Rugby League In France
Rugby league has been played in France since 1934. As with rugby union, it was introduced by the English and the heartland of the game is the south of the country.
During the Second World War, in association with the French rugby union, the sport was banned by the Vichy government, an act which the sport has struggled to recover from. There has been a recent resurgence of the sport following the admission of Catalans Dragons to the European Super League. The game now boasts record numbers of participants, similar in number to rugby league players in New Zealand.
Read more about Rugby League In France: History, Post War To The Present, Governing Body, Competitions, Super League, Popularity, The National Team, See Also
Famous quotes containing the words league and/or france:
“He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no harm shall touch you. In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth. For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the wild animals shall be at peace with you.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Job 5:19-23.
“The bugle-call to arms again sounded in my war-trained ear, the bayonets gleamed, the sabres clashed, and the Prussian helmets and the eagles of France stood face to face on the borders of the Rhine.... I remembered our own armies, my own war-stricken country and its dead, its widows and orphans, and it nerved me to action for which the physical strength had long ceased to exist, and on the borrowed force of love and memory, I strove with might and main.”
—Clara Barton (1821–1912)