"English Manners" : French rugby print, 1878

A French rugby print, published in 1878 in "La Mosaïque" showing a nice "old-style" game ! The good ole days when hacking ("coups de pieds au tibia" for my French readers...) and tripping ("croc-en-jambe"... ) were fully part of game... when it was not uncommon for scrums (sorry, scrummage...) to last 20 minutes...

Caption reads "Moeurs Anglaises : le Football (ballon au pied) exercice d'hiver aux environs de Londres" ("English Manners : Football winter exercise near London").

There is an anachronism here as rugby in England was already played with "modern" rules in 1878 (I mean no hacking, no tripping, etc..) but easily explained by the fact that the game that totally unknown in France at the time (not to mentioned a few expats in Le Havre). The newspaper must have copied an older print... If anybody knows about the original print, please drop a comment below !



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Comments

[Rui Vasco]

Brilliant stuff!