JasonE said:
I'd love to go to a Catalan home game, they look like real colourful events andthey are very competive.
Great stuff
They are very colourful Jason. And mostly very competitive (though I fear what will happen on the Saturday when St Helens comes to play).
The only drawback, compared to England, is the lack of singing. At least when I was there last year. However the English visitors make up for that. Warrington, Wigan and St Helens fans make a hell of a noise with their singing and create a different dimension. That is not to say that other English clubs don't also make a good impression.
The Catalans, though not as musical, have their visuals (flags especially) very nicely arrayed. All in all Les Catalans vs a merry English club, whose fans come in numbers, is a festive event unlike anything you will experience in Australia.
The way Catalans Sports Tours have organised things, the visiting team fans can go for a barbie on the Friday before the Saturday game, and watch the Friday night Super League game from England on Sky Sport on a big screen. That is part of the "feel good" build up to the game that the smart Aussie entrepreneur Dave Foti at CST has put together.
On game day people have a leisurely time in the town eating and drinking, then they get to the ground and they keep on drinking. But unlike with the English football (soccer) fans, the English rugby league fans are very well behaved. Often they come as entire families, which you don't get very much at English soccer games because of the hooligans. The rugby league fans are really the best types of people, the "salt of the earth" of the English working class. The French businessmen in Perpignan cannot get over how jolly but well behaved the English fans are. Rugby league is a real collection of communities in England. Now the Catalans are giving their own unique flavour to it all.
:thumb
