Hmmmmm!!!!
so the English have now to develop France??
How is a French club joining the competition helping to develop France? The french are the ones on the ground running the club still, the French will be needing to largely find their own sponsors and fund their running costs and the French will almost exclusively be playing for the club, presumably with the exception of a few Australian journeymen.
Say one two or three PNG,Cook island or Samoan clubs wanted to join the NRL would the Aussies be doing summersaults?
If they were good enough to be joining the competition in terms of playing strength and finances, i think that they would be doing backflips and somersaults all day! Particularly if the competition they were joining was the QRL. Most people were happy when PNG could actually afford to play in the QRL!
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France has to start developing their own professional league and stop depending on the SL (and SKY money) to prop up their clubs.
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France are trying to prop up their league and it hasnt worked. They have tried a lot of things and none of what they have tried has been as successful as Catalans and to a lesser extent Toulouse. You are dreaming if you think that a glitzy professional competition is suddenly going to appear out of nowhere, or even if it did, that it would instantly improve france to the stage where they can compete with the big 3. For now, there only way forward is in the ESL.
Lets say in ten years time Germany has twenty amatuer teams would you support Munich and Hamburg into SL ??
Serbia have Red Star and Novi Stad,Czech Republic Sparta Prauge and Slavia Prauge,Holland Feijenoord and Ajax... would you support any of these clubs into a full proffesional ENGLISH competition (or even a semi pro competition such as the Championship)???
I think most people would support this 100 per cent, if it was a realistic proposition. Most seem to support Ireland and Scotland (and Wales) sides coming into the competition with the only doubts being doubts on whehter or not they will be successful. Germany, Czech etc are all too far off being succesful. i think the most realistic comparison would be Moscow. IF Spartak Moscow bidded for the ESL and the Russian team had improved to the level of the French and they were competive with most NL1/2 sides in the Challenge Cup, and it was backed by good financial interests, I think that they would get the same welcoming that the French have got.
A lot of background has to be done into these French clubs before they are admitted into the English (European) competition.....especially if they are to leapfrog over heartland teams such as Widnes,Whitehaven (Cumbria should be a priority
) and Halifax.
Well no one has suggested Lezignan leapfrogging those heartland teams, have they?
Lets aim to get more european clubs up to the "lower standard" of French RL which would be a lot more beneficial to the game in the long term than weakening the French divisions buy promoting average French clubs into the English proffesional league.
So the English shouldnt add french teams because they shouldnt help out french, but the French should help out the rest of Europe?
Moving Lezignan to NL1 will have no effect on the French league. In fact, if the 4 French teams improve, there is every chance that the spill on/feeder team approach would mean that NL1 would stay roughly where it is quality wise and interest wise. Unlike say the Brisbane league when the Broncos left, if the big 4? are successful it will only improve rugby league all over France and this would in turn lift the profile of the French league, or at least keep it roughly the same. It also would give the smaller clubs the chance to be more competive and therefore build more support, so it isnt as much of a one way street, as it might seem. I see no reason why the existence or non existence of the top 4 french clubs would hinder the likes of Spain,holland etc putting teams in a french league. If anything it might save some thrashings.
Less focus on getting 17 guys from various nations onto the field and more effort into getting domestic teams up and running,,,that is the future.
You are confusing developing nations, with France who have different circumstances and needs. France will still have their own domestic leagues (not league) and this will only help increase and improve this. Totally different to holland, for example.
Toulose have not exactly set the championship alight this season.
Well they didnt finish last, and they were one of the best supported teams in the Championship, so i guess it depends on what your definition about setting alight is. Incidentally, for the record, Lezignan defeated Toulouse the last time they played in the same competition, so regardless of where Toulouse finished, i think it is safe to say that Lezignan would start favourites to finish above them, and that alone would mean that they would be a viable addition to the competition.
