BY STEVE BRADY
PERCEPTION versus reality is a major theme within the game right now, amid yet another cycle of in-fighting, division and diversion whipped up by carefully co-ordinated media initiatives from opposing forces with designs to take control of the sport’s future direction.
What’s that got to do with Catalans v Wakefield? Everything actually, when both clubs are seen to be at opposite ends of the argument over the inclusion of French sides over more traditional northern English ones.
Any future plans for a ten-team NRL Europe might see Wakey wave goodbye to the top flight in favour of a French club.
This routine round nine Super League clash had side-stories all over it at such a febrile moment for the game’s movers and shakers.
And while the golden-point thriller killer-try finish ticked every wish-list box of modern-day expansionistas, there was an underlying theme of comparisons and prognostications over the opinions, values and ambitions of both organisations.
The game was played with a backdrop of alleged backroom plots between Nigels, Dereks and Kevins on one side and a bunch of French-loving Aussies on the other.
What of the reality? Almost a thousand Wakefield supporters turned up at Stade Gilbert Brutus, many of whom had spent the previous couple of days sunning themselves in city bars or along the Costas.
That, in itself, is a fact: more than the average number of Wakey fans chose to spend more than the average amount of money travelling to an away fixture – and (further fact not proven, but known through vaguely-remembered experience) drinking more than the average amount of beer and wine than they normally do at the weekend.
It was beginning to stack up in the Frenchies’ favour… one of the most traditional heartland clubs’ supporters obviously love going to Catalans.
As a neutral, balanced journalist I needed to find a hard-boiled traditionalist to give me the opposition view.
And you don’t get more traditional and hard-boiled than former Hunslet and Bramley forward Ian Sampson, who could not be more Yorkshire if you dipped him in dripping and stuck a ferret on his head.
Plus he makes cricket bats for a living.
I met Ian for the first time, along with his mates, in Perpignan for the Wakey weekend and despite the big grin while trying to master a two-foot-long baguette full of Bernard Guasch’s saucisse Catalane I felt sure he’d give me an opposite viewpoint.
But here’s what he said: “It is invaluable the experience rugby league supporters have at Catalans. The build-up to the game, the days before and after, everything associated around the match itself, the camaraderie between fans, is fantastic. And long may we be able to continue it. It is such a positive part of our game we must do everything in our power to support Catalans because they’re part of our family.”
He went on, almost vehemently: “They are so welcoming at the stadium… in town… with open arms. I have been to a lot of big games across the globe, without a doubt Catalans’ experience stays with you forever.
“Wakefield have started the game day experience this year, Hull KR are very good at it now, so are Wigan, and it all stems from Catalans. This is the way forward.
“I don’t understand why anyone would want to kick them out when they offer so much to the game. There’s been a lot of talk about it, but it’s quite clear to me and the NRL, apparently, that we need a Toulouse and a Catalans club to expand the game.”
Well, I could have gone to the foot of our stairs, if we didn’t live in a bungalow.
The only dyed-in-the-wool traditionalist
argument Ian favours is a return to winter – but again the perception of this as an old-fashioned view is negated by the NRL’s perceived desire to do exactly the same.
This from a guy who played in mud glorious mud back in the 1970s and ‘80s.
“It was a bad move, going to summer,” said Sampson. “It hit season ticket sales with people going on holidays or having better things to do when it gets warm.
“Plus, there’s cricket,” he added with a glint in his eye, revealing the other love of his life. Ian is the owner of Warrior Cricket Bats, a highly renowned manufacturer of hand-made willow wands in Wakefield for the other ultimate summer sport.
And as an ex-international coach who took GB U18s on a tour of Australia, he is well-qualified to comment on interventions from down under in the game here.
“It’s quite simple, the Aussies are very good at running the game profitably and we are not. We are all part of the league family, as are French clubs, so let’s work together. We’ve got enough enemies outside the game without creating ones in it. The only way forward is to pool collective strengths.”
It was clear I needed another source to provide a counter-argument to the pro-Frenchies’ camp, so I sought the opinion of an East-Hull-born former Bradford ace and England international coach. Steve McNamara also happens to be coach of Catalans Dragons, but that’s just his latest role in the game. He is the longest-serving coach in Super League so he must be rather good at it.
Responding to criticism from shadowy sources in Huddersfield that Catalans hadn’t improved the French national team – one expectation when the Dragons were invited into Super League – he reeled off stats to prove how they field more home-grown players than any other club in the comp.
He’d just given Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet his first full game at fullback and Léo Darrelatour a debut on the wing, two young Frenchmen rather effective in the recent demolition of the Giants, a ‘traditionalist’ club whose idea of moving forward is to play at a smaller stadium in a different town.
Aispuro-Bichet, of Mexican-heritage,
was instrumental in beating Wakefield. In perfect English, the 19-year-old star of last year’s French U19s, who beat England Academy at Warrington, was every inch the prospective poster boy for a bright new NRL Europe with at least two clubs from France.
The fact that the game swung on a swinging arm on Aispuro-Bichet from Wakey’s Samoan scrum-half Mason Lino is a complex intercontinental discussion point of its own and we haven’t got space here.
Catalans weathered an excellent first-half masterminded by that most traditional of Yorkshire coaches, Daryl Powell, and recovered to win with a dazzling late try from ex-NRL Kiwi centre, Reimis Smith.
There were four disallowed tries for the Dragons, umpteen stoppages to review foul play and protracted captain’s challenges.
In fact, it all took so long we didn’t need to worry about the future of the sport as we were already in it when the hooter blew.
Ian Sampson and his mates have already booked three more weekends this year.