French Rugby League marks its 90th birthday this year, but the celebration party in Toulouse was somewhat spoiled when both England men’s and women’s teams chalked up big wins against France and the fans also failed to turn up in numbers. What happens next?
WHAT was the state of mind of an average Frenchman in 1934?
1934 was just two years before the “Front Populaire” (a left-wing government) gave France something that we’re sometimes envied for or mocked with; paid annual leave for all the workers.
But it was also just six years before France lost her liberty for four years (but not completely her honour thanks to the Resistance) after being invaded by Nazi Germany.
At that time, rugby union was the only code played. Until, of course, ‘XIII de France’ played their first official game against England at Stade Buffalo in the city of Paris, on 15th April. The French Rugby League Federation was born a few days before on 6th April, its first ever President coming from French Britanny (François Cadoret).
I like to imagine the average spectator (likely a man) of that time, aware of many sports, thanks to a prolific and a well-written sports press. Someone curious to discover rugby league, that ‘néo-rugby’, if played in his city, of course, as taking an extended weekend off to go and watch a game in another area would be a luxury for many at that time. The prospect of playing a nation like England would have offered something ‘exotic’ as back then, the UK was only a destination for the rich, the wine experts, some intellectuals or domestic servants who would cross the channel to ply their trade, mainly in London or in the south of England.
In 2024, the average French person is living in a completely different universe and are offered many possibilities; they have more time to travel and more money to do so. The press hasn’t followed them, or I should say that the sports press applies a simple (simplistic?) principle and follows a well-known hierarchy; football first and above all, and far behind cycling in summer, tennis, and rugby (union). Others have to wait for some remaining space or more quiet news periods. The media which has developed since 1934 (TV, radio) have not been very different on a national scale. Fortunately, the internet has appeared since, and it changed everything for someone like me, who lives at the frontier of a Treiziste area; we can be more and more informed about what’s going on in French rugby league, which was still difficult twenty years ago.
And the celebrations organised for the 90th anniversary of the French Rugby League Federation didn’t arrive unnoticed.
The climax being, obviously, that triple-header held in Toulouse in late June; on the menu, France v England (with the selections of both the men and the women) and the Championship game between Toulouse and Featherstone.
We were full of expectations; a well-filled stadium (attendance of 10,000 expected), victory for Toulouse, but also for the men (who presented the best team possible on the team sheet). Not necessarily for the women. Don’t get me wrong, this is not patronising from me to say that women players are still very much amateur compared to most of their English counterparts. They play a domestic championship whose first grade is usually made of three or four teams. They have jobs aside and have to cope with the difficulties of being not only Treizistes but also women in a country where football seems to be the only sport where women are starting to be regarded as almost equal to the men.
But French rugby league is sometimes unlucky and time is rarely on its side.
The same week as the triple-header, Toulouse rugby union club won the domestic championship in a Grand Final played 273 miles away in Marseille. I hold no grudge against them, Stade Toulousain is a partner of Toulouse Olympique XIII, but a large part of the potential public was elsewhere in the literal sense as well as the figurative. If they were so many decorations in the city, it was of course for the trophy presentation planned… during the Toulouse v Featherstone game, the same Saturday evening!
Also, our President (of the Republic not of the Federation) sprung a surprise by dissolving our national assembly, the first round of general elections being the day after the event at Stade Ernest Wallon. Given that only one person can vote for you by proxy, some may have been reluctant to make the trip to Toulouse because of this very important election, which has been a very big issue here for weeks?
Well, you may think that I’m looking for excuses and I must say that I am myself only half persuaded by what I’m writing.
When we booked our tickets on the Toulouse website, my wife and I had hard time picking the seats we wanted and we were sometimes blocked by the booking software to prevent some seats to become ‘isolated’. I was not upset at all: I thought it was a good omen.
Yet, when we arrived at the stadium, the emptiness (or almost) of the two side stands were obvious and heartbreaking. By the way, “Merci” to the British fans who tried to decorate one of them with the Union Jack and a few flags of England. I’m not being sarcastic, it covered a little bit of the gap!
And at the lower part of the presidential box, there were no crowds either. Funnily, we even found a member of the Toulouse Olympique sport staff in one of our reserved seats and he seemed surprised by the fact we claimed them: “But you can sit everywhere else, they won’t be more people you know!” A suggestion we chose to accept of course even if he was ok to graciously leave ‘our’ seats.
What is sure is that I know who can’t be blamed for that low attendance (4,800 but higher in the evening about 6,000): The Catalans Dragons! Their managers were there. Bernard Guasch was as at ease on the terraces as if he was at Gilbert Brutus. Steve McNamara was seen in the stadium too. We saw many personalities. The ‘Dracs’ not only let their French players join the national team but were here for the party. I also saw many personalities I mention in my columns. The federal congress held the day before may have helped.
But where was the rest of the public? 35 euros (30 pounds) was quite a bargain for three games. It takes only two hours to drive from Perpignan to Toulouse. One hour only from Carcassonne. Plus, Stade Ernest Wallon offers car parks just at the entrance of the gates. This is not a stadium stuck in a middle of a city, it’s connected to the motorway.
On the field, things started as expected with a defeat of our women against an electric English team (0-42) But Les Bleus show they can play rugby league, and if the score was heavy, it was far from being ridiculous. You think it’s disgraceful for an international game? Yet, that same team defeat regularly and easily the other European teams within the same margin. Doesn’t it boggle your mind?
The disappointment came after false hope with the men’s team. When they led by 8-0, until the 20th minute, we thought that we would receive the perfect birthday gift, but the final score of 8-40 was as hard to swallow as the piece of cake given by Leonardo DiCaprio to Christoph Waltz in the film Django Unchained.
Fortunately, Toulouse saved the evening with a convincing victory against Featherstone (20-0).
But the celebration gave the guests mixed feelings.
In many sports, disappointment happens all the time. But you always have the hope to do better another day (a day which comes after only a few months). Comparison is not reason but when the French union national team is thrashed (it happened several times in the past and our press slashed them), Quinzistes know they will soon have opportunities to redeem themselves. World Rugby won’t relegate them for the crime of making the winners of the day lose their time.
But don’t forget we’re in rugby league, and an international test match is something like an accident; it happens occasionally. And unless you can offer a game against England, winning or losing with just a few points margin, the birthday party starts to become a mortuary vigil.
The state of mind of the average Frenchman I’m afraid is full of pessimism. Not because I don’t trust my compatriots’ abilities: the France U19s victory against England Academy in July (37-40 at Warrington) tells a lot about the potential of French Treizistes.
But I wonder when the next party will be and if France will be invited? In one year, as it was announced? Or will it be replaced by a game with a makeshift team?
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 499 (August 2024)
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