Quote leedsnsouths="leedsnsouths"A flight from south France to London is a similar price to a train ticket from northern England to London, so no excuses for the pitiful support they brought to the biggest match in their history, it just shows that in reality the Dragons have not increased French support of the game any more than it was in 2006 when they entered the league.
I'm sure if you can be bothered to dig out all the rfl statements when they introduced Catalan to SL (I can't), you will find that the French national team was a major reason. Similar to the introduction of NZ warriors to the NRL, the idea is to expose players to a higher standard of play. The problem is, that while NZ Warriors tend to promote tonnes of local players, Catalan would much prefer to buy Aussies.
So again, what exactly have Catalan achieved? If you view them as an expansion project they have failed. If you view them as a club just like any other, then they have been moderately successful, but why does it make a difference if it is them or Leigh or whoever in the league?'"
Catalans saw the merger of two financially struggling clubs into one that is now generating average crowds of 7-8k plus. Youth participation in France has also increased since their introduction into SL. How much more do you think they should be achieving?
Again, using the number of people who came to Wembley as a litmus test is not a fair representation of their support in my view - flights to London during the August BH are not cheap.
And I stand by my point, it is not and never has been the job of Catalans to improve the French national team any more that it is the job of Leeds, Wigan, Huddersfield or Batley to improve the England team. We haven't beaten the Aussies for years, so why don't we bin off those clubs as failed clubs as well? That's the standard you're applying to Catalans, so what's good for the goose and all that.
What is wrong with simply having the Catalans in the league as a competitive club in their own right, rather than applying these impossible standards to them that we don't apply to other clubs for some reason? In an environment where we have promotion and relegation, they should be free to build the best team they can within the rules like any other club, whether they are French or otherwise.
