Here is Lieutenant (- then Admiral...-) Sir George Hamilton d'Oyly Lyon, KCB (3 oct. 1883 - 19 aug.1947) who was (cf Wikipedia ) a distinguished Royal Navy Officer, a first-class cricketer and rugby player who played for Portsmouth, United Services and England.
Lyon was capped twice for England as fullback, vs Scotland in Inverleith (march 1908) and, as captain, vs touring Australia in Blackheath (jan.1909)... two defeats, I'm afraid!
This print was published in "The World" c1910. If anyone knows the exact date or issue ?
Say, just for the pleasure of sharing a nice picture, a caricature by Sir Leslie Ward aka "Spy" - there are not so many coloured plates in my old books and newspapers !
Possibly the most important rugby book in pre-ww1 France... rare, scare and precious ! (to me, at least...)
"La Manière Bayonnaise" ("The Bayonne Method" so to say...) is a milestone in French rugby, laying the grounds for an open passing game... and "French Flair"... written in 1913 by Fernand Forgues, captain of Aviron Bayonnais, French Champion 1913, and his two brothers and teammates Jules and Charles.
This book has been largely influenced by Gwyn Nicholls' "The Modern Rugby Game" and Bayonne key player Harry Owen Roe... even if last chapter highlights differences between "Welsh" and "Bayonnaise" methods... (can't tell you now !! haven't read it yet...)
The original cover picture shows the arrival of Aviron Bayonnais in Colombes, before their (winning) final vs SCUF on April 6th, 1913... "Les Gallois de France" (the Welshmen from France - read that former post for more!) as a fine synthesis!
Also realizing that I haven't draft a full article about Harry Owen Roe... unforgivable ! One of the nice background stories behind this blog is that it helped Roe's family and heirs (from Wales, England and Australia) to get to know eachother and meet IRL four years ago...
This said, you could check Roe's photographies (and signature) on my Flickr, or read this old story (2007) introducing this gentleman from Penarth who had settled in Pays Basque... Much more to come !
A last one - but a great one! - before leaving, courtesy of Gallica / French National Library, showing Roe (wearing a hat) and Jack Bancroft in Paris, in March 1922, before France v Wales.
June 9, 2012 : This afternoon, Stade Toulousain and RC Toulonais will play the final of French championship. There's a lot a expectations around this game... two high places of French rugby... passionate fans on both side... Red & Black for everybody !
Sorry for reposting this old note... I'm leaving to Stade de France right now and have no time to write down a new story ;-)
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...
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 !!
Here's a serie of French comic trade cards published c.1900 by French retailer Felix Potin, signed "Lebegue" (no clue..) and part of a large set of "Sports" cards. My four "Foot-Ball" cards range from n°85 to n°90... while n°86 and n°88 are missing (help!!)...
Card n°87 above reads "une touche" ("a throw in"... as "touche" could mean "hit" in French)
Card n°85 below is captioned "Pour marquer un essai, il ne faut pas marquer le pas" (can't translate this poor pun about how to score a try...)
This old lady on card n°90 says "Je t'en supplie, Joseph, ne va pas les séparer, puisque je te dis qu'ils jouent" (Please, Joseph, don't separate them, since they're playing!)
And finally, card n°89 shows a drunk guy explaining "Moi, je ne me donne pas tant de mal pour enlever un ballon" (I do not give me much trouble to raise a glass - another hard to translate poor wordplay as French "enlever un ballon" both means "to raise a glass" and "to lift a ball"...)
This is a French junior team from the late 20s, "Rugby Club de Franchepré", that I like very much...
The young guys from Joeuf, an industrial smalltown near Nancy in the East of France, are proudly posing for the photographer in their muddy jersey on a rainy winter day...
And here is my point: team photographs are often too boring... and far far more interesting when they're shot after the match ;-)
BTW : I've once bookmarked a photo project from down under where the photographer was asking amateur players to pose after the match... same concept... great pictures... I should be able to retrieve it...
Let me narrate a cool story that let us uncover this rare and beautiful French international cap yesterday!
I was invited yesterday with four other blokes at the Stade de France to support my long-time favorite Stade Français in a "live twitt" contest vs the other Parisian rugby team Racing Metro, the modern successor Racing Club de France which was celebrating its 130 years on this occasion.
As you can see, its was a perfect day (just forgetting the disapointing result of the match...): wonderful hospitality, champagne and nice folks... (thank you Ludo for the VIP organization)
And here starts my story...
Discussing rugby history at half-time with fellow Stade Français fan Fred Ramel, we went into something like:
- You know, my wife's great uncle used to be a member of Stade Français in the 20s (*). When my wife's auntie passed away a few ago ago, I've found his member card. His name was Lucien Besset, member of French Parliement in the 30s...
- Great ! do you know about his rugby career, or has he left some memorabilia ?
- Actually no. But I have an old honour cap. I saved it before the family got rid of it, because for them it was worth nothing...
- Great move, do you know what kind of cap it is ?
- Well no, it's white, with a blue + a red ring. And a golden tassle as well. Any idea ?
- aaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggghhhh (kind of orgasmic cry that memorabilia collectors will understand), you're just describing an early French international cap, possibly the #1 item on my wish list (with a pre-ww1 French jersey, and a pre-ww1 rugby kit of Stade Français...)
A few seconds later (yes, Ludo has dedicated wifi for his guests in #StadedeFrance...), I was showing Fred photographs of his Great-Uncle who earned two caps for France in 1914. Below are the guys who played vs Poulton's England in Colombes on April 13th 1914 (13-39). Besset is standing in the middle, left to team captain and ball holder Maurice Leuvielle. That day Besset, playing inside center, converted two tries for France... without knowing that five of his teammates will soon die in the turmoil of WW1 and that his rugby career, like many of other promising players, has ceased that very day :-(
(*) The funny thing is that Besset had never been a member of Stade Français, except some kind of honorary membership after his sporting career like the document Fred showed me. Besset was a player, and then an official - President after ww2, of SCUF (Sporting Club Universitaire de France). Please read his full bio here on SCUF website, and check this team picture of the finalists of 1913 French Championship lost to Aviron Bayonnais. Fly half Besset sits on the ground, just below his captain and scrum-half André Theuriet.
This one comes from Scotland, home of famous "Black & White" whisky... and shows the dark-blue-almost-black Scot winger crossing the white English line...
Could anyone put a date stamp on this print ? it refers to H.M.King George VI, i.e.1936-1952... I assume late 40s, then not really sure that this picture belongs to Public Domain... let's hope that B&W don't mind...
French presidential election 2012 will kick off next Sunday... I'd love to see Messrs Sarkozy, Hollande, Bayrou, Melanchon competing in a rugby game... and scrummaging to determine who deserves to be the captain of the team for the next five years...
That's exactly the concept of this serie of three French illustrated postcards (by artist T.Blanco) about the 1906 presidential election...
Title reads (in French) "Presidential Football in Versailles", as Versailles (see the Chateau in the background) is the city where congressmen were gathered to elect a President (no universal suffrage in these years...)
"Before" (above) shows President Emile Loubet (president 1899-1906), holding the ball... passing to candidates Armand Fallières (the fat gentleman in red), Paul Doumer (wearing black beard and yellow jersey... future president in 1931) etc... (actually, I can't recognize the others...)
The second card, captioned "During" shows a wild scrummage... and candidate Armand Fallières getting control of the (presidential...) ball...
Third card reads "After - Mr Fallières' triumph"... and is self explanatory!
For an "ordinary" amateur club rugby player here in Europe, Easter usually means that your rugby season is over, i.e. that you're not qualified for the final rounds of your local championship... I hate Easter!!
As a matter of "retaliation" against Easter, let's share some of the most stupid postcards from my rugby collection...
Interestingly, these cards are German or French... Home Unions would never had tolerated such ignominy...
Happy Easter!!
edited Apr.8th: it seems that the German postcard above doesn't belong to me (yet saved on my computer). So credit and thanks to the owner... should he/she read these lines, don't hesitate to say "Hello"...
100 years ago, on March 31st 1912, Stade Toulousain (founded just four years before) became French champion for the first time, defeating Racing Club de France 8-6 in final (stats here)
As Stade Toulousain had remained undefeated over the whole 1911-12 season, the team was quickly celebrated as "La Vierge Rouge", i.e. "The Red Virgin"...
This said, I have no idea why "The Red Virgin" was impersonated as "Zezette" (quite a stupid nickname in French...) on this local postcard published a few days after the final!
Let's also share some views of the final featuring some of the finest players in French pre-ww1 rugby: Mouniq, Mayssonnié, Struxiano for Toulouse vs Lane, Faillot and Géo André for Paris...
Seven men from this final were soon to killed in action during ww1. Let's remember them: Joseph Servat, André Moulines and Alfred Mayssonnié for Toulouse... Marcel Burgun, Paul Descamps, Pierre Guillemin and Gaston Lane for Paris... (not forgetting Géo André, k.i.a. during ww2).
And special mention to Marc Giaccardy, the referee of the 1912 final wearing jacket and cap on the postcard above.... Giaccardy, journalist by profession, five times champion with Bordeaux between 1899 and 1909 (stats here), died in 1917 during the Battle of Verdun. His grave in a forest nearby was honoured some months ago by the local rugby committee (cf pictures in my ww1 forum in French here + local newspaper report).
And special thanks to Denis aka Zelaian who gave me the idea of this post...
1905.. the middle of first Welsh rugby "Golden Era"... Triple Crown (6 times between 1900-1911) and only team defeating Gallaher's touring All Blacks... Country of leading Rugby Clubs (Swansea, Cardiff, etc)... Home of technical innovators (cf Gwyn Nicholl's "Modern Rugby Football") and talented footballers!!
Here's my small tribute to Wales recent Grand Slam... wonderful postcards published in 1905 portaying prominent Welsh players (half of them belong to John H. as we teamed some years ago to outbid our fellow collectors on that auction...)
And last but not least the "gems" from Cardiff, Percy Bush and Gwyn Nicholls... (click the links on the respective names to access these gentlemen's full bio)
Let me be honest, I'm not 100% sure (understatement...) that women rugby started to develop as early as 1895 when these colourful die-cuts were printed...
Yet, I remember of Irish-born Emily Valentine who played rugby in 1887 in Royal Portora School in Enniskillen where her father had been headmaster (please check this BBC video on scrumqueens.com and read the whole story uncovered by John Birch on his website)
Or we could also think of the cigarette card series - the very same rugby kit imho - published in 1895 by Thomas Ogden of Liverpool to promote his "Otto de Rose" perfumed cigarettes for women. Possibly the rarest (and the most expensive...) of all rugby cigarette cards sets !
BTW I'm quite sure that the same artist (from Liverpool ??) did the artwork for this cigarette cards and my die-cuts... wonderful rugby kit!
Post-Scriptum : there was some international women rugby last week-end in Paris. While France was (logically... ?) defeated by England 3-15, the French U20 girls spectacularly "crushed" their young English opponents 50-0 !! (click for match reports on scrumqueens.com)
It seems that my English friends are not fully confident about the outcome of this appealing England v Wales tomorrow at Twickenham ;-)
Searching for related documents, I stumbled on this brilliant 17-0 (4 tries to nil) victory in Blackheath... on January 2nd, 1892 ! (full stat here)
The teams line-ups remind us that attacking organization was evolving at this time... England was here playing with the "classical" organization consisting in 9 forwards, 2 halves, 3 three-quarters and 1 fullback, whereas Wales - under Arthur Gould's leadership (details here) - was starting to play with 4 three-quarters (thus 8 forwards) to promote the passing game.
120 years later, the rugby world is universally playing under Gould's organization... even if, ironically, the Welsh method was far from being successful that day...
The teams line-ups also show great names from XIXth century rugby... Billy Bancroft, Franck Mills and Arthur Gould on the Welsh side... Frederick Alderston, Dicky Lockwood and W.B.Thomson on the English side...
I've outlined these players because they all appear (with others... I'm not listing them all...) either in this fantastic "Famous Footballers" (preview here) or in these no less fantastic Baines cards displayed in my previous post... Rugby Stars!
Centre Arthur "Monkey" Gould from Newport and Fullback Billy Bancroft from Swansea
Fullback H.B.Thomson from Balckheath (proud French-style moustaches actually....)
Centre Richard "Dickey" Lockwood... aka "The Worlds Wonder" in this Baines cards... Lockwood was one of these players who started his career in Rugby Union and then "naturally" switched to Rugby League as his club elected to join the Northern Union in 1895...
Enjoy the game tomorrow !
Bonus: I like this "New England" advertising video...
Just a quick snapshot... a quality reproduction of one of the most famous English (*) rugby artwork: the "Roses Match" by William Barnes Wollen, showing action from a match Yorkshire (in white jerseys) vs Lancashire (in red and white hoops) played at Park Avenue in Bradford in November 1893.
It has yet to be framed!
Sean Fagan (rugbeia.com) has written a well researched article to bring this artwork into context... and to help you find the hidden "Ghost Player" in the painting... ! Please, don't wait to read "The Ghost in the Rugby Painting"...
"The Roses Match" now hangs on the wall of the Presidents Suite in the West Stand of Twickenham Stadium... limited access I'm afraid...
Edit : the World Rugby Museum at Twickenham also brings a very detailed story (yet unsigned... ) about the painting, its history and the controversy about the "Ghost Player"... another must-read!
Rule #33 : When you have no spare time, just post some nice pictures ;-)
I once declared to a friend - a fellow rugby memorabilia collector - that I will never start collecting cigarette cards... Indeed, it appears to be an endless task and some of the rarest (and most beautiful...) cards could cost an arm and a leg...
Yet... cigarette cards regularly bring nice rugby illustrations, quality portaits of players, vivid colours among B&W photographs and a good understanding of what rugby was about in the 1900s...
Say, I don't collect rugby cigarette cards... but do have a few hundreds of them now...
So... here is a series of 10 rugby cigarette cards published in 1912 by Gallaher (London and Dublin), part of "100 designs Sports Series"
Back of the cards are self-explanatory like "slow and lob passes are useless" or "tackling must not be mild and half-hearted"...
And I've also packed the cards into a 1min video... Enjoy!
And credit to Sean (rugbeia.com) for this candid - but so true! - motto that he posted a few days ago on his Twitter thread (@rugbeia) !!
A Photoshop (actually Gimp...) effort from this nice French advertising print c1925... Petrole Hahn (a hair lotion) was sponsoring and financing these posters that were given away for free to clubs, which were then able to print their own text in the lower part left blank.
I hope that Twickenham World Rugby Museum won't bother me using one of their souvenir postcards (left) as template for my season greetings... I haven't been able to make a good scan or photography of my own poster... I probably have to frame it first...
Let's also note that actual colors are much more vivid (no filter and no flash for this snapshot)...
PS : interesting to see that the guys at "Petrole Hahn" have been pretty consistent in their support for rugby over time... their "ambassador" in France has been Biarritz international scrum-half Dimitri Yachvilli for a couple of years now... Indeed, Drimitri's hair is better than mine...
I just received this afternoon a copy of this wonderful poster print that will rank pretty high in the "Most Beautiful Advertising Rugby Print World Contest" (new concept, I agree...)
This print is refered to us by historian and rugby writer Ron Palenski in Otago who owns the original adversitising print.
Thanks a lot, Ron!
As Ron puts it "The football punch was produced by an immigrant Frenchman, Henri Pain, at Westport in the South Island of New Zealand" (nota: "Pain" in French translates into "Bread"...)
This Franco-Kiwi story doesn't seem to have any connection with this Manchester-based Duckworth & Co, another beverage company (alcohol ? soft drink ?) also producing "Football Punch"... but far less classy label, I admit... yet wearing old Manchester FC (rugby) and Lancashire colours! (no date, possibly 30s? 40s? 50s? any hint ?)
"Refreshing, Delicious and Restorative" for the first drink... a "splendid winter drink" for the other bottle... Make up your choice!
(private messages : Hi to Lorenzo in Manchester and to JC Pain in Tarbes, if they read me...)
My name is Frederic Humbert (fhumbert at gmail dot com) Unless specified, I own all original pictures scanned and published on rugby-pioneers.com. They are believed to belong to public domain. All pictures and texts are published under Creative Commons BY-SA-3.0 licence that enables the largest sharing of this memorabilia. Please click below for details and full text licence.
(*) 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 
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