I have it on very good authority that a meeting in Toulouse this week will see discussions open about the three Aude clubs - ASC, FCL and Limoux - combining forces to launch a new club for an assault on the English leagues. I'd certainly prefer that to the Stade Francais project.

This was in the news three years ago. I reckon that as long as TO is in the running it won't happen. A bid could be made thew following round, the model would be close to the UTC bid, so we could expect big things, though the question of player pool will be raised. I can see that another heartland club would be overlooked in favour of Paris expansion though.

Larrat seems determined to do Stade Francais' bidding. That way madness lies, I reckon

Would this new Aude club be based in Carcassonne?


Why?

You would think so. Bigger place for a start and the only one of the three stadia that would stand any chance to be upgraded to Super League standard.


Can't quite put my finger on it, but I'm always suspicious of rugby union clubs, especially ones in Paris.

What kind of time frame are we looking at?


I don't see what rugby league could lose as long as RFL funds aren't used. Or am I just being naive?

That, I don't know.


I hope you aren't, but I just cannot see that this is pure altruism on the part of the quinzistes.

That's the thing that keeps nagging away at the back of my head. Then I think what has apparently happened here in Catalonia and it does make you worry.

I think Paris should be put in a box and left there for the forseeable future. you would imagine TO would be mighty p****d off should they be overlooked again.

No business is based on pure altruism. But you cant trust that the SF chairman has a genuine interest in RL, stated publicly since 2007 when he said that he has nice memories of his childhood in Mille where he was watching RL with his parents.
Now they want to build a 20k seats stadium and to have an RL team. It does look like a serious project, and you can trust these people to make it work. Based on past record, they have better credentials to build up a top professional sport club than any other potential applicant.

Don't think upsetting people is in the criteria of SL licensing (and even less upsetting French people, frankly would the RFL give a damn?). It is clear that choosing Paris over Toulouse would be cruel. Toulouse have done all the hard work, accepted a tough challenge from the RFL and building up to reach a higher standard. I'd love to see them in SL in 2012. However, if Paris propose an excellent project in 2012, the truth is that their is no comparison between the two clubs. Paris would be the best choice for SL and French RL.
I'd hope that in case of good application from Paris, the RFL would have the guts to accept the two clubs and rebrand the competition as the European Super League. It'd be this kind of big shift which could attract the UK media nation-wide. Accepting the two clubs would also make the difference for the French media (small market of 60millions people).
I preempt the question: yes there are enough good players in France for a 3 SL teams (with quotas of 8 antipodeans). Incidentally, Paris would add to it that their large pool of RU young talent could opt for RL to become professionnal.

So did PSG