World Footy News

The winter break is nearly over for the CNFA competition in France with the annual Coupe Du Sud (effectively the Southern Cup or Cup of the South – or more exactly South Cup) to be held in Pau, home of the fledgling CNFA hopefuls, the Pau Bears. The tournament will be held at the Stade Asptt Rugby ground in Pau this Sunday, 7th February.

The history of the event can be traced from this translation of the description of the Football Australian (CNFA) website:

“Created in [the] winter [of] 2010 [by]the club Perpignan Tigers, this competition has established itself in the [CNFA]schedule to host the winter break. Indeed, despite the cold, some southern clubs had the opportunity to play and have easier access to ground through a milder climate than the so-called northern clubs.
Like the Coupe de France, the tournament takes place on a day in a city in southern France. Tradition dictates that only clubs in the south of Bordeaux-Lyon line [are] involved, and it is for the host club to invite a foreign team or northern France.”

This year the event will be fought between the Toulouse Hawks, Perpignan Tigers, Bordeaux Bombers, ALFA Lions (Lyon) and Firesharks Montpellier. Whilst Pau are not listed as having a team directly involved, there is a great opportunity to expose the game to Pau locals and reboot Pau’s hopes of developing their team further.

Hopefully a northern version can accommodate the two Paris teams, Strasbourg and maybe the Nancy Bobcats, as a way to continue to encourage and strengthen newer clubs.

Past winners of the event include:

2010 – Toulouse Crocodiles (Played in Perpignan)
2011 – Toulouse Hawks (Played in Toulouse)
2012 – Bordeaux Bombers (Played in Bordeaux)
2013 – Toulouse Hawks (Played in Marseille)
2014 – Bordeaux Bombers (Played in Toulouse)

World Footy News will announce results of the tournament next week.