Rugby-Pioneers

"Tour de France" and Rugby meet at the Parc des Princes

The 95th "Tour de France" just ended yesterday... cycling is definitively not my cup of tea, but here is an opportunity to visit again Paris' main stadium, the Parc des Princes.

The Parc des Princes was inaugurated in 1897 as a velodrome. He was then managed by Henri Desgrange - a sportsman, journalist and entrepreneur - who later created the Tour de France in 1903... Desgrange was also managing sports newpaper L'Auto (now L'Equipe...)

The Parc des Princes had been for long time a high place of cycling in France, track cycling of course but also the finish line of Tour de France untill 1967 - the year when "old" Parc was closed and demolished to be rebuilt (in 1972) as it is today... without a cycling track...

This stadium had also hosted the first appearances of Equipe de France for both Football (since 1905) and Rugby (since 1906) (cf this post about France - All Blacks 1906... and that one also... or this one...). French national rugby team then moved to Colombes after WW1, before returning to the "new" Parc des Princes in 1973 (and now at the Stade de France since 1998)

Between 1900 and WW1, the Parc des Princes hosted most of international fixtures of Stade Français and Racing Club de France... the place could gather up to 10,000 people... but I understand that the rent was quite high... Desgrange was known to be a fierce businessman...

Enough said... here are four old postcards from the Parc des Princes :

- the upper one shows the gates in 1906, in Boulogne

- the second one shows Racing Club de France vs London Irish FC in 1899... the cycling track is visible in the background (great sporting picture, indeed !)

- the two lower cards give an idea of the atmosphere of the place, from the main stand (1910) or from the track (1906)

And finally, "Le Parc" (as we say in Paris...) as it is today... (credit to L'Internaute)

Colonial rugby... Afghanistan, 1879

Rugby game was spread around the World by students, merchants and soldiers, like this British regiment organizing a match during Second Afghan War... As a collector, I like to pin my rugby worldmap with pictures of these "colonial rugby"...

This one is a hand-coloured rugby print from "The Grafic", 1879.

My poor scan doesn't do justice to this great print... here is a larger (but not better, I am afraid...) pic here @ Flickr.

Full title is "the Afghan war football match by the 'fifty-ninth' regiment at Khelat-I-Gilzai", and caption reads : "Even if the Afghan war is raging and it is only Khelat-I-Gilzai, a try is still a try. Give the man room, my good friend - yes, you in the turban."

...no kidding...

(actually a repost from January 2006... blogging summer programs...)

Zen !

Zen... ruggers are zen...

This picture is a zoom on a very sought-after French art deco postcard (hem... collector's stuff, I admit) published during 1924 Olympics by French aromatic wine "St Raphël Quinquina"...

Here is the postcard (larger pic here)... captions reads (in French) "Football Rugby : Si vous êtes fatigué, au lieu d'invoquer tous les Saints du Paradis, demandez le St Raphaël Quinquina" ("if you're tired, ask for St Raphaël Quinquina instead of invoking all Saints in Paradise")

This postcard is part of an "Olympic" series depicting all major sports... Our friend Yiannis from Greece displays the "water polo" card on his wonderful "Water Polo legends" website... as well as another fine "St Raphaël" poster print from the same era...

Edited July 20. : Yiannis has sent me  this other "swimming" card from the same series. Thanks Yiannis !

Top Secret Messages and Top Ruggers, c1900

It's not the first time that I'm displaying this fine serie of 1900s top ruggers from Home Countries... but this time, I was happy enough to find a whole serie from the same owner... and it comes with some mysterious secret code !!

Let's first mention that these chromo-litho postcards were first published in 1899 - some of the very first rugby postcards ever ; full story here by Brian Lund @ ovalballs.com - to portray (from top) J.T.Mabon of Jed Forest and Scotland, the legendary A.J.Gould from Newport and Wales, the no-less-legendary Louis Magee of Bective Rangers and Ireland (Hello to the Magee family!) and J.F.Byrne of Moseley and England (Hello to Moseley fans !)



Having said that, what is this intrigating hand-wrtting on the cards ? I guess that two kids had elaborated a secret code to exchange messages... a mix between greek alphabet, hebrew or just algebrical signs (and a lot of "@"... maybe some XIXth century geeks...)... it doesn't seem very difficult to break as it's a basic "one sign" = "one letter" code but I am a bit lazy there... first and last word are always the same and must be the names of these young spies !

Full size pictures @ Flickr : Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England

Enjoy !

Hullo, Ragtime !!

"Hullo Ragtime !!" which basically means something like "ooops, sorry... ! too much work and too many things to do these days... and no time to post interesting rugby memorabilia stories..."

Actually, a Donald McGill postcard, c.1905...