commercial hub with an international business community.

Forgive me, but although I prefer the beaches and mountains around my beloved Perpignan, Toulouse is actually where it’s at.

Get them both in and reap the benefits.

Make it a Super League condition that they rename Catalans as Perpignan Dragons (sorry Mr Guasch but it is the only way to capture French imagination) and immediately begin to promote the ‘French Derby’ and ensure the regular fixtures dovetail nicely to double their support.

If you add up what the Dragons have achieved in 20 years you can multiply it infinitely by this new potential.

Toulouse is different gravy, a sporting colossus in France and a business giant in world trade.

In any successful business “the customer is always right” so ask the supporters what they think? They love the French trip; it reinforces club bonding and fulfilment for fans. It’s the first game they look for when the fixtures are revealed.

Now get commercially savvy, stop waiting for European money and TV deals to flow in. Instead, go out and get it, or at least hire someone who can.

If we spurn this opportunity we deserve to see someone else stepping in and taking over, especially if those people happen to be the most successful administrators of Rugby League in history.

Any decision to exclude Toulouse from Super League next season I believe would hasten that process.

Not to have them in Super League in 2026 would be crazy.