Almost exactly 27 years to the day since the former chief executive of the Rugby Football League, Maurice Lindsay, unveiled the grand plans for the advent of Super League and the proposed continental expansion which came with it, few should have afforded themselves a smile more than Lindsay here as history was made, with two French sides facing one another in the competition for the first time.
The original plans for the first Super League season in 1996 included two French teams, Toulouse and Paris. That ultimately never materialised, with Toulouse not making it to the start line and Paris Saint-Germain lasting barely a couple of seasons. But here, the vision and belief so many traditionalists laughed at for years, the notion that two French teams could stand side by side in the elite competition, finally came to fruition as Catalans hosted Toulouse: and it was a moment for all of rugby league, not just those in France, to savour.
“This is brother versus brother,” the Catalans Dragons chief executive, Alex Chan, admits. “We have to work together and not discredit each other as clubs. If we don’t look after Toulouse and they don’t work with us, we won’t grow in France. The vision was laid out all those years ago. They called the competition Super League Europe and now, it truly is a European competition.” The result here was almost secondary to the occasion, with the Dragons edging a hard-fought contest 18-10.
These are fascinating times for rugby league across the Channel. Toulouse’s promotion to Super League for the first time comes not only in a World Cup year, but just three years out from the next hosting of the tournament, which will take place in France in 2025. “There’s a super relationship between both clubs,” Catalans’ head coach Steve McNamara says. “We’re aware of the importance of us both being in the elite competition and what that can bring across France and for other French clubs with a World Cup on the horizon here. There’s huge mutual respect for one another.”
That respect disappeared on occasions on Thursday evening in a tempestuous and ill-tempered game, perhaps the least you would have expected from two French sides who play with passion in abundance. Catalans appeared in control in the early stages of the second half when they forged an 18-6 lead, but the red card of Joe Chan gave Toulouse a glimmer of hope. They, however, could not complete the comeback.
Catalans’ success in recent seasons, winning the Challenge Cup in 2018 and making last season’s Grand Final, has boosted interest in the sport in Perpignan. But this felt altogether more significant in terms of the plans to grow the game across France, though you feel Toulouse’s continued involvement in Super League beyond this year will play a huge role in that long-term goal for rugby league to spread out of the north of England even more.
“If we want the game to grow, we have to stay up,” Toulouse’s Tony Gigot says. “We can be stronger for each other and we need two good teams, and more French players to break through and play. That can only help French rugby league.” Alex Chan agrees: “The grassroots game in France needs an injection of positivity like this, to show there’s a reason we want youngsters to come and play. We want to put this product out to the world and show them that France is at the heart of rugby league.”
Those close to the Catalans say that local interest in the buildup to this match eclipsed any ordinary Super League game against English opposition. The locals certainly enjoyed what was a momentous occasion but despite this being billed as a central part of the “Rivals Round”, these clubs have a much stronger bond than mere rivals. Together, they could potentially determine whether, 27 years after Lindsay’s initial vision, Super League can finally escape the constraints of its roots.
