Page 63 - Rugby League World (February 2020)

PHOTOGRAPHY: ARCHIVE TREIZISTE DIARY

WIDENING THE NET FOR NEWS internet has brought a new deal. The French RL
In French Rugby League, media coverage is Federation, with professional journalist Hervé
limited, and the general feeling is that there is a bias Girette on board, is now communicating daily on
against the sport. History has many examples of their website to deliver news direct to the public.
‘dirty tricks’ in this regard. But today the situation is There is also an objective ally, Wikipedia, with its
much more complex. main and independent rugby contributor, Pierre
In the press, things haven’t changed a lot. Chapuis: he has been publishing numerous articles
L’Indépendant is still the best; not only do they about Rugby League; Wikipedia doesn’t care about
give info about the game, but they enhance it. The the code wars, as long as an article is sourced it is
main problem is that their area of distribution is accepted.
Pyrénées Orientales only. La Dépêche du Midi is a A sign of a RL getting a certain maturity on the
brilliant second, yet again they have only a limited internet at least, is the arrival of a new media source
distribution; western part of Occitania. Sud Ouest ‘Le Dico du Sport’ and its RL branch ‘Treize Mondial’.
gives decent coverage of Aquitaine teams like I spoke with its manager, the young Bordeaux
Villeneuve-sur-Lot. Not as strong as the first two entrepreneur Nicolas Jacquemard. His team does
titles but Sud Ouest has a very good excuse: they are aggregate news, but they also create their own
located in an area which is heavily linked with union. content; interviews, editorials and articles. They
Then you have other regional newspapers such are a young media that wants to overcome ancient
as Var-Matin ( Toulon), Le Dauphiné (Lyon) and grudges between union and league. They give
la Provence ( Avignon-Marseille) to mention a few balanced news, and so far are the only ones to do so
of them: they cover matches of their local clubs in the French language.
regardless of the division they are playing in. And Media coverage in France remains an issue,
then you have two surprises, one good, one bad. especially when the public television service, unlike
First the good. Ouest France publish things about the BBC, refuses to cover French Rugby League
League even though only Nantes and its network of unless they are paid to do so.
rugby schools represent the sport in their catchment But the growth of the internet has at least given
area. The bad is Eastern Occitania’s Midi Libre, the treizistes some fresh air.
Montpellier conservative based publication, yet
belonging to the same media group as la Dépêche AN ENGLISHMAN ABROAD
and l’Indépendant. The presence of two clubs in English Rugby League legend Shaun Edwards is
their base city, the proximity of Aude and Toulouse, now in France, working as assistant coach for the
the regional capital no less, doesn’t seem to justify union team (when he should have been starting to
any specific coverage from them. coach Wigan in Super League).
I contacted the Deputy Sport Editor of Midi He was interviewed by Midi Olympique and I was
Libre to find out why. To sum up the response, anxious to know if he would refer to Rugby League.
they acknowledge their decrease in coverage of Indeed he did, in a long interview on 2nd January,
Rugby League. They said that they had to change he gave the reasons why he didn’t join Wigan,
economic model and close their local offices at saying he had “the feeling he wouldn’t have had as
onne. Therefore they set
Perpignan and Carcassonne. Therefore they set much control as he wanted about the staf
much control as he wanted about the staff and the
themselves a limit; if Montpellier had an Elite 1 recruitment”.
Montpellier had an Elite 1
recruitment”.
it as they did in the late
team they would cover it as they did in the late H e w as as k e d “w h y Rug b y Le ague w as a
He was asked “why Rugby League was always so in
2000’s. Yet their regional edition (combining also advance compared to rugby union,” to
advance compared to rugby union,” to which his
nal edition (combining also
pellier) may sporadically
other cities than Montpellier) may sporadically response was that “League has alwa
response was that “League has always been
more concerned about defence and details”.
cover Catalans Dragons, but not an RL stronghold more concerned about defence an
s, but not an RL stronghold
although they cover US
such as Carcassonne (although they cover US The final question r elating t o
The final question relating to our sport
Carcassonne, the union club, playing in the was “Why are there more and m
n club, playing in the
was “Why are there more and more
second tier. They argued that this was a more technicians from Rugby League in union
technicians from Rugby League
ed that this was a more
attractive competition to their readers than clubs’ staff?” In France, we say that
to their readers than
clubs’ staff?” In France, we sa
nship. They also claim
this kind of open question leaves the
the RL Élite 1 championship. They also claim this kind of open question lea
size of a boulevard to answer, but the
ept maybe a few Audois,
that their readers, except maybe a few Audois, size of a boulevard to answer
it.
response was a little bit disappointing
never complain about it. response was a little bit disap
Le
ount
At the national level, League can still count and minimalist: “because there are
n still c
a
ague c
and minimalist: “because the
p
m
y
q
i
ue,
o
the
on this French exception: Midi Olympique, the more jobs at union, since there are more
n: Midi Ol
more jobs at union, since there
read that right) magazine
weekly union (yes, you read that right) magazine championships there. Rugby
championships there. Rugby League is
limited to Super League and NRL”.
to League. And there
has two pages devoted to League. And there limited to Super League
is occasional coverage from l’Équipe, Someone should tell Shaun
Someone should
from l’Équipe,
that there are
which behaves like a two-faced that there are even more
wo-faced
Janus; a friendly one when they championships at
hen they
champion
put the Catalans Dragons on Football not to
Football
ns on
on
menti
the cover when they won mention Cycling
the Challenge Cup, but or Pétanque
or Pé
in his new
also an hostile one when in hi
en
they published an article le hom
homeland! RLW
referring to rugby à XIII I
as Jeu à XIII.
Fortunately, the
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