All the TV cameras of World are currently focusing on South Africa as FIFA World Cup kicks off today...
80 years ago, movie and TV broadcast of sports events remained both a human and a technical challenge... check this early camera, installed 30 feet above Twickenham ground by British Movietone News to bring coverage of the All Blacks tour in 1936. Above are "cameraman Leslie Murray and his sound partner Terry Cotter, at work, opening the 24 inch lens", as explained by Henry Wakeman in his book "The Game Goes On" published the same year (*).
The guys were right there behind the camera to capture Prince Obolensky scoring twice...
These gentlemen "in height" also reminds me of these two French sports journalists, Maurice Martin from "La Petite Gironde" and Fernand Bidault from "La Vie Au Grand Air" who managed their way up to the roof of Bordeaux Stadium to cover the final of French championship in March 1907, and to provide this remarkable graphical and statistical analysis of the game (large pic)...Kind of "paper broadcasting"...
That day, Stade Bordelais crushed Stade Français 14 (4T 1B) to 3 (1T)... Interestingly, the game witnessed no less than 88 scrums (in these days, every tackle was followed by a scrum... also check these 1901 videos) and 89 throw-ins (direct kicking was then allowed everywhere...)... 
(*) Footnote : Capt Henry B.T. "Teddy" Wakelam, after captaining the Harlequins, turned to be the very first to radio broadcast a "live" commentary on a rugby game in 1927 (England v Wales). As rugbyfootballhistory puts it "He became one of the team of all-round commentators, covering not just rugby, boxing, cricket and tennis [...]. His speciality was always rugby, however."... Then, a "fellow" of Edmond Dehorter, French radio "pioneer" in the 20s that I portrayed earlier this year...
Breaking news!
Sean Fagan, who's been online for almost 10 years @rl1908.com and @colonial-rugby.com.au, is now developping a new website dedicated to the history and roots of our favorite sport.
Ladies and Gentlemen, please rush to @jottingsonrugby.com ! Sean brings exhaustive and fact-based historical researches, together with undisputed knowledge of the history of early rugby football (whatever code -RU, RL or other... in the 1800s and early 1900s) to deliver fantastic rugby stories that you'll never read anywhere else!
A "Must Read"!
Let me also introduce this new documentary film aired by Maori Television in New Zealand. "Beneath the Maori Moon" was a great book by Malcom Mulholland (here on sale @Huia Publishers) covering the rich history of Maori rugby (from Joe Warbrick and George Nepia to the likes of Zinzan Brooke...) and it's now a 15 episodes series every Thursday on Maori Television (thank you Sandy for the trailer!).
Visit @maoritelevision.com for details and watch recent episodes online ("catch-up tv"). You'll be amazed by the quality and quantity of documents collected - photos, videos, testimonials (including Sean's... shot at Sydney SCG)...
A "Must Watch"!
Yesterday, Dusautoir and Kelleher's Stade Toulousain was playing against Steyn and Chabal's Racing Club de France... a disputed 28-23 win for Toulouse...
Today, a rare video document from French Championship 1920 showing the same Stade Toulousain and Racing Club de France... moving moments of the teams training, lining up at the camera and then playing the same game at the same Ernest Wallon stadium...
Many famous players on the field: Struxiano, Lubin
Lebrère, Bioussa, Galau in Toulouse... the backs of Equipe de France A.Jaureguy, F.Borde, R.Crabos (these three then at the Army - Bataillon de Joinville - in Paris) and Géo André in RCF... some can easily be identify in the video...
I'll give more insights on the teams later... (hopefully...)
In the meantime, I let you enjoy the video and these pictures showing Stade Toulousain in 1921... the gates of Enrest Wallon Stadium in the 20s... and Toulouse emblematic scrum-half and captain Philippe "Strux" Struxiano showing his throw-in technique...
The video is credited to Stade Toulousain and Cinématheque de Toulouse. Actually, the video is displayed on Stade Toulousain website ("Museum")... but as a low low bitrate RealPlayer (technologies from the mid XXth century...). Let me thank them for their efforts to have this video live again... and hope they won't mind if I believe it was worth being shared here !
Lucky me... I'll be attending tonight this France - England game in Stade de France... joining a crowd of 80,000 which mostly travels by train to reach the stadium... those who've been already at Stade de France know how crowdy is the "RER" train station after the game... but, say, not that different from the situation in the 1920s !
This picture shows the crowd at Colombes station in 1920... a double deck train transporting a whole society to the stadium... celebrating with great enthusiasm the return of the Five Nations Championship in Paris after WW1...
"Football Rugby" was then, in France, the most popular of all team sports...
France v Scotland, January 1930 in Stade de Colombes... at half time French forward - and future Rugby League star - Jean Galia is chatting with this unknown (to me....) radio commentator ideally located on the rugby field... Is that guy working for French radio ? no idea...
Edit Feb.17 : this gentleman is Edmond Dehorter (nicknamed "Le Parleur Inconnu" - "the unknown speaker") who was the first sports radio journalist in France. He started covering live sports in 1923 for radio company Radiola (boxing : Carpentier v Nils). A quick search on Google shows he broadcasted the 1924 Olympics in Paris from a Michelin Airship... as well as the "24 heures du Mans"... and obviously rugby... cf some links (in French) below in the comments
Terra Media explains that "First live commentary of the England v Wales rugby international match from Twickenham [in 1927] is also the first British sporting radio outside broadcast; the commentator is Teddy Wakelam. A plan of the field divided into numbered squares is published in the Radio Times so that reference can be made to the position of play; this gives rise to the phrase ‘back to square one’."
Some sources indicates that the very first live sports radio broadcast occured in 1922 in Sydney, where a journalist named Lionell Wattt covered a cricket match at the SCC...
A few words about this "Equipe de France"... quite a strong team, indeed... first win against England in 1927..., first win against Wales in 1928... 2nd in the 5 Nations Championship 1930 and 1931... but difficult times for French rugby contaminated by endemic violence and professionalism issues... resulting in being banned from all international relations with Home Countries after 1931 Championship... But that's another story!!
About old school medias... and about this France v Ireland tomorrow in Paris... here is a small chunk of this 9,5mm Pathé news reel - January 1931 - bringing some rare images of "Les Bleus" defeating Ireland in Stade de Colombes 3 - nil (1 try : Ribère)... Good omen ?...
My editing is only 20s long (rugby only... not sure that you're interested in the funeral of Marechal Joffre and other news topics from the 30s...) but, say, that's history!
The 6th Women's Rugby World Cup will be played next August in England (official site )... RFU Museum in Twickenham is working on a temporary exhibition about women rugby and is searching for memorabilia (newspapers, photos, jerseys, cards, trophies, etc...). I'm trying to arrange some contacts here in France, but I'm sure that they would appreciate additional inputs (especially for material outside Great Britain)... Just drop a comment or a mail to contribute or share ideas !
As far as French rugby is concerned, I have to admit that I don't know very much about its history and that my memorabilia is pretty poor... This being said, the history of French Women Rugby is tied to the game of "Barette", a passing game - kind of hybrid between rugby and touch rugby (can someone post the original rules, it will help my undestanding of that code.. thanks !)
A first "root" of this French Barette brings us to the region of Bordeaux at the end of the XIXth century, where a phisician, Dr Philippe Tissié, wrote a code of "Barette" in 1899 (known as "la Barette Aquitaine") which quickly spread among local schools. It seems that girls were also playing... But, say, I'm not sure of the sporting interest of that game... (help ! a picture and the rules please !)
Another form of "barette" - say, rugby as we (almost) know it... - was played in France in the 1920s. It originated at Femina Sports, the leading omnisport women club in Paris (cf wikipedia - in French) and was reported to be sponsored by SCUF and former international player (5 caps between 1908 and 1913) André Theuriet. Below is Thieuret with Femina Sports ("Les Hirondelles") captain Miss Cubaret, and "Cadettes de Gascogne" (Bordeaux) captain Miss Dubarry... nice berets indeed !
Picture credit to INSEP - French National Sports Center - Please also check a dozen of other very interesting pictures of 20s women rugby from the same series here... and watch this 1928 movie - Femina again - showing various phases of a women rugby game (rugby starts at 0'30 - Credit to British Pathé).
Again, I'd like to get a copy of the rules (could someone help ?)... apparently 10 or 12 a side teams playing a vigarous passing game - no rucks, no mauls - but throw-ins and scrums... I assume that tackling below waist wasn't allowed...
Women rugby was popular enough for F.F.S.F. (Fédération Féminine Sports de France - French Union of Women Sports) to organise a French Championship... teams from Paris, Bordeaux, Lille as above (picture credit to sports historian Joris Vincent in Lille - also cf this older post)... the Championship medal below is a new find for my collection...
From another standpoint, let's also share this fine comic print by cartoonist Fabiano, published in Fantasio (kind of French "Punch Magazine") in 1925...or remember this other "erotic" print...
Caption reads "Rugby Féminin - Enfoncez la mélée ! commande la capitaine... Mais comme son ami la regarde, elle se refait une beauté" (Women rugby - Break up the scrum ! the captain orders...).
To be honest, Women football was even more popular in the 20s, for instance touring to England or welcoming Dick-Kerr's Ladies F.C. in France in 1920... Actually, rugby and football team usually belonged to the same clubs... here are the same Paris Femina Hirondelles and Bordeaux Cadettes de Gascogne on the cover page of French newspaper "Le Petit Journal" in November 1923... (painting by André Galland... too large for my A4 scanner...)
Definitely a long post ! Please don't forget... Wanted : Women Rugby Memorabilia!
Toulon ! a high place of French rugby... tons of stories about tough players and passionate fans (yes, Christian, this post is for you...)... today, an amazing team of ruggers from all around the world (Joe van Niekerk, Jonny Wilkinson, Sonny Bill Williams, Felipe Contepomi, etc... managed by Philippe St André)
My postcard (large pic here) shows brand new Stade Mayol in 1923 - a great stadium built in downtown Toulon in 1920-22, and named after French singer Felix Mayol who financed it (*) - hosting a game between Toulouse "Champion de France" wearing Red & Black colours, and Toulon "Champion du Littoral" (**) wearing... Red & Black colours...
A story (though not confirmed...) explains that Toulon had elected such Red & Blacks colours to mimick Toulouse... the team that was "ruling" French rugby after WW1... Some even say that Toulon first rugby kits were provided by the Stade Toulousain, hence the same jerseys...
The game played on the postcard on May 20th 1923 is most likely an exhibition, played just one week after Toulouse managed to win French championship vs Bayonne on May 13th... a poor 3-0 game played in Colombes under heavy rain... All stats (in French) are here at finalesrugby.com. Let's notice a very impressive list of international ruggers on Toulouse side (Jaurreguy, Bordes, Galau, Lubin-Bebrère, Bayard, Bioussa, Larrieu) and let's also notice that this game was the last game of Bayonne legend Harry Owen Roe as fullback, aged 38... Below are the famous "Toulousains" in 1923... in Red & Black (larger pic here)
Back to Mayol, you could also notice a building behind the stands - on the right - partly showing one the most famous French advertising prints from all times : "Ripolin Brothers"... not red, not black, but advertising for Ripolin colour paints...
credit Elliot Miesse
Let me finish with a not-so-serious question : did the crowd in Toulon sing the "Pilou Pilou" in the 1920s ? For those who don't know, "Pilou Pilou" is a kind of "war cry" sung (shouted...?) by the crowd in Toulon at the beginning of each game... the words are loosely inspired by All Blacks hakas, whereas the chorus goes like :
Parce que Toulon - Rouge ! Because Toulon - Red!
Parce que Toulon - Noir ! Because Toulon - Black !
Parce que Toulon - Rouge & Noir ! Because Toulon - Red & Black !
Sing it here ... with a 50,000 crowd last year vs Toulouse (in Marseilles, where Toulon sometimes exports its top games...)
(*) as Mayol wrote in his biography "Or, à Toulon, où la jeunesse est particulièrement active et vigoureuse,
nous n'avions pas le moindre terrain utilisable... Seul demeurait un
vélodrome désaffecté, où nul n'allait jamais, qui ne servait plus à
rien et qui me paraissait s'ennuyer autant que nos aspirants
sportsmen... Alors, mon Dieu, c'était tout simple, j'ai acheté le vieux
vélodrome ! J'y donnais moi-même le premier coup de pioche, le 26
juillet 1920..." (this quote and picture : credit to RCT website)
(**) "Champion du Littoral" meaning Champion of Mediterranean seaside vs Marseilles, Montpellier etc...
NB : shame on me... I can't refrain from linking to one of the worst-but-famous French song from the 80s... Jeanne Mas "En Rouge et Noir" (in Red & Black)... shame !!
My Christmas presents ! IMHO here are the most amazing and moving rugby videos around... three early rugby games - 1901 ! - recently discovered and restored by the British Film Institute (BFI) ... and nicely shared on YouTube for the pleasure of all rugby memorabilia fans ! (see below for more details on the "Mitchell & Kenyon Collection")
I will not comment these videos more than needed : they all come with a quality and self-explanatory commentary... and bring a true experience of rugby in Edwardian times, both on the field and in the stadiums... I love that !
Above are "magnifiscient animated pictures" (sic) from Hunslet v Leeds (February 16th, 1901), feat. Albert Goldthorpe (and here...) and brothers... below is Salford v Batley (November 2nd, 1901) feat. Jimmy Lomas scoring a try...
These videos show Northern Union teams (like most of my favorite Baines cards above...). So, it's basically Rugby League (as N.U. will be renamed in 1923)... playing with 15 players !
Actually, these games are played under 1899 N.U. rules... whereas the number of players in a team will be decreased to 13 later in 1906. Another interesting technical point under these rules is that every tackle is immediately followed by a scrum (fairly wild scrums, indeed !).
The video below - Oldham v Swinton (January 12th, 1901) - enters into these kind of technicalities... enjoy!
A few words about the Mitchell & Kenyon collection :
For around seventy years, 800 rolls of early nitrate film sat in sealed barrels in the basement of a shop.
Now miraculously rediscovered and restored, the Mitchell & Kenyon Collection is an amazing visual record of everyday life in Britain at the beginning of the twentieth century.
It is the most exciting film discovery of recent times and promises to radically transform British film history.
All sports movies (football, rugby, cricket, etc...) have been gathered by the British Film Institute in a DVD called "Edwardian Sports" on sale here.
Again, I warmly thank this institution for sharing this memorabilia !
There's also some geek stuff : the Mitchell & Kenyon Collection on Google Earth ! (just click on this .kmz file if you have Google Earth installed - otherwise download Google Earth here before) .... Then fly over Edwardian England... Magic !
Last, but not least... I've borrowed the small Swinton Baines cards from John / ovalballs.com . Thank you Master!
Jed has also set up a group on Facebook to cover tomorrow event... when I read the baseline ("Let see what makes these frogs tick...") and see the supporting picture there, I do have some ideas about his views on the game ;-)
Old rugby books often show "classical" pictures of rugby players training (hey, it's easier to shot them..) like these first All Blacks Deans and Gillett practicing their passing game in "The Complete Rugby Footballer" by Gallaher & Stead, 1906.
But here is a funnier one ! The very same 1905 All Blacks relaxing at football with a rugby ball... "the lighter side of football" as the original photo is captioned in "The book of Football: A Complete History and Record of the Association and Rugby Games" (The Amalgated Press, 1906)
The full caption reads : "the All Blacks when training for their match against Surrey, played at Richmond on November 1, 1905 (New Zealand 11 points - 1 goal, 2 tries - Surrey nil), practised on the ground of the Ealing Association F.C. at aling. The presence of the Association goal-posts and nets led them to try the "Soccer" game with their Rugby ball, with the fantastic above result" ...
(larger pictures @ Flickr : first pic , second pic)
PS: indeed two wonderful books to capture the early rugby football game...
France v Scotland tomorrow at Stade de France... and a recent find that will only interest a few hardcore rugby memorabilia collectors...
Let me tell you the whole story... Collecting each and every rugby cigarette cards is a titanesque (and expensive...) mission that only a few Masters in collecting are tackling (Paul, John, Justin... if you're passing by...). That's why I've decided to keep it low profile... and only collect British cards involving French rugby ! Untill very recently, I was thinking that my herald mission was completed as it was believed to be only two of them... and, booom !, I found that W.D.&H.O.Wills cigarette card, card n°32 in "Homeland Events series 1932" captioned "Rugby International Match"
A careful reading of the back of the card will detail that the front picture is Scotland v France at Murrayfield, 1931... where French side (Galia, Rousié, Ribère...) lost 4-6 to the Scots... Hope the odds will be better for France tomorrow !
BTW, let me introduce Justin McCullough's "Rugby Cards International Collectors Guide"... a wonderful Rugby Card Reference book published last year that every serious collector or memorabilia fan should consider buying : you'll find all details about it on Justin's website... Here are the cover and a sample page...
Those who regularly read this blog maybe remember that I found last year two old 9,5mm Pathé movie rolls with some rugby footages.
So, here we go ! I had them digitized (by a specialized lab) and edited (err... by myself) and ready to be shared... a worldwide exclusivity as I've never seen such videos on the net before !
The best part of it is a 2' video coverage of the rugby final between France and USA at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. That day (May 18th 1924), a strong, fast and energetic American side won an undisputed gold medal versus a disapointing French team. Final score 17 - 3 to the US team.
You'll find a detailled report about that tough game, and other rugby features at previous Olympic Games, here @ www.rugbyfootballhistory.com
Enjoy !
(special footnote in French for Google.fr to index my video... : video exclusive de la finale du rugby aux Jeux Olympiques de 1924. France vs USA au Stade de Colombes)
No, the NZ Maoris did not tour in Germany in 1926...
But almost the same picture as my previous post i.e. performing Maori War Cry before playing in Paris, Stade de Colombes (in Miroir des Sports, Oct.1926)
In 1926-27, the NZ Maoris went on a seven-month tour which took in Australia, Ceylon, France, Wales and Canada. The side played 38 matches, winning 29, losing seven and drawing two.
Actually, I was surprised to find this Haka ("Schlachtruf" i.e. "War Cry") published as a German postcard (larger picture here @ Flickr)... sign of German growing interest for rugby in these days and sign of the strong interest from media in this "uncommon" team...
Having said that, the German caption is a bit misleading... it reads that "France defeats New Zealand in Rugby 11:9 - The NZ Maoris during their War Cry before the game begins", but that was not a Test Match nor an "official" French side, but a selection of Paris players. Ironically, the "true" Equipe de France lost 3 -12 the only Test match vs the Maori side, later in December in the same stadium
Check this other picture below (December 1926 in Paris)... cameras are rolling... (and the "Haka leader" is wearing trousers because the temperature was dead cold that day !)
I was hoping to find some video footage of the Maori team on the web, but did not... Say, I am still happy to share this Haka shot during the 1924-25 All Blacks tour ("The Invincibles")... "Ko Niu Tireni e haruru nei" - The New Zealand storm is about to break...
Introducing a recent French rugby book, by Olympic collector and writer Pierre Vitalien about Rugby at the Olympic Games (1900-1936).
Pierre has spent a lot of time and efforts to gather all possible documents about the games held in Paris (1900), London (1908), Antwerp (1920), Paris again (1924) and Berlin (1936... a pre-olympic tournament that was unknown to me until I read it...)... All possible stats, press pictures, postcards, bio of all players... are displayed there, as this book is much more about memorabilia than historical analysis... Let's also mention that I have brought a very modest contribution to this book...
Do you want to have a look at it ? please check this 3 min video ... my new job as a book reviewer (thanks to my webcam...) !
This book costs @ 30€ + shipping costs. It is not available online, as it is published and commercialised by Pierre Vitalien himself. If you are interested, just send me a mail for inquiries or orders ; I will forward it to Pierre.
Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, vitalien, olympic games
Yesterday, against all odds (France was 1:5 and England 1:4... suggesting 1:20 for a combined victory...), France and England found their way to the Semi-Finals next week in Paris.. another classical "Crunch" ! Just say "yeah !" ... and sorry for my friends in Australia and NZ...
Some of you, dear readers, will be jealous... as I have a ticket for this match... (thanks Jérome)
"Special bonus" : two vids from New Zealand... from the talented guys @ "Alternative Rugby Commentary"... the first video "the Periodic Tables" is a teaser for RWC Quarter-Finals... the other one "The French Test" was introducing French tour in NZ last June... hilarious !
(cover page from L'Illustration - April 3rd, 1921)
Technorati Tags: rugby, illustration, france, new zealand, alternative rugby commentary
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