World Footy News

After the formation of the European Australian Football Association this January, a major development in international footy, it is useful to look at the development of footy in different countries. In this article, we look at France.

Stages of Development

Often they go through three stages of development: (One) early kick to kick and beyond and occasional matches and some football on TV or seen on the net; (Two) organised teams and more frequent matches; and (Three) expansion of teams and consolidation through major events, more frequent matches and international competition, such as participation in the 2008 EU Cup.

Pre-Histories

While football in France begins with Australian soldiers in World War I - and there is a more recent pre-history which goes back to the 1980s, to Le Havre and Paris and footy on the new Canal Plus TV channel - that is a subject for a later story. This article focuses on the evolution of Australian Football in France since late 2008 and the story of ‘la consolidation’.

The most recent pre-history of ‘le football Australien’ in France began with a few friends kicking a footy in central Paris, often on the ‘champs’ (the fields) not far from the famous monuments of central Paris. Those early players were mainly French, including those who had picked up the Australian game via television and the net. That would evolve into the first matches some years ago and the formation of the Strasbourg Kangourous, led by Marc Jund in 2004 and the Paris Cockerels, with the leading role of Olivier Tresca, in 2005.

The Coupe de France and the second stage

The renaissance, or rebirth, of French footy came with the developments of around 2007-8 and culminated in the inaugural Coupe de France in June 2008 in which the Paris Cockerels defeated Strasbourg in the sportsfields of Vincennes in chateau territory east of Paris. In fact, the Strasbourg Kangourous were, a little on the edge, part of a wider story as they played for a year in the stronger German league under Marc Jund, another pioneer of Australian Football in France. Time, a slight weakening of the team and the new TGV express train to Paris saw them look west instead.

I wrote about the Coupe de France, with its successful day and the four teams from around France (including the Bordeaux Bombers, the Montpellier Fire Sharks) in WFN (New Era for Australian Football in France Saturday, July 05 2008)

Four Aspects of Contemporary Growth

The story since mid-2008 is of consolidation in four ways:

• New Teams: expansion, particularly in the south, including the Toulouse Crocodiles, the Perpignan Tigers, despite an unsuccessful attempt to create an Aix-en-Provence team.
• New events: including the Anzac Day match at Villers-Bretonneux, International Rules matches against the Irish in Paris (and the Haggis Cup in Glasgow) and international football matches against English, Dutch and Danish teams in France and in Amsterdam.
• A French championship as well as the holding of the second Coupe de France, with six teams participating this time in Bordeaux, with Paris winning the final against Perpignan.
• French participation in the 2006 CEAFL and two European Cups in Prague, Czech Republic in late 2008 and then with a team drawn from around the nation in Croatia in October 2009.

That is evidence of real growth and a higher level of activity.

However, footy as a new game in a country with the size and complexity of France is never without complications.

In the global internet era some of the southern teams have evolved through players having seen the game on TV or more often on the net.

Media Positives (Friendly Sharks) and Media Blues

This involves several complications. You Tube is more likely to feature a Barry Hall punch than the complexities of the game. In places where the game has been discovered on the net and there are few – or no – Australians who know the game skill acquisition is inevitably slower than where there are potential coaches and umpires, with some experience of the game.

TV coverage of an exotic sport is also limited. Since most stories about Australia are exotic (dangerous creatures, disasters) it was not surprising that the big national media TV story saw the Montpellier Fire Sharks filmed in an aquarium with the dangerous creature of the deep. More positively, local TV in Strasbourg gave good positive coverage to a match played there.

It’s a Big Country with Cultural Variations

The formation of small teams for nine a side matches around the country has created both expansion and difficulty. The cost of travel (TGV trains, accommodation) and of time away limits some players from travelling to matches around France. There is already initial discussion over whether there is a need for a southern and a northern conference with the teams coming together for the Coupe de France or for other big matches.

The southern game is also arguably different. Many players, coming from rugby or rugby league, have a more aggressive approach to tackling, which can be too aggressive when it is done with limited technique. More positively, rugby players are generally happier with running forward into space than some ex-soccer players who are mentally nervous about forward movement having grown up with the offside rule.

Inevitably, given its size and international character, Paris attracts more players, both travelled French and travelling or settling Australians, thus creating an imbalance with some of the smaller clubs; sometimes a good result is lending players. Of course, some travelling young Australians will also come and go, which means that recruiting never stops, of both French and Australians.

Grounds for Change

Summer matches in particular and the difficulty of finding suitable grounds also often leads to problems of hard grounds. That is a familiar story in many countries where summer is the peak season for footy, especially as it allows it to draw on out of season rugby players. Sometimes, as in the 2009 Coupe de France at Bordeaux, an excellent ground welcomes the teams.

Experience on and off the field

The strength of the French development has been based in experience, including off the field. The early work of Olivier Tresca in Paris has been followed by that of the architect and ruckman, Cyril Talon and the travelling Icelander, Pall Tomas Finnsson who has also played in Denmark. Complemented by the hard work and on and off the field knowledge of Graham Andrews, and including the roles of Frederic Zohar in Bordeaux, Damien Berenguel in Perpignan, Thomas Urban in Toulouse and Benjamin Hamon in Montpellier, the French improvement – ‘la consolidation’ - is real.

Looking Ahead to the European Stage and the next International Cup

Now, France has joined the evolving governing body of Australian Football in Europe, which had its first meeting near to Australia Day 2010, and is planning to send a team to the next International Cup. While France has a long way to go especially given its modest international performance so far, it has come a long way in the last two years.

Can Aussies and other footy clubs help?

The new French teams, especially in the south, in those lands of welcoming sun for three quarters of the year, need the benefit of experience, coaching guides, coaches and umpires as they seek to develop their skills. Like many new football teams around the world they can be helped by visiting teams, players and umpires who can assist with coaching advice. Those contributors don’t have to be AFL players (although it was good when Jimmy Bartel travelled around Scandinavia one October) but they do need to know the game and know how to impart its skills.

The central website of French footy is www.footballaustralien.com

Email contacts include:
Paris and French president : Cyril Talon : pariscockerels@yahoo.fr
Strasbourg : Marc Jund : footymarc@hotmail.fr
Bordeaux : Frederic Zohar : frederickzohar@hotmail.com
Montpellier : Benjamin Hamon : BenJ6966@hotmail.com
Perpignan : Damien Berenguel : beber.hardc0re@hotmail.fr
Toulouse : Thomas Urban : toulouse-crocos@hotmail.fr