>>>>NOT what i said. I said that the success of Toulon as a club and European champion is having a positive effect in french rugby because it is attracting interest for the game of rugby. Thats also true in Toulouse Clermont regions.Im describing what I see here. But you dont live here, how would you know?
So my point is that a club like Toulon can do more as much and more for the development and attractiveness of the game among the general public and kids, than the national side does. Also big clubs are well capable of promoting the game abroad with more impact than the Federation can with the national side.
Look at the success of the game btw Toulouse and Clermont organised in Hong Kong last year. The french team has never played in Asia. There you go.
>>Im glad my posts are bringing some derision into your life. U sound like u need a laugh.
I said money is necessary and yes Pro rugby cant develop without it. The current season structure can evolve and it will. There is talk of a Top12 that would replace the current one. So the system is not stuck where its at. And i never said i was against a reduction of the number of games. where did you read that in my posts? i am all for the proposed Top 12 which would translate effectively into LESS games. I also think it might be imposed byt the economics of the game and the recession in Europe.
A top12 would raise the standards of the league by concentrating it. But this needs to be done to suit the clubs not with the national team as a priority. Your problem is that you want to make changes in french rugby so that the national team becomes competitive again. Thats not going to happen. Clubs look after their own interest. They are not here to develop the national team. French clubs are not structured around serving the national side.Get used to it.
>>who says a Pro sports league has to be an even playing field? where did you get that idea. There is no such thing. In NZ mabye. You need travel. Where did u see any form of equity in soccer or other Pro sport? should the clubs all start the season with the same number of inernationals, same budget, we know the answer to that one. You either want compete or you dont. Some Top 14 clubs with no star and small budget are doing very well like Grenoble. They are not bleating about money, You are the one living in Lalaland.
>>Sorry not true. Many french fans living outside a rugby region support a big club like Toulouse, Toulon Clermont. I know plenty of them. Including many provinciaux living in Paris who hate the 2 Parisian teams. There you go. You stand corrected on that one)
>>well Mermoz hasnt been setting the world on fire around himself, so he gets to stay on the bench. Thats ok.
OMG they want to win a french ***le and the HCup!? how dare they. they want to win, and thats tragic?! What else are they supposed to do other than win trophies. You are tragic.
1. You say it is attracting interest more than a strong national team. Would it be cruel to point out France does not have a strong national team - and that is perhaps why the club scene is more attractive currently? To say international rugby doesn't have potential to spread the game to other places is farcial considering the international matches played in Hong Kong, Japan and USA within the last few years. Whether or not France has played in those regions does not mean it does not have more potential. I'd wager France vs USA would sell better in the United States than Toulouse vs Toulon.
2. To start with you blamed in an earlier post France playing a three match series against New Zealand as bad for player welfare.
Now my point which you seemed to miss, perhaps because your head is lodged up your ass - is that the 12 or so international games that are scheduled for almost all tier 1 international teams, asks a lot less from a player than playing in such a long league, so to claim it is "scheduled by ill-advised clowns at the expense of player welfare" is freaking stupid as sh*t, seeing as every other national team can manage it and the reason France struggle is because of the obsurdly long domestic league.
3. A competitive league is fine and I'm not anti-professionlism at all. I don't need all teams to be equal, however a league with such a division of wealth results in uncompetitive boringness. I'm well aware of how other leagues work, I say the Premiership has the same problem but worse, only they have a fanbase which can surivive off an uncompetitive league. I also watch the NBA, NFL, NRL which I believe to have a better division of talent and resources and therefore have a more competitive league. I just think that the more the Top 14 becomes dictated by money, the less appealing product it becomes and more to the point, the indifference showed to the national team over the club team I think will ultimately be worse for rugby in France. Part of it I'll agree is a priorities thing as I'd love to see Les Bleus be able to field a team which hasn't bee so devistated by the interests of the domestic game.
