Rugby-Pioneers

Italy, 1928 : The Birth of a (Rugby) Nation

France v Italy tomorrow in Paris... an opportunity to share some memorabilia about the early days of rugby in Italy...

It's actually quite difficult (for me...) to find early Italian documents and pictures... that's why I was very pleased to find this lovely Italian book a couple of months ago... "Il Gioco del Rugby" (The Rugby Game) by Piero Paselli brings a complete coverage about the origins of the game, the rules and some basic tactics... and it is richly illustrated by more than 50 pictures that give a real insight in early Italian rugby.

Rugby in Italy was known as early as 1893 (the "classical" oxbridge expats club - Genoa Cricket & Football Club) wheras the first "real" Italian rugby feature occured in 1910 when a rugby team in Turin played vs visiting Racing Club de France (first hint of a "French Connection"... I'd like a picture of that game...) and Servette de Geneve (!). The first rugby club - US Milanese - was created the following year in 1911 by Piero Mariani. This being said, Italian rugby remained very low profile after WW1 until the set-up in 1927 of a "Comitato di Propaganda" by the same Piero Mariani, quickly followed in 1928 by the creation of Italian Rugby Union (Federazione Italiana Rugby - FIR) and a first championship (won by Ambrosiana Milan). Check FIR website for more (in Italian / Google translation) ...

Piero Paselli - 21 years when he wrote this book - played (as a flanker - 3 caps in total) the very first international game of the newly created "Squadra Azzura" in 1929 against Spain in Barcelona (btw do you remember this other story ?). He became president of FIR right after WW2 in 1945. The foreword of this book was written by Lando Ferretti, former director of La Gazetta dello Sport,  President of C.O.N.I. 1925-28... and member of the Grand Fascist Council and Press Secretary to Benito Mussolini...

The pictures of this book give many examples of the relationships between French and Italian rugby in the 20s (a topic well worth further investigations...) : visiting teams from South France or from the Alps... or from Paris like these two photographies showing a game between S.C.Italia of Milan (larger pic here) and Paris Université Club (P.U.C.). Below is French international player Jean Morere (Stade Toulousain) who played with a French regional selection in Bologna and in Milan...


"La squadra dello S.C.Italia di Milano che combatte i tre incontri internazionali col P.U.C. di Parigi" (The team of S.C.Italia from Milan which played three international games vs P.U.C. from Paris)


"Una rimessa in gioco durante il match S.C.I. - P.U.C. al Velodromo Sempione di Milano" (a throw-in durant the game S.C.I - P.U.C. in Sepione Veledrome, Milan)


"Morère : quattro volte nazionale francese. Combatte contro l'Italia nei primi due matches internazionali di Bologna e di Milano" (Morère : four times French caps. Played vs Italia in the first two international games in Bologna and Milan)

That's all folks !

PS 1 (private comment...) : Thank you Ritchie !

PS 2 : The trailer of D.W.Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" (1915) is on YouTube - no rugby inside !

G.D.Rowlandson likes rugby...

Back home and introducing artist George Derville Rowlandson (1861-1930)...

From what I can see on the web, G.D.Rowlandson was probably more interested in horses than any other sports, but we could thank him for letting us these two very fine rugby artworks...

Above is a postcard (a "must" in every rugby collection...) c.1900 titled "Rugby Football : Well Passed !"... below is a watercolour from a sports calendar (December: rugby is a winter game...) published at the same period (well... my guess... I'm afraid that this second picture isn't mine... found it here on Flickr... warm thanks to the actual owner...). Different techniques, but similar style and composition...



That's all, folks... !!

Teaser : I'll have some "serious" Italian rugby memorabilia later this week to celebrate next France v Italia looming ahead...

"L'Equipe" went to Cardiff...

Wales v France tonight in Cardiff...

I'm saving 60 seconds for a last minute post...

Something special tonight... some fine "modern" illustrations by French artist Paul Ordner showing Welsh Red and French Blue colours... all of them published in the 60s by French sports newspaper "L'Equipe" in their rugby annuals...

The print above is "obviously" dedicated to "commefou"... (kind of private joke, I'm afraid...)



Tomorrow, I'll be at 7.30am in Gare de Lyon boarding for a (offline...) ski break ... and reading L'Equipe first thing in the morning...

Legal notice (and apologies...) : it's (almost) the first time in five years that I'm publishing copyrighted pictures (to L'Equipe or Ordner's heirs, I don't know)... I hope that some of you will visit me during my next stay in jail...

A Tribute to Ben Gronow, Welsh Rugby Pioneer

Last week, David Gronow sent me some pictures and facts about his grand father Ben Gronow to be shared here...

So here are some bits of the remarkable story of a Welsh gentleman who started his career as a brilliant Rugby Union (Bridgend and Wales) fullback and kicker - he gave the very first kick-off in newly built Twickenham, Jan.1910 - , then moved to Huddersfield to become one of the world leading Rugby League forwards, and later became the first British professionnal player to join Australian National Rugby League as Grenfell coach-player...

Thanks a lot, David ! 

As David puts it :

Ben, a stonemason with huge hands, was born on March 3 1887 and started his rugby career with Bridgend Harlequins. He was one of a family of nine children and he followed a well-worn path from Bridgend Harlequins to Bridgend (union club). In 1908/09, he was captain of Bridgend and made 16 appearances for the Glamorgan County side.

Ben, a superb goal-kicking full-back who, because of his size and strength, moved up to the forwards in rugby league, went on to play for Wales at senior level, making his debut against France on New Year's Day 1910 at Swansea where he scored a try in the 49-14 victory (large team picture here). Despite his tremendous kicking abilities, those three points - which is how much a try was worth in those days - was his only score in an international jersey for the Welsh union team.

He went on to play again in that first-ever Twickenham match against England on 15 January 1910 which Wales lost 11-6, before completing the Four Nations against Scotland in Cardiff, which Wales won 14-10, and Ireland in Dublin where the Welsh won 19-3.

David Gronow [...] recalled how his grandfather began to attract the attentions of the Northern Union clubs and particularly Ebbw Vale due to his union exploits, but in 1910, Huddersfield got his signature and at the age of 22, Ben went north for a fee of £120.

Ben made his debut for Huddersfield against Ebbw Vale on September 3 1910 when the Welsh team were part of the Northern Union, and went on to make 395 appearances for the club, scoring 80 tries, kicking 673 goals, accumulating 1586 points.

By the end of the 1910 season, Ben had played 31 times for Huddersfield and also won his first Welsh Rugby League international cap when they played England at Coventry.

In the years that followed, Ben was to ascend to real stardom. He was part of the 1914/15 'Team of All Talents' at Huddersfield which won all four trophies available to them - the Challenge Cup, the Rugby League Championship, the Yorkshire League Cup and the Yorkshire Cup.

It was a team captained by Harold Wagstaff and was the culmination of a period of dominance in rugby league which was the best in the club's history. [...] Ben rose to such status in rugby league that he would have toured Australia with the 1914 Great Britain side had injury not struck him down.

He went off to serve in France but re-established his rugby career at Huddersfield on his return.

 

He went on the 1920 Great Britain tour of Australia and New Zealand and went again to Australia four years later when, at 34, he became one of his country's oldest tourists, and went on to represent Great Britain on seven occasions.

Incidentally, here are two "Melba" pictures of the 1920 touring team in Australia (Sydney, June 1920), both provided by Rugby League collector Stuart Quinn (thanks, Stuart!). (BTW, you could also check some of my old posts about Huddersfield here or there ). (also cf large picture of the 1920 team)

 

 

David further explains :

The most famous of those pioneering adventures that Ben made, however, was to become the only British player for 50 years to play in New South Wales or Queensland when he made the unusual decision to sign for a small-time rural club called Grenfell in 1926.

In a highly-researched [and highly recommended...] article called "The Ben Gronow Mystery", Sean Fagan [of rl1908.com fame - Hi, Sean!] writes:

"...during the 1924 Lions tour of Australia, Gronow was approached by Harry Sunderland (who was the Australian team manager) to take up a coaching offer in Grenfell, in the mid south-west of rural NSW. [...] Gronow accepted the offer, returned to Australia in 1926 to play for Grenfell, before moving back to England for the 1927-28 season........the decision to move to Australia primarily based on wanting to improve the health of his eldest son who suffers bronchitis and is in need of a dryer climate."

And David concludes :

On his return to Yorkshire in August 1927, Ben played mainly for Huddersfield reserves before his retirement [...] at the age of 40 (after brief spells at Featherstone Rovers and Batley).

 

He later served on the club's committee, was made an honourary member of the club and was one of 21 names inducted into the Huddersfield Rugby League Club Players' Association Hall of Fame in 1999. He died on November 24 1967 aged 80.

 

Here is Ben Gronow in 1938, aged 51, with some of his former Huddersfield and Great Britain (cf the 1920 team picture in Australia) teammates :  Gwyn Thomas , Harold Wagstaff, Ben Gronow, J.Rogers (picture credit to Stuart Quinn).

 

David's memo about his grand-father is available online here.

 

And now waiting for Wales to play France next Friday night... exactly 100 years after Ben Gronow's debut...

 

 

Old School Medias (and some Irish rugby as well)

 

France v Scotland, January 1930 in Stade de Colombes... at half time French forward - and future Rugby League star - Jean Galia is chatting with this unknown (to me....) radio commentator ideally located on the rugby field... Is that guy working for French radio ? no idea...

Edit Feb.17 :  this gentleman is Edmond Dehorter (nicknamed "Le Parleur Inconnu" - "the unknown speaker") who was the first sports radio journalist in France. He started covering live sports in 1923 for radio company Radiola (boxing : Carpentier v Nils). A quick search on Google shows he broadcasted the 1924 Olympics in Paris from a Michelin Airship... as well as the "24 heures du Mans"... and obviously rugby... cf some links (in French) below in the comments

Terra Media explains that "First live commentary of the England v Wales rugby international match from Twickenham [in 1927] is also the first British sporting radio outside broadcast; the commentator is Teddy Wakelam. A plan of the field divided into numbered squares is published in the Radio Times so that reference can be made to the position of play; this gives rise to the phrase ‘back to square one’."

Some sources indicates that the very first live sports radio broadcast occured in 1922 in Sydney, where a journalist named Lionell Wattt covered a cricket match at the SCC...

A few words about this "Equipe de France"... quite a strong team, indeed... first win against England in 1927..., first win against Wales in 1928... 2nd in the 5 Nations Championship 1930 and 1931... but difficult times for French rugby contaminated by endemic violence and professionalism issues... resulting in being banned from all international relations with Home Countries after 1931 Championship... But that's another story!!

  About old school medias... and about this France v Ireland tomorrow in Paris... here is a small chunk of this 9,5mm Pathé news reel - January 1931 - bringing some rare images of "Les Bleus" defeating Ireland in Stade de Colombes 3 - nil (1 try : Ribère)... Good omen ?...

My editing is only 20s long (rugby only... not sure that you're interested in the funeral of Marechal Joffre and other news topics from the 30s...) but, say, that's history!

 
   

(music via Qobuz )

Scotland v France... 1931

Easy blogging... France just defeated Scotland this afternoon in Murrayfield (18-9)... and I'm displaying some memorabilia of an earlier similar game... in January 1931...

Here is the programme (disclosure : I don't collect programmes... but a few exceptions...) of the game... a poor 6-4 victory for the Scots, but no try that day... (nb : 4 points was the "price" for a drop-goal at the time). Inner pages show various Scottish teams (1912, 1930) and a previous game v Wales earlier during the 1931 season...  all pictures are available at Flickr

The teams were captained by W.N.Roughead (London Scottish) and Eugène Ribère (Quillan)... Some of future French rugby league stars (Jean Gallia, Max Rousié, Robert Samatan) were also there... (larger pic here - with the programme of music and bagpipes...)



I have a (small) picture of that game... actually a W.D.& H.O.Wills cigarette card published in 1932... (larger pic here)



By the way, I was also looking for an opportunity to display this dynamic print by André Galland, cover of French newspaper "Le Petit Journal", January 1922... it seems that the Scots were giving hard times to French winger Adolphe Jauréguy...
 
Again, a great rugby artwork... but too large for my A4 scanner!

Here we go again!

"6 Nations Championship" starting tomorrow... Here we go again!

I've got the same issue every year... how to match "live" sports with my rugby memorabilia... ?

Not always easy... just consider these fine Baines cards : there're just perfect to introduce England, Wales (tomorrow in Twickenham), Ireland or Wales... but how come Mr Baines couldn't anticipate and design some French or Italian cards as well ??

OK Computer (as someone said before...)... quick fix...not jealous anymore...

    

  And time for serious rugby now !

Night (Rugby) Drinks...

Another fine example of rugby advertising for alcoholic beverages ("apéritif") in France in pre-WW1 era... (large pic  )

This time, wine-maker Louis Koester in Cette (now Sète) on the Mediterranean seaside (where my Grandmother was born.. but that's another story...) went one step further : he just called his product "Rugby" !

Interestingly, local archives (Archives de l'Hérault) explain that Louis Koester also was the founder and president of the Regional Rugby Committee ("Comité Régional du Languedoc"). QED!

By the way, times are getting increasingly "digital"... these Archives de l'Hérault also provide some nice online memorabilia about local rugby  ("Rugby, terre d'Hérault"-in French)... Well done! And congratulations for sharing such documents (though I'm not exactly sure of their licencing policy....)! For instance, here are below a commercial letterhead from the same Koester, the original charter (1912) of Cette Rugby Club and a fine poster print advertising for another - weird, but that was tonight topic... - Kola Rugby...

 

"Union Jack" jersey in Toulon... probably announcing Jonny Wilkinson and the soon-to-come 6 Nations Championship...

Wanted : Women Rugby Memorabilia!

The 6th Women's Rugby World Cup will be played next August in England (official site )... RFU Museum in Twickenham is working on a temporary exhibition about women rugby and is searching for memorabilia (newspapers, photos, jerseys, cards, trophies, etc...). I'm trying to arrange some contacts here in France, but I'm sure that they would appreciate additional inputs (especially for material outside Great Britain)... Just drop a comment or a mail to contribute or share ideas !

As far as French rugby is concerned, I have to admit that I don't know very much about its history and that my memorabilia is pretty poor... This being said, the history of French Women Rugby is tied to the game of "Barette", a passing game - kind of hybrid between rugby and touch rugby (can someone post the original rules, it will help my undestanding of that code.. thanks !)

A first "root" of this French Barette brings us to the region of Bordeaux at the end of the XIXth century, where a phisician, Dr Philippe Tissié, wrote a code of "Barette" in 1899 (known as "la Barette Aquitaine") which quickly spread among local schools. It seems that girls were also playing... But, say, I'm not sure of the sporting interest of that game... (help ! a picture and the rules please !)

Another form of "barette" - say, rugby as we (almost) know it... - was played in France in the 1920s. It originated at Femina Sports, the leading omnisport women club in Paris (cf wikipedia - in French) and was reported to be sponsored by SCUF and former international player (5 caps between 1908 and 1913) André Theuriet. Below is Thieuret with Femina Sports ("Les Hirondelles") captain Miss Cubaret, and "Cadettes de Gascogne" (Bordeaux) captain Miss Dubarry... nice berets indeed !

 

Picture credit to INSEP - French National Sports Center - Please also check a dozen of other very interesting pictures of 20s women rugby from the same series here... and watch this 1928 movie - Femina again - showing various phases of a women rugby game (rugby starts at 0'30 - Credit to British Pathé).

Again, I'd like to get a copy of the rules (could someone help ?)... apparently 10 or 12 a side teams playing a vigarous passing game - no rucks, no mauls - but throw-ins and scrums... I assume that tackling below waist wasn't allowed...

Women rugby was popular enough for F.F.S.F. (Fédération Féminine Sports de France - French Union of Women Sports) to organise a French Championship... teams from Paris, Bordeaux, Lille as above (picture credit to sports historian Joris Vincent in Lille - also cf this older post)... the Championship medal below is a new find for my collection...

From another standpoint, let's also share this fine comic print by cartoonist Fabiano, published in Fantasio (kind of French "Punch Magazine") in 1925...or remember this other "erotic" print...

 

Caption reads  "Rugby Féminin - Enfoncez la mélée ! commande la capitaine... Mais comme son ami la regarde, elle se refait une beauté" (Women rugby - Break up the scrum ! the captain orders...).

To be honest, Women football was even more popular in the 20s, for instance touring to England or welcoming Dick-Kerr's Ladies F.C. in France in 1920... Actually, rugby and football team usually belonged to the same clubs... here are the same Paris Femina Hirondelles and Bordeaux Cadettes de Gascogne on the cover page of French newspaper "Le Petit Journal" in November 1923... (painting by André Galland... too large for my A4 scanner...)

 

Definitely a long post ! Please don't forget... Wanted : Women Rugby Memorabilia!

Don't sever the postcards, please !

I've recently found this French postcard... the kind of candid rugby illustrations that I enjoy collecting... and a perfect fit with that other similar card purchased last year (and displayed here last April)



The weird thing about it is that these two cards, purchased from two different dealers at different times, originally come from the same hands... both of them were sent to a (young ?) gentleman in Tunisia (Souk El Khemis) on New Year's Eve 1909, as shown by the backs of the cards... Fine coincidence to have brought these cards together again a hundred years later...

(larger pics available here and there on Flickr)

Celebrating 100 Years of Tournament

 

"6 Nations 2010" is looming ahead ! three more weeks to go, yet squads are being announced these days...

"2010" shouldn't ring any bell for our British and Irish friends, but "2010" will be a special "vintage" for France (hey ! I'm French...): we'll celebrate the 100th anniversary of France being invited to play against all Home Unions, i.e. the start of the "5 Nations Tournament"

France entered into the international arena in January 1906 against Gallaher's All Blacks, and proved to be convincing enough so that (English) Rugby Football Union accepted to play in Paris in March 1906. Then things moved on slowly... England (away in Richmond - first game in Blue jerseys...) again in 1907... Wales (away) and England (home) in 1908... Wales (home), Ireland and England (both away) in 1909... and finally Scotland accepted to join other Home Unions in 1910... The opening game of the 1910 Championship was this Wales - France played on January 1st 1910 in Swansea...

This French side (above, large pic here), captained by Gaston Lane, gathers 9 players from Paris (6 from SCUF, 3 from Racing CF... none from Stade Français!), 3 players from Bordeaux (Bruneau, Massé, Hourdebaight),  and young men from Toulouse (Mayssonié) and Lyon (Mauriat, Martin). Left on the picture is Cyril Rutherford, an Englishman, a former RCF player then in charge of international affairs at French Rugby Union.

A pretty unexperienced French side (6 new caps) ... which courageously challenged one the most competitive team from this era... Without any surprise, Billy Trew's team (feat. J.Bancroft, Dick Owen, etc... large pic here) stroke a 49-14 undisputed victory (10 tries to 2!)

Let's be honest... Home Countries paid little - if no... - attention to these new "exotic" games against this new "exotic" guest... In first years, games were often played during the week, in front of limited crowd (i.e. 4000 that day in St Helen's) and not always with the most competive teams... France had to wait until the 1920s (Crabos, Jaureguy, Ribère...) to deserve some sporting respect...

After the match, Wales fullback Jack Bancroft was said to pronounce this cruel - but false... - prophecy "You are good fellows, you Frenchmen, and your rugby will go on improving. You may some day beat England at Twickenham and Scotland at Murrayfield and Ireland in Belfast or Dublin, but never, while there is coal in our mines, will you win in Wales..."... Indeed, Bancroft got it right untill 1948...

  

My pictures come this newspaper report in "Le Plein Air"... French readers (and others...) could get it here...

Red & Black, Stade Mayol, 1923

Toulon ! a high place of French rugby... tons of stories about tough players and passionate fans (yes, Christian, this post is for you...)... today, an amazing team of ruggers from all around the world (Joe van Niekerk, Jonny Wilkinson, Sonny Bill Williams, Felipe Contepomi, etc... managed by Philippe St André)

My postcard (large pic here) shows brand new Stade Mayol in 1923 - a great stadium built in downtown Toulon in 1920-22, and named after French singer Felix Mayol who financed it (*) - hosting a game between Toulouse "Champion de France" wearing Red & Black colours, and Toulon "Champion du Littoral" (**) wearing... Red & Black colours...

A story (though not confirmed...) explains that Toulon had elected such Red & Blacks colours to mimick Toulouse... the team that was "ruling" French rugby after WW1... Some even say that Toulon first rugby kits were provided by the Stade Toulousain, hence the same jerseys...

The game played on the postcard on May 20th 1923 is most likely an exhibition, played just one week after Toulouse managed to win French championship vs Bayonne on May 13th... a poor 3-0 game played in Colombes under heavy rain... All stats (in French) are here at finalesrugby.com. Let's notice a very impressive list of international ruggers on Toulouse side (Jaurreguy, Bordes, Galau, Lubin-Bebrère, Bayard, Bioussa, Larrieu) and let's also notice that this game was the last game of Bayonne legend Harry Owen Roe as fullback, aged 38... Below are the famous "Toulousains" in 1923... in Red & Black (larger pic here)

 

Back to Mayol, you could also notice a building behind the stands - on the right - partly showing one the most famous French advertising prints from all times : "Ripolin Brothers"... not red, not black, but advertising for Ripolin colour paints...

credit Elliot Miesse

Let me finish with a not-so-serious question : did the crowd in Toulon sing the "Pilou Pilou" in the 1920s ? For those who don't know, "Pilou Pilou" is a kind of "war cry" sung (shouted...?) by the crowd in Toulon at the beginning of each game... the words are loosely inspired by All Blacks hakas, whereas the chorus goes like :

Parce que Toulon - Rouge !    Because Toulon - Red!

Parce que Toulon - Noir !        Because Toulon - Black !

Parce que Toulon - Rouge & Noir !    Because Toulon - Red & Black !

Sing it here ... with a 50,000 crowd last year vs Toulouse (in Marseilles, where Toulon sometimes exports its top games...)

(*) as Mayol wrote in his biography "Or, à Toulon, où la jeunesse est particulièrement active et vigoureuse, nous n'avions pas le moindre terrain utilisable... Seul demeurait un vélodrome désaffecté, où nul n'allait jamais, qui ne servait plus à rien et qui me paraissait s'ennuyer autant que nos aspirants sportsmen... Alors, mon Dieu, c'était tout simple, j'ai acheté le vieux vélodrome ! J'y donnais moi-même le premier coup de pioche, le 26 juillet 1920..." (this quote and picture : credit to RCT website)

(**) "Champion du Littoral" meaning Champion of Mediterranean seaside vs Marseilles, Montpellier etc...

NB : shame on me... I can't refrain from linking to one of the worst-but-famous French song from the 80s... Jeanne Mas "En Rouge et Noir" (in Red & Black)... shame !!