toulose in SL will go a long way to developing critical mass for french RL.

if every 5 years you add another french SL team then 20 years could see the french having a fully pro 10 team comp. ie no french teams in SL.

the success of LEs Cats so quickly shows its time again to move for a 2nd french SL club

id avoid paris myself and go lyon and mille after toulose.

if you get the stage of having strong RL clubs in toulose, mille, lyon and paris, plus les cats, thats the stage they should go their own way

a further step :

once france have a strong pro league set up, they should include a team from spain and especially ones from italy.

many italian RU clubs have their roots originally as RL clubs, but when they were refused entry into our World Cup turned to the dark side.

the way RL is back on its feet again (in france), due to Les Cats, is a very small indication of the potential that can be realized in france

I would love to see the french league do well and have their own strong competition. Then maybe we could have a european cup like the heineken Cup in Yawnion

The French should have their own comp and we should replace the Playoffs with a European Cup Competition with the top 6 from each league in a two group system. This could be funded jointly with Sky and French TV, okay in the first few seasons it will be dominated by SL clubs but the French will get better as their aim will be to compete in the European Cup at a competitive level. Look at the way the Yawnion four nations has expanded the Italians were whipping boys for a couple of seasons but now they are competitive.

This will be a win win for me as the french will become stronger domestically we will have better traveling support in SL (the French do not bring that many) all clubs would benefit from this. With the European Cup we can still have our jaunts to France every year, and they can all enter the challenge cup.

We have to be very careful not to expand the game and kill off existing revenue streams, there are more Halifax and Widnes fans that are likely to travel to the other SL grounds than Le Cats, Toulouse and Paris. All clubs need to increase revenue any way they can and those three French clubs would be lucky to bring a combined crowd of 100 to the three home fixtures of each of the English/Welsh SL clubs. Compare that with the potential traveling support of the likes of Widnes and Halifax and financially its a no brainer, on that note how much do the RFL have to subsidize the French for traveling costs every other week. This is all money going out of the English game when the clubs are trying to source revenue from anywhere they can, by all means we need to promote the European game but don't bring the whole pack of cards down in the process.

The Club European Cup would compliment the new European International competition and increase the exposure to a much wider audience, I am sure Eurosport would take notice and possibly try a joint venture with Sky and French TV.

I think the majority expect Toulouse to be in next time, and speaking of development, that was the idea by putting them in the Championship this year.

They started poorly but got a few players when the domestic competition finished so the talent is over there. Training these players full time and they'd improve. No one can deny that Catalans has been a success therefore I see no reason why eventually Toulouse couldn't.

Been to Toulouse a couple of times and the reality is that they have under 1,0000 regular fans and shunt round rented grounds. I would only let them in on GUARANTEE of significant funding we do not want or need another Celtic because some people think it would be good to have a second French SL club.

I assume you mean 1,000, which is funny since their average is over 2,000. And in France, don't the state own all sports venues, rather than the clubs?

RL needs another Les Cats.

it also needs less whingers

Why the fook do we need another two blooming french teams!!!


Do the overated overaged aussies need another couple of retirement homes???

Radical thought lets have two more english teams ...who knows they may produce english players...flippn eck how radical

You got me on that stunning point - I suppose your right after all.

Often published gates in France are fanciful at best - the two times I went I would say there were about 1,000 home fans on each occasion.

Thats has to be the aim for 10-15 years down the track if we are serious about expanding the sport.

I actually agree with you dally, obviously this is long term but we should be aiming for a french fulltime league (with a semi pro tier for those that cant make the grade) that eventually will add teams from places like spain, italy, germany and belgium. At the same time sl could become a league dedicated to supporting teams from around the british isles. i would then have the playoffs merge, british teams could play the likes of les cats and toulouse etc to decide who was the best club in europe (winner of whcih can play the world club challenge).

In the long run i hope the aussies bring in more kiwi teams (and a team from png), so that they can set up there own league.

That's what I've said all along. It's alright babysitting a few French teams, when do they go back and fend for themselves?

An ideal situation would be for French clubs to negotiate their own tv contract in France. If this was possible and we got to a point where any French teams were not taking money from the Sky pot, you could in theory have several french teams. Obviously they would be phased in gradually over a period of time. The long term aim would be to form a professional French league along the lines of SL with the main sponsor been a French tv network.

I'd rather see the best 3 or 4 teams in a 'Euro Super League' two conference system. Any others that dont make the grade could hopefully make the elite a bit stronger and I personally think that's the way all this will go

and all there billions what bloody hope do we have

Back to the original post, I think it would be a good idea to give clubs ramping-up time, so warning them two years ahead that they'll get promoted.

TO have been very bad at this, there are lots of top players that they could have signed that they havn't. Too conservative for mine.

I expect to see Toulouse and Widnes in next time around with Salford/Crusaders/Wakefield dropping out unless they improve.

Widnes would be like another Hull KR but in a better stadium and Toulouse would be another Catalans, maybe even better.

hey we agree 100% on something.

bound to happen eventually.

get the french up to scratch then use the spots for british expansion (ie not heartland clubs)

places like gateshead / newcastle, south yorkshire, midlands, and one day scotland, ireland and wales (again). thats a very long time away.

lets give it a fair amount of time to work, lets say when the east stand is finsihed at the shay

maybe the french should get you to count the crowds then instead of their people. did you get much time to actually watch the rugby

but weve got jesus on our side, eh jesus?

Did you count everyone each time? I'll go by official figures thanks, not the opinion of someone who doesn't want them in the league.