Rugby-Pioneers

"A Giant Awakens"... teaser...

"A Giant Awakens" is a 52 minute HD sports documentary that explores 130 years of rugby in America... a lot more details on the film website...

I was happy to contribute last winter to this project lead by producer and director Sylvain Doreau in SF... Indeed, I do have a couple of interesting pictures and movies about early American rugby... from the 1870s in East Coast universities (here) to the 1920s Olympic glory (here or there or below... and some more in my drawers...)

As Sylvain writes it: "The project is completed and we're finalizing our production licences. The film target is film festivals, National and international TV, online streaming and rentals, DVD and Blu-ray. We're planning to release a Dvd/Blue-ray by the end of the summer and will continue to ramp up our national media exposure until the end of he year."

Enjoy the teaser and stay tuned !

You can register on the website (here) or join the Facebook fan page to be informed real time about the project...

Olympic Hall of Fame... and nobody knows it :-(

I've discovered this great story while researching about my previous topic (cf Rabbits & Wallabies... 1908)... Here is Daniel Carroll, not even 20, i.e. the yougest member of the 1908 Wallabies squad which won rugby Gold medal at 1908 Olympic Games... He was said to be a fast winger... and scored two tries during the final (vs Cornwall representing Great Britain, final score 32-3)

In 1912, Carroll toured in California with the Wallabies... and stayed to study geology at Standford where he graduated in 1920, aged 32... but served in the US Army during WW1 before ... At Stanford, he played and coached rugby... Because of his outstanding rugby background, he was selected as player and coach of the US rugby Olympic squad at 1920 Olympics in Antwerp... and earned a second gold medal... for USA!

Four years later, having definitely settled in California, he coached US rugby Olympic team in Paris... and won a third gold medal for USA... (I'm not sure that coaches did get medals actually... but he surely deserved it !!)

Here is this gentleman again... left in 1920, right in 1924 wearing American colours... my pictures being "zoomed" from these two French pictures... first is the 1920 US team touring in Toulouse, France, after the Olympics in Belgium... below is the 1924 US squad training in England before Olympic games in Paris (larger pics here and there)





This great story was totally unknown to me until I googled this Australian sports website... please read Spiro Zavos' paper (Dan Carroll : rugby's greatest Olympian) for full bio and details... (to be honest, the story was also mentioned in Pierre Vitalien's book about rugby at the Olympics... but I've missed it until now... and it also gives me an opportunity to advertise for Pierre's fine book again...)

About how some Rabbits could have played the Tri-Series...

Here are two postcards showing Dr H.M.Moran's rugby team which travelled to British Isles to win the 1908 Olympic gold. Both postcards ("printed in England") show the same photography (+ some early "photoshop" corrections in the background on the second one... )... but not the same caption... (larger pics here and there)

The Australian team - indeed almost New South Wales rugby team -  is named "The Rabbits" in the upper picture, and "The Wallabies" (as we know them...) in the bottom one...

Moran (portray below) wrote in Viewless Winds (his recollections, published in 1939) that when the touring squad first arrived at Plymouth a pack of journalists were there who were anxious to give the team some distinctive name. The "Rabbits" was first suggested... and quickly rejected (rabbits were an introduced pest in Australia...) and soon after the team adopted the moniker of "The Wallabies"... but the first "Rabbits" postcards were already issued and printed !

"Wallabies" sounds better, I admit... but a Tri-Series All Blacks vs Rabbits, or a test like Lions vs Rabbits is something we could possibly miss...

All Blacks in 1905... Springboks in 1906... Wallabies in 1908... all "colonial" teams got their nicknames in a few years... let's recall that these early rugby tours were as much commercial enterprises as much as sporting challenges... touring team had to finance their travel and local expenses from gate money at the stadium or business deals (postcards... or sponsored rugby fixtures such as the game played by the All Blacks in Paris in January 1906 negotiated and financed by Stade Français officials ) ... amateur rugby, but professional methods... hence the "show business" circus (cool names, war cry...) with the objective complicity and support of British newspapers which found there material to narrate these long rugby tours...



PS : there's an "online exhibition" about 1908 Wallabies / Rabbits @ Rugby Memorabilia Society... just follow this link... and I've just asked the State Library of NSW the permission to use some of their wonderful old rugby pictures for future posts... stay tuned !

Murray cigarette cards, 1911

Rule n°18 of easy blogging : when you don't have time to write down interesting stories, just show some rare and fine early cigarette cards... such as this series published in 1911 by Murray "high class cigarettes"...

Actually, a series of 12 cards dedicated to football rugby... but I only own 5 of them :-(

The Rugby History Search Engine (geek stuff...)

"The Rugby History Search Engine" is a customized Search Engine 100% dedicated to... rugby history (no kidding!). This is a "DIY" technology provided by Google that enables to concentrate the search on a limited number of websites, and I have (arbitrarily...) elected to browse the most relevant "rugby history" websites (*)

You could either test it from the "box" above, or follow (and bookmark... ) this link.

It (almost...) looks like this...

And the results go like that (search on "Percy Bush")...

(*) basically all English speaking websites from my "Rugby Favorites" list in the left column... After some tests, I've decided to remove Wikipedia from the search because too much "noise"... This being said,  feel free to suggest others !

Off the Wall : a Century of Rugby Posters

I love vintage rugby posters !

Here is another good reason to visit RFU Rugby Museum at Twickenham : this "Off The Wall" temporary exhibition dedicated to rugby posters (till end September 09).

Let's quote the Museum website:

From its earliest days, rugby has inspired artists and graphic designers.  This display brings together the finest examples of rugby-related work from around the world.

Highlights include Dame Laura Knight’s original artwork for the famous London Transport ‘Rugby at Twickenham by Tram’ poster; an advertisement for ‘Dandy Shandy’ and a 103-year-old poster advertising a match on the groundbreaking All Blacks tour of 1905.

The posters also commemorate occasions when world events have impacted on rugby. A World War I recruitment poster is a moving reminder of the rugby players who lost their lives in the conflict, whilst a French poster calls for supporters to boycott the 1970 Springboks tour in response to South Africa’s apartheid regime.

As a teaser, here is Dame Laura Knight's poster print (actually a modern repro...)

A final world to mention that French Museum of Sports owns a wonderful collection of vintage sporting posters... and to regret that they still don't have any permanent public venue...

Possibles vs Probables

Organising trial games to select international players is as old as international rugby... as it was possibly the only way for committees to review "in real life" ruggers they only knew from written or verbal reports... if not from the newspapers...  Here are some pictures of early French selection games...

The upper postcard shows a "South" team in 1908, feat. gentlemen from Stade Toulousain (Fabregat - the man wearing an impressive beard... -, Avejean...), Bordeaux (Massé, Martin...), FC Lyon, US Bergerac, CA Perigueux etc... (here is a king size picture if you want to get the names of all players). The referee on the right is Cyril Rutherford, a well known player, referee and official... who really deserves a full story one of these days...

I've never seen, so far..., any picture of the "North" team (Paris, Le Havre...) !

I would be delighted if any fellow collector could share it here...

The photography below is a press clipping (in La Vie Au Grand Air) from a "Possibles vs Probables" match in 1911 in Paris (Parc des Princes)... Easy win 33-3 to the Probables in white... my picture shows SCUF lock Jules Cadenat jumping to contest the ball over Pierre Mouniq's head (n°2)... that day, his teammates were Communeau, F. Forgues, Lane, Paoli, Faillot, Burgun, Dufau (n°14), Laribau (n°9), de Beyssac... (full size pic here)



As far as I know, this is my oldest French picture showing numbers on jerseys...  Does someone know about Home Countries ?

Indeed, you couldn't miss these large numbers... that were printed on both sides of the jersey !

The very same jerseys (in these early days - expensive -  jerseys were returned to the team manager after the game...)  were worn again in December the same year to prepare 1912 season... but North vs South again... suggesting some swaps between Blacks and Whites... full size (even king size...) and names here: Cadenat... in black standing between Communeau (n°7) and Mauriat (n°2) on the left... Mouniq in white (n°1) with F.Forgues (n°8) on the right...

Farewell South Africa...

From a European perspective, 2009 rugby season will end tomorrow with the third and final test match between British & Irish Lions vs SA Springboks in Jo'burg... then waiting for 2009-2010 big circus domestic championship (Top14 in France) to start again mid August... And also waiting for South Africa to play in Paris next November (ok, that's way ahead...)... Time to say "goodbye" !

So, here is another tribute to South African rugby, displaying a colourful series of cigarette cards issued in 1933 by United Tobacco. There are 65 cards in total, showing all kind of different teams (local teams, provinces... and the Boks...).Too bad, I only have 20 of them (hey, I'm not a serious cigarette card collector...). Below is sample and a Flickr diaporama... maybe you'll find your favorite team there...