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#Post#: 30715-------------------------------------------------- |
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Mais o� sont les neiges d'antan? |
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By: JCFC Date: May 2, 2021, 9:21 am |
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Thanks to Channel 4, it was possible to enjoy watching the |
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European Rugby Champions Cup Semi-Final yesterday, with Stade |
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Toulaousain confirming their victory with a superb late try and |
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Wayne Barnes making copious and commendable use of French |
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(perhaps not always 100% accurately, unless my ears deceived |
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me.) |
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It did, though, raise wistful thoughts of how things used to be. |
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In the 80s and 90s I used to spend every possible holiday break |
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watching Rugby matches in France. (Before discovering the |
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pleasures of German football!) The game in France has largely |
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migrated from smaller towns to big cities. Lyon Olympique |
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Universitaire, now in the Top 14 as simply Lyon, used to be a |
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small club functioning in the lower divisions in a city with |
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little tradition of interest in L'Ovalie. Similarly Montpellier |
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had no great Rugby history. Support from municipal or regional |
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authorities has led to changes of name: Montferrand sadly |
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becoming ASM Clermont-Auvergne being the most obvious example, |
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though many others have added the name of the d�partement. Once |
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mighty clubs no longer feature in the two top divisions - |
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Lourdes, Tarbes, Dax, Narbonne, Mont de Marsan for starters. |
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What chance is there that a club like SC Graulhet from a town |
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with a population of fewer than 15000 people,will ever repeat |
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its success in reaching championship semi-Finals? |
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In yesterday's match the former B�gles club is now rebranded as |
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Bordeaux-B�gles and its famous blue and white checkerboard |
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shirts were now dark blue, spattered with a ridiculous array of |
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adverts. I know that it is progress, that players have a right |
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to make a living from the game, that clubs need sponsorship and |
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Antipodean mercenaries to maintain their place at the top, that |
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home-grown players will leave their local clubs to play for the |
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city teams. It means a loss of much of the attraction of the |
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local community ethos, but ultimately it is inevitable. I |
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understand that - but I don't like it. |
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As a refereeing note, my top four officials in those days were |
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1. The correct and athletic grocer from Riscle, Jacques |
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Saint-Guilhem. |
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2. The ever-smiling Parisian pedagogue, Andr� Peytavin |
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3. The energetic Daniel Neyrat from Clermont-Ferrand |
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4. Another teacher - Michel Lamoulie from Mont de Marsan, whose |
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final ended early through injury, but who became a big cheese in |
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the training and assessment of international referees. |
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As the joke says, nostalgia isn't what it used to be. |
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