How feasible would a L'Aude merger be?

[bowes]

I could see a case for an 8 team European comp of the best 5 NL1 and 3 LER sides 9or however many), but not a full combined league, due to travel costs.

It looks like the French and English clubs are back in the HC at RU

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

I could see a case for an 8 team European comp of the best 5 NL1 and 3 LER sides 9or however many), but not a full combined league, due to travel costs.

It would be good to see, in a couple of years, the French would be back up with the big 3 in playing standards.

The only thing I don't like is what would happen to the supporters, they are the people who would miss out most because not everyone is rich enough to travel once a year let alone up to a dozen times.

If they can get a decent TV contract it may work with costs, that might be one of the reasons NL1 is being shown on Sky now, to test the waters?

I know another station looked at NL1, but sky are not stupid as they had the contract but never used it.

If this gets off the ground and it's not a heap of hot air, in 10 years time, the European comp will look completely different, but they have to make sure they keep the lower clubs interested, because if it's a closed shop and some teams are not doing anything, what are they going to replace them with if the others have been left to die?

It looks like the French and English clubs are back in the HC at RU

Pity, it could've been a good opportunity for RL to expand and at the same time drive a decent nail into one of it's closest and most despised competitors.

 

[zozito]

I heard that sky doesn't give any thing to the NL1 clubs.Last saturday i went to a meeting with other elite cubs presidents( Im secretary general for carpentras and my younger brother is president:lol::lol and we discussed that issue but nothing is done yet, and albert is close to what it would be, the french federation congres will be on june 16th and we will know much more then.

then I will let you know.;-)

what i can tell you right now is that next season there will be 12 teams ( 95%) in LER competition.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

I heard that sky doesn't give any thing to the NL1 clubs.Last saturday i went to a meeting with other elite cubs presidents( Im secretary general for carpentras and my younger brother is president:lol and we discussed that issue but nothing is done yet, and albert is close to what it would be, the french federation congres will be on june 16th and we will know much more then.

then I will let you know.;-)

what i can tell you right now is that next season there will be 12 teams ( 95%) in LER competition.

Very interesting, lets hope some big news comes out.

Thanks for that zozito, we'll be waiting patiently for the answers when you get them.

It's good to have people posting here like yourself who know what is going on, a lot better than listening to rumours and being disappointed time after time. :thumn

 

[bowes]

The only thing I don't like is what would happen to the supporters, they are the people who would miss out most because not everyone is rich enough to travel once a year let alone up to a dozen times.

I meant more a European cup type comp so it would only be like 3-5 away games

 

[bowes]

what i can tell you right now is that next season there will be 12 teams ( 95%) in LER competition.

Are Albi the 12th?

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

I meant more a European cup type comp so it would only be like 3-5 away games

Thats still a fair bit of money needed.

I'm all for it, but I hope it's done the right way so it lasts, nothing worse than starting something and giving up after a season or two.

 

[AlbertRosenfeld]

I heard that sky doesn't give any thing to the NL1 clubs.Last saturday i went to a meeting with other elite cubs presidents( Im secretary general for carpentras and my younger brother is president:lol::lol and we discussed that issue but nothing is done yet, and albert is close to what it would be, the french federation congres will be on june 16th and we will know much more then.

then I will let you know.;-)

what i can tell you right now is that next season there will be 12 teams ( 95%) in LER competition.

I am going to try to contact my friend in France who could be behind this idea.

I reallly hope it happens, and that Villeneuve is one of the six.

But the French Federation must also consider several other things:

1. Marseille must be revived soon as a rugby league development priority, with a new club that will try to reenter LER as soon as possible.

2. Paris must be given priority for new club development, looking to try to reenter the LER within 3 years.

3. Lyon must be reorganised and given new management. The people who run the club are a failure. They have not exploited the huge potential of this very important city.

4. Bordeaux must be encouraged, and maybe the Leeds connection can be developed further.

5. Avignon must be revived. It is a very wonderful old city with a rugby league tradition. We need to develop it and make it an LER club in the near future, so that we can have a strong competition, especially with a powerful junior competition, over in the southeast of France, between Marseille, Carpentras and Avignon .

 

[bowes]

With the above I agree with it as a long term aim, but rushing it would be a mistake. Getting a Marseille team back into the French National Division 1 is a huge priority, but getting them into the LER must wait til their ready or they'll fold again.

A good move would be bringing back Elite 2 and try to get teams there first, at least Marseille and Avignon, keep Lyon in Elite and work there with Paris and Bordeaux (although Corbeil wouldn't be ruled out of an Elite 2 in a couple of seasons and they're near Paris). After Chatillon and Begles folding in National 1 it is a clear sign that Paris and Bordeaux aren't nearly ready.

 

[obelix]

I could see a case for an 8 team European comp of the best 5 NL1 and 3 LER sides 9or however many), but not a full combined league, due to travel costs.

IMO this could work well as a replacement for the Northern Rail Cup, which holds little appeal beyond the final. One problem is that it's not necessarily attractive for sponsors - companies operating solely in the South of France and the North of England are a bit limited, and you may need to come up with a fairly contrived structure to ensure the maximum number of international fixtures and maintain a close comp (think WCC 1997).

From the French point of view, if you involve the best supported and best performing NL1 teams - which this season are Castleford, Widnes, Whitehaven, Leigh and Halifax (I'm exempting Donny for obvious reasons) - you'd benefit from quality opposition and some travelling support.

However, the clincher for me is that NL1 clubs wouldn't see the financial benefit so much - a couple of those listed have precarious financial positions not helped by the current Sky deal to televise NL1 (a rumoured £4k per game which doesn't make up for the Thursday night speccy shortfall, certainly not at Widnes anyway).

I'd love to see this happen - and maybe the rumour is actually that the French clubs will put this forward as a proposal - but I think we need to get SL 2009 out of the way first, get NL1 clubs maximising the benefit of TV exposure, and then they'll be willing to take the financial risk.

 

[bowes]

The £4k per game televised is from the Coop sponsorship not Sky, who haven't paid for the rights but have paid production costs

 

[obelix]

The £4k per game televised is from the Coop sponsorship not Sky, who haven't paid for the rights but have paid production costs

Well, you're splitting hairs really - my point was that Sky's coverage brings in £4k which isn't enough to cover the shortfall in speccys - this season. Next season clubs should be able to negotiate better sponsorship deals as a result of the TV coverage but it depends what deals they're already locked into and what legal provisions they've made for getting out of them if something better comes along. So they may not be willing to take another financial risk - e.g. on an international comp - for a couple of years.

 

[Ari Gold]

Surely a club that consists of Narbonne/Carcassone/Limoux/Lezignan could be more financially liable than, lets say Leigh or Wakefield?

 

[The Daddy]

Would a L'Aude team playing in Narbonne not be viable or is it too close to Narbonne?

 

[rugby13france-livrade+sav]

What do you want : destroy 3 clubs to constitute an other ?

Are you sure that the new club will be richest than the 3 separeted (Finance, players) ?


strange way !!!!!!!!!!!!!