Robinson committed to rebuilding France footy

[Tigerwould]

Good on him, hope they bring back the French scissors move
Robinson committed to rebuilding France as international force

[link text](https://www.nrl.com/news/2021/02/23/robinson-to-help-guide-france-at-world-cup/)

Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson's deep connection with France compelled him to accept the role of FFRXIII director of rugby.

Robinson, who began his coaching career at Toulouse and had charge of Catalans before leading the Roosters to the 2013 premiership in his first season with the club, will re-unite with newly appointed France coach Laurent Frayssinous ahead of this year's World Cup.

 

[Tiger_Steve]

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

 

[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.

 

[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!

 

[Alex Seyfarth's #1 Fan]

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.

 

[jirskyr]

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.

 

[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.

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

Declared illegal and had all their assets seized and and given to Rugby.

 

[Tigerwould]

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.

I think that was the case.
Rugba League is not a crime. They should revolt.

Robinson can show them the light and the way forward (not passes).

 

[Tigerwould]

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!

Think about it, This is a win if u hate the rosters as much as me.

 

[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.

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.

They also got any money Rugby League had at the time. It is a really interesting to read about the history of Rugby League in France, as you have obviously done. I think the biggest disadvantages were Rugby League being banned in schools until 1991 and not being able to be called Rugby.

 

[Tiger5150]

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?

 

[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.

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.

 

[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.

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

I think that was the case.
Rugba League is not a crime. They should revolt.

Robinson can show them the light and the way forward (not passes).

Maybe they should have called it Rugba League in France considering they were banned from using the name Rugby.

 

[Tiger5150]

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.

 

[Tiger_Steve]

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

 

[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.

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.

 

[Tigerwould]

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.”

 

[TillLindemann]

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?

Yeah it was really bad in the 30s, 40s and 50s, especially during the war. But even as recently as the 1990s they weren't allowed call themselves rugby league, they had to call themselves 'the game of 13'.

The treatment of rugby league in France is one of the most shameful episodes in the history of sport.

Despite all the active suppression of rugby league, including confiscation of all their money, France was still a powerhouse of the sport for a long time, the equal of Australia/England/NZ. I would love to see them make a comeback.
I think the key is for Toulouse to get promoted to Super League, Catalans Dragons can't do it all on their own.

 

[TillLindemann]

I remember reading about one city where the union officials colluded with the city council (one of the southern cities, may have been Perpignan) to block league's access to all of the local ovals one weekend, at the last minute. So players and fans took along their axes and cut down trees on a block of land to form a semblance of a field and played a game on it. Extraordinary stuff.

 

[TillLindemann]

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.

Yes putting the team in Paris was silly, it was doomed to fail. (I think it was a Murdoch decision, could be wrong). They had pretty much zero support and like you say, it was logistically hard. Perpignan, where Catalans are based, is a league area though, and that club are thriving.