The Vichy Government And The Banning Of Rugby League In France

EDM number 972 in 1998-99, proposed by David Hinchliffe on 02/11/1999.

That this House commends the campaign by the organisation Treize Actif, supported by the French Rugby League Federation, to bring to public attention the infamous act committed by the wartime Vichy Government in France, outlawing the then thriving sport of rugby league, disbanding its national association and seizing its assets, with rugby union the beneficiary; supports the demands of French Rugby League followers for official acknowledgement of this infamy which resulted in the game not even being able to use the term rugby until 1989 even though it was restarted after the war; condemns unreservedly those individuals and organisations, including some in French Rugby Union, who colluded with this outrage and continued to discriminate against rugby league by trying to deny the sport use of publicly-owned facilities, as recently happened to clubs in Agen and the town of Vichy itself; further supports the actions of Treize Actif in seeking to end the discrimination which continues to exist in the education system in France where it is the only sport not available as of right to pupils and denied specialist teachers; applauds the decision of the French Minister for Youth and Sport, Madame Marie-George Buffett, to establish a national commission of inquiry into sport in France in this period; and calls upon Her Majesty's Government to offer all possible assistance and support in addressing this matter and helping to maintain the recent excellent progress made by rugby league in France as it seeks to re-establish its former pre-eminence.

This motion has been signed by a total of 61 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.