World Footy News

New French side the St Esteve Saints played their first match last weekend, travelling to Valls, Spain, to take on the Belfry Valls of the Catalan footy community south of the Spanish border. The Saints are based in the vicinity of Perpignan, in the Catalan-French region of Rousillon - and the debutante French side impressed on debut, handing their southern counterparts a 112-28 drubbing.

Note: we have been advised that the team competing against St Esteve were the club from the city of Valls (2005 Catalan premiers), rather than the Catalan overall selection. Article has been updated to reflect this, apologies to the Catalan camp!!

The tour to Valls was the first-ever match for most of the 100% French squad, with only two players having made the journey to London last September for the EU Cup. They were however largely battle-hardened by a strong rugby background of most of the players, drawn from the Sainte Marie la Mer club near Perpignan, former home of French Rugby Union player David Marty.

The Saints were somewhat apprehensive going into the match against the more experienced Catalan side, but hit hard right from the first bounce, taking a 16-7 lead into the first quarter break. From here on the Perpignan side opened the gap even wider, leading all match and piling on 62 points in the final quarter to defeat Belfry Valls by 84 points.

With the proximity of St Esteve to the Catalan clubs, the furthest of the four being only around 3 hours drive away, there is some speculation as to the possibility the Catalan Australian Football League may grow to cross international boundaries in the manner of the Southern Sweden presence in DAFL or Strasbourg in the AFLG. The Catalan league will this year already be broadening its team base within Catalonia somewhat with a new side in Barcelona (the Stars) and the last three sides basing themselves on the towns of Lleida, Tarragona and Valls.

The next hitout for the Perpignan crew will be at home on March the 12th against an English lineup, more details as they come to hand.

Scoreboard

Match details and photos courtest of Laurent Caravel.