Rugby-Pioneers

Colourful rugby...

Yet another youth magazine with a colourful rugby cover ! It comes from Chums, September 1931... Jonh and wife Elizabeth kindly offered it to me when they came across to Paris during the RWC... Thanks a lot ! (and don't forget to visit John's memorabilia website @ ovalballs.com)

Vivid purple indeed... which does not appear in my "repository" of college colours... artist's imagination, then...



Discussing about jersey colours... have you seen the new kit of Stade Français ? an awful blend of khaki and pink that let me think that my favorite players are covered with mud and dust... I have opened a Facebook group to protest against it !!

(picture : credit to Stade Français www.stade.fr)

Technorati Tags : rugby, chums, ovalballs, stade français, facebook

Springboks in Paris 1907-2007... part II

Last Sunday, I was mentionning that the Springboks played against a French team on January 3rd, 1907 at the Parc des Princes, and that this match wasn't recorded as a Test match... Here is a French newspaper (Sports Universel Illustrés, Jan.1907) which gives the whole story...

The funny thing (or not so funny....) is that the "official" Equipe de France was already en route to London to play against England two days later. This fixture was France third official match in our short internationnal rugby history... and the only one played in 1907... (lost 13-41 to England, cf a recently published picture here). French best players (Communeau, Beaurin, Vareilles, Muhr, Mauriat, Lacassagne...) were away, thus the Boks were proposed to play a selection of Paris teams (9 players from Stade Français : Combe, Lesieur, Sagot, Jérome etc... and 6 from RCF : Maullman, Dupré, etc...)... Final score 54-6 for the Boks...

It seems that the stands of Parc des Princes were fairly crowded... :



Follow the link to access to the newspaper page (in French) (at least the first page...). The "Springboks" name, recently adopted by British commentators during SA tour in 1906 hasn't crossed the Channel yet... French journalist only refers to the "Afrikanders"...

Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, springboks, equipe de france

"Play up Hunslet"... a tribute to Jason Robinson and Albert Goldthorpe !

Disclaimer : I also like Rugby League !

Jason Robinson, England fullback and possibly one of the most talented player of the last RWC, started his Rugby League career in Hunslet (South Leeds)

Hunslet, founded 1883, was one of the founding members of the Northern Union in 1895, then one of the sport's strongest clubs in its early years, becoming the first to win All Four Cups in 1907-1908.

The gentlemen on my trade card could very well be Albert Goldthorpe, aka "Arh Albert" aka "the gentleman of Yorkshire football". Albert Goldthorpe made his debut as a 16 years old in October 1888. He is believed to have kicked nearly 1000 goals, including 14 from 15 attempts against Dudley Hill at Parkside. He is remembered by an older generation as a drop kick specialist and is credited with having dropped over 200 goals in his great career, 5 in one match.

In his last full season in the game, the “All Four Cups” season, Albert then aged 36 played in 42 games, scored 5 tries and kicked a new Northern Union record of 101 goals.

(credit to Hunslet website for this short bio - credit to Wikipedia for the picture)

PS : can somebody help me to identify this trade card... it looks like a Baines card... but it's oval... and there is nothing written on the back... or could it have been cut out from a larger print ?

Technorati Tags : rugby, baines card, jason robinson, albert goldthorpe

Springboks first victory in Paris... 100 years ago !

Well done Springboks ! their victory is well deserved... and I am sure that my English friends will agree with me...

As a coincidence, we are celebrating in 2007 the 100th anniversary of the first visit of a South African team in Paris, as in January 1907 Paul Roos' Springboks made a stop over in Paris on their way back home after their fantastic tour in Great Britain end 1906.

This picture is the cover page of French sports weekly magazine "La Vie Au Grand Air", January 1907, showing Boks' captain Roos holding the ball for his kicker Morkel.

This fixture is not recorded as a test match (at least in French records), as French officials only selected a Parisian team (Stade Français + Racing Club de France... as usual...)... I don't remember the exact score (my books are not with me....) but an easy victory for the Springboks...


(the same team during its tour in UK, end 1906)




Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, springboks

I will try...

... to make some good deals at this memorabilia auction this afternoon...

Paris public transports are on strike today.. I hope that it will discourage a lot of bidders to attend to this sale !

(write-away postcard, c1905)


Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, postcard

Rugby in Indochina, 1909

Sometimes, old postcards can reveal strange stories... I had never imagined that rugby had been played in French colonial Vietnam before WW1... This postcard, sent to France by one of the players, describes a game played in Hanoï in 1909, but the the teams remain unidentified.

I don't know if there is a connection, but I also remember that E.Bourcier de St Chaffray, captain of Stade Français in 1892-93 and co-author of this great "Football Rugby" book, was named civil administrator in Tonkin in 1895... I will check the B.O.S.F. (Stade Français weekly newspaper) and try to find out whether this gentleman was still in Hanoï in 1909...

(full size picture here)


Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, postcard, hanoi, bourcier de st chaffray

On my way to the Stade de France...

During the past two days, I have met a lot of wonderful fellows from the "rugby history" community... but I will detail that later... I am just rushing to the Stade de France to support France vs England... "Allons enfants de la patrie" !!

And here is a Donald McGill cartoon, 1905, captioned "What price me against the All Blacks ?"...

Make a guess....


Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, McGill

Celebrating 100 years of "Les Bleus"... and a quizz!

We celebrated last year the 100th anniversary of "Equipe de France" but I realized only last Sunday that we could now celebrate the introduction of our - now traditional - blue jersey...

France played its two first international fixtures in January 1906 against the All Blacks (check it here and there), then in March 1906 against England (here)... wearing white colours that were terribly similar to English colours... and moved the following year to a blue jersey / white short / red stockings kit that has remained fairly unchanged ... until recent years and the involvement of sports manufacturers into "rugby circus"...

So... French blue jerseys were first introduced in January 1907 to play England in Richmond, i.e. the second ever meeting of the two countries and the first in Enland - with the home side winning 41 -13.

French players on the image were (from left to right) Mauriat, Vergès, Lacassagne and Muhr.

I am afraid that I don't have any picture of this match in my collection... this one comes from "L'Encyclopédie du Rugby" by Jean-Pierre Bodis - out of press... please hurry to reprint ! - (and thanks Pierre V. for the scan)

And now, a quizz ! Simon droped me a mail some days ago asking for assistance to identify this jersey... and I must admit that I don't know (that's why I was searching among old French rugby jerseys...). Could somebody help ?



And for something completely different ...
RWC Semi-finals - France vs England : H - 4 days...



Identificateurs Technorati : rugby

France and England made it !

Yesterday, against all odds (France was 1:5 and England 1:4... suggesting 1:20 for a combined victory...), France and England found their way to the Semi-Finals next week in Paris.. another classical "Crunch" ! Just say "yeah !" ... and sorry for my friends in Australia and NZ...

Some of you, dear readers, will be jealous... as I have a ticket for this match... (thanks Jérome)

"Special bonus" : two vids from New Zealand... from the talented guys @ "Alternative Rugby Commentary"... the first video "the Periodic Tables" is a teaser for RWC Quarter-Finals... the other one "The French Test" was introducing French tour in NZ last June... hilarious !

(cover page from L'Illustration - April 3rd, 1921)

Technorati Tags: rugby, illustration, france, new zealand, alternative rugby commentary

Philippe Struxiano, "Très Sport", 1922

I am afraid that I don't have much time these days... so, let's just share this fine picture, actually the cover page of French magazine "Très Sport", November 1st 1922, portaying Philippe Struxiano in action...

"Très Sport" was published in the 20s by editor Pierre Lafitte, also editor of "La Vie Au Grand Air". Its baseline was "Le seul magazine sportif technique et pratique" ("the only pratical and technical sports magazine")... in this issue, Philippe Struxiano - then captain of Toulouse and Equipe de France - gives a 20 pages "lecture" about how a rugby team should train and play... I will detail that another time ... as well as Struxiano's bio...

BTW I recently published a (poor but interesting) picture of Stuxiano a couple of days ago... and here is a better one (somehow posing...)

Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, très sport, stuxiano, pierre lafitte