The Dark History of French Rugby

[@ailleurd]

Rugby was suspended by Hitler as an english game and was forbidden despite good german team....what it would be if the German have grown-up like the french or British? Sorry for my poor English

[@simon.hughes3009]

Sorry to correct you professional rugby league in France return to 1996 not 2006 Paris Saint-Germain was the first professional rugby league team in France who played in the Super League disband of the year later

[@fatstorvolay2243]

This is a shameful part of history that needs to be remembered. That 2 million Francs in current terms is worth over 1 billion in AUD in assets that remain stolen.

[@tayloryermolaev7969]

You're missing a whole bunch of points that completely disprove this. French League had returned to its height by the 50s, well up into the 1980s they were a regular top 4 national team alongside Australia, New Zealand and England. French League fell apart because they weren't able to find a market foothold in the 1990s while the NRL and Super League became fully professional sports. French Rugby didn't make RL a major financial powerhouse in England and Australia, gambling and News Corp did.

[@ConnorDoesRugby]

Thanks mate, maybe I missed something in the research and need to be more diligent next time. The articles I read for this were saying it never really recovered from this. Especially when it’s compared to Union

[@bigm759]

@@ConnorDoesRugby It really never did return to full strength. To get there it at least had to become bigger than union again which it never did. This is just apologia.

[@williamlawless9293]

The success in the 80s was a fluke. They was able to rebuild but they could never get over the generation that never produced players because the sport was banned. It was also made harder for them to produce players back to their pre war level due to the fact that it had been banned in schools where the majority of kids at the time played their sport.

[@williamlawless9293]

I don't think a less that 3 minute video really elucidates this situation, but it was a good video.

[@New_World_Rugby]

It's not a good look at all on Rugby Union. I wonder what French Rugby League would have been like had it not been suppressed.

[@Samizouza]

Then it would've become part of the "Big Four" before the recent rise of Tonga and the Pacific Islands

[@williamlawless9293]

@sumboi2321 After the war a lot of French Rugby League Players went back to Rugby Union due to the state in which French Rugby League was left in. It has been claimed that the new skills these players brought back from League is the reason their winning rate increased after the war

[@user-mk3vv8yq4d]

Union has always been a disgrace

[@Samizouza]

Basically WW2 stuffed rugby league in France, and may have even had a similar spike in growth globally like union although it's more of a coulda woulda shoulda kind of thing.