Robinson committed to rebuilding France footy

[Deleted member 3518]

Who cares! French footy might improve if Robinson can get Cummins to ref their games. They seem to have an ‘understanding.’

With the terrible treatment that Rugby League copped in France, I would love to see the game rebuilt over there.

The story is insane . Nazi sympathisers getting the game killed over there for union . God rugby league history has some nefarious stuff go on. I don’t know how you’d make it coherent , but a series about all the cheating , skullduggery , gamesmanship , back alley deals , would be amazing .

 

[cochise]

Who cares! French footy might improve if Robinson can get Cummins to ref their games. They seem to have an ‘understanding.’

With the terrible treatment that Rugby League copped in France, I would love to see the game rebuilt over there.

The story is insane . Nazi sympathisers getting the game killed over there for union . God rugby league history has some nefarious stuff go on. I don’t know how you’d make it coherent , but a series about all the cheating , skullduggery , gamesmanship , back alley deals , would be amazing .

Underbelly Rugby League lol

 

[Deleted member 3518]

Who cares! French footy might improve if Robinson can get Cummins to ref their games. They seem to have an ‘understanding.’

With the terrible treatment that Rugby League copped in France, I would love to see the game rebuilt over there.

The story is insane . Nazi sympathisers getting the game killed over there for union . God rugby league history has some nefarious stuff go on. I don’t know how you’d make it coherent , but a series about all the cheating , skullduggery , gamesmanship , back alley deals , would be amazing .

Underbelly Rugby League lol

Yea exactly what I was thinking . Even the stuff that went on in 60s and 70s , with the cabal who took over then leading into the 80s, Humphries with his fall from grace , the iron fist and blatant bias towards manly from arko , all the way into SL and beyond . Guys going away on kangaroo tours in the 50s and never coming home. And all the match fixing and brown paper bags of the 80s , that Singo and Elias talked about . Not Benny the other one . It’s crazy , how rich the history is.

 

[cochise]

Who cares! French footy might improve if Robinson can get Cummins to ref their games. They seem to have an ‘understanding.’

With the terrible treatment that Rugby League copped in France, I would love to see the game rebuilt over there.

The story is insane . Nazi sympathisers getting the game killed over there for union . God rugby league history has some nefarious stuff go on. I don’t know how you’d make it coherent , but a series about all the cheating , skullduggery , gamesmanship , back alley deals , would be amazing .

Underbelly Rugby League lol

Yea exactly what I was thinking . Even the stuff that went on in 60s and 70s , with the cabal who took over then leading into the 80s, Humphries with his fall from grace , the iron fist and blatant bias towards manly from arko , all the way into SL and beyond . Guys going away on kangaroo tours in the 50s and never coming home. And all the match fixing and brown paper bags of the 80s , that Singo and Elias talked about . Not Benny the other one . It’s crazy , how rich the history is.

Good old John Elias, lol

 

[Deleted member 3518]

Who cares! French footy might improve if Robinson can get Cummins to ref their games. They seem to have an ‘understanding.’

With the terrible treatment that Rugby League copped in France, I would love to see the game rebuilt over there.

The story is insane . Nazi sympathisers getting the game killed over there for union . God rugby league history has some nefarious stuff go on. I don’t know how you’d make it coherent , but a series about all the cheating , skullduggery , gamesmanship , back alley deals , would be amazing .

Underbelly Rugby League lol

Yea exactly what I was thinking . Even the stuff that went on in 60s and 70s , with the cabal who took over then leading into the 80s, Humphries with his fall from grace , the iron fist and blatant bias towards manly from arko , all the way into SL and beyond . Guys going away on kangaroo tours in the 50s and never coming home. And all the match fixing and brown paper bags of the 80s , that Singo and Elias talked about . Not Benny the other one . It’s crazy , how rich the history is.

Good old John Elias, lol

Yea , what a loose human .

 

[happy_tiger]

Surely Robinson has to back up his convictions ....13 players in his Roosters Top 17 to be French would certainly be a start

 

[oldprop]

Who cares! French footy might improve if Robinson can get Cummins to ref their games. They seem to have an ‘understanding.’

With the terrible treatment that Rugby League copped in France, I would love to see the game rebuilt over there.

The story is insane . Nazi sympathisers getting the game killed over there for union . God rugby league history has some nefarious stuff go on. I don’t know how you’d make it coherent , but a series about all the cheating , skullduggery , gamesmanship , back alley deals , would be amazing .

Underbelly Rugby League lol

Yea exactly what I was thinking . Even the stuff that went on in 60s and 70s , with the cabal who took over then leading into the 80s, Humphries with his fall from grace , the iron fist and blatant bias towards manly from arko , all the way into SL and beyond . Guys going away on kangaroo tours in the 50s and never coming home. And all the match fixing and brown paper bags of the 80s , that Singo and Elias talked about . Not Benny the other one . It’s crazy , how rich the history is.

Good old John Elias, lol

Yea , what a loose human .

Once produced a firearm at training.

 

[Fade.To.Black]

A good offshore location for Unca Nick to launder some dirty salary-cap "offerings" to superstars going forward. Bonjour!

 

[happy_tiger]

Who cares! French footy might improve if Robinson can get Cummins to ref their games. They seem to have an ‘understanding.’

With the terrible treatment that Rugby League copped in France, I would love to see the game rebuilt over there.

Wasn't rugby league declared illegal? The history of RL in France is interesting and horrible.

Yes, and the Rugby Union were permitted to confiscate all the League facilities and equipment.


I was seriously unaware of this, when are we talking about?

It happened 1940 when Germany invaded France, The Vichy government in southern France outlawed the game as having ties to England and being a corrupter of the youth. The Vichy government was pro Nazi. There is a lot more politics involved in the decision and is well worth reading up on if you are interested.


Ah ok thanks.

French League was relatively strong in the 80's, they would be competitive in Kangaroo tour games and I remember reasonable games when they toured here in late 80's and it seems to have fallen of the planet since the early 90's.

I think that really comes down to the timing of professionalism in Rugby, until the 1990's the only way to earn a living playing Rugby was to play Rugby League, this kept the game alive in France, even though they were limited to the amount of players who were allowed to play the game, I think it was around 200 professional players in the country. Then Rugby went Professional and the players headed to Rugby where they were now paying players a lot more than you could earn playing Rugby League in France.

When Super League formed in England in 1995? there was a French side but it was based in Paris, outside of Rugby League heartland and players had to play for both their Super League team and their original club. That club folded after one year and there was no Professional League teams in France for around 10 years.

Rugby League has also never had its assets returned.

I think those issues combined to hamper Rugby League in France since the 90s.

The French have been garbage since 1978 ....horrific refereeing has kept them in games ...I remember Fulton saying a game they played in the 90's that if the French President XIII had scored that Australia would have never won ...pretty sure that was the game either Kerrod or Kevin Walters got penalized for taking too much time to get up and play the ball .....can't remember the exact penalty count but from memory it was either 24-2 or 28 -2

 

[Fade.To.Black]

Who cares! French footy might improve if Robinson can get Cummins to ref their games. They seem to have an ‘understanding.’

With the terrible treatment that Rugby League copped in France, I would love to see the game rebuilt over there.

The story is insane . Nazi sympathisers getting the game killed over there for union . God rugby league history has some nefarious stuff go on. I don’t know how you’d make it coherent , but a series about all the cheating , skullduggery , gamesmanship , back alley deals , would be amazing .

Underbelly Rugby League lol

Yea exactly what I was thinking . Even the stuff that went on in 60s and 70s , with the cabal who took over then leading into the 80s, Humphries with his fall from grace , the iron fist and blatant bias towards manly from arko , all the way into SL and beyond . Guys going away on kangaroo tours in the 50s and never coming home. And all the match fixing and brown paper bags of the 80s , that Singo and Elias talked about . Not Benny the other one . It’s crazy , how rich the history is.

Good old John Elias, lol

His book was a pretty good read.

 

[LeichhardtTiger]

Wow. I knew nothing of this. Very interesting. Still can’t stand Robinson though

WikiP
“ The invasion of France by Germany in May 1940 divided the country into Occupied France in the north and a southern pro-Nazi Vichy France, the latter of which roughly corresponded to the rugby-playing heartlands. The Vichy Government under Philippe Pétain associated rugby league with the pre-war socialist government, the United Kingdom and General Charles de Gaulle. Some of the French Rugby Union's senior administrators took advantage of their close relationship with the new regime to have rugby league outlawed as a "corrupter" of French youth.[6] All funds as well as grounds and equipment belonging to the French Rugby League Federation were confiscated and handed over to rugby union. The figure of assets stripped has been estimated at two million 1940 French francs, none of which was ever returned.[7] In addition, rugby league players were forced to switch to rugby union or other sports or quit sport altogether.”

Who needs the History Channel when you have The Mighty Weststigers Forum - All that's missing is Mr Peabody & Sherman in The Way Back Machine! Well done!

 

[TillLindemann]

In some great news for French rugby league, the International Rugby League board is pushing for France to host the 2025 rugby league world cup.

Below is an article from the BBC:

The International Rugby League board are planning to stage the 2025 World Cup in France.

Strengthening the game in France has been targeted as a "strategic priority" by the IRL's new chairman Troy Grant.

And he says work has already begun to persuade the French government to back the idea of the country hosting the world event.

"We've started that work," said Grant. "It's very early but I've pitched it to the French government."

"The Rugby League World Cup would be part of a trifecta of events following the Rugby (union) World Cup in 2023, the Paris Olympics in 2024 and the Rugby League World Cup in 2025."

It would be the first time France has hosted the tournament outright, which they kicked off in 1954, since the 1972 competition which was won by Great Britain.

And Grant is hoping that a decision can be made before this year's World Cup starts.

The former Australian politician has been unveiled as the new chairman of the IRL replacing Greg Barclay, who will remain on the board as an independent director despite standing down in response to his recent appointment as chairman of the International Cricket Council.

Grant had conversations with the likes of former England coach Wayne Bennett and South Sydney Rabbitohs chief executive officer Blake Solly when he agreed to take on the job and they each told him that revitalising the French game should be a priority.

"I've been working with the French government contacts I have through my political associations here in Australia," added Grant.

"The board signed off on me establishing an exploratory committee on hosting the 2025 World Cup in France.

"We're pretty close to getting a product that can be taken to the French government and start formalising having a very close look at that.

"The actual decision was supposed to be October 2020 but the pandemic interrupted that.

"But our management effectively did nothing to look at that potential and the timeline drifted. So I took it upon myself to progress that.

"France has to be a strategic priority so I took the motion to the board to move away from the bidding process, to try and target something more strategic.

"So we can hopefully build a compelling argument for the French government to be the host and partner with us and look at a new delivery model for the World Cup.

"It all can be on the back of England 2021 and build some momentum and get that development and re-enthusiasm back into France - which will be critical for another step up into broader Europe as well."

https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-league/56578333

 

[diedpretty]

Who cares! French footy might improve if Robinson can get Cummins to ref their games. They seem to have an ‘understanding.’

With the terrible treatment that Rugby League copped in France, I would love to see the game rebuilt over there.

Yeah but Robinson is a rorter and I hate em all! Passionately!

One of our own who according to wikipedia holds and interesting distinction with the club.

 

[Tiger_Steve]

Who cares! French footy might improve if Robinson can get Cummins to ref their games. They seem to have an ‘understanding.’

With the terrible treatment that Rugby League copped in France, I would love to see the game rebuilt over there.

Yeah but Robinson is a rorter and I hate em all! Passionately!

One of our own who according to wikipedia holds and interesting distinction with the club.

Robbo?

 

[diedpretty]

Who cares! French footy might improve if Robinson can get Cummins to ref their games. They seem to have an ‘understanding.’

With the terrible treatment that Rugby League copped in France, I would love to see the game rebuilt over there.

Yeah but Robinson is a rorter and I hate em all! Passionately!

One of our own who according to wikipedia holds and interesting distinction with the club.

Robbo?

yep

 

[kiwitiger]

Who cares! French footy might improve if Robinson can get Cummins to ref their games. They seem to have an ‘understanding.’

With the terrible treatment that Rugby League copped in France, I would love to see the game rebuilt over there.

Yeah but Robinson is a rorter and I hate em all! Passionately!

One of our own who according to wikipedia holds and interesting distinction with the club.

I knew he played for us but never new that special distinction. First player to debut for the Wests Tigers who had never played for a previous team.

 

[TillLindemann]

I thought this was a very interesting article, I'm glad to see French rugby league making a comeback. This year French clubs have topped the table of both Super League, and the Championship. Looks like there will be a second French club in Super league next year.

"Dominance of Catalans and Toulouse drives rugby league to wider audience"

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/aug/13/dominance-of-catalans-and-toulouse-driving-league-to-a-wider-audience

 

[jadtiger]

I thought this was a very interesting article, I'm glad to see French rugby league making a comeback. This year French clubs have topped the table of both Super League, and the Championship. Looks like there will be a second French club in Super league next year.

"Dominance of Catalans and Toulouse drives rugby league to wider audience"

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/aug/13/dominance-of-catalans-and-toulouse-driving-league-to-a-wider-audience

If there is one thing the French enjoy it is to beat the English at sport

 

[tiger_one]

I thought this was a very interesting article, I'm glad to see French rugby league making a comeback. This year French clubs have topped the table of both Super League, and the Championship. Looks like there will be a second French club in Super league next year.

"Dominance of Catalans and Toulouse drives rugby league to wider audience"

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/aug/13/dominance-of-catalans-and-toulouse-driving-league-to-a-wider-audience


If there is one thing the French enjoy it is to beat the English at sport

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSo0duY7-9s

 

[Fraze23]

I think it would be a great thing for the game to have 2 French teams in the Super League. If they could grow the game across Europe it would be incredible.

I went to a Catalans home game this season and the people there were fantastic. I was there supporting Hull FC, and people in the street were stopping you to chat and talk about footy, it was great. I'd love to see the game spread on an international level.