RUGBY players in Oxford are today gearing up for some fierce but very friendly rivalry.

London Welsh are taking on French team Grenoble at Oxford’s Kassam Stadium in a match which will be particularly friendly off the pitch because of a happy coincidence.

The two cities have been twinned since 1988, so Grenoble’s visit to Oxford will be something of a homecoming.

The fourth round of the European-wide competition, the Amlin Challenge Cup, is a key clash for the Welsh, whose loss against Grenoble in France last week was overturned after it emerged Grenoble had fielded an ineligible player.

But fans are happy to welcome the visitors because of the cities’ connection.

London Welsh fan Kinsey Forsdyke, 22, said: “It’s really cool that there is such a connection. At rugby games there is generally good banter, so this might be even better. “There is such a difference between rugby and football so there is a good atmosphere no matter which team people are there for. I still want a win though.”

Fredderic Millot, a French rugby fan who now lives in Abingdon, said: “It’s great that I get to watch a French side in Oxford. My team is Toulouse but Grenoble are very good. French rugby is so strong I’m sure we can show how it’s done.”

Plans are already underway to mark the 25th anniversary of the twining of Oxford and Grenoble, in April 2014.

Secretary of the Oxford-Grenoble Association, Jean Burrell from East Oxford, said she forged links with Grenoble while on her gap year in the 50s.

She said: “The twinning makes links between the actual citizens of Oxford and Grenoble rather than the council and officials. So they can meet people from other places who have common interests. Rugby is another example of contact between the two cities.”

Lord Mayor of Oxford Alan Armitage, who will be going to the match, said: “It will be a great pleasure to welcome two world class rugby teams for whom Oxford is a second home. London Welsh taking up residence at the Kassam Stadium was very good news for us; and for the team from Grenoble, we will be extending a specially warm welcome, as representatives of our twin city in France. It promises to be an unusually memorable occasion.”

London Welsh managing director John Taylor said: “It is a happy coincidence that we should have drawn Grenoble – Oxford’s twin city – in the Amlin Challenge Cup and we are delighted to welcome councillor Alan Armitage, Lord Mayor of Oxford and some of his fellow councillors who will be making their first visit to a London Welsh match to mark the occasion.”

FRIENDS ACROSS THE SEAS

Oxford and Grenoble were twinned in 1988 but the official Friendship Agreement was signed one year later.

It was signed in Oxford by Alain Carignon, then Mayor of Grenoble, and Queenie Whorley, then Lord Mayor of Oxford.

Oxford is also twinned with Leiden in the Netherlands, Bonn in Germany, Perm in Russia and León in Nicaragua.

Twinned town and cities don’t always get on though.
Wallingford asked for its relationship with twinned French town Luxeuil-les-Bains to be annulled after 30 years.

The request in 2009 made news around the world because none had ever been made before.

Wallingford’s school exchanges ended and Christmas cards were unanswered over a decade of silence from the French town.

The then Wallingford Mayor Alec Hayton joked he wasn’t sure if the town was alive or dead. But the pair made up after an apology from Luxeuil-les-Bains and they resurrected their relationship.