William Barthau is a French retired international

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

footballer who most recently played as a scrum-half for

Toulouse Olympique Toulouse Olympique or TO XIII is a professional rugby league club in Toulouse, south-west France. Founded in 1937, two years after the French Rugby League Federation, the club is a six-time winner of the French Rugby League Championship. The ...

in the

Betfred Championship The Championship, known as the Betfred Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a professional rugby league competition. It is the second-tier competition organised by the Rugby Football League, the governing body for the sport in England, ...

and the French national side.

Background

Barthau was born in

Villeneuve-sur-Lot Villeneuve-sur-Lot (; in the Languedocien dialect of Occitan language: ''Vilanuèva d'Òlt'' ) is a town and commune in the southwestern French department of Lot-et-Garonne. The commune was formerly named ''Villeneuve-d'Agen''. Villeneuve-sur-L ...

Aquitaine Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 Janu ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Career

Catalans Dragons

He was a trainee at the Dragons since the start of the 2009 season, and signed part-time in July 2009. In 2010 he signed his first professional contract. He was handed the number 16 jersey for 2010. Despite only being promoted to the Catalans first-team squad in 2010, he played for the French national side at international level; coming off the bench against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in June 2009. He represented France in the

2010 European Cup The 2010 European Cup, known as the Alitalia European Cup for sponsorship purposes, is a rugby league football tournament. Three of the competing teams participated in the 2009 European Cup, with France also being included in the tournament after ...

and was named in the French squad for the

2013 Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Rugby League World Cup was the fourteenth staging of the Rugby League World Cup and took place in England, Wales, France and Ireland. between 26 October and 30 November 2013. It was the main event of the year's Festival of World ...

, he managed to kick the winning field goal against the

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach who is the head coach of the Australian national team and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the fin ...

coached

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

national side 9–8. On 14 August 2014,

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side London Broncos announced the signing of Barthau on a 2-year deal until the end of 2016.

Toulouse Olympique

Toulouse announced his decision to retire with immediate effect on 12 August 2020.

International

He was named in the France 23 man squad for the 2014 European Championship against Wales, Ireland and Scotland. After missing France's first match of the

2015 European Cup The 2015 European Cup was an international rugby league football tournament. The tournament took place between 16 October and 7 November in Wales, France, Scotland and Ireland. Scotland were the defending champions. Four teams competed in the 20 ...

and test-match with England due to injury, William returned to play for France in their European Cup match against Wales. Barthau played in France's lone international fixture of 2016, an end of year test match against England in Avignon.

References

External links

Toulouse Olympique profileLondon Broncos profileFrance profile2017 RLWC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barthau, William 1990 births Living people Catalans Dragons players Dewsbury Rams players France national rugby league team players French rugby league players London Broncos players People from Villeneuve-sur-Lot Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Villeneuve-sur-Lot Toulouse Olympique players