French face up to cup Waterloo

PARIS - Anglo-French rows are the flavour of the week. The French have unveiled their proposals to stop England from snatching hosting rights to the 2007 World Cup, which Paris had long regarded a Gallic "fait accompli."

The imaginative and money-drenched counter-bid publicised by the English RFU last week has caused fury in France.

The president of the Federation Francaise de Rugby, Bernard Lapasset, attacked the English plan for two, back-to-back competitions, one for the sport's aristocrats and another for the wannabes as "elitist" and "demagogic."

In making the formal French presentation, Lapasset turned down the volume a little. He called for an "honest fight" between the two countries and saluted England as a "great rugby nation."

But it is clear that the French remain deeply offended, and worried, by the belated England bid: partly because it was made at all; partly because it draws attention to the fact that the English game is much wealthier than the game in France.

As a result, the French presentation was all about continuity, familiarity and the non-commercial "values" of rugby. The French federation stressed the fact that it planned, as far as possible, to stage a re-run of the successful 1998 soccer World Cup.

The English counter-bid envisages the use of 54 venues, including soccer stadiums such as Old Trafford and Villa Park. The French bid involves the same 10 venues used in 1998: the Stade de France and the Parc des Princes in Paris and football stadiums in Lens, Nantes, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Montpellier, Marseilles, St-Etienne and Lyon.

The French video explaining the bid even had footage of French soccer star Zinedine Zidane running with a rugby ball as a way of linking 2007 to 1998 in the minds of the International Rugby Board, which must decide which plan to accept next month.

In terms of the structure of the competition itself, the French offered the traditional formula of a large qualifying competition, involving a record number of 100 nations.

Twenty countries would go to the finals in France, divided into four pools of five teams, with the top two in each pool qualifying for the quarter-finals.

The rival England bid had suggested two, linked competitions. There would be a 16-nation World Cup finals, with a relatively small qualifying tournament.

There would also be a 32-team Nations Cup for "emerging talents". Such a vast double competition would, potentially, earn more money for the world game.

The rapid advance of professionalism and sponsorship in England makes such a proposition feasible. It would not be possible in France. Hence French alarm.

There are already concerns at international level that a French World Cup in 2007 might struggle to pay for itself because of the French restrictions on tobacco and alcohol advertising and sponsorship.

To soften this anxiety, the French explained yesterday that the state-owned lottery monopoly, La Francaise des Jeux, would organise a huge extra national lottery.