Do YOU class Warrington in the same vein as "your" beloved Leeds?

Leeds, Wigan, Saints, Catalan and Warrington are all top Super League clubs. Hull F.C. are borderline.

When did another Super League club win a major trophy?

If you honestly believe Catalans are now a household name and should be held in the same regard as the actual household names, you're either deluded or a wind up merchant.

I think it's the second one

Both i reckon.

Catalans win ratio in the 8's this year is 0%.....yeah, they're a top team

What’s their Challenge Cup win ratio

won it once

What's Leicester's Premier League win ratio.

45 games played over 16 years and 1 Trophy win....same as Bradford in that time period, but fewer that Wigan, Leeds, Saints, Hull and Wire....who have all also featured in Grand Finals but no MPG's.

Castleford only got 7,200 for their game against Huddersfield tonight. Catalans are regularly averaging bigger crowds, which makes them a more popular club than Castleford. Plus Catalans have won the Challenge Cup this year, while Castleford have not won it for decades. The fact that Catalans started the season off so badly is irrelevant to their standing today. That is why Catalans deserve to be rated among the top Super League clubs, just behind Leeds, Wigan, St. Helens, Warrington and Hull FC (the five big ones), and ahead of Castleford, Hull KR, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Widnes, and Salford.

If Toulouse was to be promoted to Super League, their attendances would rise massively, just as Catalans did when they were promoted to Super League. If I am not mistaken Catalans crowds pre-Super League were lower than Toulouse's current pre-Super League crowds. With Toulouse in Super League we would have two powerful clubs in France, attracting more French youth to play the game, and over the long term improving the quality of the French national team.

Also, with Toulouse in Super League Sky would be able to schedule a Saturday afternoon match from France every week instead of every other week, which would be a bonus for French and British fans alike. And a smart Super League management would be able to schedule each English team's visits to France over consecutive weekends (vs Catalans and Toulouse), thereby minimising the English teams' travel costs and fans' travel costs and giving English fans the chance of a full week's holiday in France.

Having Toronto in Super League also offers advantages, including an extra possible TV game for Sky in the UK each other week, and the chance of securing a Canadian TV contract which provides at least one British TV game for Canadian telecast each week in return for having the Toronto home games on Sky. That set up would do wonders for rugby league development in Canada.

Having London in Super League does't offer any of those advantages that Toulouse and Toronto provide. However it is important for the game to have a professional team in London playing at the top level, to make the game more credible in the UK and internationally. It is also important in order to attract southern English youth to playing the game and aspiring to a professional level.

For those reasons I would like to see all three "expansion" teams in Super League, but my preference is (1) Toulouse (2) Toronto (3) London.

Thursday night.....and only 700 down from their average, I'd say that was pretty acceptable. How many home games to Catalan play on a Thursday evening?
Catalan are not a top side, either on or off the park. They attract fewer than 10,000 fans as an average and have a 43% win ratio in SL since the end of licencing......a top team would need to have a 51%+ win ratio over the season or seasons.

Catalans have played 358 games in SL or the associated 8's and play-offs.....43.8% win ratio delivers then as a mid table side.

Now, whilst this doesn't site squarely with your somewhat pie in the sky pronouncements regarding the NEED for expansion sides, it is based on facts and statistics...Catalans are a mid table side with pretty average crowds given they're the only player in town. The deliver little "extra" to SL other than a badly produced extra TV game every fortnight and have delivered nothing in the way of a better French national side. Toulouse will not make the MPG this year as they choked in the capital.......a very French attribute.

For the record, the second half of the season land winning the Challenge Cup was a superb achievement by Catalan but, this has no bearing on whether they are a top SL club. This is based on their performance in SL, which for a club with their wealth and infrastructure has been very poor over the last few years.
You cant write off their shocking start to the season and claim that they are a top SL side.
As we stand they are the 8th ranked SL side this season.

You bemoan the Castleford attendance of 7200, for a Thursday night game on TV against a club with nothing to play for.
Again, this is not Castlefords average crowd, it's one of their lower attendances, possibly the lowest attendance that they've had this season and I would think that their average is above Catalan.
They will be regarded as a "top" SL side when they consistently finish in the top 4 of the league.

Simple, even for a pseudo Frenchman to understand.

Also, what effect do you think Thursday night home fixtures would have for Catalan home games. Would it help increase their average or, reduce it slightly.

PS damn you for making me defend Castleford, it's not usually in my nature

Chorley Jean wrote: Castleford only got 7,200 tonight....(The population of Castleford at the last census in 2011, was just over 40,000) Muppet

You really do bore the t1ts of 98.9 % of this forums members.
All you ever do is type CRAP about heartlands clubs in the RFL.
Without us lot, there would not be professional Rugby League in this country.
I'm with you froggy, Catalans should be playing in the amazing French League. They love their RL in Southern France.









YOU WILL NOT RESPOND TO MY POST....BECAUSE YOU ARE FULL OF

[urlhttps://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/45508542[/url
They love their money more

HA HA...amazing statement from Steve McBanana. Must have took him 5 seconds to think of what to say....

Leading coach of a leading club.......er....um.....er.....lost for words

What a shame the young French International winger, who came off the production line of top Super League club Catalans brilliant academy, has chosen to chase the big money of rugby union.

I think Yaha will be back in 2 years (the term of his contract with Agen) or maybe 3, because he prefers the game of rugby league. If Toulouse is in Super League in 2022 then he will have more playing options and better money thrown his way then.

On the other hand by then Toulouse may have unearthed more flashy wingers, in the mould of their current dashing star Paul Marcon.

Catalans get an average crowd of around 8,500 -- which is more than Castleford gets most days of the week. That makes Catalans a better supported club than Castleford.

Indeed..... But neither side is a big SL club either.....

Cas also get more away fans than Catalans which means catalans crowds are even more impressive than the heartlands club, Castleford

Regards

King James

1 Wigan Warriors Under 19 23 19 2 2 819 339 480 0 40
2 St Helens Under 19 23 18 5 0 739 379 360 0 36
3 Leeds Rhinos Under 19 23 17 5 1 790 436 354 0 35
4 Huddersfield Giants Under 19 24 15 8 1 595 485 110 0 31
5 Widnes Vikings Under 19 23 14 9 0 618 490 128 0 28
6 City of Hull Academy Under 19 23 12 11 0 635 617 18 0 24
7 Bradford Bulls Under 19 22 11 11 0 518 495 23 0 22
8 Castleford Tigers Under 19 22 10 12 0 571 616 -45 0 20
9 Warrington Wolves Under 19 23 8 15 0 477 616 -139 0 16
10 London Broncos Under 19 22 8 14 0 476 740 -264 0 16
11 Catalans Dragons Under 19 19 6 13 0 453 612 -159 0 12
12 Wakefield Trinity Under 19 23 4 19 0 382 672 -290 0 8
13 Newcastle Thunder Under 19 22 2 20 0 290 866 -576 0 4

11th, yup brilliant

That may be an interesting comparison.
Catalan dont do too badly for away fans and have the advantage of not having their fixtures messed up.
Cant remember too many Thurday (or Friday) night games over there and most clubs take a reasonable number of supporters over there.
(mind you, it's a cracking weekend