KEY POINTS:
PARIS - French rugby clubs will not take part in European club competitions next season, the French national league (LNR) confirmed at a board meeting today.
"All but three (of 17) board members voted for the boycott", LNR president Serge Blanco told reporters after the meeting in Orly,
outside Paris.
"This was unavoidable. We did not want to leave European competition but we felt we had no other choice," the former France fullback added.
The French clubs had announced in January that they would pull out of European competitions such as the showcase Heineken Cup for strategic and financial reasons.
Premier Rugby said on Monday the English teams would join the French in a boycott.
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) had warned clubs the following day that they could face legal action.
Blanco called Premier Rugby officials on Thursday but none attended the meeting at a hotel at the Orly airport, a source close to the meeting said.
"What we need now is a discussion not only in France but with all federations involved", Blanco said.
The trouble started in January when the LNR said it would pull its clubs out of Europe next season because of a dispute between the RFU and Premier Rugby clubs, saying the row had led to uncertainty over the future of the competitions.
That dispute centres on voting rights and shares in the European Rugby Cup (ERC), with the Premier Rugby clubs wanting the RFU to give them 50 per cent of its stakes and voting rights.
French Rugby Federation (FFR) president Bernard Lapasset, who attended Thursday's meeting, tried to avoid the boycott by offering the clubs a blocking minority of 15.66 per cent for two years but his proposal was turned down.
"I'm very disappointed because I felt that was a strong and reasonable proposal," Lapasset said.
"We need European competition but it will be very difficult to rebuild," he added.
The three who voted against the boycott were the two FFR representatives and ERC's French president Jean-Pierre Lux, a source close to the meeting said.
A boycott would not affect this season's Heineken Cup, three of whose semi-finalists are English -- Northampton, Leicester and Wasps.
It does, however, clearly threaten the future of an event which would lose much of its significance without French and English clubs.
The two countries have provided nine of the 11 winners of the competition since it began in 1995.
Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Roger Lewis said in a statement: "We are deeply concerned not only for the game of rugby, but also for the players whose livelihoods are now at risk.
"As this situation has progressed we've been constantly talking to all the parties involved and that will continue."
- REUTERS
