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Illness caught by the French groups involved in sport? (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

leagues

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'groups involved in sport?' is the definition.
'leagues' can be an answer for 'groups' (I've seen this before). I am unsure of the 'involved in sport?' bit.

'illness caught by the french' is the wordplay.
'illness' becomes 'ague' (ague is a kind of illness).
'caught by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'the french' becomes 'les' (plural form of 'the' in French).
'ague' put into 'les' is 'LEAGUES'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for leagues that I've seen before include "measures" , "Alliances" , "Unions" , "Groups" , "Alliance" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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