Its assets were seized, its offices torched and, on 19 December 1941, even playing the sport was banned in a decree signed by chief of state Marshal Philippe Pétain. Establishment rugby union figures in the German-backed government grasped the opportunity to eradicate rugby league which was closely aligned with the resistance movement. Then came the Second World War and the Nazi puppet state of Vichy. Rugby union clubs were switching codes in hordes, the athleticism and professionalism of rugby league appealing to players and spectators alike. In 1934 the upstart, newly popular rugby league game had taken France by storm. For it was here the battles between the two were the hardest and dirtiest. If you think the antipathy that once existed between the world’s two rugby codes in Britain, Australia or New Zealand marks a sporting nadir then visit France and think again. For decades, theirs has been a sport under siege, not just from its own ineptitude, but from its bigger sporting cousin: rugby union. Now four years later and two decades after their formation, Guasch’s team sit atop the pile (well almost).īut for long-time rugby league watchers in France, there was more at stake. In 2018 the Dragons served intent when they won Britain’s premier knockout competition, the Challenge Cup.

Maybe French rugby league could be rescued. Dragons chairman Bernard Guasch knew it was a wing and a prayer, but perhaps the same could happen in Europe. They were following the lead of Auckland Warriors, whose entry in 1995 from the weaker New Zealand rugby league into the powerful Australian competition was a catalyst for the sport in New Zealand – 13 years later the Kiwis beat Australia to win the Rugby League World Cup, the first time in their history. The new club, Catalans Dragons, soon became French champions and then applied to join the British Super League in 2005. In Perpignan, the world’s second-biggest Catalan-speaking city, two of French rugby league’s most famous clubs, Treize Catalan and AS St Estève merged. It had disappeared from television channels, its ageing audience was dwindling and its national team became so feeble that it lost to minnows Lebanon in the last World Cup. Infighting among its governing bodies was matched by actual fighting on the field. In 2000, when the Dragons were formed in the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales, an area once called Northern Catalonia, French rugby league was in a parlous state. The game was broadcast live on French TV and Emmanuel Macron sent a message of good luck.īut their achievement and its symbolism runs deeper than getting to the final of a tournament. To then play in the final overturned pre-season odds of 20-1. Faced with the ever-changing disruption of international Covid travel restrictions and Brexit – all non-British players and their supporters suddenly needed a passport – actually getting through the season was remarkable.

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