By Dave Woods

Eleven years ago, on a heady night in Paris, we celebrated the rebirth of rugby league in France.

Catalans stand-off Sean Rudder takes on the Wigan defence

Over 17,000 people crammed into the Charlety Stadium to watch the newly formed Paris St Germain pull off an amazing victory over the Sheffield Eagles.

Yet less than a year later the dream was crumbling and eventually disappeared almost without trace.

So what's different about the Catalans Dragons' stunning win over Wigan in front of a disbelieving crowd of just over 11,000 in Perpignan?

The same mood of optimism and euphoria greeted that Paris win - but this time the foundations for success are much more solid.

That PSG team was watched by an interested but ultimately indifferent Parisian public.

The players, mostly French, were flown into the capital once a week, then flown home to play midweek French league games at scattered locations.

They were under-prepared, under-funded and eventually undermined by the sheer ambivalence of the locals and wider rugby league public to the whole exercise.

Once they started to fly in planeloads of Australians to fill the gaps, the game was up.

But in Perpignan, it's different.

The club has been working hard for a couple of years now, readying itself for the step up to the big time.

This is big news for the Catalans

The players live and train close to the stadium where they helped make history on Saturday.

Their sole focus is the Dragons and the success of that club.

And, just as important, they have an audience on the doorstep eager for rugby league, with an eye already trained for the aesthetics of running with the ball in hand.

The crowd that watched them beat Wigan did not just turn up out of curiosity and with free tickets for the match.

They are prepared to commit to the passion of supporting a rugby league team carrying the name of their proud region, and there's a television deal in place.

Not the vague suggestion that perhaps, somewhere down the line, a bit of action might be shown, but a deal guaranteeing that two matches - the Catalans fixture and one other - will be televised each week.

It not only guarantees a wider audience, but also helps consolidate the hard-headed sponsors who want to see a return for their investment in the new venture.

The local and regional coverage of the Dragons' opening win will be enormous.

Unlike the Paris achievement, it won't be an unnoticed event in a city of so many alternative attractions: this is big news for the Catalans.

There will be some tough times ahead. The Dragons will find it hard, especially when they have to travel away on a fortnightly basis and they encounter the demands of Knowsley Road, the KC, Headingley et al.

But when the thousands stood and chanted "Catalans, Catalans", at the end of an exhilarating night, you honestly believed that they believed that rugby league had finally been reborn in France.