Marcel Communeau, Stade Francais, 1911

This gentleman should be ranked very high in the "Hall of Fame" of French rugby history...

On January 2nd 1911, France Captain Marcel Communeau led his team to a 16-15 victory against Scotland, which is recorded to be the very first victory of the "Equipe de France" on the international theatre... that's why he was portrayed in this newspaper a few days later... (actually, it was the first victory of a French national team against a British one, whatever sport is considered...)

I have already posted about France first international match against New Zealand in 1906 (Communeau was there already, but as a rookie...). It then took five years to celebrate a first success, paving the way to France becoming a serious and respected contendant in the nascent V nations championship... Having said that, WW1 put a hard stop on French progresses (between 1914 and 1918, Stade Francais lost 168 young sportsmen, whereas 225 got wounded... Communeau for instance crashed twice with his plane, but was luckier than his fellow Roland Garros...) so that the following victory only happened nine years later in april 1920, in Dublin.

Marcel Communeau was a true athlete and a strong personality : a brilliant student (ranked "major" from Ecole Centrale in 1904), then a successful industrialist. He started playing Rugby at Stade Francais in 1904 as a forward (mostly 3rd row or lock, but also sometimes prop
or hooker...) and quickly became one of the "playmakers" of the team...

He enyoyed 21 caps with France between 1906 and 1913 (a long lasting record), being elected Captain 13 times between 1908 and 1911.

As a Captain, he is the one who later requested to wear the gallic cock on France jerseys... some might have prefered more prestigious symbols, but the "rooster" is still there (and not only for rugby.. ) almost 100 years later... (on my print, his jerseys shows the Olympics rings... like here ...).

PS : I have found a detailed report about this France - Scotland match here (in French)


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