Catalans Dragons - French Rugby League Reborn
How Super League Has Saved Rugby a Treize, Vichy Legacy Defeated
Sep 20, 2009
The introduction of the Catalans Dragons into the European Super League has been a unmitigated success. Attendances are averaging just under 10,000 and the Dragons have reached a Challenge Cup Final, as well as the Super League play-offs two years in a row. Many French players have the opportunity to play at the top level and the French national side have been admitted to the Four Nations, where they will play the likes of Australia and England.
The History of French Rugby League
Before the second world war rugby league in France was a powerful and widespread sport. The open nature of rugby league suited the French temperament. The French governing body was set up in 1934 and in the next 5 years over 220 clubs were created.
Due to its working class base rugby league was associated with the left and after the Vichy regime was set up in the wake of the German invasion, rugby union officials lobbied successfully for the sport to be banned as a 'deviant' version of rugby. Clubs and players were forced to play rugby union and the sports assets were handed over to the union authorities. The Vichy Sports minister, Jean Ybarnégaray, declared: "The fate of rugby league is clear. Its life is over and it will be quite simply deleted from French sport."
Post War Glory: Puig Albert et al
The ban was rescinded after the war but the assets were never returned. Maybe more importantly league was dislodged from the schools and still not allowed to use the name rugby. Instead they had to adopt the moniker jeu a treize, the game of thirteen.
Despite these travails, French rugby league still had a formidable team. A French touring team took on and beat the Aussies in 1951 and again in two more series. Puig Albert, the French full back, was considered by the Australians to be one of the best ever players. But the underlying problems of resources meant the golden age soon faded away.
Catalans Dragons and the European Super League
The sport was hanging on, still played mainly in the south west of France. Unfortunately with the launch of the European Super League in 1996 it was decided to add a Paris based team, Paris Saint-Germain, who folded after two seasons. Their distance from the heartlands of the sport, and the fact that players were backing up for their soutern based clubs was hardly a recipe for success.
However, two teams in Perpignan merged specifically to bring about a more realistic bid to bring top level rugby league back to France. Union Treiziste Catalan, created from XIII Catalan and Saint Esteve. They continue to play in the French championship as UTC but successfully bid for a Super League spot as the Catalans Dragons.
Relegation, the Rugby Football League and the French Rugby League
The new entity once accepted was aggressively supported by both the Rugby Football League and the French Rugby League, with an exemption from relegation for three years as well as the right to buy any French player without paying a transfer fee. They aim to have at least 75% French qualified players and are the focal point for French rugby league as well as an example of success to to other teams.
Now Toulouse are front runners for being the second team in the Super League. 30 new Development Officers will soon be appointed for the whole country, the television coverage has gone from being paid for by the FRL to a significant contract and participation rates have grown consistently. Maybe more significantly in the long term the dragons took a game against the Warrington wolves to Barcelona with a record attendance of over 18,000.
French Rugby League Looks to the Future
With stadium developments, a crowd average growing every year, more structure and development then ever before, it is clear that the best decision made since the war was to admit the Catalans Dragons to the top northern hemisphere rugby league competition. With Toulouse lined up with a strong bid to be the next French team in the Super League, the future is looking bright for French rugby league.
Source:
Sean Fagan, Rugby League Historian
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