Toulouse are more important than Paris to RL in France at this stage. Any talk of including Paris has to be AFTER Toulouse in my and most other people's opinions it would seem.

probably irrelevant

Not wishing to come over all albert, but there's already more amateur RL activity in Paris/Ile de France than in say Wales, or Salford. They would have the best stadium in SL. The RU side is the richest in the world. Less than 10% of their *playing* budget would max out on our salary cap - they are not going to struggle to put together a competitive squad if it's a serious bid.

A full house 80k at the Stade de France, for a double header of Superleague/Top14? Simply cannot see the RFL turning it down in favour of Toulouse, Salford, Celtic, Widnes, Wakefield...

Of course, it all depends on how seriously Stade are taking it. If it's just going to be a case of you can use our name and stadium, then it's a non-starter. But if they do put significant resources in - and planning on winning SL?

I tend to agree. Despite what some poster's think, I think the current regime at the RFL is very strategic in its thinking. The decision to bring in Catalans, keep Harlequins, and bring in the Crusaders, shows that they are working to a steady beat of expansion. A Paris team with some serious, and I stress serious, financial backing, is something that they'd be crazy not to consider. PSG were never seriously interested in investing the money to succeed. Stade Francaise might be. If they are, we should bite their hands off. It would immediately bring a better tv contract in France, and thus widen the financial base of the sport.

I completely understand why people in Widnes/Leigh/Halifax/Featherstone/Barrow etc, hate this kind of discussion. But money will talk in this situation. None of the obvious north of England sides who would like to expand offer much potential revenue. They offer history and continuity, but at the moment, that doesn't cut it.

First of all, wouldn't a team be a good start? Get them in the LER with the aim to get them in the Championship ala Toulouse, in the not too distant future, then take it from there.

Richard Lewis (owner of the Super League)



Never trust an on-line translation engine.

It would help if the LER was able to go full time and turn it into some kind of French Superleague.

Featuring Paris and maybe some other new teams.

Too right, Team full of aussies & kiwis if they get it off the ground....the stade francais oooonion side is full of merc..sorry foreign players



Also imagine what the playing kit would be like?....has anybody seen the above's over the last few years

It would provide an "interesting" challenge to the salary cap.

I think with the french rugby union sides spending riduculous amounts of money on foreign players overlooking the academy ranks, maybe the young french players will try thier hand at league, i doubt it but it could happen!

It's aaallll good publicity, especially for the game in France.
I wouldnt treat it as much more

So we can expect the ' Gay Paree weekend ' to be announced in 2011 when they decide all you SL fans are fed up of edinburgh

I agree, Toulouse are at a far more advanced stage, and also would provide a geographical 'derby' for Catalan.

Plus they actually have a RL team at the moment and are working very hard to get to the required level needed ,

While I disagree with them being in the Championship I cannot fault the effort they appear to be making to draw crowds and buid a fan base worthy of SL

What is it about their inclusion in the Championship that you disagree with?

for the future

NZ became world champs with one NRL club and a stack of players at other NRL clubs in Oz. We need to get at least one or two French players in every SL squad, get them competitive and watch French RL grow. Top down development in non RL areas rarely works, Celtic and Quins prove that. Unless there's a massive long term financial commitment I wouldnt go near a Paris SL club. The RFL dont do common sense though.

I am totally shocked by the rampant level-headedness in this topic!

Stade in SL? They would aim for LER in 2012, Championship in 2015 and SL in 2018. Maybe they could accelerate that by a couple years, no better.

I think the RFL will have one eye squarely on how Celtic do, if they continue to struggle they will be unlikely to back another rootless expansion no matter what Stade promise, though the potential is worth investigating.

No matter what they say, this is great publicity, and a clear answer to the question - why was the Oz match played in Paris?

We have never had top down development though with a club that has had plenty of money behind it to allow the club to grow. All of our expansion clubs have struggled from the start due to a lack of finance and thus have had to cut corners with regards to marketing, player development etc.

Rugby Union with the likes of Sale and Newcastle have shown what can be achieved if millionaire owners are willing to bankroll a club. Even Leeds Tykes get bigger attendances than some League clubs such as Harlequins and have got to where they are due to having a wealthy owner. Even the likes of Saracens and London Irish have moved from their traditional bases and grown massively due to having plenty of money behind them. The same can be said in France where the likes of Stade Francais and Toulon have grown from more or less nothing due to having owners that are prepared to bankroll the club

Is this rhetorical

yet you argue for promotion/relegation by saying removing t gives clubs nothing to aim for,


yet you argue Championship clubs cant afford them in that league, yet your willing to force them upon smaller clubs in a lower league because of what is in a large part (especially this season) luck



because they had the same amount of overseas players as salford the year before (when you didnt complain) seems a bit of a grasp at straws



in your opinion,

i disagree, i think it is good they gave championship clubs a little bit of money in this instance

Top Down development has a better record than bottom up development in RL

I don't agree with Starbug but I think he is being consistent.


Champ and Champ1 sides can't afford it, it has to be subsidised by the RFL. So the RFL could just as easily subsidise either level.



No, rules were set for this year, stringent rules. These rules were not enforced for TO for spurious reasons. If the RFL had been more honest about it I think 'Bug wouldn't bring it up.


It's always our opinions. I think TO in the Championship is good promotion of that compettition, that's my opinion. Starbug reckons that the travel money would have been better spent promoting the Champ clubs directly.

I think TO in the Champonship is great, I disagree with Starbug, but I don't agree with the points you are making.

you did manage to ignore one though didnt you





champ 1 clubs have more part-time and fewer full time players making it more difficult for champ1 clubs to go to france

toulouse also bring fewer fans, meaning less income for clubs who are getting less to start with,

it is common sense to suggest rich clubs can deal with more cost and less income than poorer ones




the same spurious reasons no-one brought up for Salford?


i agree, i think its great for the championship clubs,

however the point there isnt Toulouse being in the championship its money being spent helping championship clubs travel to Toulouse

if you arent going to give that money to those clubs, then you either expect those clubs to pay for themselves (which would likely mean cuts elsewhere) or it precludes Toulouse competing in the championship because of other clubs failings

what you can boil it down to is Starbug wanting money earmarked for expansion, not spent on expansion but spent on his clubs and similar ones

I can see both sides but I personally think Toulouse have increased the profile of the Chp.
Me and Starbug have 'debated' over this before and no, I don't have the proof but I know a lot of rugby league fans who took more of an interest since this years rebranding, Toulouse and the competitiveness of it all. Even my dad and his chums took an interest who don't follow the Ch.The Chmps aren't my thing but there's definately more people taking an interest; if only you could get them through the gates.

what is it about leigh fans and french RL clubs.

enjoy NL2.