Things we could learn from French rugby?

[ourla]

Interesting article:

https://archive.is/6azsp

[Not a jock]

Food for thought, literally.

One thing that has always puzzled me regarding fixture clashes - English clubs, pro & am, tend to avoid clashes with the England national team but do play at very similar times to national matches not involving England. Surely a weekend is a long enough period of time to schedule national and club matches to avoid such clashes?

[ay2oh]

There shouldn’t be premiership games at the same time as internationals end of.

[MurphysLaw]

Thanks for posting. It is an interesting piece, and I am sure there are things to learn, especially around scheduling.

But, what the reporter doesn't touch on are two big differences. First, the way that the French second tier is financially supported. I am not sure how/whether this trickles down further, but the French have a viable and mostly competitive second tier, which is starting to improve their overall pool of players from a national perspective.

A second big cultural difference is that here, rugby remains a relatively minor sport compared to football, which dominates in most towns and cities, and certainly in the media. Whereas in France, particularly the south, this doesn't seem to be the case. That obviously has a big bearing on sponsorships, tv viewing figures and finances generally. Those stadia he cites in small French towns are in many of the uk equivalents, but they are football club stadia.

[ourla]

What are peoples experiences of going to European games in France? Or indeed, anywhere else.

I don't get to games much at the minute but when I last did the match day experience was kind of lost on me. Which to be fair it is with a lot of large scale events these days. The bigger it gets the worse it seems to get - more corporate, more profit driven.

And yes, match scheduling could with some alignment.

Always gets me how any attempt to boost atmosphere with drummer, band, new songs seems to get poo pooed pretty quickly.

[ourla]

A second big cultural difference is that here, rugby remains a relatively minor sport compared to football

But what came first, the chicken or the egg? I mean football will always be top dog here but that doesn't mean you can't grow or even just make what we have better.

And in some ways it could be seen as an advantage. For a start the ability to have rivalries but still have conviviality.

Anyone good for a discussion!

[Rugbygramps]

I get the impression, please correct if I’m wrong, that French sides in their 2nd division, are very much tied in with their local community, and have very large partisan home support, often playing in municipal stadium.

Compare that to the championship where the best supported clubs play in front of a couple of thousands, others in front of a few hundred.
It’s like comparing apples and oranges

[Robespierre]

6 oysters and a glass (or three!) of wine before a match in La Rochelle sounds rather good, doesn't it, but can you see that at Welford Road?
Thought not, but having said that, many moons ago when I was a season ticket holder and on my occasional visits in recent years, I've never partaken of the pre-match nosh tending to concentrate on liquid only nourishment.
A question for those of you who do choose to have a pie or whatever before the game - are they good and good value?

[Robespierre]

]I get the impression, please correct if I’m wrong, that French sides in their 2nd division, are very much tied in with their local community, and have very large partisan home support, often playing in municipal stadium.

Spot on, RG.
ProD2 is a competitive division with some big clubs of former glories - Biarritz, Agen, Mont de Marsan, Grenoble and Béziers for example, and matches are televised (pay tv) every weekend.

[Old Hob]

6 oysters and a glass (or three!) of wine before a match in La Rochelle sounds rather good, doesn't it, but can you see that at Welford Road?
Thought not, but having said that, many moons ago when I was a season ticket holder and on my occasional visits in recent years, I've never partaken of the pre-match nosh tending to concentrate on liquid only nourishment.
A question for those of you who do choose to have a pie or whatever before the game - are they good and good value?

I tend to go for a cheeseburger, reasonable value I think £6 for 1/2 pounder, cheese, onions etc. The wine and oysters sounds delightful.
Worrying about numbers doesn't seem an issue in France. Perhaps, if the stadium if publicly owned, profits are less squeezed.
I do find that providing the facilities produces results. Nottingham has had an ice rink for ages and produced Torvill and Dean as well as an ice hockey team. There has to be somewhere to start for local youth.

[johnthegriff]

I have been to most of the French top 14 grounds and without exception I have found the atmosphere to great, the fans welcoming and passionate for their team. For me the best atmosphere has been Clermont with the flapper sound, Perpignan fans sounded aggressive but we're super after the match. State Francais the most friendly but possibly that was because of how frequently we met them, Toulouse fans were great, I cannot say a bad thing about any French supporters they have all given me good times if I can ignore about 80 minutes of rugby on some trips.
The large municipal stadiums are a big advantage to some teams and can be too big for the supporter numbers although that is probably less true now than it was in the early days of European competition.
In this country we have to get a decently funded second tier, the game has to be sold to a television channel which would bring in more sponsor, investors and benefactors. There are many football grounds possibly willing to share around the country in lower or even non football league's capable of hosting crowds of 5 to 10 thousand many could probably increase capacity with temporary stands if the rugby team achieved promotion to the Premiership.

[Old Hob]

Interesting John. Do Nottingham still share with Notts County?

[Rugbygramps]

2 problems with our championship, lack of money and lack of interest.

When you have a game that is struggling to hang onto its existing support, let alone attract new, and has a poor reputation amongst non rugby fans, these 2 thing are insurmountable.

For me one of the big hopes is the rise in popularity and quality of the woman’s game. Hopefully daughters and wives will encourage sons and husbands to attend which might garner their interest.

The other obvious issue is current state of the economy, people are cutting back not looking for new ways to spend money.

[mol2]

It is interesting that the French don’t seem to be talking about ring fencing their top division.

Rugby is big in France, but so is soccer.

Historically rugby in England has been poor at marketing itself. Partly down to its perseverance of being amateur, long after the sport had become shamateur, and into the pro era.

Let’s face it the TV coverage of soccer results goes down as far as the Noddy & Big Ears league, yet no mention of the Premiership let alone the Championship.

[GB72]

I do see another chicken and egg situation with the championship. TV companies cannot sell an event watched by a couple of hundred people at a local ground as the next must see contest but the clubs cannot get bigger crowds and justify bigger capacty grounds without it.

What sums up the current position for me is that you cannot give away the championship rights at the moment That is not going to change dramatically for quite some time. To me, the Premiership has to build the interest in the game first and hope that this starts spilling over to the lower leagues.