Rugby-Pioneers

Breaking news - 7s Rugby at Olympic Games 2016

Great news for the rugby community... the IOC voted earlier today (81 for , 9 against) for Rugby to return to the Olympic Games in 2016, almost 100 years after its last appearance in the Paris Olympics in 1924 (video here). The proposed competition will see twelve teams competing in seven-a-side rugby rules - both men and women.

There's a lot to say about this... I'll come back in the next few days on the historical links between rugby and the modern Olympics in the 1890s... I'll come back in the next few days on the French side which lost the 1924 final... but today I'd like to quickly illustrate the roots of 7s rugby...

Back to the 20s/30s in London... Since 1926, Middlesex County RFU has been organising a major charity 7s tournament at Twickenham. Above is the 1933 programme... a tournament won by Quins, who defeated Wasps in the final...  (details here and there - other participants were the Exiles, London Scottish, Old Cranleighans, London Welsh, Blackheath, London Irish - winners in 2009  ! - , Old Paulines, Edgware, old Merchant Taylor's and... Rosslyn Park)

As Middlesex 7s explained it here, 7s Rugby was actually born in the Scottish Borders in 1883 (126 years ago !) where Melrose's Ned Haig organized a one-day rugby tournament... to raise money for his club. Teams were reduced to 7, and play time reduced to 15 minutes, to enable a full competition during one afternoon. History records that the first winners in 1883 were Gala RFC... Below are Gala's A.Haig ad D.Sanderson posing with The Ladies Cup - the tournament trophy - (credit to "The Official History of the Melrose Sevens" by Walter Allan)


You could pay a visit to Melrose 7s website to find a more detailed history of 7s Rugby and how this game has spread since them...

PS : I also have the 1934 programme of Middelsex 7s... won by Richmond over Blackheath... and refereed by W.W.Wakefield

Rugby in Japan

I'm gathering some documents about early Japanese rugby ... Above is a full page print published in Harper's Weekly, May 1874 showing, as caption explains, "a foot-ball match between Englishmen and Scotchmen near the city of Yokohama, in Japan" (king size picture here). Searching the web, I've found these explanations from author Mike Galbraith in "History of Rugby in Japan" on Yokohama (YC&AC) Rugby Club website.

Rugby seems to have first been played in Japan by the British in the late 1860’s or early 1870’s when the foreign settlement was established in Yokohama. A battalion of “Tommies” was stationed on “Camp Hill” (presently known as Minato No Mieru Oka Park) between 1864 and 1874 and they were well-known as ‘a sporting lot’. Many of the first rugby matches in Japan probably involved these “Tommies”.

According to Wikipedia, "local" rugby was later introduced to students at Keio University in 1899 by two Cambridge fellows, Edward B.Clarke and Tanaka Ginnosuke... sorry, no picture yet...

We also have to consider New Zealand "regional" influence in the development of Japanese rugby, as per this cover of Otago Witness from May 1908 (click for larger copy) showing Kobe Rugby Interport and Yokohama (again...) Interport Rugby Teams. The scan is poor, but the captions are explicit about Kiwi influence : team players are mainly expats (but not only...) and the captain of Kobe team is C.L.Spence, late of Dunedin, whereas Yokohama is captained by Mr G.K.Totton of Auckland (from the "Yokohama branch of the New Zealand Insurance Company"... the newspaper said). (credit and warm thanks to PaperPast, online archives service of NZ National Library... so many documents to dig there...)

(break) Note to myself for a future post: Universities and Ports... cradles of worldwide rugby...

Japanese Rugby Union was created in 1926 (say, just 6 years after French Rugby Union...)... and did welcome Canada for its first international fixture in 1932 (Japan b Canada 9-8). Has someone some pictures to share ? Instead (!), I'm posting this fine Japanese illustrated postcard from the 1920s (errr... my guess...).

 I'll be very happy if someone could identify the teams and translate the caption below the rugby picture (my guess is that it simply reads "rugby football"...Oct 6 : correct ! thanks Naly D) ! Here is a zoom...

Okay... I still have a couple of pictures to share... next time !

edit Oct 6 : just found a well documented "brief history of Rugby Union in Japan". I don't know who to credit ? this page is here @ pakistanrugby.com

Phil Atkinson also recalls a series a photographies recently sold on eBay about the Canadian tour in 1932. If the owner reads these lines... I would be happy if he/she would agree to share some of his pictures here ! ("sample" below...)

 

The revival of the "Entente Cordiale"

Are we entering into a new phase of the Franco-British "Entente Cordiale" ?

This treaty signed in 1904 between France and United Kingdom (all details on Wikipedia here...) has something to do with the development of rugby in France. I'm not going to enter into details, but the tightening of political and diplomatical relationships between the two countries gave a strong canevas to foster invitations between French and British clubs, to welcome some British expat ruggers in French championship (yet ! - Harry Owen Roe in Bayonne, Percy Bush in Nantes etc... in Paris, Bordeaux...) and eventually to have France being invited to play against Home Nations - England first in 1906, Wales in 1908, Ireland in 1909 and finally Scotland in 1910 (*) -

Here are two documents celebrating the "Entente"... above is a postcard showing two soldiers playing rugby with the Kaiser's head (caption reads "une partie de football" - a football game ) and below is a full page print by Ernst Prater published in The Graphic in February 1911: The "Entente Cordiale" in The Football Field - England vs France at Twickenham - (larger print here where you could also read the caption)



Back to 2009, are we entering into a new phase of the Franco-British "Entente Cordiale" ?

I was initially fairly skeptic to witness the large number of British newcomers into French Top14 Championship as there are now 30 Brits and Scots in the French squads... but after two months competition, it seems that most of them have succesfully integrated into their respective teams either on the field or, more important, off the field to demonstrate that they are ruggers before being mercenaries... Yes, we do have videos of Wilko singing in a French pub... and, yes, we do have James Haskell undressing for next Stade Français 2010 calendar ("Dieux du Stade"... for sale on Stade's website) to illustrate that theory...

Hence a new proposal ! let's build a Franco-British team to tour into Southern hemisphere... ;-)

(*) indeed, French rugby will celebrate next year the centenary of our debut in the 5 then 6 Nations Tournament... we'll discuss that later

Art & Rugby (in Paris...) : The Mexican way...

I'm always surprised and pleased to discover artworks related to rugby. Last week, I spotted this fine "Retrato de un jugador de rugby" by Mexican artist Angel Zarraga (1886-1946), painted in Paris c1925.

Should I mention... this oil on canvas isn't mine... it was auctionned two years ago by Christie's in New York for a mere $157,000... (details here)

Angel Zarraga (portrait below - short bio here) left Mexico to travel around Europe aged 18, settled in Paris in 1911 - the center of the then art world - where along with Braque, Utrillo, Gris and Picasso, he was one of the founders of the School of Paris and became an important art figure and enjoyed commercial and critical success.

As Christie's explains "The artist's earliest experiments with a cubist language reveal his understanding of color and space but more importantly place him within the modernist's vanguard. Zárraga abandoned Cubism by the start of the 1920s for an expressionist language that is uniquely his but shares its roots with the works of Cézanne.

Retrato de un jugador de rugby, circa 1925, dates to a period in the artist's life when he became increasingly interested in athletic depictions--especially of football (soccer and rugby) players. Some of his most notable paintings within this theme are of players in action done in a cubist manner. However, his most iconic works on the sport are frontal portraits of female and male players which are captivating and lyrical character studies. This portrait focuses on a handsome young man--almost too young to play such a rough sport. The bold red stripes of his shirt contrast dramatically against the soft colors of the playing field and anchors him firmly to the ground. He epitomizes the eloquence of the sport--the almond-shaped ball is tenderly held up like a sacred object and he remains forever the image of the game."

I have no idea who could be that youg rugby player, but it's interesting to notice that Parisian rugby clubs had always welcomed Latin or South American athletes since the beginning of our championship back in 1892 (another story... another day... some hints here in that former story about Brazilian Paranhos at Stade Français)

BTW Google Images provides with other Zarraga's paintings, including this related work with football players (and Basque berets...)

The Colours of Swansea

David Dow, a Welsh rugby photographer who manages Dragon Tales Rugby in Swansea, is kindly sharing with us this picture of 1894-95 Swansea RFC 1st XV carefully restored and coloured from a damaged original photography.

As David explains: "Swansea RFC 1st XV 1894-95 [stands] in front of the old, old grandstand. The blue caps are Swansea caps and the red ones are Glamorgan caps for playing for the county side. Billy Bancroft's cap is probably an international one but the three feathers insignia has fallen off. Well, he had plenty of them! The hard part is not to over embellish the image and to get the white shirts the right 'off white' colour."

The picture belongs to Swansea RFC Archives (check their website to find tons of pictures...), as part of a remarkable initiative to collate, save and digitize the "All Whites" memorabilia (pictures, oral records, photographies of jerseys and caps) to ensure that all these treasures from the past will remain available for future generations. Let's hope (errr ???) that all major rugby clubs or unions do share the same philosophy...

I understand that St Helens clubhouse is a true rugby museum...

This picture is available to download here (1024 pix) or there (A3 king size pic)

Warm thanks to David and Swansea RFC !

And not to mention... all contributions are welcome here !

Possibles vs Probables

Organising trial games to select international players is as old as international rugby... as it was possibly the only way for committees to review "in real life" ruggers they only knew from written or verbal reports... if not from the newspapers...  Here are some pictures of early French selection games...

The upper postcard shows a "South" team in 1908, feat. gentlemen from Stade Toulousain (Fabregat - the man wearing an impressive beard... -, Avejean...), Bordeaux (Massé, Martin...), FC Lyon, US Bergerac, CA Perigueux etc... (here is a king size picture if you want to get the names of all players). The referee on the right is Cyril Rutherford, a well known player, referee and official... who really deserves a full story one of these days...

I've never seen, so far..., any picture of the "North" team (Paris, Le Havre...) !

I would be delighted if any fellow collector could share it here...

The photography below is a press clipping (in La Vie Au Grand Air) from a "Possibles vs Probables" match in 1911 in Paris (Parc des Princes)... Easy win 33-3 to the Probables in white... my picture shows SCUF lock Jules Cadenat jumping to contest the ball over Pierre Mouniq's head (n°2)... that day, his teammates were Communeau, F. Forgues, Lane, Paoli, Faillot, Burgun, Dufau (n°14), Laribau (n°9), de Beyssac... (full size pic here)



As far as I know, this is my oldest French picture showing numbers on jerseys...  Does someone know about Home Countries ?

Indeed, you couldn't miss these large numbers... that were printed on both sides of the jersey !

The very same jerseys (in these early days - expensive -  jerseys were returned to the team manager after the game...)  were worn again in December the same year to prepare 1912 season... but North vs South again... suggesting some swaps between Blacks and Whites... full size (even king size...) and names here: Cadenat... in black standing between Communeau (n°7) and Mauriat (n°2) on the left... Mouniq in white (n°1) with F.Forgues (n°8) on the right...

"Of course we won the game"

Since I started this website in 2005, I've been paying regular tributes to David Gallaher, captain of the 1905-06 "Original" All Blacks who died of wounds in Belgium in 1917 during WW1...

As you know, there's now a trophy named after Dave Gallaher which is contested between New Zealand and France to reward the team winning a series of test matches. This year, the Gallaher Trophy flies back to France for the first time... by the narrowest margin (+1 goal average... France b NZ 27-22 and NZ b France 14-10). Here are the Frenchies last Saturday at Wellington... well done & congrats !

(credit : lequipe.fr - thank you!)

French rugby owes a lot to the All Blacks... To make a long story short, France entered the international rugby arena on January 1st, 1906 when a newly formed Equipe de France played an inaugural match in Paris vs Gallaher's All Blacks, at the end of their historical tour in Great Britain. France lost 8-38 (but scoring two tries... i.e. more than Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales together during the other Test Matches...)... and immediately got attention and recognition from Home Countries... leading England to accept an invitation to play in Paris three months later ; the door was ajar... though it took another three years for Ireland, Wales and Scotland to do the same and accept yearly fixtures with France...


Here is a full page photo coverage of that "seminal" game in French magazine "L'Illustration" dated January 6th, 1906. Top corner pictures show captains Henri Amand for France and David Gallaher for New Zealand (picture here : large or king size...)

This being said, I was wondering what kind of reminiscence could that particular game leave in the rich history of kiwi rugby... so I've checked my old books (disclaimer : I don't have all of them... please Santa Claus, help me !) : nada, nitchevo, nothing... the game in Paris is obviously mentionned in the agenda but doesn't deserve a comment...

The only exception on my bookshelves comes from David Gallaher himself... in its fantastic "The Complete Rugby Footballer" written with his vice-captain W.J.Stead. This book gives full coverage of the 1905-1906 tour, as well as All Blacks tactics and training methods...



332 pages, out of which two sentences relate to French rugby "... from London we went straight to Paris, where on Monday we played a French team, who proved to be really good sportsmen. Of course we won the game, for Rugby Football has hardly got going in France yet, but the Frenchmen played up well, and were plucky enough for anything. It delighted them greatly when they crossed our line. Then back to London..."

I love that  "of course we won the game"...

rugby, All Blacks, Gallaher

Private Joke...

Cartoonist Fougasse knew it already... posing for a team rugby picture could require years of intense practice... and so do these 1920s ruggers (published in Punch Magazine)...

Captions read (larger picture here) :
- On the Command "Prepare to be photographied"
- Tenge the legs in order to provide an exaggerated impression of their muscular development
- Raise the soulders to increase the apparent width of the chest
- And fold the arms so that the muscles of each are forced into prominence by the hands judiciously placed behind them...

Well, that's basically what some members of this Crazy Ruck are intending to demonstrate... full story (in French...) here !

Thank you Richard, and all folks, for this nice lunch !

The Great Rugby Match at Wellington

"The Great Rugby Match at Wellington" ... could be the newspaper headlines for the second test match between All Blacks and France next Saturday, but actually relates to the British Lions touring to New Zealand in 1904.

Title (not on my picture) reads "Popular Interest in the Rugby Game"... 20,000 people gathering at the stadium (the total population of New Zealand was then around 800,000...) to witness the New Zealanders beat the British team captained by Mr Bedell-Sivright by nine points to three... the rise of colonial rugby... and possibly a trigger to set up the famous 1905 tour in Europe of Gallaher's All Blacks...

The picture above (larger pic available here) comes out of a four pages article published in London some three months later (errr... can't remember the name of the newspaper...) which brings some thoughts about the tour and team pictures as well (page 1 2 3 4 )

This other view of Wellington stadium belongs to John @ ovalballs.com (Thanks, Master !). John has some fine and rare postcards, incl. team pictures, of the 1904 Lions tour on his website - don't miss them...

Many cartoons were also issued after the game... here are two very collectible postcards (and some others in my drawers for future postings...)... from a time when neither the kiwi nor the "All Blacks" brand were established as a New Zealand "trade marks"...

 

(larger postcards here and there)

"Allons Enfants" into the unknown...

Modern history today ! A 30 years flashback to July 14th, 1979 ("Bastille Day") to recall the first victory ever of a French side touring to New Zealand...

Possibly one of my first "rugby" souvenir (I was 12)... that day, Jean-Pierre Rives and his goodfellows (Gallion, Joinel, Dubroca, Paparemborde, Dintrans, Codorniou, Aguirre...) defeated Graham Mourie's All Blacks 24-19 (names of all players here)... Above is the programme of the match, and below is a 10min summary of the game on French TV... You'll hear French commentator Roger Couderc almost dying from heart attack at the end...

This leads us to another classic New Zealand v France test match tomorrow at Carisbrook... French rugby is so desappointing these days that it would be foolish to place a bet on France, but our kiwi friends are our favorite victims of some rare "coup d'éclat" (1979, 1994, 1999, 2007)... "Our test matches are always a trip into the unknown..."

The last sentence isn't mine... It was mailed to me earlier this week by His Blackness Jed "Jedi" Thian... Some of you know that I am a big fan of his Alternative Rugby Commentary (here on the web - here on Facebook)... For those who don't know him yet, please do take three minutes to check these videos (shot in 2007) : the first one will show you Jed "at work" live in a pub and on the web, the second one is an hilarious teaser for the previous (and miserable...) French tour in New Zealand...

Jed has also set up a group on Facebook to cover tomorrow event... when I read the baseline ("Let see what makes these frogs tick...") and see the supporting picture there, I do have some ideas about his views on the game ;-)

Edited June 13th : yes... yes...yes... yes !!!

 

(picture credit to lequipe.fr )

Brennus shield goes to Perpignan ! 1914-2009...

Perpignan - Union Sportive Arlequins Perpignan - is the new French champion !

USAP stroke last Saturday a clear-cut 22-13 victory over Clermont (full story @ scrum.com)... Perpignan seventh "Bouclier de Brennus" (Brennus' Shield), but only the first in the last fifty years... Congratulations to the Catalans, it's well deserved... Perpignan must be the very heartland of French rugby nowadays : a region totally committed to rugby (should it be USAP in Rugby Union or Catalans Dragons in Rugby League), local players (*) finding their way among foreign "mercenaries"... and not a single football club miles away... but FC Barcelona !

Today picture is the cover page of French sports magazine "La Vie Au Grand Air", May 1914, celebrating Perpignan first title in 1914 (Perpignan b. Tarbes 8-7 in Toulouse )  ... A great photowork (larger pic here) that shows the portrays of both captains - Barbe for Perpignan and Dufour for Tarbes - over the famous trophy... the very same that was awarded last Saturday (picture : credit to usap.fr) ...

(*) Saturday MVP was young Perpignan-born Jérôme Porical... fullback like his father (who lost 1977 final with USAP) and grand-father (who won 1938 final with USAP)...

Edited June 8 : it seems that the whole city was down the street to welcome the team back in Perpignan...

rugby, perpignan, brennus

What a wonderful (digital) World...

When I started this website back in 2005, online resources for rugby history were more than scarce, and quite always to be credited to hardworking generous individuals... I'm happy to realize now "serious" institutions like public libraries and newspapers have now joined the (digital) game... 

Getting digital is great... sharing is even greater ! Let's consider for instance this fine comic print - "The Triumph of John Bull Junior - Episodes of Fast and Fancy in the Struggle for Rugby Supremacy" in NZ newspaper The Free Lance, August 20th 1904 - paying tribute to the All Blacks (I know, there weren't called "All Blacks" in 1904....) who defeated British Lions... This print is available in hi resolution thanks to efforts of The National Library of New Zealand... Their archive - PaperPast - contains more than one million pages from various NZ publications and covers the years 1839 to 1920... No need to say : you'll find some rugby treasures there !... I was like a kid in a toy factory during my first visits...

And now the cherry on the cake: The National Library of New Zealand grants permission for the reproduction of its material, the only requirement being that attribution to them is made (basically, same as my Creative Commons licence...). Ladies & Gentlemen from down under: thank you !

I truely believe that sharing knowledge - even the smallest contribution... - is a progress to our society, and it makes me really mad when public institutions behave like if they were business data banks... Example ? French National Library (as public as their kiwi collegues...) is also online: their service - called Gallica - brings a lot of interesting pictures and documents... but the material is restricted for use, and heavily priced even for non-commercial usage... bad!

Sharing this copyrighted picture of the first fixture between France and England at the Parc des Princes in March 1906, could possibly bring me into troubled waters... unless I pay 56€+VAT (almost 80 US$... price list here...). If some "Messieurs from BnF" do read these lines, don't hesitate to give a call to discuss my point...

In that respect, let's welcome "The Commons", an initiative from Flickr: a place where public libraries volunteer to share photographies free of any copyright, and sometimes ask in return for some help to identify the pictures... a few rugby pictures there, notably this team photography of 1908-1909 Kangaroos feat. Dally Messenger and Arthur Hennessy (full team here) provided by the State Library of New South Wales ...

... or the very same National Library of New Zealand (again, thank you... you rule !) which brings that great view of the crowd at Wellington Athletic Park in the 1920s... (Photo by William Hall Raine - king size pic available here)

This note is (too ?) long but doesn't claim to be exhaustive (don't hesitate to share your favorite online resources in the comments below...) Let's however also pay some credit to the "pioneer" of all online resources, i.e. US Library of Congress, which shares some hi res / no copyright rugby pictures, such as this famous WW1 poster published in 1915 by Central London Recruiting Depot... "Rugby Union Footballers are doing their Duty"... claiming that 90% of them have already enlisted and that "every player who represented England in Rugby international matches last year has joined the colours - in The Times, Nov. 30, 1914"...

Enough said ! Let's share !

Lions, beware of the Men in Green...

In a few days, 2009 "British & Irish" Lions will start a very much awaited 5 weeks tour in South Africa (10 fixtures, 3 test matches... full programme here)

A couple of days ago, I was discussing and exchanging "Springboks" pictures with some South African gentlemen... that perfectly fits !

The history of British (OK... English, then English + Irish, then British...) teams touring to South Africa brings us back to 1891 (cf this previous post)... way before the names "Lions" or "Springboks" were coined by journalists or rugby officials...

Five years later, in 1896, a second tour was undertaken in South Africa. This also was very successful for the visiting side : only 1 of the 21 matches being lost, and 1 drawn. Indeed, out of four international matches played against South Africa, the first three were won by the British side (8-0, 17-8 and 9-3)... but the fourth game played in Newlands, on Sept.5th, by the gentlemen above led by B.H.Heatlie (Western Province) saw the very first victory of a South African team by 5 points to nil.

"This was the first South African team to beat a British team" as reads the caption of this team photo... and also, notably, the very first South African team to wear the famous green jersey...

The team was, from left to right (back row) P.Scott (Transvaal), H.van Broekhuizen (Western Province), P.de Waal (WP), H.Cloetze (WP), A.Beswick (Border), T.A.Samuels (Griqualand West), (middle row) F.T.D.Aston (Transvaal), A.Larard (Transvaal), P.S.T.Jones (WP), B.H.Heatlie (capt, WP), C.G.van Renen (WP), P.Dormehl (WP), (seated) J.H.Anderson (WP), T.Etlinger (WP), T.Hepburn (WP)

The British side was a blend of English and Irish ruggers, captained by John Hammond (Blackheath), feat. prominent players like J.F.Byrne (Moseley and Midlands) and L.M. "Louis" Magee (Bective Rangers and London Irish) (both being also portrayed on this famous postcards series... or playing against eachother there).

1896 South Africa team picture comes from Difford's "The History of South African Rugby Football" (published 1933). You can download a hi-res picture with the name of the players here @ Flickr.

Byrne photo comes out of the great "Famous Footballers" portfolio (1895), while L.M.Magee picture is an Ogden cigarette card issued in 1902.

Finally, a question for the Springboks experts... team captain B.H.Heatlie is wearing an embroided chest badge on his jersey (and he is the only one...)... what does this 'logo' show ?

Edited May 19 : nice input from Sean Fagan, who reminds us that Heatlie gave his SA team his Old Diocesan (aka Bishops Diocesan College) Rugby Club's green coloured jerseys (full story @ Bishops College)

As Sean tells us "Fair guess that the logo is from that club, and he is in fact wearing his club jersey?!! The badge on his jersey looks like a bishop's headwear (a mitre...), which is the top part of the College's logo."

Edited May 25 : Conrad de Kock in Jo'Burg brings us a final confirmation : "In the book “ History off Bishops rugby “ by Paul Dopson, if you have a look on page 38 there is a picture of the Bishops 1^st fifteen team. Half the team is wearing that exact jersey !! So we can agree that Heatlie is wearing his “school” rugby jersey in the photo"

Warm thanks to all rugby "Sherlocks"... or Clouzeau...

rugby, lions, springboks

The 1905 All Blacks training like you've never seen them before

Old rugby books often show "classical" pictures of rugby players training (hey, it's easier to shot them..) like these first All Blacks Deans and Gillett practicing their passing game in "The Complete Rugby Footballer" by Gallaher & Stead, 1906.

But here is a funnier one ! The very same 1905 All Blacks relaxing at football with a rugby ball... "the lighter side of football" as the original photo is captioned in "The book of Football: A Complete History and Record of the Association and Rugby Games" (The Amalgated Press, 1906)



The full caption reads : "the All Blacks when training for their match against Surrey, played at Richmond on November 1, 1905 (New Zealand 11 points - 1 goal, 2 tries - Surrey nil), practised on the ground of the Ealing Association F.C. at aling. The presence of the Association goal-posts and nets led them to try the "Soccer" game with their Rugby ball, with the fantastic above result" ...

(larger pictures @ Flickr : first pic , second pic)

PS: indeed two wonderful books to capture the early rugby football game...

 

PPS : Having fun at training also reminds me of this great Adidas video (2007 ?) showing the Blacks and the British Lions playing an innovative "Last Man Standing" game... I wish I was there...

The Jolly Book for Boys

"The Jolly Book for Boys"... "The Book for Jolly Boys"... "The Jolly Boys for Book"... err, whatever the (sometimes stupid...) titles, I really like the rugby illustrations of English youth litterature... sometimes naive, sometimes funny, always colourful...

Here is another fine sample from 1931... don't hesitate to share yours !

(larger picture @ Flickr)

rugby

American week... The Tiger @ Lick

The end of my American week... a snapshot on rugby played in California Universities before WW1...

Not Standford nor California (another topic... another time...) but California School of Mechanical Arts, aka "Lick" (from founder James Lick), as I recently found a couple of School Student Magazine "The Tiger" related to rugby...

The Tiger nowadays remains the official sport mascot at Lick, but it seems that they no longer play rugby there...

So, here are two fine rugby covers, issued in 1911 (upper picture) and 1914 (below). Inside pictures show team facebook or team training...

 

This pre-ww1 Californian rugby paves the way to future American victories at 1920 and 1924 rugby Olympics... We'll come back to that later...

(larger pictures @ Flickr : 1911 - 1914 - team 1911 - training 1914)

Once upon a time in America...

Alternative title: Walter Camp was a rugger...

A short tribute to US Rugby and American ruggers... displaying one of the first rugby team at Yale, in the 1870s... feat. "Father of American Football" Walter Camp...

History records that first rugby game in the US was played on May 5, 1875 (exactly 134 years ago...) between Harvard University and Montreal's McGill University.

To be precise, that was the first game organised and played between two distinct teams, because the rugby game was already known and played before that date in universities with no competitions nor agenda.

I'm afraid time is missing (to me...) to explain how rugby was introduced a by an old Rugbeian (Mr D.S.Schaff) in Yale in 1871, competing with other old local ball games, then how East Coast Universities were struggling to decide common code and rules for their inter-universities fixtures : sometimes playing "real" rugby code (inked in 1845 and 1871), sometimes accomodating it with local rules, sometimes changing code at half time... All this effervence about codes will soon be ironed out by Walter Camp and friends who will amalgamate all influences and set up the code of American Football as we (almost) know it... and surpassed in popularity rugby code until it surged again in West Coast Universities in the 1910s (another story.. another time...)...

The upper picture, captioned "Uniform of the First Rugby Team at Yale", comes out of a ten pages article titled "Football in America" written by Walter Camp in the November 1898 issue of Franck Leslie's Popular Magazine (larger picture here). This richly illustrated article explains the roots of American Football in local ball games and pays a tribute to rugby code as a major contributor, as Camp was also a pioneer of Rugby game at Yale.... hence, the picture of the rugby team...  There is no date for this "first rugby team"... but I guess that young-looking Walter Camp (sitting in the middle row, third from the left) was then a "Freshman", i.e. 1876 ... All other suggestions are welcome !

Funnily, a large part of this article (at least, the pictures...) was dedicated to "fashion" discussions about the uniforms and football kits... For instance, here are a couple of football players from the 1880s : Peace of Princeton, Frederic Remington and Gill of Yale...

(larger pics here, here and there)

PS : first post in almost three weeks... I still have many stories and pictures to share but can hardly spare time to write them down and put them online... contributions are welcome ! F-


Edit May 6th : this wonderful (according to my standards...) article is now available for download... You'll find all the details about the early days of rugby in the US, written or discussed by people who were involved in person 20-25 years earlier. It also shows that historical recollection can be (is...) difficult as even protagonists do not remember all facts and dates...
"Football in America" W.Camp, 1898

Eton Wall Game... also in video

Indeed, that's not rugby, it's Eton Wall Game, here reported in Harpers' Weekly for the American public as a strange local curiosity...

As a Frenchman, I'm very intrigued by all these old (XVIIIth century...) ball games played in English colleges... Some of them have evolved to universal sports like football and rugby as we know it, some others remain specific to the place where they're played like the "Wall game" played at Eton.

I've tried - with reasonable success - to understand the rules (here they are in pdf...) and the spirit of the game... this page on Eton website is a good start to kick into the subject... As this paper reads "[it] is exceptionally exhausting and is far more skilful than might appear to the uninitiated. The skill consists in the remorseless application of pressure and leverage as one advances inch by painful inch through a seemingly impenetrable mass of opponents"

You'll also certainly appreciate this incredible fact about scoring a goal... "The attackers can now attempt to throw a ‘goal’ which would bring them an extra nine points (the goals are a garden door at one end and a tree at the other). [...] goals are very uncommon — the last on St Andrew’s Day was in 1909." 100 years without scoring... I guess that the next one will be heavily celebrated !

It also reads that "few sports offer less to the spectator" ... which doesn't seem to prevent an impressive crowd to meet for the Game, as per this old photography (from one of my old books... but I dont remember which one to credit...)



Larger pics are available @ Flickr (top pic , bottom pic). I was also happy to find this fine movie footage on YouTube showing the Game in 1921, thanks to the efforts of British Film Institute to open and share their unvaluable archives.

Teaser : I've found incredible, astonishing, thrilling, moving - no less - movies of early rugby at the BFI... I'll share that soon... they're just unbelivable ... I mean at least for the rugby memorabilia fan...

eton wall game, BFI

Kangaroos "War Cry"... French tour, 1938

My last Rugby League post before getting back to more familiar topics... (so to say, I recently found a series of photographies about Rugby League in France in the 30s...)

So... Australian Kangaroos touring in Europe Oct.1937 - Jan.1938... 35 games in England (P.25 W.13 D.1 L.11 - Test series 1-2) and France (P.10 W.9 L.1 - Test series 2-0). Sean Fagan gives more details and stats about this 7th Kangaroo Tour on his website rl1908.com.

Here are two pictures of the first Test Match played in Paris (Stade Buffalo) on January 1st 1938, won 35-6 by the ARL ruggers. The picture above brings classical rugby action, whereas the picture below shows the Kangaroos performing their "War Cry" before the kick-off... an Aboriginal "War Cry" that goes like :

Wallee Mullara Choomooroo Tingal
Nah! Nah! Nah! Nah!
Cannai, Barrang, Warrang,
Warrang,Yallah, Yallah, Yallah, Yallah,
Ah! Jaleeba, Booga, Boorooloong,
Yarnah meei, meei, meei Meeyarra, Meeyarra, Jeeleebo, Cahwoon,
Cooeewah, Cooeewah, Wahh, Wooh.

(translation)
We are a race of fighters, descended from the War Gods -
Beware! Beware! Beware! Beware!
Where we fight there will be bloodshed -
Go! Go! Go! Go!
We are powerful, but merciful; are you friends?
Good! Good!
The Kangaroo is dangerous when at bay.
Come on, Come on, to Death.

RL1908.com (again... thank you, Sean!) will tell you everything about the history of this Kangaroo War Cry here ... a not-so-serious stuff aiming at entertaining European crowds and attracting more fee-paying patrons since 1908... actually, also a strong expectation from the English public for all Colonial teams, since 1905 All Blacks, 1906 Springboks and 1907 All Gold (Baskerville's New Zealand RL team) did all perform their own "war-cry" or "haka". The first Australians touring to England in 1908 didn't escape from delivering their own... as soon as they stepped out their boat...

1934-2009 : Rugby League in France is 75 years old

Sean sent me yesterday a kind reminder... Rugby League in France is 75 years old today as "Federation Française de Rugby à XIII" ("FFR13" French Rugby League) was created on April 6th 1934.

Frankly, I am not going to discuss about the tumultuous history of Rugby League in France... born in the 30s when French Rugby Union was shaken by a major crisis, almost killed in the 40s when banned by pro-fascist Vichy government, re-established as a major sporting power in the 50s culminating with the organisation of the first Rugby League World Cup in France in 1954, and pretty much marginalized in modern times (less that 10,000 licenced players in France.. vs more than 300,000 for Rugby Union).

English speaking readers could find some related stories here at rl1908 (French RL - Still waiting an apology) or on Wikipedia (History of French Rugby League). French speaking readers will find more on French Wikipedia here (Rugby à XIII), or simply by watching the video ("Rugby à XIII : Envers et contre tous"... 5€ VOD... good value for money !) advertised in the right column. If you're found of historical papers, I also encourage you to google for Robert Fassolette's papers (such as 1, 2, 3 or 4). Robert is both a RL coach and RL historian... and a passionate advocate for his favorite sport.

Enough said ! I am not going to discuss... my point is to give a small tribute to French Rugby League pioneers...

Above are the "Galia Boys" in Leeds (according to Robert "Sherlock" Fassolette... ), March 1934 (larger pic here). A team of 17 players - all banned from French R.U. because of "professionalism" - set up by Jean Galia, invited in England by Rugby Football League in an attempt to promote Rugby League in France on the "ruins" of French Rugby Union... a successful attempt indeed, as those guys with hardly no experience in RL showed impressive skills during their 15 days tour... 6 played , 5 lost vs Leeds (17-25), Wigan (27-30), RFL selection in Warrington (16-32), London Highfields (17-19) and Salford (13-35), 1 won vs Hull (26-23)

Jean Galia, here with R.U. Equipe de France..., was possibly the best forward in French rugby in the late 20s / early 30s. Galia, who played R.U. for Quillan, Perpignan and Villeneuve, earned 20 caps with Equipe de France between 1927 and 1931 (cf this earlier post feat. Galia vs NSW Waratahs). He was banned - with many other players - from French Rugby Union in 1933. He quickly became the most active sponsor of Rugby League in France, and first suggested a World Cup of RL as early as 1935 ! Galia is featured on the opulent 1930s Courtney Goodwill Trophy along with Dally Messenger (Australia), Albert Baskerville (New Zealand) and Harold Wagstaff (Great Britain) (credit to Sean for the tip!)

Let me also pay a tribute to Max Rousié, fast and powerful scrum half, who also earned a few caps @ 15 before becoming one of the most famous Rugby League players. He's here - as Roanne captain - shaking hands with Lancashire captain in Paris (Stade Buffalo). Rousié is also below posing with Sylvain Bès, another fine rugger who is interviewed - as an old gentleman - in the video I mentionned before...

PS : a few words in French to help Google and other search engines... 75 ans du Rugby à 13 (jeu à treize ?) en France... Jean Galia, Max Rousié...