Elite 1 is the top level

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

competition in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, sanctioned by the French Rugby League Federation. The season runs from September to April, which is in contrast to the majority of other major domestic rugby league competitions worldwide. The clubs play each other home and away then they enter into a play-off series culminating with a Grand Final. The competition is the continuation and first division of the French Rugby League Championship, which has been in existence since 1934, and is generally regarded as the third most important domestic championship in the world, behind Australia's

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

and the transnational European

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of w ...

, and ahead of the NZRL National Competition,

Balkan Super League The Balkan Super League is a rugby league football competition for clubs in the Balkans region of Europe. The competition operates in addition to the national leagues of the respective nations as a Champions League-style competition. As of 202 ...

Rhino Cup The Rhino Cup (named the Kobus Botha Rhino Cup after the South African Rugby League Hall of Famer, formerly the Rhino Club Challenge) is a semi-professional rugby league competition in South Africa and is the national first division competition. ...

and USA Rugby League.

History

The French Rugby League Championship began in 1934, the first one being the only one where it was won by the team finishing top of the table on points and not by a play-off series. The Elite One Championship was founded in 2002 after the French Rugby League Championship was split into two divisions. The format stayed the same with teams playing each other home and away, before a play-off series would determine the Champions. The club finishing bottom would not be automatically relegated, it would be dependent on whether the club finishing top of

Elite Two Championship Elite 2 (formerly the Elite Two Championship) is the second tier semi-professional rugby league competition in France below Elite 1, but above the National Division 1. The season runs from September to April. The clubs play each other hom ...

either wanted to be promoted or their facilities were up to standard.

Teams for 2022–23 season

Results

Source:

Winners

Media Coverage

Television

Unlike, for instance, the BBC, France Television didn't offer any program to the French public about Rugby League. Sport en France cover the Championship across their television platforms nationwide. Coverage includes the match of the week and one match from each week of the playoffs including the Grand Final. From 2020, some Elite 1 games are televised by a local channel ViàOccitanie; this is a free-to-air channel in the South of France but they are also available on the internet and via the triple play internet devices. Therefore, they offer, indirectly, free nationwide coverage of the domestic championship. Presently, French clubs have to fund the broadcast of their own games or to televise their own matches themselves via the

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YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Radio

Radio Marseillette, a local Southern radio, has rugby league debate and news every Saturday from 10:00 to 12:00. They also have commentary on some Elite League games.

Press

The French national mainstream media barely follow the game. Very occasionally, some articles about the sport are published in newspapers such as

Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

or the national Sport newspaper

L'Équipe ''L'Équipe'' (, French for "the team") is a French nationwide daily newspaper devoted to sport, owned by Éditions Philippe Amaury. The paper is noted for coverage of association football, rugby, motorsport, and cycling. Its predecessor ...

. Nevertheless, there is undoubtedly a French specificity: the Weekly Rugby Union magazine

Midi Olympique Midi Olympique is a French bi-weekly newspaper specializing in rugby, belonging to the La Dépêche group and based partly in Toulouse and partly in Paris. The first edition was published on 2 September 1929, meaning it is one of the oldest French ...

has a one-page section devoted to Rugby League. However, only two local newspapers genuinely cover the game; L'Indépendant ( based in the South of France) and

la Dépêche du Midi ''La Dépêche'', formally ''La Dépêche du Midi'', is a regional daily newspaper published in Toulouse in Southwestern France with seventeen editions for different areas of the Midi-Pyrénées region. The main local editions are for Toulouse, ...

(based in the South west of the country). The British Rugby League press cover this championship; for example magazines like

Rugby Leaguer & League Express ''Rugby Leaguer & League Express'' is a weekly newspaper published every Monday in the United Kingdom. Other rugby league titles published by League Publications Ltd include the monthly magazine 'Rugby League World' and the annual 'Rugby League ...

offer a weekly report of the games. In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, the monthly publication

Rugby League Review ''Rugby League Review'' is a bi-monthly magazine owned by the Australian media company TL Sports Publications and is currently the only rugby league magazine being published in Australia. It was first published in October 2002 and features articles ...

offer a few columns about the games as well.

Notes

References

External links

Google map showing location of Elite 1 sides

French rugby league federation

Le monde du rugby à XIII
{{Rugby League in France Rugby league competitions in France Sports leagues established in 2002 Professional sports leagues in France