you get on about me falling for wind ups, if there was going to be any investment it would of happened by now

Wouldn’t invite another French team in without putting something in place ensuring the talent pool gets a kick up the backside. French players of quality in their team is getting smaller and sharing the talent pool with Toulouse could shrink this further. As mentioned before their needs to be a quota on French players over here and likewise if french teams sign players from uk.

If we are going to have French SL clubs they need to provide French SL quality players and French TV money.

Same applied to Canadian clubs with Perez acknowledging from the start that TWP would deliver this, and when they didn't provide a single player nor a single TV dollar he said it would "take time" to kick the can down the road. Then they collapsed....

I'm all for supporting the French 100% especially providing top French players with Careers in Superleague like Theo Fages trouble is after 15 years they couldn't even raise a seven a side team of French superleague players who were first choice for their clubs....

But of course this is all apparently "expansion" despite the fact that in 2020 we had only 10 English Superleague clubs

Back in 1999 we had 14 English SL clubs........

This last three seasons has been full of utter garbage as regards "expansion"

Just a small correction Donny, there were only 12 clubs in SL in 1996 (not 14) and on the basis that Paris were inaugural members, in a move to "expand" the game, really, we're looking at 11 English clubs for the vast majority of the SL era, plus 1 French club and then the Toronto debacle, which for 1 season only (and a screwed up one at that) it dropped to 10.

Currently though, we are back to 11, which has been the case for most of the SL era.

It's almost as though you are trying to deliberately skew the numbers ?

Once again, for the record, there should need to be a minimum number of French qualifying players in the Catalan (and Toulouse) sides, assuming that this can be properly agreed.
There are of course issues if English clubs sign French players and preventing them from doing so would be some kind of "restriction of trade" so, it's far from straight forward.

We still come back to money (or the lack of it) and right now, RL is going down the pan, lower participation, lower investment, falling crowds (hardly surprising for the last 2 seasons) and mickey poor administration for the sport,- this weekends "international" being a prime example.

Well it’s not really a French Revolution if the big hitters behind said revolution aren’t French.

Cant argue with that Willzay, the clubs are French though.

Leave it out, it's not about me and your "correction" is wrong, read the post - I was talking about 1999 "Back in 1999 we had 14 English SL clubs"

It's already done, last night top of the table Les Catalans put Morgue, Yaha, Laguerre, Da Costa, Bousquet, Julian, Goudemond Belmas and Baitieri in the side and that's NINE Frenchmen. I was looking to see if Israel Folau was anywhere to be seen but clearly he was not there.

There's been a massive switch by les Catalans to become a real French team playing the best French players and it's blooming marvelous.

You can look out for some sort of public announcement Gausch has been given the hard word that he won't be in Superleague 2022 unless he does the job he was allowed in to do which is be a conduit for quality French players.

Toulouse are stuffed for Superleague next year. They aren't going to be promoted on winning the Championship on "percentages" with loads of games not been played, and certainly aren't going to be promoted using English and Aussie players......

And they aren't, as a Faux "French club" going to get the nod over Leigh staying in Superleague...........

Sorry I haven't got an article from Rugby Leaguer journo's to confirm this, but I do have a pair of eyes............

My apologies, that must have been the season pre the Hudd-Sheff merger and the Gateshead - Hull merger.


Neither of which have anything to do with this thread.

Good win for Catalan last night though ?

Nine Frenchmen gave Cas a big hitting last night, and you can bet if there are any French lads playing for Toulouse who are good enough they will be taken by Gausch.

Nothing surprising here, Superleague have been patient enough this last 15 years, but if the SKY money is being heavily slashed then Gausch needs to play the game if he want's to have some of that money. He's had 15 years to find a regular French TV contract...

The SL bosses were furious with him over Folau, and the total lack of any French player development. The TV deal being slashed obviously meant Gausch was also in real danger of being himself cut out. We've had too much Fantasy Rugby League this las few years.

Remember "Toronto" "New York" "Ottawa"

and the recent "who will be next after Catalans and Toulouse"??

There is the reality of one small English TV deal so goggle eyed fantasy fans





can forget Adelaide Rams coming in next year despite Lenegan OK'ing this in public......

It would not have been if their side had been all Aussie/English with Israel Folau poncing about.

It had nine Frenchmen and as such was a major major Triumph way way beyond the "2 points"