French rugby team gets culture shock in 'sad and monotonous' Croydon

The French have moaned that their Rugby World Cup base in Croydon is a “monotonous” and “pas très chic” (not very stylish) suburb.

Les Bleus are staying at the four-star Selsdon Park Hotel in south London during the five-week tournament, which gets under way on Friday. But it appears that some of the players and the reporters accompanying them are less than impressed with their surroundings.

The MetroNews newspaper said Croydon was “sad”, and published unflattering pictures of its brutalist skyline to illustrate its point. It claimed that the last time the town had made headlines was during the 2011 London riots.

“If Les Bleus have enjoyed the charms of the very British Selsdon Park Hotel, there’s no doubt they’ll linger for far less time in the town that surrounds it,” the article said. “Because if the place where the French XV are staying is pretty and leafy, this south London suburb is much less so.”

The French prop Uini Atonio complained that a rowdy wedding reception at the hotel had kept him up all night on Saturday.

The New Zealand-born player, who is 6ft 5in and 25 stone, said: “I did not really sleep well. There was a wedding under my room and they were quite noisy. At around two in the morning when I still could not sleep, I had to put my headphones on. We might have to change hotel.”

Selsdon Park Hotel has an 18-hole golf course and sporting facilities over 80 hectares, and is a short trip from Croydon town centre.

The French national side are staying there while using facilities at nearby Trinity School as they challenge for the World Cup.

Matthew Sims, chief executive of the Croydon Business Improvement District, hit back at the way the borough was being portrayed, saying that it was “blossoming” with new commercial, culture and arts projects.

He said: “For us Croydon is a wonderful place to be for now but also in the future, we very much love our borough and are totally behind it.

“With the level of activity taking place here, the growth experienced in terms of those who want to work, live and visit Croydon, these kind of reports do not set us back. I wouldn’t say it is helpful but it is certainly not going to put us back because we have more than enough going here, with £5.2bn secured to transform Croydon and make it the regeneration borough for London.”