Vannes shows Top 14 and France are doing it right. England should learn
Matt Hardy went to Vannes this December and saw exactly why French rugby and the Top 14 is exactly what every league should aim for.
Rounding a grand piano in the courtyard of a music school to reach the turnstiles at the Stade de La Rabine is not something you’d expect – posh boy stereotypes aside – from a top flight rugby team.
But Vannes in Brittany, a geographical outpost of the French rugby map compared to the southern stronghold, offers just that and is the newest addition to the Top 14.
The Breton side were in the third tier of French rugby less than a decade ago but have climbed to the top in the years since.
On Saturday, in front of a raucous crowd, they beat last year’s runners-up Gloucester 43-19 in their first ever home tie in a European competition – the Challenge Cup.
Their arena is just 76 seats shy of Premier League football club Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium but steep stands and rowdy locals made it sound double that.
Vannes, victory and vibrancy
With international stars giving their all for the locals and Breton natives showing up for their city, Vannes encapsulates what is great about French rugby. So what can England, the Premiership and the Championship learn?
Well, firstly, money talks. Player budgets are one thing but Vannes’ total budget is reportedly £16m – a sum most clubs outside of France can only dream of. It may be a fraction of Toulouse’s reported £41m but it was enough to see them lure the likes of England international Mako Vunipola across the English Channel this year.
French rugby has financial advantages. The latest broadcasting deal is worth £578m across five years – Premiership Rugby’s last completed deal, for three years to 2024, was worth £110m – and the south of the country lives for the sport, packing out arenas week in, week out.
But that French broadcast deal covers both the Top 14 and the second tier Pro D2. In England, there’s no TV deal in place for the Championship.
France’s top two tiers have their differences, but strong financial regulations and a memorandum to cooperate has given them the jump on their global rivals.
They have two stonkingly competitive leagues where legendary clubs such as Beziers, Agen and Biarritz are stuck fighting in the second tier while the likes of Vannes can have a crack in the Top 14.
Top 14 glowing
Promotion and relegation has stiffened the resolve of those in the Top 14 because the drop can be lethal. It also means promoted sides are hardened for life in the top flight.
But it is not all about the on-field action. Stade de La Rabine is everything you want a stadium to be. It is the right size for its audience – unlike, for example, Wasps at the Coventry Building Society arena – and cheap, with half a litre of wine for £5.50.
The lights dim in the stands to increase ambiance and the locals are truly into what they’re watching. Tickets are like gold dust and the city breathes sport on matchdays.
Maybe it is a cultural thing; maybe there’s something in the argument that football’s Ligue 1 fails to ignite the entire country.
Or maybe the difficulty in reaching the top flight has lit a spark in Vannes, whereby their inaugural season in the Top 14 means everything. Throw in a stunning town, portside Pino and tartare, and France just does rugby better. It is a lesson to us all.