Rugby-Pioneers

England Schools Rugby Union (ESRU)

Frederick William Davis (1899-1976) was a music teacher in Gloucester, and, in his young years, the captain of England Schoolboys team!

I’ve just received a small, old suitcase that contains Davis’ memorabilia... his cap, jersey (such heavy wool!) and blazer (ESRU ? Or St Luke - his school in Gloucester ?), postcard (school team, I assume), press clipping in local press (Gloucester Citizen) and referral letter from his former headmaster...

Below is Davis as captain of the 1913 team that beat Wales at Leicester.

The England-Wales series began in 1904, only one international was played each year (usually in March), and players had to be under 14 at the start of the season (1st September) in which the match took place. That was changed to 15 and, in the seventies, to 16 as the leaving age for compulsory education was raised. Davis’s two matches were in the 1911-12 season and 1912-13 season. Wales began a senior secondary schools team in the 1920s (with fixtures against their French counterparts and the Yorkshire Public Schools), but there was no corresponding senior age-group international team in England until after the Second World War.

(team photo - and expalnations! - credit to John Griffiths ; thank you!)

The history of England Schools rugby was narrated by John Griffiths in 2003 in  'The Boys Who Beat The World: The Centenary History of the ERFSU'. Martin Johnson and Jonny Wilkinson on the cover  illustrate the remarkable fact that all members of the 2003 RWC winning team but five (Dallaglio, Lewsey, Cohen, Robinson and Thompson) were previously picked for England Schools... (pic by Dick T. - thanks!)

Silk

Most collectors know this "First Touch", a classic silk woven picture of a rugby game, crafted c.1890 in Coventry by Thomas Stevens, and also known as a "Stevengraph".

Check Wikipedia for more about Mr Stevens and Stevengraphs, or visit this compendium of all existing silk Stevengraphs published by a passionate group of collectors. 

Lesser known is this similar French silk card of a rugby game. I'm afraid that the card doesn't show the name of its French manufacturer (a plagiarist?)...

Ironically, it shows a "classic" British rugby etching from the 1890s, i.e. the 1892 Calcutta Cup by John Stewart Browne (illustration in ISDN or similar... I've forgotten to write down the details when scanning the image...)

French colonial rugby

Here're some views of rugby played in Noumea, French New Caledonia, c.1905.

Rugby was played at Anse Vata (Vata Bay) velodrome - close to the sea facing New Zealand and Australia!

I've have no informations about early rugby clubs or sporting societies in New Caledonia (say, I've been seaching for five minutes only...) but army and navy are usually good "suspects" - the second postcard shows a rugby game vs the team of HMS Psyche (transferred to Royal Australian Navy in 1913) with a significant number of colonial uniforms around the ground...

People in New Caledonia have always been keen on cycling. The first society "Veloce Club Caledonien" was established in 1891 and the veledrome was inaugurated in July 1895.

The palmares of New Caledonian track cycling is quite impressive: 22 French champions, 2 world champions and one Olympic champion (i.e. Laurent Gané in Sydney)

Soldiers playing "Football" in America, 1865

This “football” sketch, published in Harper’s Weekly in July 1865, is one of the oldest football illustrations in my bookmarks.

Winslow HOMER's "Holiday in camp – soldiers playing “Football” shows a fairly wild kind of mob football played by soldiers at the break of American Civil War.

A kind reminder that some very early kind of football was played in America as early as 1820s, way before the first “official” rugby game played between Harvard and McGill universities on May 14, 1874…

Winslow HOMER (1936-1910) was an American artist, best known for his marine subjects. This website gives his full biography and shows his complete works.

I've sourced this football illustration on MET website.

Here's a photo (source: Wikipedia) of Winslow HOMER in 1880 by Napoleon SARONY (PS: what a character!! And what a portfolio (Oscar Wilde, Nikola Tesla etc...!)

Bonus (to illustrate early American rugby) : “Old Division Football – the Indigenous mob soccer of Dartmouth soccer” a 48p text by Scott Meacham

L'Entente Cordiale Sportive

My take about France v England tomorrow in Paris...

 

Sportsman, journalist and rugby writer E.H.D.Sewell wrote in 1907 the best article in English (who said the only...?) about the history of early French rugby I’ve ever read.

 

When Sewell writes this wonderful “Entente Cordiale Sportive”, illustrated by Charles Ambrose, France has only been part of rugby international scene for two years (three games in Paris vs NZ, England and SA - yet not a test match - and a match in Richmond v England). The Entente Cordiale treaty which strengthens the politic and diplomatic links between England and France (after nearly a thousand years of sheer antagonism...), signed in 1904, is not much older...

 

Over 8 pages, Sewell explains and comments the development of rugby in Paris in the early 1890s under the leadership of Coubertin’s USFSA, the rise of Bordeaux as a leading provincial center and the apparition of the French team at international level. He also portrays many of my favorite players and officials from the era (da Silva Paranhos, Lane, Muhr or Louis Dedet “the prophet Daniel of French Rugger”...) and gives interesting prospects for the future of French rugby. Full of British wit, of course!

 

Follow this link to access hi res photos if reading is difficult

 

PS I’ve purchased these pages with no mention of the newspaper where they were originally published, but format and style suggest “C.B.Fry’s Magazine”

Association Athlétique Albert le Grand 1905

Let’s mix the pleasure of collecting with a wee bit of French rugby history... I’ve just found this A.A.A.G. cap, dated 1905, which is much more than a niece piece of memorabilia :)

A.A.A.G. stands for Association Athlétique Albert le Grand.

Albert le Grand was a Catholic college in Arcueil, near Paris, which was a leading place in the 1890s/1900s for the development of sports as part of the educational system under the leadership of his headmaster and prior Henri Didon.

Didon, who was close to Pierre de Coubertin, invested into sporting facilities (the college created a swimming pool, a running track, several football grounds and a riding hall), started to promote sports among pupils, and organized sports competitions vs Parisian schools and “lycees”.

In 1891, Didon founded the college sports club A.A.A.G., whose flag was reading “Citius, Altius, Fortius” (faster, higher, stronger), soon to be adopted by Pierre de Coubertin in 1894 for Olympic Games.

French National Library (BNF gallica.fr) shows these "Fêtes Sportives", i.e. intercollege sports events at Albert le Grand in 1898.

 

I can give also credit to Didon to have recruited Louis Dedet as a professor of philosophy... and a mentor to young rugbymen. Dedet (one of my heroes...) was the captain and leader of Stade Français in the 1890s: 5 times French champion between 1893 and 1898, captain of the first French side to defeat a British team (Rosslyn Park 1894), International player nbr 3, referee vs NZ and England in 1906 (and to date the only French international player to have refereed an international game...).

With such background, it’s not surprising to have A.A.A.G. being a leading school team at the turn of the century. Above is the A.A.A.G. team winning Paris School Championship in 1899.

 

This other photo, dated 1903, shows the boys of A.A.A.G. welcoming Denstone College at La Faisanderie (home ground of Stade Français - it makes sense!). I’ve zoomed on Louis Dedet, coach, and young Marcel Communeau, future captain of Stade Français and France, and most capped forward of pre-ww1 era.

This last postcard shows the Parisian boys from A.A.A.G. playing on the Big Side at Rugby School in 1905. The score looks harsh... but I don’t know any other French team in this era to have been invited in the very cradle of Rugby Football! (Nb : Didon visited Oxbridge and Rugby School in 1898-99).

 

There's something weird in this Auld Alliance...

SRU and FFR have created an “Auld Alliance Trophy” to be contested yearly between Scotland and France, named after “the captains of the two nations in the last matches played before the First World War – Eric Milroy (Scotland) and Marcel Burgun (France), both of whom perished in the conflict.”

I know that rugby history is not a priority for FFR, but I can only regret that no one did a quick fact checking to realize that Marcel Burgun (11 caps 1909-14) actually never ever captained France...

The PR wording about “the last matches played before the First World War” sounds also ironic to me as Scotland and France didn’t even play against each other in 1914... because SRU had refused to invite France as a consequence of the calamitous game played in Paris the previous year...

On Jan.1st 1913 Scotland defeated France 3-21 in a game which was more balanced and disputed than the score (1 try to 5) could let believe. After the match, an angry mob (200 to 300 people, writes Henri Desgranges in L’Auto) invaded the Parc des Princes and physically threatened English referee James Baxter, who could eventually escape the crowd being protected by USFSA officials and the mounted riot police!

Needless to say that both RFU and SRU were quite upset after these incidents, while some voices were questioning the interest of inviting France in the Tournament, and SRU refusing to play vs France in 1914. WW1 put a “de facto” end to this controversy... yet, I’m sure it was still in the memories when France was banned by Home Unions in 1931...

Let me also add that the game played in Paris in 1913 was the only match played by both Eric Milroy and Marcel Burgun... some cynical historians (am I??) may regret that we are now commemorating one, if not the worst exhibition of poor sportsmanship in French rugby....

But above all, let's also not forget the incredible and awful toll of First World War among this generation of sportsmen. Out of the 30 players who played this last match between France and Scotland before the War, no less than 14 will be killed in action in the following years (9 in the Scottish team!!!). They were Gaston Lane (French captain), Freddie Turner (Scottish captain), David Bain, Julien Dufau, Dave Howie, Maurice Hedembaigt, Patrick Blair, Marcel Legrain, Walter Sutherland , Roland Gordon, Walter Dickson, Cecil Abercrombie, and of course Marcel Burgun and Eric Milroy. We shall remember them.

Link to SRU press release http://www.scottishrugby.org/…/auld-alliance-trophy-unveiled

Pictures and cartoon (van Hasselt) from “Le Plein Air” dated Jan. 13 1913

Croix Catelan 1893 : French oldest action photo (so far...)

This is to my knowledge the oldest action photo in French rugby, taken in 1893 at Racing Club premises in Bois de Boulogne (aka "La Croix Catalan").

This said, “action photo” might be over optimistic as the players are kindly “freezing” for the photographer!

This was this infancy of French rugby... as well as of sports photography...

Please also fancy the string used as a crossbar...

 

Bonus picture : Racing Club (almost...) brand new club house « le Chalet » built in 1886.

Both scans from Le Figaro Illustré, sept.1893, special issue about sports: polo, football rugby, lawn tennis and bicycle.

Victorian Season Greetings

"a merry Christmas to you!" and "a bright New Year to you"

 

Raphael Tuck's Victorian greeting cards are just gorgeous :)

 

Finance

 

Ladies & Gentlemen, here's another "niche" for rugby memorabilia collecting: shares and bonds of rugby stadiums!

These documents are sometimes nicely illustrated, and are interesting reminders of the business and entrepreneurial side of sports - even in amateur times...

E.g. this bond issue to finance the modernisation of the Parc des Princes in 1931, signed by Henri Desgrange who was the main shareholder of the compagny operating the stadium, as well as the "boss" of Tour de France (his invention...) and newspaper L'Auto.

To make a long story short, I also have a keen interest in the economics of the early days of my favorite sport... an accounting ledger or a balance sheet can sometimes tell a lot about the life and organisation of clubs and rugby unions...

Other documents include stadiums in Brive, Nice, Bordeaux and Sucy (UAI premises - Union Inter Gadzart, a strong student team which was playing first class rugby in these days...)

I'd love to see (and to purchase...) similar securities from rugby countries all over the world. Would you have any to show?

 

Rugby in California - the early days...

 

There's something special, for both the collector and the historian, about pre-ww1 rugby played in California, culminating every year between 1906 and 1914 in the "Big Game" played between Stanford and University of California - the "other" Varisty match...

I received recently a beautiful ticket of this Big Game 1911... which led me to open my drawers where press clippings from the San Francisco Chronicles were gently sleeping, as well as to "google" again this topic!

Here're a few findings, with no particular order...

A fantastic video footage of the Big Game 1912 was buried deep into YouTube archives. Renamed "the Mud Game", it shows one of the most awful rugby ground I've ever witnessed!! No mystery final score was a disapointing 3-3...

 

 

 A trophy was meant to be presented for the first time to the winning team that year... yet could not be offered because of this draw... This magnifiscient (says the press...) "Lathrop Intercollegiate Rugby Trophy", named after UC Treasurer Charles Lathrop who had financed it, was planned to be definitively held by the first university able to secure 3 victories... A project that must have been seriously jeopardized by the return of American rules after 1914. Would someone know if this trophy is still "alive" ?

Searching for who was Charles Lathrop, I was pleased to realize that "Stanford Daily" (i.e. the newspaper serving Stanford university) archives were freely available online - cf my press clip dated Nov 12, 1912 - 
A search for "rugby" brings back 6247 results, starting in 1894... let's bookmark that resource for future rainy days... 

By the way, the next Big Game on Nov.18, 2017 will be the 120th - 111 played under American rules + 9 played under rugby rules

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Game_(American_football)

 

Delqué: the call of Rugby League, bad timing yet...

Sometimes, collecting rugby memorablia makes you uncover unexpected stories! I've recently found this French Rugby League contract which was surprisingly coming with a whole bunch of uncashed bank cheques...

At first, I haven't paid attention to the name of the player before realizing it was Antonin Delqué, lock of Stade Toulousain before ww2, 4 caps for France 1937-38. A tough player here charging ball in hand against Chalons (French championship) in 1937...

On July 26th, 1939 Antonin Delqué signed a one year contract with rugby league club Toulouse Olympique. Provisions of the contract include a 13,000 Francs downpayment in the form of 10 monthly bank cheques dated September 1939 to June 1940.

French Rugby League ("rugby à 13"), created in 1934 by Jean Gallia, was on the rise in these late '30s, attracting the best rugby players and enthusiastic crowds, while French Rugby Union, banned from international relations by Home Unions since 1932, was in dark times...

Yet, the contract also stipulates that the agreement is void is case of mobilization and war... just five weeks later... Bad, bad timing indeed!! When the war broke up on Sept.3rd 1939, these bank cheques suddenly changed into kind of Monopoly bank notes... and Delqué never played Rugby League...

Contracts (in French), signed by Antonin Delqué and Toulouse Olympique club Secretary J.J.Pouech, are also a very interesting read (click the pictures for better definition).

Nota: I've found this uncredited photography of Delqué (above) in "Le rugby a Toulouse - 100 ans d'images" éd.  Galerie Municipale du Château d'Eau. A wonderful but quite confidential book published in Toulouse.