Catalans Dragons boss hits out at ‘Batley meeting’ amid Rugby Football League shake-up

Rugby League in the Northern hemisphere is on unsteady ground and Catalans Dragons boss Steve McNamara has had his say over recent events, namely a meeting between senior officials that took place in Batley last week.

Huge changes are happening in the sport and the widescale personnel change atop the Rugby Football League is evidence of that, as is the Strategic Review of the sport commissioned by clubs and set to be overseen by Nigel Wood.

The findings of that will be reported in the summer but after the confirmation of the new RFL set-up and who will be involved in that Strategic Review, a meeting among senior officials in the game took place last week at Batley.

Catalans were not among those involved and their head coach Steve McNamara has turned the spotlight back on that meeting when speaking about the need for the Dragons to preserve themselves, despite the various other issues in the sport.

Les Dracs footed the bill for Salford Red Devils’ trip to Perpignan for Friday night’s Challenge Cup quarter-final which McNamara’s side won 20-12, and when asked about his opponent’s recent financial concerns post-match, McNamara made it clear his only concerns regard Catalans whilst taking aim.

Catalans Dragons boss hits out at ‘Batley meeting’ amid Rugby Football League shake-up

Following what he described as an ill-disciplined win, McNamara was asked about Salford’s financial woes with his blunt response reported by Steve Brady.

“No, I’ve got thoughts about what we are going through as a Catalans club, not about anybody else, my focus is on us,” McNamara stated, before laying out the situation Catalans face themselves.

“We paid for all of that tonight, nobody else paid a penny for that,” he explained.

“Catalans paid for every single thing, match officials, the opposition’s travel and hotels. I understand other clubs with their problems, Salford being one of them, but we have to look after ourselves first and foremost because nobody else will at this stage.

“Our concern is the Dragons full-stop, and French Rugby League and the importance of that in the overall competition. This has been one of the biggest success stories of expansion and hopefully it will continue.”

At that point, he turned his attention to last week’s “meeting at Batley”, doubling down on Catalans need to self-preserve given his previous statement that “nobody else will”.

He said: “So whatever they were talking about at the meeting at Batley we will see what the outcome of that is but for me there is only one solution and that is to strengthen this club and continue doing so regardless of what anybody else thinks.”

Catalans foot the bill for every Super League club to fly to France, a financial restraint that no other team in rugby league is burdened with, which perhaps explained the Englishman’s defiant message of self-preservation.