Although France and the UK are separated only by a narrow channel of water, there are many differences between the two countries, especially when it comes to rugby league.
IF you’re interested in French rugby league, you may visit us someday, that is if you haven’t already.
In the future, you may also have an opportunity to come to France for business, for holidays or just by chance as a stop on your journey. Or maybe you’ve planned to move to France and your decision has nothing to do with rugby league.
Whatever the reason of your visit may be, you may ask yourself: “What kind of country am I going to find, when it comes to rugby league?”
So, I’ve prepared for you a ‘survivor’s guide’ to France for rugby league fans.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to give you a lecture about the areas where the code is played or has been played since whenever. Instead, I’m going to write about today’s France. Not the one you may meet in Carcassonne or Perpignan, another one, the remaining part that is to say almost the whole French Republic, a few RL strongholds aside.
You may expect to find a hostile country. After all, in France, rugby union is dominant, and even if it’s now old-fashioned to mention all the dirty tricks that have been done to rugby league (Vichy is not regarded as an issue by some Treizistes anymore), such a country could only be hostile to Rugby à XIII fans?
Actually, no, unless you land in the middle of a gathering of union veterans in the heart of the south west, hostility may not be what you’re going to face first.
What you’re going to find is indifference from the public, and ignorance of the 13-a-side code.
Most French people have heard of ‘rugby’ and have a good image of it. But do they follow it closely beyond the big games of the Six Nations, for example? Nothing is less sure in the kingdom of football!
I remember the experience of that reader of RLW who complained in the mailbag that he couldn’t find a place like a pub or a café to watch a RL game while he was in France. Locals obviously didn’t know what he was referring to. I found his surprise at that very refreshing, but it reminded me also of the experience of a friend of mine, a union fan, who experienced the same issue when he wanted to watch a union game in the east of France and tried to find a café or a pub to do so. Not only did he not find any, but people would tell him, politely. ‘here, we don’t care about rugby’.
To bypass this public ignorance, your best allies will be digital tools. Your mobile phone (with a decent data subscription) can help you find useful information about where to attend a game in a stadium or where to watch it, though it can be tricky sometimes.
Even if internet search engines provide you with automatic translations, let’s be clear about some words. If you type for example ‘rugby league’ it may translate wrongly into ‘rugby à XV’ which is the other code. ‘Ligue de rugby’ is another false result, even if it literally means rugby league. It refers to an association which deals with the interests of the wealthy rugby union clubs. Even if you’re reluctant to speak French or just can’t speak the language, try to use ‘rugby à XIII’ for any search. If you do speak with the locals, ask them specifically about rugby à ‘treize’ if you want to know about rugby league in the area.
Staying with digital tools, a tablet connected to wifi may help you with finding hints about watching the games and can also give you an opportunity to access the French Treiziste community. It’s very active on the social networks, and Facebook (rather than ‘X’) seems to be preferred. If you have an account, I would recommend two Facebook pages, run by two RL fanatics. Search for ‘Claude Cassagnol’ and for ‘Jacques Lavergne’ and make a friend request. Both are volunteers. It’s possible to interact with people on these pages. You may even write in English and Facebook provides automatic translations (but see my reservations above), and in the community, you may find Anglophones who directly answer in your language. ‘Treize Mondial’ may also give you daily news about the code in France. They are available on many social networks. And by the way, don’t neglect the FFR XIIIs own search engine which offers you the possibility to find all the RL clubs or organisations in France, using your location or the name of a city. Find it at www.ffr13.fr/trouver-un-club
Now, let’s imagine that despite your efforts, you couldn’t find a place to attend a game, and just want to watch it on TV. You probably already know that here free-to-air channels don’t broadcast games (except on some very rare occasions). Plus, in hotels, usually only British news channels are available; if you’re fortunate you may have some BBC channels, rarely more. If you expect to stay in France for a while, you may appreciate to bring a device like a Chromecast (along with your toothbrush!) to do some streaming from that device to the TV set at your disposal.
You may also look for a café or a pub (we have more and more pubs here) and if publicans can’t tell you if you can watch rugby league in their place, just ask them if they’ve got the BeIN sport channels, which show NRL games, or Sky, as some of these pubs are owned by Anglophones and may have also Anglophones as clients.
If you’re interested in the local domestic championship, games are often broadcast on YouTube, just like the Championship games of Toulouse Olympique. If you want to watch the Catalans Dragons matches, and don’t have a subscription to Sky for example, you may watch them on ‘L’Équipe Live’, available directly on the internet and or via one of the devices I’ve alreday mentioned and also directly on some smart TVs – only a few brands do that though – being Treiziste is definitively not a cakewalk in France!
Now you know how to survive, here are my latest pieces of advice.
As a Brit or an Australian, be patient. Perhaps, you’re going to be confused with rugby union fans. An average French person may ask you if you enjoy going to Twickenham and singing ‘Swing Low, Swing Chariot’ and as a Kangaroo fan, you may be called Wallaby. Keep calm and carry on, as those mottos on mugs advise!
Just take it as an opportunity to be an ambassador of the code in our country. Pass on messages; for instance, that, no, rugby union is not so popular in your country, and not popular in all parts of your country. I once met British RL supporters in Toulouse; they were the best people to explain to a friend of mine that when the Red Roses (England RU) play, they aren’t interested.
And don’t be afraid of telling French people the history of the code in their own country, because unfortunately, although French rugby league is an important part of the French sport history, it’s no more in the public narrative.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 507 (April 2025)
