Toulouse sont réjouis à la vie dans Super Ligue. Devrions-nous leur donner?

With the summer international only a mere five days away at the Stade Ernest Wallon, it seems the Toulouse Olympique Rugby XIII will use this opportunity to convince travelling supporters, and the RFL, that they are deserving of a Super League license. Having just visited Perpignan to watch Warrington get thrashed, it seems the Toulouse application is a popular band wagon among Rugby à Treize supporters. The picture at the top of this post is actually an advertisement that we saw in various parts of Perpignan and Canet. It more or less makes awareness of the application as opposed of convincing punters to hand over their hard earned Euros. But if Toulouse are granted a SL place on 22^nd July for next season, how would this affect away supporters numbers in Perpignan and Toulouse and what are the ramifications for the locals?

Perpignan is not exactly the easiest place to get to. Plane tickets are not cheap and even making your own way from a major airport, such as Toulouse or Barcelona, is adding to the cost of the trip. Therefore, if Toulouse were to get the “Oui” vote from Red Hall, it would mean supporters would spend less money going to the city, an easier and cheaper place to get to, rather than explore and take a risk with the cost of going to the coast. Therefore numbers would take a dive in Perpignan due to supporters having to travel abroad twice in one season. Even that isn’t easy for hard-up northern families. Therefore the economy there will suffer due to decreased tourists from previous years.

But Perpignan and Toulouse offer all supporters different experiences. Perpignan is an easy twenty minutes from Canet, the beach resort. Perpignan is also small enough to create an atmosphere in the centre of the town where everyone can meet each other within a ten minute walk. Toulouse is a huge city, which can provide more entertainment and places to socialise, but doesn’t give you a sense of an atmospheric environment. As well as that, the tiny matter of a group of a thousand or more rugby supporters will not affect the city of Toulouse as much as they would in Perpignan or Canet. However, those that prefer a city break have the option to go to Toulouse, while those in need of a place in the sun go to Perpignan and watch Catalans.

But more importantly, how does their application fair as opposed to what the consequences are? I don’t know. But rumour has it Boots ‘n’ All gave the application six points and a B license. I still don’t want them to get in just yet.