LONG READ ‘England could learn a great deal from French connection with fan base’

You would need to be a particularly plucky gambler to put a few quid on England beating France in Saturday’s ‘Crunch’. France own England these days, on and off the pitch.

The Six Nations finale at the Stade de France is the 120th year of Anglo-French encounters, and to mark the occasion the French Federation have teamed up with their shirt supplier to produce a special jersey.

It is light-blue, a nod to the original colour worn by France in 1906, and there’s a touch of vintage about the cockerel badge. The collector’s item has already sold out, its appeal boosted by an accompanying television advert that features, among others, Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack, footballer Hugo Ekitiké and playwright William Shakespeare. It’s worth a watch.

It’s another example of the finesse shown by the French in connecting with their fan base. England could learn a great deal.

It’s been a wretched Six Nations for England, one summed up by the sight of red rose fans streaming out of Twickenham against Ireland before the final whistle. Who can blame them?

It reminded me of the 2015 World Cup quarter-final, when I sat in the Millennium Stadium and watched in disbelief as France threw in the towel against New Zealand, a 62-13 drubbing that demonstrated that Les Bleus had reached rock bottom.

In the decade since, France have transformed themselves on and off the pitch. The FFR have been adroit in marketing the national team, broadening their fan base and making players like Dupont, Louis Bielle-Biarrey and Thomas Ramos household names.

Their faces are used to sell everything from spectacles to home security alarms to protection for urinary incontinence.

Internationals are regularly staged outside Paris: they hosted Italy in the northern city of Lille a fortnight ago, and last autumn they played Fiji in Bordeaux. Marseille and Lyon have also hosted Six Nations matches in recent years.

What the French call ‘Dupont’s Gang’ are everywhere: on billboards, in television commercials and plastered across magazines. So are several other players. Their faces are used to sell everything from spectacles to home security alarms to protection for urinary incontinence. As the accompanying blurb said for the latter: “This exceptional partnership…aims to break the taboo surrounding urinary incontinence in men, drawing on the values of rugby: solidarity, resilience and camaraderie.”

Snigger if you like but it underlines the commercial attractiveness of the French rugby team. Sponsors are falling over themselves to be associated with Brand Bleus.

What makes it all the more remarkable is that France haven’t been particularly successful under Fabien Galthié. One Grand Slam in 2022 and a Six Nations title in 2025 is the sum of their success, and yet their appeal lies more in the image they project; as the marketing blurb put it, ‘solidarity, resilience and camaraderie’.

Christian Califano won 72 caps for France between 1994 and 2007 before becoming a media pundit in 2011. He can’t remember a generation as loved as ‘Dupont’s Gang’. “People stop me to tell me how wonderful the team is,” he told Midi Olympique. Often they are disgruntled football fans who tell Califano how much enjoyment they get out of watching the rugby team.

And yet France’s football team haven’t exactly under-achieved in recent years. They won the World Cup in 2018 and were runners-up four years later, but the majority of the team – the likes of Kylian Mbappé, William Saliba, Hugo Ekitiké and Michael Olise – play their club football overseas.

Mbappé was once the darling of France but his image has deteriorated in recent years because of political statements and his perceived greed in leaving PSG for Real Madrid.

Rugby players ply their trade in France in the world’s most prestigious domestic league. There is a pride to the Top 14 that is glaringly absent from Ligue 1, its football equivalent. It is a competition lacking in star names (PSG apart), in atmosphere and in crowds: half the 18 clubs have average attendances of under 25,000.

The world’s best rugby players want to play in the Top 14 just as the world’s top footballers want to play in the Premier League. The money helps but it’s also the excitement, the glamour and the atmosphere on a weekly basis. Only four of the 20 Premier League clubs (Crystal Palace, Burnley, Brentford and Bournemouth) have average gates below 25,000.

How many of the current England squad would be recognised if they walked across Leicester Square? Maro Itoje perhaps, maybe Henry Pollock.

This is to the detriment of English rugby. The Premier League suffocates other sports in England, depriving them of the oxygen of publicity.

English club rugby has always been a minority sport in the media but the national team can catch the eye if they are successful. They did it in the early 1990s in the Will Carling era, and again at the start of the Millennium under Clive Woodward. Carling, Jeremy Guscott, the Underwood brothers Rory and Tony, Martin Johnson, Lawrence Dallaglio and Jonny Wilkinson were household names.

How many of the current squad would be recognised if they walked across Leicester Square? Maro Itoje perhaps, maybe Henry Pollock.

It is perhaps no coincidence that England are most successful when their head coaches are charismatic communicators: Geoff Cooke in the 1990s and Clive Woodward a few years later. Steve Borthwick does not fall into this category.

It is a shame he is such a poor communicator because the RFU is one of the more media-friendly home nations. It understands the importance of broadening the appeal of the sport to a wider audience. But English rugby is still perceived by some to be the preserve of the private school system.

It is noticeable, for example, that few politicians wish to associate themselves with rugby the way they do football. It has become de rigueur for a politician to have their football team but how many unashamedly advertise their passion for rugby? It’s seen as too ‘posh’.

Emmanuel Macron, on the other hand, is often seen at the big rugby occasions, sometimes swigging a beer with the players in the changing room after the match.

The president understands that rugby in France has become the game of the people. Last March, 9.5m people tuned in to watch France beat Scotland in the final match of the Six Nations; five days later 5m viewers watched France beat Croatia 2-0 in the Nations Cup football. No other TV programme in France last year – sporting or otherwise – attracted as many views as that Scotland match.

England thrashed France 35-8 in Paris when they met for the first time in 1906. One hundred and 20 years later, the rugby fortunes of the two nations have been reversed. All that will remain on Saturday of that inaugural encounter is the colour of the jerseys.