Oh no....
I had been very excited to be planning our next trip to Paris in Sept of 2007 only to find out that the Rugby World Cup will be held in Paris at this time.... we were planning on staying in the Marais area for 10 days toward the end of Sept.
Now I am thinking that it may not be a good idea to go at this time...... HELP!! Why me????
1. How much of an impact do you think this will have on Paris? Is this going to be as big as the World Cup Soccer???
2. I don%26#39;t follow Rugby and don%26#39;t know what the %26quot;fans%26quot; are like......does anyone think that it is a younger crowd that would tend to gravitate toward staying in and %26quot;hanging out%26quot; in the Marais area.
Any thoughts on the subject are appreciated!!!! Thanks
Robin
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Hi
1. The Rugby World Cup will be no where near as large as the Soccer World Cup and not all games are based in Paris. There are pool and quarter final matches in Scotland and Wales as well as other towns and cities in France. The schedule of games in Paris are:
7 September - France v Argentina
9 September - South Africa v Samoa
14 September - England v South Africa
19 September - Italy v unknown opponent
21 September - France v Ireland
28 September - England v unknown opponent
30 September - Ireland v Argentina
7 October - Quarter Final
13 %26amp; 14 October Semi Final
19 October - 3rd/4th play off
20 October - final
Since most of the games are France playing another team I suspect many of the supporters will live in Paris anyway. The only games that are likely to mean big groups of supporters from other countries are the games involving South Africa, Ireland and England. Incidentally the game on the 30th of September between Ireland and Argentina may decide who plays New Zealand in the quarter final in Cardiff. It should be a fantastic game and you may want to consider getting tickets. Most supporters will come in for the game and then leave to follow their team elsewhere. Many will be part of tour groups that probably will be booked into the bigger hotels like Novtel, Ibis etc.
Rugby supporters come in all shapes and sizes and generally do not have the same reputation as soccer supporters. There will also not be as many. There will be older supporters as well as younger ones.
We were in Paris for the All Blacks v France game a couple of weekends ago - unless you were looking I am not sure if you would have noticed that there was a game on. Paris is a huge city after all.
BTW - I have been meaning to post a trip report, but I have to say Stade de France is awesome and the French were fantastic sporting hosts. Your national anthem sung by a 70,000+ crowd was spine tingling!
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Rugby is a very aristocratic sport, if you can say that. But they are very polite both on and off the field and so are the suporters. You cant compare it to soccer dont worry at all about going. Also there is not so many countries that are into rugby either comapred to the world sport of soccer, rugby thats france, UK and their old colonies...
Enjoy your trip!
Emma
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Emma -
Your post has me laughing my head off! You obviously haven%26#39;t been around too many rugby players or to too many rugby matches. There may not be the degree of mindless hooliganism you will find with some soccer supporters, but %26quot;aristocratic%26quot;??? And polite??? Not very polite off the field, and VERY impolite on the field. I think I still have the marks of teeth in my upper thigh not to mention a few gouges in places you don%26#39;t even want to know about!!! And I haven%26#39;t played the game for a few decades...
Also there are a few South Americans and Italians — among others — who will be looking for you to let you know just how seriously they take their rugby.
But, in any case, Robin, go by all means, and if you are in Paris when any of the matches are being played, do go. You will love it! But you might wan to avoid the bars (and especially pubs) that are filled with rugby fans after the match — unless you are up for some VERY serious partying!
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Thanks everyone!!! I think we will brave it out, but make my reservations early.
Irish-
Good too see you lad! My mom LOVED her trip to Ireland! And I know I may be asking you loads of ?? about my up in coming trip. This time it is my turn to show the other half around. We were thinking of the Marais...and I know you are a big fan of that area.
Read you stellar review of the Jeanne D%26#39;arc. It is a toss up I think between that or the Hotel Sevigne, which also gets good reviews. The only dif is the Sevigne has a/c, and I think Sept may still be hot. What do you think?
I also looked up some of you fav%26#39;s for eating in the Marais. Anything you can tell me is always appreciated!
Robin
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IrishRovr
My boyfriend plays and has played rugby for ten years and I know how he looks when he comes home his nose is everything but straight from rugby, I also know a guy in paris who place in the stade de france team, and Ive seen more than one game (even on a weekend trip to London with my boyfriend, we had to spend half the day just to go too and from a romote stadium to see Ireland/ England). What I mean with nice on the field is when it comes to realtion with the referee and I know that Rugby is seen as a rolemodel when it comes to not saying bad words on the field etc.
When it comes to the suporters you can see a big diffrence there aswell, you should see the amount of polices that comes for every damn football game to paris, the street where we stay, policecars and polices everywhere. Also specially in Paris they try to make rugby a show, a family adventure, so you have alot of shows surrounding the games, the reffery flying in from the sky, horses etc, really cool=) But I guess you know this.
The big nations in rugby are UK, Ireland, France, India, southafrica etc. Maybe some people play rugby in Latin America but its not even close to soccer, soccer is life and death in those countries. And I have lived in Costa Rica, I travel loads in almost all latin american countries, Ive never met anyone that plays rugby, never seen a regby game on tv in any bar and never on tv. But football, its everywhere, in every streetcorner on every TV... what can I say...
Else I know alot of idiot things that my boyfriend do when they travel with the team on camps etc, specially when he was younger, but that has little to do about what happens on field and around field.
Then that it is a ruff sport that leads to many bruises, that I have said nothing against, coz I have looked many times on my darlings body and counted every scar;)
Emma
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And if you ever want to keep track of 6 nations cup, just ask me, Im forced against my will to know;)
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Irish dont think of the spelling, just read, things like place means Plays. I know this but has dyslexia so if I just write I cant see these mistakes myself until I read trough again, whish I seldom do...
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Um - India a big rugby nation????? ;)
And rugby can be pretty tough, my husband played to a top junior level in NZ and is now a referee and, but there is a tradition of both teams getting together after the game and partying hard - but rugby fans do get on well.
I think that your aristocrat comment was aimed at England where rugby is primarily played in Public (fee paying) schools. This isn%26#39;t the case for other countries like NZ.
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or Wales ;-)
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Or Ireland... or France... or Scotland...
Emma%26#39;s original post conjured up a picture of players receiving an apology from their opponent every time they were tackled, and getting together after the match for tea and scones in a chintz filled drawing-room. Rugby players may not use foul language to the referee (That will get you ejected in any team sport...) but I can assure her that there are words used among the players in the heat of battle that woudn%26#39;t normally be heard in church...
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