Heart and Soule, 1852

Here is a French print "La Soule en Basse Normandie" ("Soule in Lower-Normandy") published in 1852 in weekly magazine L'Illustration.

Soule was a ancient rural game, mostly played in the Northern / Northwestern part of France, where all valid young men from two villages were fighting to bring a ball (the so-called "soule") to a designated place in the opposing village... legends recall of numerous crushed bones or young men found dead... the article (here, in French) supporting this print however explains that these brutal days were gone and that the "soule" game was far less passionate than before, but still violent enough to be banned by authorities...

When I was younger, "soule" was regularly evoked as the ancestor of rugby game ... a historical and sporting non-sense... but very typical of a chauvinist way to re-write history... (disclaimer : I'm French !)

(full size picture available here)

Sorry for the title of this post... let's call it a private joke !