Father & Son, 1906

I love this card ! Father and son proudly posing for the photographer with their rugby jerseys and representative caps.

I can't identify the father's jersey nor the caps - "C.R.F.C. 1905-06" on the head, "C.R.F.C." and "1904-05" (only...) in hand. Only hint : the postcard comes from Gloucester... Your guess ?

The boy's kit is one of the very first England School's jersey. There is one at RFU Museum of Rugby at Twickenham, shown in their nice catalogue "Beauty and Power : A journey through the history of world rugby". Fine embroidery, indeed...

 

Wales first invited an English Schoolboys team in Cardiff in 1904, followed by a match in Leicester in 1905, while other Home Nations school sides developed much later. I like the idea that our boy was a member of England 1905 team in Leicester... I doubt that you could find replicas at this time...

There are larger pictures available on Flickr (postcard / jersey / catalogue)

Post-Sciptum : when my son (2007 WRC replica) and I (1906 replica) are wearing our French jerseys, we are far less classy... ;-)

(France v Ireland - Feb.2008 in Paris)

Edit March 22 : there are at leat three gentlemen (thank you AD and Akky) to suggest that C.R.F.C. could refer to Cheltenham R.F.C. Thanks a lot !

Technorati Tags: rugby, postcard, England Schoolboy