Stade Français - Leicester Tigers

[DonBilly]

The Stade Français is looking for a stadium where to host the H-cup match versus the Leicester Tigers on the 29th of October. The Paris Saint Germain has refused to lend the Parc des Princes although they play away this same day and the Stade de France is already booked for a non-sporting event.

Lens (North of France) where Ireland were eliminated by the Pumas in the RWC '99, Metz (Loraine (East of France close to Germany), Marseilles, and Brussel (Belgium) have offered hosting this match. I guess that for the Leicester fans Lens or Brussel should be the most convenient.

The Stade de France has been very successful for the T14 match they host versus Stade Toulousain. There are already 70 000 tickets sold. I don't think they can gather so many people outside of Paris area but this shows that they are managing to attract people which are not usual Rugby followers. This is good for the game.

 

[DonBilly]

Although the rumour was that this game would be played in Brussel, the Paris maior pressure, big fan of the Stade Français, has been successful and the match will be played in Charléty Stadium. It is not huge but bigger than Jean Bouin anyway.

 

[An Tarbh]

Makes sense, would be unfair on supporters to expect them to travel to Brussels for a match when there still is a reasonably sized stadium capable of hosting the match.

 

[DonBilly]

Yes indeed. I think there exist other solutions ion Paris such as Colombes or la Cipale which can be used although they are quite old stadiums but not worse than Landsdowne Road or Leicester stadium.