Equipe de France... January 1st, 1906
Today, the "Equipe de France" is 100 years old !
On a cold and rainy afternoon, fly-half Henri Amand from Stade Français ("cap" number 1, pictured here) captained the very first Equipe de France to play against the famous Gallaher's All Blacks at the Parc des Princes (8-38 to NZ... but two tries for the Frenchies against a team that didn't conceed much during this famous tour ...)
It is not my first post on this topic (here or there...) but I couldn't let this anniversary uncelebrated...
This Equipe de France was the first attempt to put together the best players in France (coming from Stade Français, Racing Club de France, Stade Bordelais, F.C. Lyon, S.O.E. Toulouse, Havre A.C.), instead of just gathering Parisian players only as it was the case for other international games in the past.
Having said that, imagine that these guys never played or trained together before this event, some of the players having reached Paris by train just minutes before the match...
(NB : Amand's picture is part of a trade card series of famous sportsmen published by retailer Felix Potin)
