French to boycott ERC

Osprey in Leicester · Post by **Osprey in Leicester** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:17 am

Shedman wrote:looks like it will be 3 hc cups in a row for munster if the french boycott next year.

and im deadly serious !

Depends if you get an easy route to the final like last season !

Shedman · Post by **Shedman** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:35 am

well i cant agree with your more there osprey !

PERPIGNAN at home for 1/4 was not daunting and a second rate leinster in a semi is hardly a mount everest but we earned our money in the final !!!

this year will be the same , we dispose of Tigers by half time this sat.

smash northampton in to pieces in the 1/4s , beat whoever in the semis and then prob beat stade in the final !

Adroit · Post by **Adroit** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 12:10 pm

4 wrote:Our humiliation is not inevitable in the next RWC. Nothing with regards to World Cups is inevitable. Anything could happen. NZ often do not win it as inevitable favourites. France lost to NZ in a much worse way than we did, twice. As did wales once. Plus, expectations will be slightly lower considering circumstances.

Thats a whole other debate - Stick to the subject sporto. :roll:

East-Munster Man · Post by **East-Munster Man** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 6:47 pm

Lansdowne RFC wrote:Personally, I think the French (and Serge Blanco) have got this badly wrong. They just can not seem to seem out their domestic league with fixtures and the like, so are taking this out on the HEC? It's absurd that they play no games in and around the 6 Nations, and 1 game in the Christmas period? Statistics show from a range of sports that ticket sales from Christmas period are considerably higher than any other time in the season.

Also, the average French attendence last season in the league was 9'100, and in the HEC, it's just over 11'500. This proves the fans care more for Europe, than the national league. And it's very short sighted of Blanco to say the French sides don't need Europe. Toulouse don't win the Top14 very often, yet how come they have the best academy and training facilities in Europe? The Heineken Cup.

The H-Cup is one of the greatest sporting successes of the past 20 years. It's grown from nowhere, and now you have packed stadia everywhere, and matches moving to Spain and Switzerland. This will kill European rugby just because the French are so arrogant and confused about their national league. The HEC is best tournament in club rugby, by a distance.

Personally, I think the English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish and Italian sides should plough on next season. Show them what their missing. This could be their bargaining tool also, as there was meant to be a meeting in Dublin tomorrow anyway.

The world could make a fool of Blanco, and boycott the world cup?

i think ure right, a british isles super league and :censored: the french. When one country tries to dictate leave em off. apart from biarritz, toulouse and stade, they don't bother much in europe.

Osprey in Leicester · Post by **Osprey in Leicester** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 7:43 pm

http://tinyurl.com/2au5mb

CelticTiger · Post by **CelticTiger** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:05 pm

Lansdowne RFC wrote: Also, the average French attendence last season in the league was 9'100, and in the HEC, it's just over 11'500. This proves the fans care more for Europe, than the national league.

Not sure how you can draw this conclusion. The French clubs in the H-Cup are the bigger ones and have slightly higher average attendances in the Top 14. The smaller sides in France lessen the Top 14 average. A full house at Stade de France for the Stade headers v Toulouse/ Biarritz has rarely if ever been matched in the H-Cup is another way of looking at it.

Lansdowne RFC · Post by **Lansdowne RFC** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:54 pm

CelticTiger,

That's a fair point, but I think those games involving Stade in the Stade de France are the exceptions that disprove the rule. Max Guriani (sp.) markets the games v Toulouse, Perpignan and Biarrtiz similar to World Cup Final in 1998, and then further entices the fans by selling tickets off for €10. Only 4'700 bothered to turn up for the game against Clermont (I think the oppo is right).
Watch Toulouse games on Setanta, and the Ernst Wallon doesn't come close to the 19'000 capacity.
Agen's biggest crowd this season was versus Leinster, followed by Gloucester. Bourgoin usually holds 12'000 (i think), but 16'500 went to Geneva. Away crowds help, I know, but surely that's another reason why it has to stay.

PS..... I love Will Green

Adroit · Post by **Adroit** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 9:59 pm

[quote="East-Munster Man" apart from biarritz, toulouse and stade, they don't bother much in europe.[/quote]

Laughable - Bottom line - This tournament without the French sides is an even bigger joke than it alrady is now.

If you think the chaff of Wales & Scotland coupled with the only credible sides from England & Ireland are enough to make a credible European competition you are truly deluded and rather arrogant.

yellow_balaclava_hunter · Thu Jan 18, 2007 10:20 pm

How about an agreement between the Northern hemisphere clubs that in the season before and the season during the World Cup, each league is split into two sections with the top two teams from each section going into a playoff.

This would free up 12 games in the Guinness Premiership, if the Magners put another Scottish team in then it would make those groups even and free up 12 games. The French would also have 14 games free.

This would leave enough spare time for the extra internationals in those years.

To cover the loss in Revenue for clubs during those times an agreement should be made that a share of the sponsorship revenue made by the governing bodies from the World Cup is distributed between the clubs.

To supplement this the clubs could hold special inter club competitions to involve players who are not picked for internationals, for instance a mini midlands league between Tigers, Northampton, Bedford and Nottingham.

The other two years could have the normal full league structures with no playoffs and to ease the threat of injury, the clubs could also make an agreement to limit the number of games a player can play in to 28 club games during a season and the governing bodies could agree only to pick a player for 8 international games in a season with the full league calendar. E.G. a player could only take part in 8 internationals between August and May that year.

Osprey in Leicester · Thu Jan 18, 2007 10:20 pm

Adroit wrote:[quote="East-Munster Man" apart from biarritz, toulouse and stade, they don't bother much in europe.

Laughable - Bottom line - This tournament without the French sides is an even bigger joke than it alrady is now.

If you think the chaff of Wales & Scotland coupled with the only credible sides from England & Ireland are enough to make a credible European competition you are truly deluded and rather arrogant.[/quote]

No more arrogant and pig headed than your good self.

Pete · Post by **Pete** » Thu Jan 18, 2007 11:43 pm

looks like it will be 3 hic cups in a row for munster if the french boycott next year

No, just two. This year and next year!

CelticTiger · Post by **CelticTiger** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 8:54 am

Lansdowne RFC wrote:CelticTiger,

That's a fair point, but I think those games involving Stade in the Stade de France are the exceptions that disprove the rule. Max Guriani (sp.) markets the games v Toulouse, Perpignan and Biarrtiz similar to World Cup Final in 1998, and then further entices the fans by selling tickets off for €10. Only 4'700 bothered to turn up for the game against Clermont (I think the oppo is right).
Watch Toulouse games on Setanta, and the Ernst Wallon doesn't come close to the 19'000 capacity.
Agen's biggest crowd this season was versus Leinster, followed by Gloucester. Bourgoin usually holds 12'000 (i think), but 16'500 went to Geneva. Away crowds help, I know, but surely that's another reason why it has to stay.

PS..... I love Will Green

We both know Bourgoin in Geneva was at least half Munster fans and over 3,000 tickets were dished out free to local Swiss youth. The H-Cup in France is an interesting addition to the Top 14 and does bring in extra dosh, like say the Champions League in soccer. However, the sometimes higher crowds are almost entirely made up of away fans, esp. when Irish or English teams play in France.

A true test of loyalty would be to abandon the native League and see how the various European Cups would pan out for French clubs. I suspect the answer in France (as in England) would be that the native League holds far more affection and attraction for the local fan than alternative European competition and would demand relaunch. Unlike say the Magners Occasional League

.

PS I'm glad you love Will Green. Are you his mum???

Lansdowne RFC · Post by **Lansdowne RFC** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 2:48 pm

What about Toulouse CelticTiger? They've a, eh, hmmmm, average record in the league, but in Europe, they have been fairly unstoppable since 2003. There might be more affection for the national league, but I think the way the attendences increase, rather than decrease, whe Euro sides come over has some relevance.
Just read an interview with Gareth Thomas in the paper. He said the French players are burnt out and he's not surprised they pulled out. I guess an admission like that makes any reference towards crowds, facilities and tourism seem very. very small.

No, not his mum. Would be kinda weird since he's double my age. When you look at him, you always get the image of those "English in Ibiza" tourists, and you wonder how he ended up in Dublin. He's a great team player though, and a real gentleman. If only he was a better scrummager :roll:

CelticTiger · Post by **CelticTiger** » Fri Jan 19, 2007 6:05 pm

Lansdowne RFC wrote:What about Toulouse CelticTiger? They've a, eh, hmmmm, average record in the league, but in Europe, they have been fairly unstoppable since 2003. There might be more affection for the national league, but I think the way the attendences increase, rather than decrease, whe Euro sides come over has some relevance.

Toulouse have been in the top 4 since they won the League in 2003, playing in two finals since then. Not a bad record for a toughish league as well as the H-Cup, I would say. Their average attendance this season for French League games is 19,117 (9 games); for the Heineken Cup it's 17,597 (2 games). Similarly with Biarritz with averages of 9,117 and 8,000 respectively. The Paris stats are hard to compare as the header v Biarritz took in 70,000+, while the H-Cup match v Sale had over 40,000+. Your original comment was that the French turn out in greater numbers for the H-Cup!!!!