Eye on France - 2008/09

[Dunkin' Dan]

Because they're taking the league by storm, this thread is for keeping track of the Aussie players currently playing in France - i.e. Hollie Grima, Emma Randall, Jenna O’Hea, Carly Wilson & Renae Camino. Emma in particular is putting up some big numbers to start off the season. There's actually an article on their website's front page called "Le jackpot Randall" in her honour. Buggered if I can understand it, but it's safe to assume it's a positive one.


Round 1:
Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 25* & 7) won 76-72
Arras (O'Hea 20*) lost 63-72 to Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 6 rebounds).
Aix-en-Provence (Grima 13*, Camino 10) lost 52-64

Round 2:
Arras (O'Hea 13) lost 49-82
Aix-en-Provence (Grima 17* & 10 rebs, Camino 10) lost 65-70
Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 28* & 9) won 95-86
Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 5) lost 62-67

Round 3:
Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 23*) lost 74-81
Arras 60 (O'Hea 11) lost 60-75
Aix-en-Provence (Camino 20*, Grima 10 & 7) won 61-55 over Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 8 )

Round 4:
Aix-en-Provence (Grima 12, Camino 8 ) won 56-51
Arras (O'Hea 9) won 59-55
Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 12) won 70-65
Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 23* & 9) lost 65-86

Round 5:
Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 15 & 6) won 70-67. Wilson hit the buzzer-beating 3 to get the win.
Aix-en-Provence (Grima 15* & 9, Camino 4 & 7) won 56-50
Arras (O'Hea 14) won 89-70 over Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 16* & 21 rebounds. Yes, 21)

* asterisk indicates that the score is a team high in points


http://www.basketlfb.com/upload/news/zom_20081010-190211-1.jpg

[Clips]

Jeez look where that curtain is! And we all thought it was bad at AIS arena... :P :D

[Left Field]

A link to the website would be nice, so those who know a little French can read it. And perhaps translate it.

[Dunkin' Dan]

French league home page: http://www.basketlfb.com/


Updated ladder (was a week behind when I posted the results last night):

Club W L
--------------------------
1 Bourges 5 0
2 Tarbes 5 0
3 Union Hainaut 4 1
4 Aix-en-Provence 3 2
5 Lattes Montpellier 3 2
6 Challes-les-Eaux 3 2
7 Reims 3 2
8 Arras 2 3
9 Villeneuve d'Ascq 2 3
10 Stade Clermontois 2 3
11 Mondeville 1 4
12 Basket Landes 1 4
13 Calais 1 4
14 Nantes Rezé 0 5

[Dunkin' Dan]

Round 6:
Aix-en-Provence (Grima 25* & 8, Camino 13) won 68-67
Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 18 & 10) won 85-75
Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 6) lost 56-77
Arras (O'Hea 6) lost 69-85

[Left Field]

One of the interesting things about the French league for me it that none of France's largest cities (Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille or Nice) have a team in the league. In fact a couple of teams are located in hamlets the size of a small Australia country town, Basket Landes is located in Saint-Sever - pop. 5,000 and Challes-les-Eaux's pop. is only 4,000. It's obviously not one of the biggest or richest leagues in Europe, I can't see players payments being too much higher than back here, and going by international results the frogs don't have great depth, so why would the players consider playing in a league that probably inferior to the WNBL.

Anyway, thanks for the link, eventhough my French is rather poor, I was able to read and understand most of the articles.

[Hi-Liter]

so why would the players consider playing in a league that probably inferior to the WNBL

The pay is MUCH greater (3 to 4 times) what the best players, not named L. Jackson, in the WNBL are paid. The season is also longer.
Being a Euro country means that "locals" can be from anyone of 27 countries which can boost the depth of some clubs.
There are lower tier teams that try to move up each year while the bottom teams get bumped out meaning you dont end up with Perth Lynx situations (e.g. perenial losers).
The quality of the average French player is on par to that of the average Australian player.
The good teams play in Euroleague which is another incentive for foreigners to test their mettle.
Its better exposure for the non Opals, looking to get gigs with the better/higher paying teams.
Its a great opportunity for young Australians to live abroad while being provided with a tax free income, a vehicle and a paid apartment.

[Dunkin' Dan]

... plus of course France is a very cool place. Who wouldn't want to spend a few months there if given the opportunity?

[Left Field]

so why would the players consider playing in a league that probably inferior to the WNBL

The pay is MUCH greater (3 to 4 times) what the best players, not named L. Jackson, in the WNBL are paid. The season is also longer.

If that's the case, I'd like to know where the money is coming from, because I can't see how some of these sporting clubs can generate the capital required to run a team with player payments 3 or 4 times greater than ours. They must have some very generous owners and sponsors.

Being a Euro country means that "locals" can be from anyone of 27 countries which can boost the depth of some clubs.
There are lower tier teams that try to move up each year while the bottom teams get bumped out meaning you dont end up with Perth Lynx situations (e.g. perenial losers).
The quality of the average French player is on par to that of the average Australian player.
The good teams play in Euroleague which is another incentive for foreigners to test their mettle.

The Euroleague is the biggest positive I can see to playing in France, but as you said only the top teams play in it, and IIRC not too many French sides have been successful.

Its better exposure for the non Opals, looking to get gigs with the better/higher paying teams.
Its a great opportunity for young Australians to live abroad while being provided with a tax free income, a vehicle and a paid apartment.
Is it tax-free?? That would be a huge incentive if true.

Still I can't think of too many better places to spend your time than France, especially the south (Basket Landes, Challes-les-Eaux, Stade Clermontios, Tarbes, Aix-en-Provence or Lattes Montpellier) where the weather is nicer this time year, the people are friendlier and the women more beautiful. :D

[Julian]

It isn't tax-free. The salary offered by the club would be a nett amount, so it kind of feels like you aren't paying any.

[Dunkin' Dan]

Round 7:
Arras (O'Hea 9) won 80-73
Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 8 ) won 81-69
Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 13* & 15) lost 52-66
Aix-en-Provence (Camino 13*, Grima 8 & 6) lost 49-62

[frenchbasketbamm]

Hi you should check out this link for the latest for the latest information from France in English (http://www.womensbasketball-in-france.com/lfb-basketball-news-round-7-2008-2009.html).

You should check out the stories for Round 5 and 6 they have a very Australian feeling.

The best link for the weekly reports:is here (http://www.womensbasketball-in-france.com/ligue-feminine-de-basketball.html).

You will also find an Audio interview with Emma Randall from first game during round one.


A longer interview (Audio) with Jenne O’Hea about playing in France :is here (http://www.womensbasketball-in-france.com/women-playing-basketball-in-france-01.html).


I guess this site like Australians because they is a couple of nice articles about the Gems visit to France in the youth section.

[Dunkin' Dan]

Thank you for the links :)

btw, corrected O'Hea URL is Here (http://www.womensbasketball-in-france.com/women-playing-basketball-in-france-01.html)

[Dunkin' Dan]

Some more strong output from the aussies in France:

Round 8:
Aix-en-Provence (Grima 27* & 9, Camino 14 & 6) won 95-69 over Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 16* & 11)
Arras (O'Hea 2) won 61-53
Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 9) lost 57-62

Round 9:
Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 20* & 7) lost 75-87
Aix-en-Provence (Grima 17* & 11, Camino 6) lost 47-75
Arras (O'Hea 12) won 62-61
Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 18) won 70-64

[Dunkin' Dan]

Double-digit scoring for all the aussies this past weekend :) (and they're hitting those boards, too)

Round 10:
Arras (O'Hea 10 & 7) lost 68-79
Aix-en-Provence (Camino 16* & 6, Grima 10 & 14) lost 56-57
Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 15 & 7) won 62-55
Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 19* & 13) won 77-70

[Dunkin' Dan]

Round 11 stats:

Aix-en-Provence (Grima 20 & 7, Camino 9 & 6) lost 77-94 ... Boxscore (http://www.basketfrance.com/_fbs/0809/pdf/LFB_71.pdf)
Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 11) won 92-79 over Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 18 & 8 ) ... Boxscore (http://www.basketfrance.com/_fbs/0809/pdf/LFB_76.pdf)
Arras (O'Hea 5) lost 65-86 ... Boxscore (http://www.basketfrance.com/_fbs/0809/pdf/LFB_77.pdf)

[InfectiousS]

We've got alot of Ozzies in Italy too yes...

Any info on Summerton, Porter, Screen ??? Is there anyone else over there ??

[Dunkin' Dan]

Yeah, those three all play for Lavezzini Parma, who are equal top of the standings atm. Summerton is having a very nice season over there.

Suzy Batkovic & Monica Bello also play there, for Cras Basket Taranto, and Megan Moody is with Banco di Sicilia Ribera.
Pretty sure that's all the aussies in Italy (yes, I'm counting Moody as an aussie). All bar Porter & Bello are regular starters for their respective teams, which just goes to show how strong a team Parma is.

[frenchbasketbamm]

Just a quick update of the French League.

The league has a break from December 20th till February although they will be a French Cup game at the end of January.

The main reason for the long break is that they will be EuroBasket qualifier matches in January, so all the top leagues close. So I guess that you will see a number of players returning home.

Back to news. Emma Randall is the leading scoring in the LFB, she also leads Rebounds and the most consistent player in the league. She is very likely to win the MVP for the first round of games which end in two weeks.

Hollie Grima is also having a blinder of a season with Aix-ena-Provence. Ranae is not as consistent as Hollie and is doing well.

Carla has a habit of hitting a sequence of 3-points that tends to turn games for Challes. She is having a good season also.

I believe O'Hea has got over her home sickness and is beginning to find her range.

I have a feeling that they will be more Aussies in France next season

They are weekly highlights stories in womensbasketball-in-france.com on all the stories from the French League, although they is not much on the Australians this week it is still a good read as it also follows EuroCup and EuroLeague action and sometimes cover stories of other Australian players

[Dunkin' Dan]

Round 12 aussie stats:

Challes-les-Eaux won 65-51 Boxscore unavailable though :(
Aix-en-Provence (Grima 10 & 15, Camino 8 ) won 74-43 over Arras (O'Hea 6 & 8 )
Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 18* & 6) lost 77-78


Round 13:

Arras (O'Hea 4) lost 64-71
Aix-en-Provence (Grima 22* & 7, Camino 13) won 70-63
Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 9) won 83-78 (2OT)
Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 11 & 13) lost 68-81

[Dunkin' Dan]

Round 14:

This week Carly Wilson's 19 points helped extend Challes' winning streak to 6. They are now 10-4 and in 3rd place (behind the two powerhouses of Tarbes & Bourges, who are both 13-1).
Randall had a very rare quiet game, pulling down just 1 rebound and ending up the only aussie not to score in double-digits.

Mondeville 77, Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 9) lost 74-77
Aix-en-Provence (Grima 23* & 14, Camino 14) lost 68-74
Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 19* & 5) won 81-70 over Arras (O'Hea 11)

[Dunkin' Dan]

Round 15 (last games before the French league takes a break until February):

Arras (O'Hea 8 ) lost 56-85
Aix-en-Provence (Grima 16* & 8, Camino 7) won 70-57
Challes-les-Eaux (Wilson 9 & 5) lost 49-52
Clermont-Ferrand (Randall 19* & 13) lost 72-80

STANDINGS:
------------------------------
1 Tarbes 14 1
2 Bourges 14 1
3 Challes-les-Eaux 10 5
4 Villeneuve d'Ascq 9 6
5 Union Hainaut 9 6
6 Aix-en-Provence 8 7
7 Calais 8 7
8 Lattes Montpellier 8 7
9 Mondeville 6 9
10 Reims 6 9
11 Arras 5 10
12 Clermont-Ferrand 4 11
13 Basket Landes 3 12
14 Nantes Rezé 1 14
------------------------------