Les Catalans v Warrington in Barcelona

[cumberlandsashes81]

Warrington in... Clarke just steps between two defenders... and runs from dummy half to score in the corner... the cover defence couldn't catch him...

22 - 12 now...

 

[cumberlandsashes81]

Dragons starting to implode here...

Wolves taking a penalty shot at goal...

 

[cumberlandsashes81]

Full-time

Dragons 12 - Wolves 24...

Looks like it was a successful day for the game in new territory, anyway.

 

[crimpo]

Thanks for that Cumberlandsashes.

From your comments it seems to have been a worthwhile exercise. Would it make sense for the Catalans fixture at the Magic Weekend to instead be a fixture in Barcelona? Then it wouldn't cost the folk in Perpignan a home game and today's game would be ensured a follow-up. That's probably a rubbish idea but its late here!

Seen elsewhere the crowd put at 18,000 - 10,000 French + 4,000 Wire + 4,000 Locals.

 

[cumberlandsashes81]

Thanks for that Cumberlandsashes.

From your comments it seems to have been a worthwhile exercise. Would it make sense for the Catalans fixture at the Magic Weekend to instead be a fixture in Barcelona? Then it wouldn't cost the folk in Perpignan a home game and today's game would be ensured a follow-up. That's probably a rubbish idea but its late here!

Seen elsewhere the crowd put at 18,000 - 10,000 French + 4,000 Wire + 4,000 Locals.

In his article Chris Irvine said 1,500 Warrington supporters (sounded like the entire town was there though - what great fans!) and at least 13,000 Les Catalans supporters... so it means a fair number of locals must have been there. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_league/article6545624.ece

In terms of the magic weekend - it's a great city to visit by all accounts and if they got 18,000 there for the one game you imagine you could almost sell the place out for a full round... I wouldn't be surprised if the Stadium trust put in a bid for the Magic Weekend - they're apparently struggling to find teams to play there.

The curtain-raiser was 52 - 10 to Catalonia over the Czech Republic. I didn't see the full highlights of the match only the Catalonians (who clearly had superior conditioning and finished fast) smashing them in the second half. The Czechs were all over the place in defence and the poor left winger in particular was caught out of position for at least half their tries...

 

[Chook Norris]

18,150 is a great crowd

i was only expecting 10k

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Well done to all involved.

18k is a good start, lets hope they decide to take 2 or 3 games there a season and build on it.

Thanks for the updates CA.

 

[Chook Norris]

The fact is they're expecting a crowd of up to 20,000 at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday night - a tenth of them Warringtonians - and one significant figure in particular, Joan Laporta, the FC Barcelona president. Do not under-estimate the Champions' League winner's influence in all this. An endorsement by Laporta is akin to a Papal blessing. It was only when the Catalans Dragons team were introduced to the crowd at Camp Nou, a week after they'd lost the 2007 Challenge Cup final, that rugby league was "officially" recognised. Here was a team, like Barca, flying the flag for Catalonia. The blood and gold colours run deep, whatever the sport. There is as much interest in Barcelona among the locals in the warm-up match to the main event between the Dragons and Warrington - only the Catalonia national team's sixth game since being formed last year, against the Czech Republic. When the Dragons trained on the pitch on Tuesday, Spanish TV and the newspapers were out in force.


http://timesonline.typepad.com/rugby_league/2009/06/el-blog-day-one.html

-------

i was trying to find some Rugby Union Crowds in Spain, most i could find is 10k? don't know how correct that is though

 

[Evil Homer]

Match report from a national Spanish newspaper:

http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/gen/20090621/53726901943/noticia/la-fiesta-del-rugby-a-xiii.html

Rough translation of the middle paragraphs:

Rugby League is much more dynamic than conventional ( i.e.Union ) rugby.
No time is wasted at all, the game is tough and uncompromising without being violent, the collisions are head on and in some cases very severe. But time is not lost.

Each metre was fought over as if lives depended on it, the ball played daringly, the masseurs and trainers enter to take care of injured players while the game continued, occasionally meaning that the match had to go on around and avoiding trainer and injured man. The game also did not stop for trainers coming onto the pitch to give water to the players. I noticed that when the ball was kicked out of bounds it was brought back at top speed in a radio controlled car. Nothing stops this game: it’s play on every second.

The match was won by the English, who showed more composure than the Catalonians. Even so, the Dragons went in at the break with a 10-6 lead. But they ended up losing 12-24, which surely flattered Warrington. The lack of ideas of the Catalonians before the English line, some defensive forgetfulnesses and a clinical Wolves attack ensured that the Catalonian festival was not finished with a win.

 

[hellteam]

I like the sound of that newspaper report.

My dad was at this match very jealous.

 

[cumberlandsashes81]

Match report from a national Spanish newspaper:

http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/gen/20090621/53726901943/noticia/la-fiesta-del-rugby-a-xiii.html

Rough translation of the middle paragraphs:

Love it! Exactly what we want the impartial observer to think... :thumn

Apparently the FC Barcelona President didn't turn up but one of his Vice-Presidents did to report back to the club.

http://timesonline.typepad.com/rugby_league/2009/06/barca-blog-day-three-1.html

Sounds like a fantastic day / night and a huge success.

 

[Coastbloke]

So the biggest crowd anywhere in the world this weekend for a rugby league match was in Spain....??

What with Ch9 showing a FTA match between a French club and a Welsh club and then this, you could be forgiven for thinking that the game is on a roll...!!

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

Some pics from Rugbyforumxiii.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

 

[Sam_the_man]

Great pics Parra, great pics. It's fantastic to see league getting it's international game togetjer at last after so long.

 

[8Ball]

So the biggest crowd anywhere in the world this weekend for a rugby league match was in Spain....??

When you put it that way, it sounds quite nice.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

http://www.totalrl.com/features/content.php?feat_id=697&featcat_id=49

RFL Chief hails Barcelona success


Mon 22 Jun 2009
RFL Chief Executive Nigel Wood has hailed Catalans Dragons' decision to stage their home fixture with Warrington Wolves at Barcelona's Olympic Stadium a major success after a crowd of 18,150 attended the first ever Super League fixture in Spain.
Nigel Wood, the RFL's Chief Executive, said: "All those involved at Catalans Dragons from the people behind the scenes to supporters, players and coaching staff should be congratulated on what has proven to be a major success in staging Super League's first ever game in Spain.
"To record the biggest attendance of the weekend, double their normal home crowd and attract thousands of new people to the sport is some achievement for Catalans and all those involved at the club should be proud of their efforts.
"The supporters of Warrington Wolves also deserve a huge amount of credit for travelling in such significant numbers to Spain and playing their part in a great carnival weekend in Barcelona.
"One of the highlights of the Super League XIV calendar was always going to be staging fixtures in five different countries, and we've achieved that with games in England, France, Scotland, Wales and now Spain.
"On Saturday evening the three Super League games that took place were played in Barcelona, London and Bridgend. Very few would have thought that possible but it just goes to underline that the attraction of Rugby League is growing all the time and interest is no longer confined to the traditional heartlands of the game."

 

[aarondoyle]

THat's a very 'fruity' and fun looking crowd.