Casty calls for more exposure in France after Catalans coup
Catalans Dragons’ Challenge Cup victory has been heralded as a turning point for not just French rugby league but the entire code. The underdogs’ win over Warrington Wolves at Wembley on Saturday was the first time in the competition’s 122-year history that a nonenglish side had claimed the silverware.
At a time when rugby league is looking to expand, the crowd of just over 50,000, the lowest at a Challenge Cup final for 73 years – because of the high cost of travel for Catalans fans – could be viewed as a worthwhile sacrifice considering the potential the result has to open up the French market.
Catalans, under the guidance of former England coach Steve Mcnamara, received a good-luck message from French president Emmanuel Macron telling them “the whole of France is behind you”, but there was a time when politics almost wiped out the sport in France.
In the 1930s, rugby league blossomed in France because of disquiet with the high levels of ill-discipline in union.
However, when the Nazi-backed Vichy government came to power in 1940, rugby league was banned because of the influence of highlevel supporters of union in the regime. League pitches and grounds were confiscated and given to rugby union clubs.
Despite experiencing a renaissance in the 1950s and 1960s, league struggled to regain appeal because of rugby union’s participation in the Five Nations and not being included in the television revolution.
Media coverage is still a problem. Victorious captain Remi Casty hopes the Challenge Cup win will open up the sport beyond the strong pockets of working-class support in Perpignan, where the Dragons are based, and in Toulouse.
“What we have done should become a legend in French sport but we need the national media to tell our story,” Casty said. “After that, I hope people living in other regions will take an interest in league.”
Even with the historic victory, the Dragons failed to make the front pages of any of their national newspapers yesterday.
Casty believes the perception of the code must change to attract new audiences. “The difficulty we have in France is that people just think you carry the ball, you tackle hard and that is it. They think it is an unattractive game. We need to change this mentality. We need to get on television more.”
He says greater interest in France will help the game globally. “It could be a good opportunity for French rugby league to make young kids want to be professional to create more good players in France and a better competition over there [in England].
“After that, maybe France could compete with England in a World Cup in four or eight years.”
Those watching in France would have been treated to a fast and furious start by Catalans, who opened the scoring within two minutes through Lewis Tierney. A conversion and penalty by Australian Josh Drinkwater, who just months ago was working on a Sydney building site, gave the beginnings of a fairytale feeling to the match.
After Warrington’s Ben Murdoch-masila went over, Catalans responded with tries by Ben Garcia and Brayden Wiliame. Warrington rallied, with George King touching down, and the French side spent most of the final quarter defending doggedly.
Casty believes this tenacious spirit came from how his side hung on to Super League status after winning the Million Pound Game last year. The 33-yearold believes the club would not have survived relegation.
“It would have been the end of the Catalans Dragons. It would have had a huge negative impact for the future of rugby league in France. Going through the pressure of having to win the Million Pound match and all the bad times made us close,” he said.
“That experience helped us in the last 20 minutes, because we know where we have come from in a year. We have held on to pain, which has motivated us.
“There was a perception that we win nothing, it is a sport that the French aren’t good at, but this has given us fire in our belly.”