Gentlemen from Paris... Stade Français in dark blue jerseys vs Racing Club de France in circled light blue jerseys... main Parisian rivals in the 1890s and early 1900s…
Stade Français is my favorite team ! By a
strange shortcut in history, it happens that this leading club in French
professional league (champion in 2003 and 2004) was also one of the leading
teams in the nascent (amateur) championship at the end of the 19th century...
During the first 15 years of competition, Stade Français managed 13 times to
reach the final, and won 6 titles in total...
More than that, his founders and fist players (E.St Chaffray, Louis Dedet,
H.Amand, M.Communeau, Emile Lesieur and many others ) played a key role in
establishing the Game in France, structuring clubs and championships, and
eventually founding a French national team able to compete with England, Wales,
New Zealand etc...
I’ve learnt to know these gentlemen thanks to this fantastic book (a present
from my wife… but, sorry, it’s out of stock now… don’t miss it on eBay…)
depicting the early days of Stade Français rugby team...
I like this print very much, but I must
admit it is a modern copy ! In fact, I dont know where is the original and I
dont know who I should credit for it...
The place of this match is also unknown to me. It could be Bagatelle (in the Bois de Boulogne, where I
played many times on Saturdays with my folks...) in 1892 for the very first
final lost 3-4 to the RCF (in that case, you'll be happy to know that the
referee with the nice hat must be Pierre de Coubertin, who cared about Rugby
before caring about Olympic Games)... or it could be the 1893 championship
final in Asnieres (near Paris) this time won 7-3 by Stade Français... First of
a series of 3 titles in a row : 1893, 1894, 1895...
Technorati Tags: rugby, stade français, rcf
