From the FFR13 site. www.com1site.com/FFRXIII/actualites.php?a=256 Quote Northern Rail Cup The RFL has decided to invite the French clubs in the Northern Rail Cup , so the Cup for clubs not professionals . For this, the ten French clubs should be divided into two pools of five with the winners could ( this is not completely determined yet) play a finale that would qualify the winner of this event. Lezignan , in turn , directly qualified for the Cup could also argue that competition. Note that Welsh and Irish clubs also aligned on the start line '" Any more info out there about this and does anyone know who the Welsh and Irish teams are? Would English fans like this idea, or would you rather keep it for local sides? Cheers.

From the FFR13 site. www.com1site.com/FFRXIII/actualites.php?a=256 Quote Northern Rail Cup The RFL has decided to invite the French clubs in the Northern Rail Cup , so the Cup for clubs not professionals . For this, the ten French clubs should be divided into two pools of five with the winners could ( this is not completely determined yet) play a finale that would qualify the winner of this event. Lezignan , in turn , directly qualified for the Cup could also argue that competition. Note that Welsh and Irish clubs also aligned on the start line '" Any more info out there about this and does anyone know who the Welsh and Irish teams are? Would English fans like this idea, or would you rather keep it for local sides? Cheers.

Sounds good to me.

Quote ="eels fan"From the FFR13 site. www.com1site.com/FFRXIII/actualites.php?a=256 Any more info out there about this and does anyone know who the Welsh and Irish teams are? Would English fans like this idea, or=#FF0000 would you rather keep it for local sides? Cheers.'" It isn't about ' keeping it for local sides ' , the French league is played in winter making the qualifying club then play through their off season , as for Welsh and Irish clubs , the Skorpions do play in the NRC , Are there any Irish clubs ? Not as simple as it seems , a bit like entering Queensland cup teams into the NRL

Quote ="eels fan"From the FFR13 site. www.com1site.com/FFRXIII/actualites.php?a=256 Any more info out there about this and does anyone know who the Welsh and Irish teams are? Would English fans like this idea, or=#FF0000 would you rather keep it for local sides? Cheers.'" It isn't about ' keeping it for local sides ' , the French league is played in winter making the qualifying club then play through their off season , as for Welsh and Irish clubs , the Skorpions do play in the NRC , Are there any Irish clubs ? Not as simple as it seems , a bit like entering Queensland cup teams into the NRL

why don't we take a leaf of crickets book and invite national side into the NRC...like ECB has with the ODI comp they run that has scotland,ireland and holland (not sure if they are still in it?)

we could have france 'A',wales 'A',scotland 'A',ireland 'A'..the players in these teams have to play in those countries domestic comp....i'd imagine the french team to be of a decent standard...and it would help improve the other 'A' teams no end...


just an idea!

Need a new sponsor! Northern rail cup in France?

I can't imagine what Irish club is going to enter. Almost all the players are union players, some gaelic, some football playing, in the off season to try a different sport or keep fit. I can't see where they are going to get the players to play in the NRC.

I would imagine that the Scoropions will be the Welsh side, the only reason we weren't in the NRC or the challenge cup this year was time constraints. Surely it would make sense to put Toulouse into the NRC as they're already playing in the championship. The winners of Elite 1 or the Lord Derby Cup could also come in but they would be playing well into their off season. bringing in The Scorpions & Toulouse would also mean that every side playing in the championship/championship 1 would be involved in the Cup.

Wonder what SNCF,CIE and Arriva Trains have to say about it

Why would they be bothered where Northern Rail spends its money. Anyway Northern Rail is run by a subsidiary of Nederlandse Spoorwegen - the Dutch national railways operator.

Maybe the plan is to develop for the future, with Welsh Conference + Scorpions making up one pool, two pools of French teams. This would give a chance to more clubs, but realistically would just mean that TO and FCL join the NRC.

So really just a waste of time , especially if Toulouse end up in SL in 2012

I see your point, but wouldn't more fixtures with a little bit of rep footy in the knockout stages, the chance to play at another level and travel to play in front of some half decent crowds sway a few of these players to stick around and give RL a bit more thought?

Plus it's not like they'll be going up against fully pro sides each week, I could see a few of the French clubs having a good run and we have seen teams like Toulouse a few years ago beat a club like Widnes and even this year 3 or 4 French clubs had a decent run in the Challenge Cup.

What clubs are in the Irish and Welsh Leagues?

These are the Clubs in the upcoming French Elite for 2010/11.

1. Montpellier
2. Lézignan
3. Limoux
4. Carcassonne
5. Pia
6. St - Esteve - XIII Catalan
7. Avignon
8. Carpentras
9. Villeneuve
10.St -Gaudens - Toulouse


Also good to see Toulouse and St Gaudens get together in a partnership for the LER.

1st round would see 5 French clubs knocked out before the remaining ones advanced to play whomever they have drawn whether they are Welsh, Irish or English.

Could be a good thing for the lower divisions of RL.

You're not listening are you , the French play in winter , the NRC is a summer comp , and as for the Welsh and Irish they are miles behind the Championship clubs , maybe all the PNG clubs should play in the Queensland cup

FFs you cranky little e.

The LER finished under a month ago right, how many rounds left in the NRC are there now?

Look it's not my fault you dont have a clue what you are talking about , the French have a full calendar as it is with a league and a cup of their own , just who would be paying for clubs to travel to and from France ? , as for the Welsh and Irish , as has been pointed out , they mostly comprise union players keeping fit during summer , the standard is not very high

Like I said , why not let all the PNG clubs enter the Queensland cup ?

www.northernrail.org/northernrailcup/fixtures Quote All the English-based Co-operative Championship and Championship One clubs are divided equally into two pools for the group stages with five teams from each division in each pool. Each team plays two home games and two away games against teams in their pool with each playing an equal number of Championship and Championship One clubs. Following the group stage the top four teams in each pool go into an open draw for the knock-out stages; the quarter-finals being played on the weekend of 5 and 6 June and the semi-finals taking place on 19 and 20 June. the Northern Rail Cup Final at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, on Sunday 18 July. '" So where's the damn problem Starbug? If teams from France make it to the end, they'll have still played a fair bit of footy between rounds and how do you know the FFR13 haven't decided to make their comp go a little longer? They have managed to put in a few extra weeks already in case of catch up games which was in the link at the top in my opening post, if a team managed to make the final, they might just go 2/3 or 4 weeks at most without a game of footy, whoopdifookingdo mate. Admit it, you're just a flatcapper who wants to keep the game to himself.

www.northernrail.org/northernrailcup/fixtures Quote All the English-based Co-operative Championship and Championship One clubs are divided equally into two pools for the group stages with five teams from each division in each pool. Each team plays two home games and two away games against teams in their pool with each playing an equal number of Championship and Championship One clubs. Following the group stage the top four teams in each pool go into an open draw for the knock-out stages; the quarter-finals being played on the weekend of 5 and 6 June and the semi-finals taking place on 19 and 20 June. the Northern Rail Cup Final at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, on Sunday 18 July. '" So where's the damn problem Starbug? If teams from France make it to the end, they'll have still played a fair bit of footy between rounds and how do you know the FFR13 haven't decided to make their comp go a little longer? They have managed to put in a few extra weeks already in case of catch up games which was in the link at the top in my opening post, if a team managed to make the final, they might just go 2/3 or 4 weeks at most without a game of footy, whoopdifookingdo mate. Admit it, you're just a flatcapper who wants to keep the game to himself.

We've had a PNG side in the QLD cup before and they done OK, they didn't have the money for travel every week having to pay for all teams to go to their home ground.

I have no idea what teams from Ireland a Wales will be involved, but the French Federation has it on its site saying that this is what is going to happen next year, if you don't like it, take it up with them because I bet they, along with the RFL have more of a @##$$%#$ idea than some keyboard hero who thinks he knows how to run everything.

So why not stick them all in it ?

Because you dont have any idea about the standard of RL in wales or ireland , or the financial state of the sport in the northern Hemisphere

So Montpellier have taken the step up? Very good.

Excellent news isn't, lets hope a few more of the bigger cities can reach the Elite over the next 5 or so years, RL needs to get back into the big cities in France.



Listen flatcapper, I want RL to grow and reach its full potential, you want to watch crap from a run down old ground with stuff all support so you can whinge and whine for the rest of your miserable life.

When and if RL dies, it'll be because of w@nkers like you who only wanted your home town to play against some tiny little neighbour you want to get one up on while everybody else outside a 5 mile radius can $#@% off, the true RL fans in both hemispheres will march on the flatcappers with pitchforks and torches and put you back where you have always dreamed of being, the @#$%^%$ stone age.

You just don't get it and you never will, if you give people the chance to play more games and represent their nations/Clubs/home towns on a bigger scale with the hope that talent scouts are out there watching which may very well give you a shot at making some money in a pro team, these guys will more than likely stick around and make RUGBY LEAGUE THEIR FIRST CHOICE SPORT, thus the game of RL that you supposedly like or love will grow and become stronger eventually giving you more happy times watching the game from different places or your damn lounge room on Sky sports.

If 1 or 2 Irish and Welsh sides are added because they are the only ones up for it, good, if more can afford to play, great, if they all can,@#$%$# marvelous eh?

=#FF0000You have no idea how many clubs have been invented, yet you want to tear it down before it even has a chance to get up and running.

And as for your pathetic Summer vs Winter BS, the LER has just finished and there is 1 game left in the NRC to be played in 17 days, your argument has no merit in this instance at all.

But hey, as long as you home village has a team that can play the village 5 miles away every 4th week, you'll be happy.

Just for the record , the club I support plays at the newest RL stadium in the world , the 12,000 capacity LSV stadium , this and the rest of your rant tells me more than anything that you really havent a clue

Maybe ALL the PNG clubs should play in the Queensland cup , but you and I know that they dont have the money or the infrastructure to do so , so the idea that it could , would or should happen is ludicrous , just as your opinion that the Welsh,Irish or even the French are in the position to make a worthwile contribution to the NRC at the moment is ludicrous

That the French federation and the RFL might be suggesting it just tells me what I already know about those two organisations to be true

If you are going to make suggestions without doing your homework first , expect to be enlightened , and like most Aussies , you dont like being told you are wrong , stick to the NRL

Get bent flathead and since when is LSV newer than Ammi Park in Melbourne?

I stand corrected , although the LSV is mainly used by the RL team , unlike the Ammi which is most definatley a multi use

Either way , the club I support dont play in a dump , and just like the Ammi is where the most recent RL international has been played

I notice you have given up on the rest and are now resorting to abuse , always the sign of a lost argument

No Starbug, you won't let anything ruin your perfect little world and try something different.

It's too hard, it can't work, it's a stupid idea, I don't like it blah blah blah.

Thank god RL use to have forward thinkers or the code would have been dead 100 years ago.

You said theirs is a winter game, ours is in summer. Well the comps more or less run at the same time bar a month, so that's no excuse.

You say, but the teams are crap, well how do you know?

You say, what are they going to do, let all the teams play?

I don't know starbug, you'll have to wait and see what they come up with like the rest of us.

Maybe they'll only let the GF teams in from ireland and Wales, maybe Wales will only allow the Scorpions in, who knows?

There is no need to knock it on the head before its even had a chance to prove itself is there?

We'll have to wait and see.

Cheers.

Game set and Match