Let's travel back to Shanghai, 1929... the golden years of International Settlement (ok, not really a colony...)
It's also my first rugby picture from China... (*)
Rugby in the Army, then, as here are the Shanghai Volunteer Corps - Scots Guards (full size pic)
Shanghai in the 20s-30s... a myth... ;-)
I am back... I was away for a week in Britany...
Difficult to find rugby pictures with a seaside theme... here is a WW1 postcard from Belgium "une partie de football" ("a football game") showing soldiers playing on the beach (large pic on Flickr)
Yes, soccer... I am afraid... say it's also an eye blink to a recent football game with blog-friends in Paris (picture here ; I am the guy with a rugby jersey...)
So, back to work ! and I have plenty of nice new things to display in the coming days !
Here is a French print "La Soule en Basse Normandie" ("Soule in Lower-Normandy") published in 1852 in weekly magazine L'Illustration.
Soule was a ancient rural game, mostly played in the Northern / Northwestern part of France, where all valid young men from two villages were fighting to bring a ball (the so-called "soule") to a designated place in the opposing village... legends recall of numerous crushed bones or young men found dead... the article (here, in French) supporting this print however explains that these brutal days were gone and that the "soule" game was far less passionate than before, but still violent enough to be banned by authorities...
When I was younger, "soule" was regularly evoked as the ancestor of rugby game ... a historical and sporting non-sense... but very typical of a chauvinist way to re-write history... (disclaimer : I'm French !)
(full size picture available here)
Sorry for the title of this post... let's call it a private joke !
Nice rugby action... full of movement and colours... heading an early 1900 French menu...
This kind of printed papers was provided by advertisers to have restaurant owners promote their brands... French champagne Moët & Chandon here...
I am wondering whether this menu was aimed for French or English market... why an English policeman watching the game ? is it just "anglophilia" or did this illustration mean to be "local" ?
Here is the full page (hi res pic here)
And in case you can't read the tag on the bottle... Santé !
Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, menu, Moët & Chandon, champagne
This is a Baines card - c.1900 - and myth is falling into pieces...! I've always been said that rugby in Home Countries was a gentlemen's game... How could this shouting crowd run after an umpire in such a trivial way... ? Possibly because it's Northern Union (*) rugby ... ;-)
By the way, let's precise that originally the team captains would consult with each other in order to resolve any dispute on the pitch. Enventually, this role was delagated to an umpire. Each time would bring their own partisan umpire allowing the team captains to concentrate on the game. Later, the referee, a thrid "neutral" official was added, this referee would be "referred to" if the umpires could not resolve a dispute. In Football Association, the referee did not take his place on the pitch until 1891, when the umpires became linesmen (now assistant referee) (source : Wikipedia). I am searching for the actual date in Football Rugby...
(*) says Wikipedia (again !): Rugby league takes its name from what was initially a breakaway faction of England's Rugby Football Union (RFU) known as the Northern Union when established in 1895. Both unions played rugby football under the same rules at first, until similar breakaway factions occurred from RFU-affiliated rugby unions in Australia and New Zealand in 1907 and 1908, and formed associations known as rugby football leagues, introducing modified Northern Union rules to create a new form of rugby football. The Northern Union later changed its name to the Rugby Football League in 1922 and thus, over time the sport itself became known as "rugby league"
Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, baines card, umpire
Sean no longer has the monoply of "Colonial Rugby"... ;-) I have been gathering images of "colonial" rugby under French ruling for some time, and it's quite amazing to find evidence of rugby games in countries that you wouldn't have suspected... Indochina (VietNam), Marocco, Ivory Coast, Senegal... or Tunisia today.
This postcard, dated 1908, shows "Rugby Club Marine Sidi Abdallah" (i.e. Navy Rugby Club) - a French Navy camp in former Ferryville (now Menzel Bourguiba), near Tunis. (large pic here)
Nice zoom on the team captain... "Maori" ball, "anchor" jersey and... splendid French moustaches !
Discalimer : I like Rugby League !
Second disclaimer : I like Australian Rugby League even more !
1908 - 2008 : Rugby League celebrates its 100th anniversary these days in Australia ! Happy birthday down under, and I am happy to participate to the fiesta...
Modern times, first : if you have a couple of spare hours before you, you should pay a visit to NRL website... National Rugby League (yes, they did it the American way... "Australian" RL is just "National" RL...) is loaded with tons of videos to bring you the best of the games, present or past... this website is incredibly rich... there even is an "teleport" access to Second Life that will interest some of my readers...
History, then : I would urge any rugby fan to read each and every story shared by rugby historian Sean Fagan on his great website rl1908.com ... Sean goes far beyond the history of Rugby League in Australia... it will give you a deep insight in the evolution of all rugby codes... a "Must" !
Bridgeing between history and modern times, let me advertise for a temporary exhibition organised by the National Museum of Australia "League of Legends : 100 years of Rugby League in Australia" that will move around Australia over the next 12 months. All details and lots of pictures of this fantastic memorabilia (caps, jerseys, trophies, pictures...) on NMA website here... Sean has written a chapter of the catalogue of this exhibition - "The Game Begins" - , that I am displaying here... All credits to the NMA and I hope that they won't mind me to publish their pictures... Having said that, the full catalogue can be either purchased or downloaded (in pdf) here...
And now for something different... the mad kiwis at Alternative Rugby Commentary (do make sure this website is in your bookmarks...!) have celebrated NRL anniversary their own way... just hilarious !
And finally, let me "hurray" with the 1908 Kangaroos shouting their war-cry upon their arrival in England... full story at Sean's place...
Technorati : rugby league, nrl
In just three hours, Toulouse will play Cardiff in H-Cup... Go, Toulouse, go ! May my Welsh friends forgive me, but I really hope that Stade Toulousain will win the H-Cup this year and crush the Blues this afternoon like they crushed Leicester and East Midlands 100 years ago !
As I was searching among my pictures of Toulouse, I suddenly realized that the very first international game played by newly formed Stade Toulousain (1907), was played in April 1908... exactly 100 years ago... in the newly built "Stade des Ponts Jumeaux" (inaugurated in Nov.1907).
That day, Toulouse won 23-12 and scored no less than 7 tries... good omen !
Caption reads (in French) : un match Anglais aux "Ponts Jumeaux" entre l'East Midlands Union et le Stade Toulousain - une sortie de mélée aux Toulousains.
(hi res picture available here on Flickr)
Go ! Toulouse, Go !
Edit : Stade Toulousain b Cardiff 41 - 17 ! next round are London Irish... April 26. @ Twickenham... my bet on Toulouse again...
Technorati : rugby, stade toulousain, toulouse, east midlands
... featuring French rugby... as "Power-Collector" Paul (aka "rugbyfootballcards") told me that there were only two of them...
I don't know why, but cigarette cards have never been a French business... as far as I know, no French cigarette card have ever been produced... not to mention rugby ones... So, here are the only two "French" cigarette cards available worldwide...
Left is a W.A & A.C.Churchman cigarette card, printed in 1931, where cartoonist MEL portrays wing-forward Eugène Ribère, then captain of the Equipe de France. I will surely have to dedicate a note to give a full bio of this great player... a strong forward and a true leader who played at Perpignan first (Champion in 1925, runner up in 1924 and 1926), then at Quillan (Champion in 1929, runner up in 1928 and 1930) while gaining 34 caps with Equipe de France between 1924 and 1933 (a short bio printed on the back of the card is available here).
Right is a Pattreiouex cigarette card, issued in 1923, showing a disputed thrown-in between Blackeath and Racing Club de France (RCF) touring in England... and I must admit that I don't know the details of this match... I should research a wee bit...
And that's all... only two cards... ready to print the full and detailed catalogue of French rugby cigarette cards !
(larger pictures here or there @ Fickr)
Edit April 3 : Ooops... I didn't know that there was some German cards with French rugby... could I have the name and date of these series, please ?
Scrutinizing stadium crowd pictures is my new hobby... ! it's a little bit like playing "Where's Wally ?"...
This old man, sitting at the front row of Brighton stadium in 1912, is balancing between boredom and contempt... he must be thinking that "the game was better before"(*)... 1912 or 2008, same mentality... same feelings... ?
And let's be honest (why should I, after all ??), this picture is a zoom from a football postcard... Albion vs Swindon Hove ... April 1912.
A series of ten "die-cut" pictures (six being displayed here) published in the 30s (my guess...) by French chocolate-maker Revillon.
Boys were invited to cut up these little ruggers and display them on a board to get all the action of a rugby match...
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