Rugby-Pioneers

"rugby-pioneers" is 3 years old !

I started blogging old rugby pictures in February 2005 (on another "cheap" website, still online - but "down" quite often...)... so, Happy Brithday to me !

Internet years are like dog years... you have to multiply by 7... just to say that this website is now adult...and hope that I'll find again time, ideas... and pictures (*) for some more years to go !

I browsed my Flickr pictures but failed to find a rugby picture with a Birthday cake (John, do you have this ?)... instead (**), here is a recent purchase : an "Art Nouveau" illustrated postcard, by artist Victor Mignot. This card comes from Belgium... actually a revolutionary postcard : handsome young men and a pretty young lady assaulting a "bourgeois" with a rugby ball...

(*) btw, your contributions to this website are always welcome (mail me as indicated in the upper left corner)... Collectors of the World, Unite !

(**) it's my website, I do what I like ;-)  !


Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, postcard, birthday, victor mignot

Australian Rules - Fitzroy FC - Capstan Cigarette Card

I sometimes collect pictures to illustrate other related football codes such as rugby league, football association, American football or Australian footy... such as this early XXth century Capstan cigarette card featuring Fitzroy FC colours and flags. Fitzroy is a suburb of Melbourne, "home" of Australian Rules, engaged in Victorian Football League (VFL)

The origins and history of Austalian Footy are a little difficult to grasp for a newbie like me... many regional variations , many local leagues, leagues breaking away from each others... VFA, SAFA, TFA, NTFA, SAFA, NSWAFA, WAFA, STFA then VFL, NSWAFL, TFL, QFL, WAFL, AFL... stop ! the whole chronology is here, starting back in 1858... I'll study it later...

Let's also mention this article by rugby league historian Sean Fagan "THE 150 YEAR OLD HOAX: AFL'S FIRST GAME WAS RUGBY"... kindly putting some controvery in a very Australian debate about the origins of the game...

Having said that, it's a nice card....



Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, fitzroy, AFL, VFL, RL1908

Rugby Military Circus, 1911

What the .... is that scene ?

My postcard is all stained and not very clear (pls check a large one here @ Flickr) but you could identify French soldiers in uniform, a trapeze artist and a full rugby team... pretty strange, indeed...



Identificateurs Technorati : rugby

Rugby at the Olympic Games, Stade de Colombes, Paris 1924

Still discussing about rugby at the Olympic Games... here in Paris, 1924... with a nice view of Stade de Colombes from plane... you can see the players, the rugby posts and the Olympic flags.. (larger pic here)

Actually, I was on my way back to my office, this afternoon, and decided to visit a postcard dealer downtown Paris... and was happy to find this card "hidden" among other football cards...

I am making a bet... the stadium is half empty, suggesting that France is not playing that day... hence, the only possibility left to us is USA v Romania... (39 - 0 ! nine tries to nil for the Americans...)


Technorati Tags : rugby , olympic games, stade de colombes

Pierre Vitalien "Le rugby aux Jeux Olympiques"

Introducing a recent French rugby book, by Olympic collector and writer Pierre Vitalien about Rugby at the Olympic Games (1900-1936).

Pierre has spent a lot of time and efforts to gather all possible documents about the games held in Paris (1900), London (1908), Antwerp (1920), Paris again (1924) and Berlin (1936... a pre-olympic tournament that was unknown to me until I read it...)... All possible stats, press pictures, postcards, bio of all players... are displayed there, as this book is much more about memorabilia than historical analysis... Let's also mention that I have brought a very modest contribution to this book...

Do you want to have a look at it ? please check this 3 min video ... my new job as a book reviewer (thanks to my webcam...) !

Pierre Vitalien : le rugby aux Jeux Olympiques
envoyé par Frederic

This book costs @ 30€ + shipping costs. It is not available online, as it is published and commercialised by Pierre Vitalien himself. If you are interested, just send me a mail for inquiries or orders ; I will forward it to Pierre.

Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, vitalien, olympic games

More colours , please !

I realize that all my recent posts are in Black&White... and that they're all very serious... time for a break, then !

Here is a French comic card, no date but pre-WW1, showing an energetic touch line-up...

I love this kind of illustrated cards ! and now need to find the others... so far, I have identified four other cards in this series (provided my Mr Serge Laget to illustrate one of my favorite rugby books...) showing respectively a) the teams entering the stadium, b) a scrum, c) a try and d) a severe tackle... could somebody help me there ;-) ?

"Live rugby" this week end ! My 8 years old boy and I have tickets to support France vs Ireland (at Stade de France)... My son's "debut" in the Tournament (but he has already attended to France... Ireland during the RWC...)... We will both wear our "official" jerseys... old and new...

Technorati Tags : rugby, postcard

Scotland - France 1921, or how Rene Crabos led the first away victory of a French side in Great Britain

OK, this is a post for my French readers !

Tournament history recalls that Scotland could be France favorite victim... as a kind retaliation to the fact that Scotland was the last of Home Countries to agree playing against us... (England 1906, Wales 1908, Ireland 1909... Scotland 1910!)
1911 : France b Scotland 16-15 in Paris... first "home" victory of a French side against Home Countries...
1921 : France b Scotland 3-0 in Edinburgh... first "away" victory of a French side in Great Britain... (so to say, France defeated Ireland in Dublin in 1920...)

Here is French captain Rene Crabos, portrayed in Miroir des Sports (27/1/1921) newspaper, while drafting an article (to be read here in full size) about his victory in Edinburgh the previous Saturday.

Here are the guys (larger pic)



Standing: Cyril Rutherford (touch referee), Boubée, Coscoll, Biraben, Lubin, Soulié, Pons
Sitting: Vaqué, Got, Crabos (cap), Bordes, Lobies, Lasserre
On the ground : Piteu, Clément, Billac (who scored the winning try)

(Struxiano, Sebedio, Cassayet and Jaureguy were not selected)

The Tournament is back !

Scotland - France, next Sunday at Murrayfield.... !

95 years earlier, in 1913, France was welcoming Scotland in Paris, Parc des Princes... it was only their second encounter in Paris, as Scotland had waited until 1910 to agree to play France...

The French side ,captained by Gaston Lane (RCF), was unable to rival against a strong Scottish side, led by F.Tume, thus heaviliy losing 5 tries to 1 (21-3, thanks to a late try by Sebedio - below)



Caledonians were certainly eager to wipe out their previous defeat (16-15 in 1911) in Paris, actually France very first international victory (cf here and there)...

On the other side, French crowd, an all-time best of 25 000 people at the Parc de Princes, was high on expectations and started to yell at the referee J.M.Baxter (mostly because the rules weren't known or understood in the audience...) as things were getting more and more difficult for France on the ground.... After the final whistle, things got worse as part of the crowd started to chase after Mr Baxter... forcing him to be protected by the mounted police back to his hotel. After that incident, Scotland decided to ban France...but, relationship resumed after WW1... let's call that "brotherhood of war"...

French sports newspaper "Le Plein Air" (Jan.13,1913) where I have scanned these pictures, doesn't say anything about this violent incident... just could I find this cartoon by W.Van Hasselt highliting some key moments of the match... (larger picture here)

BTW last week, I was introducing a great rugby artwork by W.Van Hasselt... but Van Hasselt was also a rugby cartoonist...

Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, france, scotland