Rugby-Pioneers

Haute Couture

Vivid colours.
Blue sky and blossoming trees
Pretty girl and handsome ruggers.
Spring 1914, the end of an era.

pre-WW1 documents are always sweet and sour... you can't detach them from the tragedy looming ahead...

This being said, this artwork is a great hand made "art deco" pochoir by artist Georges Barbier, published in April 1914 in "Gazette du Bon ton", a French classy and elistist fashion magazine. Quoting Wikipedia "The magazine [...] was available only to subscribers and was priced at a steep 100 francs per year, or $425.61 in today's money. [...] The magazine signed exclusive contracts with seven of Paris's top couture houses  so that the designers' fashions were shown only in the pages of the Gazette. The magazine's title was derived from the French concept of bon ton, or timeless good taste and refinement"

Full caption reads "Rugby - Costume tailleur de Redfern".

My two cents of fashion of "couture" history (Google is my friend...) : John Redfern from London is credited to have created the "tailor-made" - a lady's suit composed of a tailored jacket and skirt - by the middle of the XIXth Century. Later on, Redfern's couture house established branches in Paris and in the US.

QED ! Only an Englishman could name his work after our favorite sport !

And to "close the loop" with my previous comment about WW1, you'll be happy to know that Redfern designed the first women's uniform for the Red Cross in 1916... maybe this one below ?



(a Belgian postcard by artist James Thiriar, in favour of "Asile des Soldats Invalides Belges")

2011: Year of the All Blacks

My (rugby) predictions for 2011 are easy and simple: 2011 will be the year of the All Blacks!

The All Blacks have "rendez-vous" with the History of Rugby World Cup on Sunday October 23 in Auckland... and to tell you everything, I've just placed a bet on England as runner-up...

Well, we'll just have to wait for nine months ! In the meantime, let me share this "Rugby Almanack of New Zealand". Here is the 1935 issue, the very first of a long series... as this New Zealand rugby's book of records is now in its 76th edition. This first Almanack was edited by A.H.Carman, NZ rugby historian and prolific writer (and former referee) Arthur.C.Swan (cf that former post) and former 1924-25 All Black Read Masters (photo).

Inside pages show all possible records and stats about NZ rugby in 1934, along with fine illustrations such as this map of New Zealand with the portrays of the five players of the year, namely W.E.Hadley (Auckland), R.L.Clarke (Taranaki), H.T.Lilburne (Wellington), G.F.Hart (Canterbury) and J.Hore (Otago).



This Almanack had been regularly published with the same cover and different colours until 1965... when someone decided to change for a modern photographic cover of little interest... I've "borrowed" the following "patchwork" from rugbyrelics.com fame where you can also purchase some copies of this fine book (I'm quite sure that Dai won't mind this free advertising...)

(NB: I've got some memorabilia about 1935 All Blacks tour in Great Britain to share... another time...)

Father & Son (and some French cinema)

Rugby Trivia : could you name a family where father and son both were rugby internationals before WW2 ?

I knew about George Travers (25 caps for Wales 1903-1911) and his son William "Bunner" Travers (12 caps for Wales 1937-1949 and 2 caps for British Lions 1938), two outstanding Welsh hookers portrayed above (in J.B.G.Thomas' "Great Rugger Players 1900-1954" published in 1955). 

George Travers (left) was in this famous Welsh squad who defeated the All Blacks in Cardiff in 1905. He is seen to be one of the first specialist hookers, transitioning from a time when forward positions were not very much differentiated (cf these old c1900 "Mitchell & Kenyon" videos: forwards gather pretty instantly after a scrum is called, on a "first ready - first in" basis... )

Sean (now at rugbeia.com) also reminds us of George (1 cap, 1905) and Walter (4 caps 1938-39) Vickery. Interestingly, father and son both played in the same Welsh club (Aberavon) but were respectively capped for England (George) and Wales (Walter)...

Do you know of other such rugby families ?

And now for something completely (not that) different...

Actually this "Father & Son" trivia was meant to digress... and to draw a parallel with "Le Fils à Jo", a French movie released earlier this week in France... lot of rugby inside ! "Le Fils à Jo" written and directed by Philippe "La Guille" Guillard after his own novel brings us the story of Jo, widower and father of a boy aged 13 in beautiful south-west France (Gaillac). Jo was a local rugby hero, son and grand-son of famous local ruggers... and Jo doesn't understand why his son has little interest in rugby and doesn't want to follow the same route. This comedy will not compete for Golden Palm at Cannes (understatement...) but is funny, sympathetic and will please all fans of grassroot rugby... And it's not so often (if not ever...) that you'll find a movie directed by a rugger ("La Guille" French champion 1990 with Racing Club de France - do you remember these "Show-Bizz" guys with the pink bow ties ??) starring another rugger (hooker Vincent Moscato, French Champion 1991 et 1998 with Bègles and Paris, 4 caps...) now showing solid acting talents. Congrats !

Here is the teaser (in French only).

PS : it's not my first note titled "father and son"... the previous was here showing one of my favorite postcards (also teasing...)

edit Jan.17th : John G. is sending us this impressive list of 19 new names. Thanks a lot ! I believe that all "Northern Hemisphere" families are here...

ENGLAND

R H Birkett (1871 - 1877) and son J G G (1906 - 1912)

W H Milton (1874 - 1875) and sons C H (1906) and J G (1904 - 1907)

H J Wilkinson (1889) and son H (1929 - 1930)

G C Hubbard (1892) and son J C (1930)

W E Tucker (1894 - 1895) and son W E (1926 - 1930)

R F A Hobbs (1899 - 1903) and son R G S (1932)

H T F Weston (1903) and son W H (1933 - 1938)

 

SCOTLAND

H T S Gedge (1894 - 1899) and son P M S (1933)

J B Waters (1904) and son F H (1930 - 1932)

J H Bruce Lockhart (1913 - 1920) and son R B (1937 - 1939)

R A Gallie (1920 - 1921) and son G H (1939)

 

IRELAND

F Schute (1878 - 1879) and son F G (1912 - 1913)

W S Collis (1884) and son W R F (1924 - 1926)

"R O N Hall" (1884) and son C F G T Hallaran (1921 - 1926)

G Collopy (1891 - 1892) and sons W P (1914 - 1924) and R (1923 - 1925)

A D Clinch (1892 - 1897) and son J D (1923 - 1931)

S T Irwin (1900 - 1903) and son J W S (1938 - 1939)

 

"R O N Hall" was the nom-de-guerre of the Leinster player William Hallaran, father of C F G T. Hallaran senior played under pseudonym so that his family did not know that he was "wasting his time while studying medicine at Trinity playing rugby."

 

WALES

T Baker Jones (1882 - 1885) and son P E R "Baker" (1921)

Howell Jones (1904) and son E H (1930)

 

There will be Flood...

From  Australia, 2011 to France, 1910...

Like many people around, I've been impressed by this recent gigantic flooding in Australia.

There might be little to compare, but I'd like to draw a parallel with a similar drama that happend 100 years ago in Paris when river Seine rose 20 feet above normal level during a whole week, infiltrating buildings and streets throughout the city and suburbs... So far, the greatest flood in the history of Paris... (cf Great Flood of Paris on Wikipedia)

My first postcards show how Stade de Colombes (host of the 1924 Olympics, former home of Equipe de France until the 70s and now home of the Racing Club de France, then known as Stade du Matin, after the name of its owner i.e. "Le Matin" newspaper) was flooded after the river rose above its banks... bad time for rugby... good time for rowing...

If you're interested to see more about this Great Flood, you could browse hundreds of pictures on these two websites :

"crue1910", in French only, developped by French Ministry of Ecology, brings tons of old postcards on a "kind of" Google map.

Pictures below (and many others here) are supplied courtesy of the Historic Cities Center, a joint project between the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Jewish National and University Library . Let me thank the original poster, Ms Ekaterna Kislova... and the original French photographer Mr Pierre Petit.

 

 

  

(Seb, if you read me, the title of this post is for you - sorry, end of the private joke...)