Top 14 glitz and ProD2 grit
On Thursday night, Gillham?s Brive, in the second-tier ProD2, will host league leaders Provence. Brive play in Brive-la-Gaillarde, with a population of around 50,000, but 10,000 are expected at Stade Am?d?e-Domenech.
What makes that statistic even more remarkable is that in the past 10 seasons, Brive have yo-yoed between the Top 14 and ProD2, but has never finished above eighth in the top flight.
Brive are no anomaly. Last season, half of the clubs in the second tier boasted an average attendance of over 5,000. A thriving second division, with movement between the top flight, is vital to French rugby?s success. It is also significant that the two leagues are run and managed as a group of 30 clubs together, with the same governing body and a joint television deal, rather than as separate entities.
?The year we were going to finish eighth or ninth in the Top 14, we had no chance of being relegated and no chance of being in the play-offs,? Gillham says. ?Our gates dropped - there was no jeopardy! Jeopardy and promotion sell tickets. It?s what brings out the best in clubs - and in rugby.
?And we have been allowed to flourish as a 30. And every single game is televised ? that?s important ? the fact is you feel important because you can tell your sponsors, and anyone, that we?re on TV on Canal+ at 19.30 on Thursday night. That?s huge.
?All these kids want to be Mbapp?, but they can?t be. And the local clubs have realised that ? and so have the kids.
?There?s money in the ProD2 now, too. We have an operating budget this year of somewhere between ?16-17million, which had previously been unheard of. In 2007, ?17 million was the highest budget in the Top 14! Now, they?re between ?35-40 million.
?Fourteen Top 14 clubs and 16 ProD2 clubs. We work as a 30. We sit in a big room in a horseshoe shape and we argue our balls off. But, in the end, we make decisions and we vote. Where England messed up was ring-fencing ? whatever you want to call it ? the Premiership.?
Ren? Bouscatel, LNR president, points to the diversity of the two leagues as another advantage. ?We have widened our base,? he says. ?Little by little, the level of the second division has increased in a sporting sense, in an attractability sense, and in a financial sense.
?It has allowed us to have clubs spread around the country. There are emerging clubs like Vannes, Rouen, Massy, Angouleme, Nevers, which are not traditional rugby heartlands but now are professional hubs ? there is real appetite there.
?I?m not judging, but I think that the directors of the English clubs have prioritised the economics, the interests of their own clubs, rather than doing it for the bigger picture of professional rugby.?
The television deal is critical. A new contract was agreed with Canal+, from the start of the 2023/24 season and running for four years, for an annual ?97.5 million, representing a 17 per cent increase on the previous deal. In England, the latest Premiership deal was worth only ?40 million a season. The French deal, too, includes elements like Thursday matches and Sunday 9pm kick-offs; anathema to away fans and players, but a masterstroke in attracting TV eyeballs.
?Canal+ has been the rugby channel for the past 30 years and, whenever the rights are put out to tender, they come up with the goods,? Gillham says. ?Canal+ is a pay-TV channel but the current deal is good value for money, with matches from Thursday to Sunday. Canal+ pulled away from football, which was a ridiculous amount of money. It?s a really good partnership. And the TV deal is two-and-a-half times that of the Premiership.?
Bouscatel, at the heart of the two leagues? relationship with Canal+ since he succeeded Goze in 2021, adds: ?We would never agree rights with a broadcaster solely for money,? he says. ?Money is important, but the vision is even more important.
?There?s a massive difference between the French and English systems. The English have prioritised the economic and financial side, with billionaires who have invested in the big English clubs - but they don?t want competition.?
The final difference, Gillham adds, is that of financial regulation. The situation that occurred with Wasps, Worcester and London Irish all going to the wall in England is nigh-on impossible to replicate across the Channel.
?We have intense financial controls by a central auditing committee [previously DNACG; now A2R],? says Gillham. ?It is ferocious, and doesn?t let you start the season without concrete proof that you have all the funding that you say you?re going to have. If we say we?re predicting ourselves to finish sixth ? and budget accordingly ? they will turn around and say: ?Well, you finished 12th the past three years, so we?ll have you down as finishing 12th. So we?ll base your revenue on the past three years.? Any sponsorship over ?50k, they?ll demand to see the contract. If you can?t prove everything, then the committee won?t register the players and allow the team to start the season. Not one club in the Top 14 or ProD2 has gone to the wall in the last 10 years.?
Bouscatel adds: ?Yes, we are in a purple patch, but we have built that, it hasn?t happened by chance. We have to continue to progress. A lack of progression is regression.?
If progression really is the aim, then we should all strap ourselves in for a period of French domination.
The moment of truth
All eyes now turn to the Stade de France where, on Friday night, France host New Zealand in the opening match of the 2023 Rugby World Cup, where the strides made over the past decade will truly be tested.
?It has all been a virtuous cycle and circle between the clubs and the French team,? Gillham says. ?Since France won the rights to host the 2023 tournament, we, as presidents, decided that the best thing for French rugby ? and club rugby ? would be France winning the World Cup.?
With what French rugby has built over the past 10 years, France will never have a better opportunity at being crowned champions of the world ? on home soil. They could not be better prepared.
Always a Wasp
Topic: Excellent Article (IMO) in The Telegraph. Very long-Part 2. (Read 989 times)