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46-665: The competition kicked off the weekend after the World Club Challenge. This season saw the entry of the Catalans Dragons , who are the first French team to compete since the demise of Paris Saint-Germain at the end of Super League II . Castleford Tigers were relegated from the Super League on Saturday 16 September after finishing the regular season in 11th place (Catalans Dragons were exempt from relegation and finished 12th, therefore 11th-placed team

92-660: A department of the region of Occitania , Southern France , adjacent to the northern Spanish frontier and the Mediterranean Sea . It borders the departments of Ariège to the northwest and Aude to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the east and the Spanish province of Girona in Catalonia to the south and the country of Andorra to the west. It also surrounds the tiny Spanish exclave of Llívia , and thus has two distinct borders with Spain. In 2019, it had

138-662: A 33–16 victory for the Dragons. On 28 January 2020, Catalans Dragons announced that they had signed Israel Folau despite him holding to the Biblical teaching that those who practice homosexuality without repenting will go to hell (going so far as to suggest that the 2019–20 Australian bushfires were God's judgment on Australia for allowing same sex marriage and abortion). Wigan Warriors responded by saying that their next game against Catalans would be named Pride Day. In 2021 , Catalans won Super League's League Leaders' Shield for

184-441: A Super League record fee of £450,000. Despite a 30–12 home win over Warrington Wolves , Wigan Warriors remain bottom of the league after round 18. In the latter part of the season, following round 19, the bottom half of the league table was very close, with 6 teams able to reach the play-offs and 5 still at risk of relegation. Wigan left the bottom of the table for the first time in three months following round 20 but were still in

230-909: A population of 479,979. Some parts of the Pyrénées-Orientales (like the Cerdagne ) are part of the Iberian Peninsula . It is named after the Pyrenees mountain range. Prior to the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, most of the present department was part of the former Principality of Catalonia , within the Crown of Aragon , therefore part of the Monarchy of Spain , so the majority of it has historically been Catalan-speaking , and it

276-588: A professional rugby league club from Perpignan , Pyrénées-Orientales department, France. Despite being based in France the club competes in Super League , the top tier of British rugby league Formed after the merger of XIII Catalan and AS Saint-Estève , they have won one French Championship and two Lord Derby Cups . In Britain they have never won the League Championship but have won

322-489: A reserve team for the club. The club set a target for 75% of the players be qualified to play for France . The Catalans are the second French side to play in the Super League. The first, Paris Saint-Germain , lasted only two seasons. Both rugby codes have their stronghold in the southwest of France, with the north favouring association football . To ensure that the Catalans had the best French players available to them,

368-484: A string of high-profile signings from Australia, including Clint Greenshields, Casey McGuire, Jason Croker and Aaron Gorrell, all seasoned NRL campaigners. Gorrell, a goalkicking hooker, impressed in the first month but sustained a bad knee injury in February's win over Leeds and missed the rest of the season. On 10 March 2007, it was announced that Newcastle Knights hooker Luke Quigley would cover Gorrell's absence for

414-625: Is a wine -growing area and a tourist destination. The city of Perpignan (122,000 inhabitants) brings together more than a quarter of it alone, and more than half with its suburbs. It is the only important town, and only the towns of Canet-en-Roussillon , Saint-Estève , Saint-Cyprien , Argelès-sur-Mer , Cabestany and Saint-Laurent-de-la-Salanque exceed 10,000 inhabitants. Other important towns are Rivesaltes , Bompas , Pia , Thuir , Céret , Elne , Le Soler , Prades and Toulouges , each with between 6,500 and 10,000 inhabitants. The arrondissement of Perpignan , with 289,110 inhabitants in 2020,

460-461: Is a multipurpose stadium used occasionally for other sports and events. The Stade Gilbert Brutus was opened in 1962 and has hosted mostly rugby league and union and hosted numerous test matches involving the France national team . It was previously the home to Northern Catalonia rugby league team. When the Dragons moved in the capacity was just over 4,000. The Catalans have redeveloped and expanded

506-642: Is also a lake, Casteilla . It is one of the rare French departments (with the Alpes-Maritimes , Pyrénées-Atlantiques , Aude and Corsica ) which allow their inhabitants and tourists to enjoy both the mountains and the sea . The upper Têt valley comprises the departments westernmost third, with just over a tenth of the total population. To the south-east, the Tech valley and the Côte Vermeille contain nearly 100,000 inhabitants. The Agly basin in

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552-650: Is historically Occitan-speaking. The five Catalan-speaking comarques were historically part of the Kingdom of Majorca . The département is managed by the Departmental Council of Pyrénées-Orientales in Perpignan . The Pyrénées-Orientales is part of the region of Occitanie . The Departmental Council of Pyrénées-Orientales is more and more involved with the European Union to create, together with

598-649: Is still referred to as Northern Catalonia . The modern department was created early during the French Revolution on 9 February 1790 under the name of Roussillon , also the name of the pre- Revolutionary province of Roussillon to which it almost exactly corresponds, although the department also includes Fenouillèdes , a small piece of territory which had formerly been on the southern edge of Languedoc . The name therefore changed, on 26 February 1790, to Pyrénées-Orientales . Invaded by Spain in April 1793,

644-441: Is the one with the most inhabitants in the department. Indeed, the other two, the arrondissements of Céret and Prades , have respectively 133,405 inhabitants and 60,250 inhabitants. The distribution by age groups shows a relatively high number of people aged 60 and over (29% of the population compared to 21.3% for the whole of France ). This aging of the population results in a mortality rate higher than that of births. However,

690-456: The 2007 season in tenth place. In 2008 , the Catalans secured their first playoff berth by finishing third in the league. They thrashed Warrington 46–8 in their first-ever playoff match on 13 September in Perpignan, but 20 September saw Wigan end up victorious in what had been a close game in the second half of their elimination final, with Wigan winning 50–26. Coach Mick Potter left

736-641: The 2018 Challenge Cup Final , in the process becoming the first non-English team to win the competition. During the 2019 season , Catalans Dragons held their home match against Wigan at the Camp Nou in Barcelona . The match was the first Super League game in Spain and attracted a record attendance for a Super League game, outside of the Grand Final or Magic Weekend , of 31,555. The game resulted in

782-475: The Challenge Cup once. Catalans play home games at Stade Gilbert Brutus . Their traditional home colours are white red and gold. The club was founded in 2000 after the merger of two teams in the area of Perpignan , XIII Catalan and AS Saint-Estève . The merged team took the name Union Treiziste Catalane, often abbreviated to UTC. XIII Catalan were founded in 1935 and thus were founding members of

828-553: The French Championship . During their run, they won 11 French Championships and 11 Lord Derby Cups . AS Saint-Estève were founded in 1965. They won six championships and four Lord Derby Cups. There were two other clubs in the twelve-team competition in Pyrénées-Orientales: Pia XIII and Saint-Cyprien. In 2002 Saint-Cyprien joined the merged UTC side. UTC won the 2005 French Championship and

874-684: The Generalitat of Catalonia and Andorra , a Eurodistrict . The Departmental Council of Pyrénées-Orientales has 34 seats. In the 2015 departmental elections , the Socialist Party (PS) won 17 seats, The Republicans (LR) won 12 seats and the French Communist Party (PCF) won 5 seats. Hermeline Malherbe-Laurent (PS) has been President of the Departmental Council since 2010. Pyrénées-Orientales elected

920-586: The 2004 and 2005 Lord Derby Cups . In 2006, UTC transferred from the French to British rugby league system , joining the Super League XI following a successful application in 2005. They were selected ahead of Toulouse Olympique and Villeneuve Leopards . The club was named Catalans Dragons, while a new club, Saint-Estève XIII Catalan , was formed in the French Championship to serve as

966-648: The Dragons at the end of the 2008 season to replace Daniel Anderson at St Helens. In 2009, they were involved in two historic milestones for the sport of rugby league in Europe. During their match away to the Welsh club Crusaders on 23 May, the two clubs played the first Super League match to not feature an English team. History was also created on 20 June, when the club played in the first Super League game to be played in Spain, at Barcelona 's Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys ,

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1012-571: The French rugby league decided to let them sign players from other French clubs without paying a transfer fee. The RFL also made them exempt from relegation for their first three years in Super League . Many at the time believe the Catalans would be joined by other French clubs, but the idea of expanding into France had critics. The Catalans won their first ever Super League match 38–30 against Wigan on 11 February 2006, at Stade Aimé Giral . The club encountered difficulties in their first season in

1058-508: The Grand Final St. Helens beat Hull F.C. by 26–4 at Old Trafford , Manchester. At half time the score stood at 10-4 for St. Helens. Saints raced ahead in the second half with several tries. This victory, in addition to their Challenge Cup win and League Leaders' Shield, meant that they had completed the league treble. Catalans Dragons The Catalans Dragons ( French : Dragons Catalans , Catalan : Dracs Catalans ) are

1104-472: The Super League. Many of less experienced French players suffered from tiredness towards the end of an injury-marred campaign. A particular loss included captain Stacey Jones, who missed much of the season with a broken arm. The team finished bottom of the table, but the three-year exemption from relegation kept them in the Super League. The year 2007 saw a strong recruitment by new coach Mick Potter with

1150-508: The area was recaptured thirteen months later during the War of the Roussillon . During the nineteenth century, Pyrénées-Orientales proved one of the most consistently republican departments in France. The intellectual and republican politician François Arago , who, during the early months of the short-lived Second Republic in 1848, was briefly de facto Head of state , came from Estagel in

1196-550: The club's general manager about using a new high-speed link between Perpignan and Spain, supposed to start running within two years. In 2016 Catalans Dragons celebrated ten years in the Super League competition. After a recruitment drive, which saw a number of transfers from the NRL, expectations were high. After opening defeats to Wigan and Hull FC, the Dragons edged Leeds 32–28 in round three and then took seven wins from their next eight matches. Following their 42–32 win over Salford at

1242-401: The competition. Catalans would go on to lose the 2023 Super League Grand Final 10-2 against Wigan . Catalans became the first team since the Super League era began in 1996 to not score a try in the final. The Catalans moved into the stadium in 2006, when they were accepted into Super League . They ground shared with rugby union side USA Perpignan , which own and operate the stadium, but it

1288-488: The east of the department. Pyrénées-Orientales has an area of 4,115 km . It consists of three river valleys in the Pyrenees mountain range –from north to south, those of the Agly , Têt and Tech – and the eastern Plain of Roussillon into which they converge. Most of the population and agricultural production are concentrated in the plain, with only 30% of the area. There is one water reservoir at Lac de Matemale . There

1334-455: The end of April, Laurent Frayssinous' side sat second in the table, level on points with leaders Warrington. However, a series of injury setbacks to key players in the second half of the season saw them drop down the table. Catalans lost their final six regular season games which meant they headed into the Super 8s two points adrift of fourth-placed St Helens. Five defeats from seven saw them finish

1380-408: The end of the game. Leeds lost the battle for second place, and their third league match in a row. The relegation battle went down to the wire as Wakefield Trinity beat Bradford while Castleford lost to Salford in the penultimate round of the season. The two clubs at risk of relegation, Wakefield Trinity and Castleford, were scheduled to meet in what had become a relegation decider in the last match of

1426-468: The first player in 91 years to score tries in eleven straight games for the club in their victory over Warrington. Hull's 13 match winning streak came to an end at Harlequins in round 22 but 2nd place rivals Leeds lost to leaders St Helens, who had Jamie Lyon sent off. Wigan's recent revival was halted by Warrington. In round 23, Wakefield Trinity re-ignited the relegation battle with a win against local rivals Castleford, despite being reduced to 11 men by

2006 Super League season - Misplaced Pages Continue

1472-418: The first time, following a 31–30 golden point extra time victory over reigning champions St Helens during Magic Weekend . On 9 October 2021, Catalans played in their first ever Super League Grand Final with the opponents being reigning champions St Helens. Catalans lead the match in the second half but a try late to St Helens saw Catalans lose 12–10. In the 2022 Super League season, Catalans finished 4th on

1518-489: The following members of the National Assembly during the 2022 legislative election : The cuisine of Pyrénées-Orientales draws naturally from the historical Catalan presence in the area, so dishes like paella , caragols a la llauna and calçots are prevalent in the restaurants, especially at important dates such as the various saints' feast days and cultural festivals. The area is famous for its wine with

1564-441: The ground to 13,000 since they moved here. Head coach Assistant coaches Pyr%C3%A9n%C3%A9es-Orientales Pyrénées-Orientales ( French: [piʁene ɔʁjɑ̃tal] ; Catalan : Pirineus Orientals [piɾiˈnɛwz uɾiənˈtals] ; Occitan : Pirenèus Orientals [piɾeˈnɛwz uɾjenˈtals] ; lit.   ' Eastern Pyrenees ' ), also known as Northern Catalonia , are

1610-432: The league treble. The 2006 Super League generated the highest weekly average attendance in the 11-year history of the competition. The average weekly attendance for the regular season stood at 9,026, generated by an aggregate attendance of 1,516,342 supporters. This is an increase on the 2005 season average of 8,887. The lead up to round 18 saw the shock move of Stuart Fielden from Bradford Bulls to Wigan Warriors for

1656-603: The north-east has much in common with neighboring areas of Aude. Llívia is a town of Cerdanya , province of Girona , Catalonia , Spain , that forms a Spanish exclave surrounded by French territory. The most populous commune is Perpignan , the prefecture, home to about a quarter of the inhabitants of Pyrénées-Orientales. As of 2019, there are 7 communes with more than 10,000 inhabitants: They are followed in decreasing order by Pia , Elne , Rivesaltes , Thuir , Céret , Le Soler , Bompas , Toulouges , Canohès and Prades , each of 6–10,000 inhabitants. Pyrénées-Orientales

1702-538: The population and understood by an additional 21%. On 10 December 2007, the Departmental Council of Pyrénées-Orientales recognized Catalan as a regional language of the department, though French is still the only official language in France, according to the Constitution. The area is traditionally divided into comarques , of which five ( French Cerdagne , Capcir , Conflent , Roussillon and Vallespir ) are historically Catalan-speaking and one ( Fenouillèdes )

1748-471: The population has been increasing steadily for several decades thanks to a clearly positive migratory balance. The department particularly attracts retirees thanks to its pleasant climate, which contributes to both the increase in the population and its aging. Population development since 1793: French is spoken by almost the entire population. Minority languages in the region are Catalan and Occitan , which between them are estimated to be spoken by 34% of

1794-419: The predominantly red grape varieties grown all over the department, regional specialities such as muscat de Rivesaltes and Banyuls are sold everywhere in the department. The geography of the area leads to a distinct divide in the cuisine of P-O. The mountainous area to the south has dishes using ingredients that grow naturally there, products such as olives and goat's cheese . Fish are also very popular in

1840-505: The regular season. St Helens receive the League Leaders' Shield for a second successive year as recognition for finishing top of the competition league table for the regular season. Harlequins secured survival after beating Wigan. Salford secure a top-6 play-off spot for the first time in their history. At the end of the regular season, Castleford were relegated as a consequence of their 29–17 defeat away to Wakefield Trinity. In

1886-452: The relegation position as Les Catalans were exempt from relegation. Warrington ended their bad run of results by beating Huddersfield in the same round. The next week Wigan climbed out of the relegation zone after beating Salford - their fifth consecutive win. Wakefield Trinity had a chance to put Wigan back in the drop zone but blew a 20–0 lead against Huddersfield to allow them to record a crucial victory. Elsewhere Hull's Richard Horne became

2006 Super League season - Misplaced Pages Continue

1932-401: The remainder of the campaign, but a number of players sustained injuries throughout the campaign. On 29 July 2007, the Catalans became the first French side and first non-British side to reach the final of the Challenge Cup after beating Wigan 37–24 in the semi-final. The Catalans lost the 2007 Challenge Cup Final against St. Helens at Wembley Stadium on 25 August 2007. They finished

1978-459: The season in sixth place and miss out on a play-off spot. After a difficult two years at Huddersfield, Jodie Broughton's move to the south of France saw him kick-start his career. The winger scored 19 tries in 2016 including four in the Dragons' 30–12 win over St Helens in April. Todd Carney was released after two seasons at Catalans. On 25 August 2018, Catalans Dragons won their first British Rugby League trophy, after defeating Warrington 20–14 in

2024-404: The table and qualified for the playoffs. The club would be eliminated from the playoffs in the first week, suffering a shock 20-10 loss against Leeds. In the 2023 Super League season, Catalans finished second on the table, equal on points with Wigan who finished first. They would eventually reach the grand final after beating St Helens in the semi-final which ended the clubs four-year dominance of

2070-530: The venue for the 1992 Summer Olympics , against Warrington . The Dragons led 10–6 at halftime, but Warrington finished as the winners 12–24. The purpose of the latter fixture was to promote the sport in Catalonia , with around 1000 tickets being sold in the local area, and the game was televised on the Catalan channel El 33 . Immediately after the game, Walters commented that the event in Spain could become an annual one, apparently complementing comments made by

2116-472: Was relegated). In the Grand Final St. Helens beat Hull F.C. by 26–4 at Old Trafford , Manchester in front of a crowd of 72,575 which is a record for a Super League Grand Final. At half time the score stood at 10–4 for St. Helens. Saints raced ahead in the second half with several tries. This victory, in addition to their Challenge Cup win and League Leaders' Shield, meant that they had completed

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