Friday, May 10, 2013

Grand Final


Tomorrow is Grand Final Day. Our whole time here in France has been building up to this day, with the Limoux Grizzlies set to play in their final game - the Grand Final of the Lord Derby Cup. Excitement has been building in the town for some time, as the team prepares to take on Avignon for the title.

I have written about how the game of Rugby League is played in France before. You can read that article here. But I should give you some background on how the Grizzlies came to be in the Grand Final... 

The team plays in two competitions during the season: the French Elite 1 competition, and the French Lord Derby Cup. The Elite 1 competition is the 'regular' competition that is played regularly over the season of October to May, with the Derby Cup being a knock-out competition.

In the Elite 1, the games are scheduled each week, with a week off every few weeks to allow for any catch up games that may have been postponed due to weather. There are nine teams that played in this competition in the 2012-2013 season, with the top six progressing to the finals after 19 rounds.

The Lord Derby Cup is played over four weekends spread out from January to May, with 15 teams playing in the four-round knock-out competition (a 16th team was forced to withdraw from the competition early). These teams are made up of most of the teams from the Elite 1, as well as a few teams from the Elite 2 competition that have played for the right to compete in the Derby Cup.

After six months of games, the Limoux Grizzlies finished the Elite 1 competition in second-last place, missing out on the finals. However the team managed to defeat their three opponents to reach the final of the Derby Cup. The impressive thing about this result, is that each team that the Grizzlies played during the Derby Cup were in second place on the Elite 1 ladder at the time the Grizzlies played them.

As they were not in the finals of the regular competition, the last game that the team played was on the 31st of March. Since then, we have had weekends mostly free, with training commitments taking up most of the week.

The Limoux Supporters Club with their stall
You can imagine the excitement building, then, in the small town of Limoux, for their team to be playing in the Grand Final. The Club's group of supporters have set up a store in the Town's Square to sell merchandise and tickets to the game, while promoting a big day starting with a BBQ at the Club House and buses arranged to take fans to the game.

Buses have been arranged to take fans to the game, which is being played on neutral ground in Carcassonne, with a strong Limoux contingent expected to cheer their team on. I have booked my seat on the bus, and will be amongst the crowd as Marty plays in his final game in red and black for the Grizzlies.

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