Bienvenue au Le Treiziste

Featured image by Tony Cole (@Yorktone on Twitter)

Le Treiziste is the home of alternative rugby league writing, offering perspectives on the game that you won’t find anywhere else.

Almost every rugby league fan would agree that the game doesn’t get the amount of media coverage that they feel it deserves. Too often, what little media coverage the game does get covers scandals, gossip, and tedious culture war debates on expansion, bringing back ‘the biff’, or the inclusion of gambling company logos (or lack of) on players’ shirts.

Le Treiziste is here to change that (mainly thanks to the current lockdown giving us time to actually start this, 2 years after having the original idea). We’ve taken inspiration from a number media outlets across many sports and fields to create content that is both bespoke to rugby league whilst being unlike any other content currently available in the game.

We’re creating space for a different kind of rugby league writing – one that puts the game’s proud history, rich culture and intricate quirks centre stage. We don’t have pushy tabloid editors or looming deadlines – we have the freedom to write whatever and whenever. This means that, while our articles may perhaps more sporadic than in traditional rugby league media, they’ll – hopefully – be carefully considered and insightful.

In time, we aim to create a community of rugby league fans that identify with the term ‘trieziste’. We want to build a yearning for retro shirts and modern tactics. A growing awareness and appreciation of the game’s unique history and culture. A greater acceptance that the south of France and Cumbria are as much a part of the game’s heartlands as Yorkshire or New South Wales.

Le Treiziste is for the fans that think the highlight of Sky’s live coverage is Jon Wells’ touch screen analysis. The fans that think rugby league shirts were better before every inch of them became an advert for a dog groomer or English-themed pubs in Benidorm. Those fans that would sell their own grandmother if it meant they could watch a game from that craft beer garden behind the posts at Lamport Stadium.

If you like your footy fast and expansive, and you like your four-man fixed up, this is the blog for you.

Bienvenue au Le Treiziste.

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