I have it on very good authority that a meeting in Toulouse this week will see discussions open about the three Aude clubs - ASC, FCL and Limoux - combining forces to launch a new club for an assault on the English leagues. I'd certainly prefer that to the Stade Francais project.

This was in the news three years ago. I reckon that as long as TO is in the running it won't happen. A bid could be made thew following round, the model would be close to the UTC bid, so we could expect big things, though the question of player pool will be raised. I can see that another heartland club would be overlooked in favour of Paris expansion though.

Larrat seems determined to do Stade Francais' bidding. That way madness lies, I reckon

Would this new Aude club be based in Carcassonne?


Why?

You would think so. Bigger place for a start and the only one of the three stadia that would stand any chance to be upgraded to Super League standard.


Can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm always suspicious of rugby union clubs, especially ones in Paris.

What kind of time frame are we looking at?


I don't see what rugby league could lose as long as RFL funds aren't used. Or am I just being naive?

That, I don't know.


I hope you aren't, but I just cannot see that this is pure altruism on the part of the quinzistes.

That's the thing that keeps nagging away at the back of my head. Then I think what has apparently happened here in Catalonia and it does make you worry.

I think Paris should be put in a box and left there for the forseeable future. you would imagine TO would be mighty p****d off should they be overlooked again.

No business is based on pure altruism. But you cant trust that the SF chairman has a genuine interest in RL, stated publicly since 2007 when he said that he has nice memories of his childhood in Mille where he was watching RL with his parents.
Now they want to build a 20k seats stadium and to have an RL team. It does look like a serious project, and you can trust these people to make it work. Based on past record, they have better credentials to build up a top professional sport club than any other potential applicant.

Don't think upsetting people is in the criteria of SL licensing (and even less upsetting French people, frankly would the RFL give a damn?). It is clear that choosing Paris over Toulouse would be cruel. Toulouse have done all the hard work, accepted a tough challenge from the RFL and building up to reach a higher standard. I'd love to see them in SL in 2012. However, if Paris propose an excellent project in 2012, the truth is that their is no comparison between the two clubs. Paris would be the best choice for SL and French RL.
I'd hope that in case of good application from Paris, the RFL would have the guts to accept the two clubs and rebrand the competition as the European Super League. It'd be this kind of big shift which could attract the UK media nation-wide. Accepting the two clubs would also make the difference for the French media (small market of 60millions people).
I preempt the question: yes there are enough good players in France for a 3 SL teams (with quotas of 8 antipodeans). Incidentally, Paris would add to it that their large pool of RU young talent could opt for RL to become professionnal.

So did PSG

Eight?

Wouldn't it make more sense to build up a solid, mainly French player base and then think about applying for Super League?

Surely the only players who would opt for league would be those that weren't good enough for union. Would rugby union cast offs be the best thing for French rugby league?

Depends when Sonny Bill gets residency.

I just don't see this happening. It's not like there's a massive amount of union talent turning to our game now, so why would that change? We've done well to get hold of the likes of Gossard and Baile, but it's hardly a torrent.

There is no comparison between the PSG and the SF success story coming from third division to top European club in few years. It is a rugby club which makes lots of things easier (structures, fan overspill). And a major weakness of the PSG was the lack of support from the French federation (situation is reversed now).
I know it is a bit easy to talk, but I'd be ready to put my money on a William Hill's wager about a success of SF in SL (something like reaching playoffs in second years, over 5000 crowds in the second year).

Yes in theory, but for players to come, you need money, public interest, TV time... And this is what 3 French clubs would bring. The SL would become a TV product appealing to major French TV broadcasters, and its audience and TV rights would increase significantly, which would help increase the pool of players. This is the Catalans model, playing with a majority of Australians initially and seeing a good bunch of youngsters coming through following an large increase in local participation.


Well the SF RL could surely do with [url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/club/6983709/Stade-Francais-scrum-half-Julien-Dupuy-has-six-month-ban-reduced-by-one-week.htmlDupuy[/url and [url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/club/7030307/David-Attoubs-70-week-ban-angers-Stade-Francais-as-IRB-gets-tough.htmlAttoub[/url, and any other such cast off

. Also RU and RL are different sports and some youngsters who do not find a spot in RU may well have the quality to play RL. The presence of an "RL option" at the Stade Francais would increase the pool of potential players interested in RL.

I am not that pessimistic. SF is rich, very rich, and also they are prestigious, very prestigious. While not many RU French player may fancy going in a southern town play a rugby which hardly anybody knows in France, young players will not see a spot in a SF RL team in this way.
Obviously this won't happen the first year. But give it 2-3 years for the club to be competitive and a proportion of RU talent will consider this as an excellent option. Even more if it is broadcasted on major TV channel...
That is why the 3 teams in 2012 makes a lot of sense. Not for the sake of 3, but with Paris, Toulouse, Perpignan in it, the SL will have the magic tryptic to appeal to the French masses: three of the best French rugby cities competing in a European competition all year. It will appeal to the national psyche (French-English competition) and to the local psyche (competition to be the best French club).

I am not bracing myself though. Local politics will certainly prevail over grand vision. We could end up with 12 clubs in SL in 2012 without Toulouse and Paris


Va comprendre Charles

The people of Widnes might disagree with you there mate






Being serious though I dont nessaceraly agree with this IF is a very big word and as you say Toulouse has done the hard work and has already put a pretty steady case forward on more than one occasion, and continue to do so in the Championship, also in terms of SL Toulouse is a good place, a large city. The benefits of the media in Paris are obvious but other than that i cant see Paris as the best choice



I agree in what your saying and admire your vision but i think its too big of a risk to take especially after the Crusaders failings




You preemted it but unfortuantly your a bus ride off, there arent even enough good players in France to support one SL team with a championship team underneath it, and even if there was they should be aiming for less than 8 overseas, and John D is right we havent seen a huge surge of union players switching in the south, so why should it be different in Paris?