Rugby League Resurrected in France

Les Catalans got the French presence in the new Super League XI season off to a sensational start with an incredible 38-30 victory over the Wigan Warriors in Perpignan. This prompted The Observer (12/2/2006) to take a look at why Rugby League lags so far behind its Rugby Union counterpart in La Belle France. What they uncovered will shock most British fans and outrage many - it's hard to believe any patriotic Frenchman could bring themselves to even attend a game let alone support Rugby Union in France. French Rugby Union is a game of collaborators, opportunists and is tainted with the odour of Vichy capitulation.

Here's an excerpt from the article, the full link is at the bottom of the page.

"Rugby league in this country has found it hard to establish itself on the national sporting stage, but that is nothing to what their French counterparts have had to endure in just over 70 years of turmoil.

Jean Galia, a rugby union international, introduced league in France in 1934 after watching a game between England and Australia in Paris the previous year. The game prospered in the ensuing years, particular in the south, but the Second World War was to prove disastrous. In one of the most shameful acts ever witnessed in sport, rugby league was outlawed by the Vichy government and had all its funds confiscated. Under the right-wing agenda of Marshal Petain, professional sport was to be banned, although only rugby league felt the full force of the new legislation. The fact that even amateur rugby league was banned led to a long-held belief that the rugby union authorities had used their influence to kill off the sport.

Mike Rylance, in The Forbidden Game, his thought-provoking book on the subject, questioned the late Jean Borotra, a former Wimbledon champion who was appointed by the Vichy government to run a department known as the Commissariat General à L'Education Generale et Sportive, a section of the Ministry of Family and Youth. Borotra recalled,

'the banning of rugby league was decided, in 1941, by the director of sports, who was a union player, and who was convinced that the disappearance of rugby league would favour the development of rugby.'

Rugby à Treize, as it was known, never recovered and continued to be the very poor relation of rugby union - so much so that even before union went open in 1995, they could not afford to hang on to their best players in the face of the financial inducements of clubs from the supposedly amateur code."

When Super League was launched against such an appalling background the situation was exacerbated by the French representative being Paris St Germain. It was doomed from the start; exiled from the southern home of French Rugby League and populated by Aussie journeymen. Lessons have been learned (apart from never trust a French rugby union player), and the new Catalan club is based in the heart of Rugby League territory, in Perpignan, and has a majority of native Frenchman in the squad.

The Observer article continues: "Perpignan is in the Catalan region of France, which has its own culture and language, so calling the new club Les Catalans taps into a very strong cultural identity. Unlike the Paris venture the emphasis is on using home-grown players - 17 of the 25-man squad are French, including Jerome Guisset, who has top-flight experience with Canberra, Warrington and Wigan, and the exciting back-rower Jamal Fakir. There is an infrastructure in place that should produce a steady stream of talented players, the Catalan region boasting 15 clubs with 1,000 players. Three full-time academies have been set up to ensure that young players get the right coaching and training early in their careers."

The revival of French Rugby League is off to a great start. Apart from a couple of wild challenges from Fakir and Chan, the Catalan victory over Wigan was a joy for the neutral to watch. They were certainly good value for the victory, even coming from being 16-22 behind at half-time. It was also good to see a defeat for the Vichy French Rugby Union!! Allez Les Catalans!

You can see the Frenchmen in action when Leeds Rhinos visit Perpignan on Saturday, 11 March 2006, at 6pm, local time. The Dragons visit Headingley on Friday 15th September at 8pm

Read the full article here

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