France

[JB1973]

Oh I've been there before, and more deeper than that, and I saw no devil there and was not jealous of anyone then.
While I was there, you were probably already judging people on their face or their ID cards? Were you?

sorry but I have no idea what that is supposed to mean?

[hugonaut]

I know you're living on the magic island, and that you don't really know nor care about french rugby history. But I don't think that pointing at the origin village/town/country of people is something that should be a shame, especially in the rugby world.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here [P.S. that's not a criticism of your English, which is many times better than my French] – surely French rugby history is massively concerned with the origin village/town/country of its players? We've heard for many years that "l'esprit de clocher" is what drove the competition for the Bouclier de Brennus, and the huge disparity between home and away performances backs that up.

[Toulon fan]

Thanx, on that semantic point, "l'esprit de clocher" à la française has never been from where one comes from; but for who one is fighting (for ).

[jezzer]

Oh I've been there before, and more deeper than that, and I saw no devil there and was not jealous of anyone then.
While I was there, you were probably already judging people on their face or their ID cards? Were you?

sorry but I have no idea what that is supposed to mean?

What he means is you're a racist because only 8 French players lined out in the Toulon XV, the other 7 having been imported from various countries.

Lots of people in France weren't born there and are not white, therefore you are a racist for wondering if it dilutes the identity of the Toulon team by having it full of players imported from elsewhere.

The question of French identity is one you would have a hard time understanding, therefore you shouldn't concern yourself with why Matt Giteau or Karl Hayman play for Toulon, mainly because you are a racist.

That seems to be the gist.

[fourthirtythree]

Now you're just trolling. It must have struck a nerve. And rightly so: Toulon is a serious problem for rugby firstly in France where the state of the national team should be an embarrassment to any genuine fan, but eventually internationally.

Uh yeah. That... Thing.
I was just giving a stat.
But it seems you're a bit on your nerves. Clearly you're more embarassed than me with that.

Making the leap from people believing that the influence of money in crazy quantities may have a detrimental effect on the game, in fact is in France, to "you are racist and hate immigrants" is trolling born out of defensiveness and unworthy of you. Toulon are a fantastic team in a great town and it must be great to be a supporter there now.

You are making a muck out of your national team though. And your owner and what he represents are a threat for everyone else. Not on the field - that's the cool kind of threat - but in the boardroom.

[Toulon fan]

First of all: I never used or thought in term of "racism".

Then:

You are making a muck out of your national team though. And your owner and what he represents are a threat for everyone else. Not on the field - that's the cool kind of threat - but in the boardroom.

Not everyone voted "YES" to the Union, Jack.
And in Toulon, believe me, that's an older story than Boudjellal. See Asterix' village? Toulon has always been a sort of it in french rugby.

[kermischocolate]

First of all: I never used or thought in term of "racism".

Then:

You are making a muck out of your national team though. And your owner and what he represents are a threat for everyone else. Not on the field - that's the cool kind of threat - but in the boardroom.

Not everyone voted "YES" to the Union, Jack.
And in Toulon, believe me, that's an older story than Boudjellal. See Asterix' village? Toulon has always been a sort of it in french rugby.

Doesn't change the fact that compared to what they should be the French national side are nothing but a shambles. Of course Toulon are not solely to blame for this but there is a serious lack of top quality young French players around.

[leinster4life13]

The problem in French rugby could be easily solved by sacking PSA and appointing a coach with actual talent. France have enough good players to be a match for any team on the planet, what they dont have is competent coaching, St.Andre is a clown.

[fourthirtythree]

First of all: I never used or thought in term of "racism".

Then:

You are making a muck out of your national team though. And your owner and what he represents are a threat for everyone else. Not on the field - that's the cool kind of threat - but in the boardroom.

Not everyone voted "YES" to the Union, Jack.
And in Toulon, believe me, that's an older story than Boudjellal. See Asterix' village? Toulon has always been a sort of it in french rugby.

You never used the term racism, but as a French person surely you learnt the difference between denotation and connotation as you heard stories of asterisk and obelisk? You accused people having a problem with the financial arrangements in French rugby of having a difficulty with immigrants in the south of France. That was, as they would say in the US, quite tone deaf.

And as far as I can see disingenuous. You know what people actually meant but instead of responding to that you chose to imply that any discomfort with the ethos of your club manager was allied to the far right politicians in your area.

It's not. Front Nationale don't mean sh!t here. Closest we had to it, Michael McDowell, was laughed out of it.

[fourthirtythree]

PS I love, love, love, the French word "type". I don't understand it. But I love it.