Bernard Guasch (born 3 April 1960) is a French former rugby league player, who played as stand-off and the current CEO of the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

and French Rugby League Championship team, the Catalans Dragons and has been since their formation in 2001.

Biography

Guasch's father, José Guasch, is a Spanish republican refugee and became a rugby union player for USA Perpignan, notably disputing the final of the 1951-52 French Rugby Union Championship. Wanting to open a butchery, he asked a loan for USAP, however, the latter refused and XIII Catalan supported his initiative if he played rugby league, which was what he did. He speaks

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

fluently.

Playing career

Guasch played as stand-off for XIII Catalan between 1977 and 1982 and for Saint-Estève XIII between 1982 and 1989. His brother, Bruno Guasch, played for XIII Catalan, and his son

Joan Guasch Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine *Joan (surname) Weather events *Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multiple ...

played for Dragons Catalans and Saint-Estève XIII Catalan.

The Catalans Dragons project

The rugby league dirigents requested Guasch for his "leadership skills". In 2000, two great French clubs, XIII Catalan and

Saint-Estève Saint-Estève (; ca, Sant Esteve del Monestir) is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Saint-Estève is in the canton of Le Ribéral and in the arrondissement of Perpignan. Population See als ...

, merge to form Union Treiziste Catalane, which dominated the French Rugby League Championship, later the club became Catalans Dragons before its integration in

, becoming in 2006 the only French elite team in the Northern Hemisphere. It was a sports success as the club arrived to the

2007 Challenge Cup The 2007 Carnegie Challenge Cup began in February 2007. The Challenge Cup is the most prestigious knock-out competition in the world of rugby league, featuring teams from across Europe including England, Scotland, Wales, France and Russia. In ...

final and qualified in the 2008 Super League play-offs, as well an economic success as the club culminated with more than 8.000 spectators at home, which convinced

GL Events GL events is a French entertainment and medium enterprise founded in 1978, under the name of Polygones Services, by Olivier Ginon and three of his friends, Olivier Roux, Gilles Gouédard-Comte and Jacques Danger. It has been listed on the Paris ...

to invest into the club by taking shares and Nike became the kit supplier in 2009.

Creation of a moral agreement with USA Perpignan?

Since the late 2010s, it was attributed to him the wish to "create a moral agreement with USA Perpignan, done like on the other side of the

Channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...

". However, the rugby union club did not seem to answer concretely to this will.

References

Living people 1960 births Catalans Dragons French rugby league administrators French people of Spanish descent Rugby league chairmen and investors Sports owners Rugby league five-eighths {{France-rugbyleague-bio-stub