Quote: PopTart "Apart from the fact there is some racial stereotyping in there, I think you'll find the French sporting stadiums are equal if not better than their English counterparts. And as they have the Olympics in 2024 they are only going to get better.
At a grass roots level you only have to go to some backwater village and see the tennis facilities or the football stadium with astro turf. They were way ahead of us on that.
The French rugby league facilities are poorer because of the lack of money in the game but that doesn't mean a French person feels "more at home" in poor facilities.
Obviously Stade Brutus is pretty special but even Albi have a much better stadium than us. Villeneuve only have a 5,000 capacity stadium but the complex itself hosts tennis, basketball and has a couple of training pitches I think. It's a while since I've been to it but the facilities are pretty nice.
And it doesn't rain as much either.
In terms of French players settling in, it's probably more to do with the recruitment choice, and the fact that, compared to antipodean imports, if they feel homesick, they can just nip home on the weekend if they want to.'"
Firstly there is no racial stereotyping don't be so ridiculous. You clearly know nothing about French RL, the vast majority of who's stadia would not beat most conference clubs. It is obvious to most people that I'm referring to the sport of RL in particular and not the whole spectrum of French sport
Go view this site, take a tour of the stadiums through the links, then come cak and tell me which of those stadia match any SL club. Then check their attendances and net worth then tell me which SL team they match. Then check their revenue sreams etc etc. As for the Tennis courts etc, they are municiple and belong to the Town not the club, ditto in most cases the stadiums themslves. That's 100% municiple not a share as with most SL clubs.
The only SL club remotely similar to those 'elite' clubs is sadly ourselves and thats a stretch as we are considerably better off. Hence why French players may find the more homely Trinity a bit more to what they are accustomed too, not all, but a fair few.You really need to think before you knee jerk react. No French clubs apart frm Catalan come anywhere near there SL counterparts. The French Elite Division one isn't even close to the standard of the RL Champioship.