Rugby-Pioneers

Once upon a time in America...

Alternative title: Walter Camp played rugger...

A short tribute to US Rugby and American ruggers... displaying one of the first rugby team at Yale, in the 1870s... feat. "Father of American Football" Walter Camp...

History records that first rugby game in the US was played on May 5, 1875 (exactly 134 years ago...) between Harvard University and Montreal's McGill University.

To be precise, that was the first game organised and played between two distinct teams, because the rugby game was already known and played before that date in universities with no competitions nor agenda.

I'm afraid time is missing (to me...) to explain how rugby was introduced a by an old Rugbeian (Mr D.S.Schaff) in Yale in 1871, competing with other old local ball games, then how East Coast Universities were struggling to decide common code and rules for their inter-universities fixtures : sometimes playing "real" rugby code (inked in 1845 and 1871), sometimes accomodating it with local rules, sometimes changing code at half time... All this effervence about codes will soon be ironed out by Walter Camp and friends who will amalgamate all influences and set up the code of American Football as we (almost) know it... and surpassed in popularity rugby code until it surged again in West Coast Universities in the 1910s (another story.. another time...)...

The upper picture, captioned "Uniform of the First Rugby Team at Yale", comes out of a ten pages article titled "Football in America" written by Walter Camp in the November 1898 issue of Franck Leslie's Popular Magazine (larger picture here). This richly illustrated article explains the roots of American Football in local ball games and pays a tribute to rugby code as a major contributor, as Camp was also a pioneer of Rugby game at Yale.... hence, the picture of the rugby team...  There is no date for this "first rugby team"... but I guess that young-looking Walter Camp (sitting in the middle row, third from the left) was then a "Freshman", i.e. 1876 ... All other suggestions are welcome !

Funnily, a large part of this article (at least, the pictures...) was dedicated to "fashion" discussions about the uniforms and football kits... For instance, here are a couple of football players from the 1880s : Peace of Princeton, Frederic Remington and Gill of Yale...

(larger pics here, here and there)

PS : first post in almost three weeks... I still have many stories and pictures to share but can hardly spare time to write them down and put them online... contributions are welcome ! F-


Edit May 6th : this wonderful (according to my standards...) article is now available for download... You'll find all the details about the early days of rugby in the US, written or discussed by people who were involved in person 20-25 years earlier. It also shows that historical recollection can be (is...) difficult as even protagonists do not remember all facts and dates...
"Football in America" W.Camp, 1898

French illustrated postcard, 1908

Slow blogging...

Nice rugby colours instead... French illustrated postcard (larger pic here), posted in 1908 in Marseilles... arrived in 1909 in Tunisia, Souk El Khemis...

Eton Wall Game... also in video

Indeed, that's not rugby, it's Eton Wall Game, here reported in Harpers' Weekly for the American public as a strange local curiosity...

As a Frenchman, I'm very intrigued by all these old (XVIIIth century...) ball games played in English colleges... Some of them have evolved to universal sports like football and rugby as we know it, some others remain specific to the place where they're played like the "Wall game" played at Eton.

I've tried - with reasonable success - to understand the rules (here they are in pdf...) and the spirit of the game... this page on Eton website is a good start to kick into the subject... As this paper reads "[it] is exceptionally exhausting and is far more skilful than might appear to the uninitiated. The skill consists in the remorseless application of pressure and leverage as one advances inch by painful inch through a seemingly impenetrable mass of opponents"

You'll also certainly appreciate this incredible fact about scoring a goal... "The attackers can now attempt to throw a ‘goal’ which would bring them an extra nine points (the goals are a garden door at one end and a tree at the other). [...] goals are very uncommon — the last on St Andrew’s Day was in 1909." 100 years without scoring... I guess that the next one will be heavily celebrated !

It also reads that "few sports offer less to the spectator" ... which doesn't seem to prevent an impressive crowd to meet for the Game, as per this old photography (from one of my old books... but I dont remember which one to credit...)



Larger pics are available @ Flickr (top pic , bottom pic). I was also happy to find this fine movie footage on YouTube showing the Game in 1921, thanks to the efforts of British Film Institute to open and share their unvaluable archives.

Teaser : I've found incredible, astonishing, thrilling, moving - no less - movies of early rugby at the BFI... I'll share that soon... they're just unbelivable ... I mean at least for the rugby memorabilia fan...

eton wall game, BFI

Where is King Edward ?

French trade card "Chicorée Lestarquit Fils"... I agree: this is not the finest rugby card I have ever seen... by far!

Caption reads (in French) : "Sir John Boddern - Cherchez le roi Edouard". Indeed, King Edward's head is hidden somewhere... could you retrieve it... ? (In case you can't... the answer is here... please pass your mouse over the picture...)

By the way, could someone explain why this name "John Boddern" ?

Kangaroos "War Cry"... French tour, 1938

My last Rugby League post before getting back to more familiar topics... (so to say, I recently found a series of photographies about Rugby League in France in the 30s...)

So... Australian Kangaroos touring in Europe Oct.1937 - Jan.1938... 35 games in England (P.25 W.13 D.1 L.11 - Test series 1-2) and France (P.10 W.9 L.1 - Test series 2-0). Sean Fagan gives more details and stats about this 7th Kangaroo Tour on his website rl1908.com.

Here are two pictures of the first Test Match played in Paris (Stade Buffalo) on January 1st 1938, won 35-6 by the ARL ruggers. The picture above brings classical rugby action, whereas the picture below shows the Kangaroos performing their "War Cry" before the kick-off... an Aboriginal "War Cry" that goes like :

Wallee Mullara Choomooroo Tingal
Nah! Nah! Nah! Nah!
Cannai, Barrang, Warrang,
Warrang,Yallah, Yallah, Yallah, Yallah,
Ah! Jaleeba, Booga, Boorooloong,
Yarnah meei, meei, meei Meeyarra, Meeyarra, Jeeleebo, Cahwoon,
Cooeewah, Cooeewah, Wahh, Wooh.

(translation)
We are a race of fighters, descended from the War Gods -
Beware! Beware! Beware! Beware!
Where we fight there will be bloodshed -
Go! Go! Go! Go!
We are powerful, but merciful; are you friends?
Good! Good!
The Kangaroo is dangerous when at bay.
Come on, Come on, to Death.

RL1908.com (again... thank you, Sean!) will tell you everything about the history of this Kangaroo War Cry here ... a not-so-serious stuff aiming at entertaining European crowds and attracting more fee-paying patrons since 1908... actually, also a strong expectation from the English public for all Colonial teams, since 1905 All Blacks, 1906 Springboks and 1907 All Gold (Baskerville's New Zealand RL team) did all perform their own "war-cry" or "haka". The first Australians touring to England in 1908 didn't escape from delivering their own... as soon as they stepped out their boat...

1934-2009 : Rugby League in France is 75 years old

Sean sent me yesterday a kind reminder... Rugby League in France is 75 years old today as "Federation Française de Rugby à XIII" ("FFR13" French Rugby League) was created on April 6th 1934.

Frankly, I am not going to discuss about the tumultuous history of Rugby League in France... born in the 30s when French Rugby Union was shaken by a major crisis, almost killed in the 40s when banned by pro-fascist Vichy government, re-established as a major sporting power in the 50s culminating with the organisation of the first Rugby League World Cup in France in 1954, and pretty much marginalized in modern times (less that 10,000 licenced players in France.. vs more than 300,000 for Rugby Union).

English speaking readers could find some related stories here at rl1908 (French RL - Still waiting an apology) or on Wikipedia (History of French Rugby League). French speaking readers will find more on French Wikipedia here (Rugby à XIII), or simply by watching the video ("Rugby à XIII : Envers et contre tous"... 5€ VOD... good value for money !) advertised in the right column. If you're found of historical papers, I also encourage you to google for Robert Fassolette's papers (such as 1, 2, 3 or 4). Robert is both a RL coach and RL historian... and a passionate advocate for his favorite sport.

Enough said ! I am not going to discuss... my point is to give a small tribute to French Rugby League pioneers...

Above are the "Galia Boys" in Leeds (according to Robert "Sherlock" Fassolette... ), March 1934 (larger pic here). A team of 17 players - all banned from French R.U. because of "professionalism" - set up by Jean Galia, invited in England by Rugby Football League in an attempt to promote Rugby League in France on the "ruins" of French Rugby Union... a successful attempt indeed, as those guys with hardly no experience in RL showed impressive skills during their 15 days tour... 6 played , 5 lost vs Leeds (17-25), Wigan (27-30), RFL selection in Warrington (16-32), London Highfields (17-19) and Salford (13-35), 1 won vs Hull (26-23)

Jean Galia, here with R.U. Equipe de France..., was possibly the best forward in French rugby in the late 20s / early 30s. Galia, who played R.U. for Quillan, Perpignan and Villeneuve, earned 20 caps with Equipe de France between 1927 and 1931 (cf this earlier post feat. Galia vs NSW Waratahs). He was banned - with many other players - from French Rugby Union in 1933. He quickly became the most active sponsor of Rugby League in France, and first suggested a World Cup of RL as early as 1935 ! Galia is featured on the opulent 1930s Courtney Goodwill Trophy along with Dally Messenger (Australia), Albert Baskerville (New Zealand) and Harold Wagstaff (Great Britain) (credit to Sean for the tip!)

Let me also pay a tribute to Max Rousié, fast and powerful scrum half, who also earned a few caps @ 15 before becoming one of the most famous Rugby League players. He's here - as Roanne captain - shaking hands with Lancashire captain in Paris (Stade Buffalo). Rousié is also below posing with Sylvain Bès, another fine rugger who is interviewed - as an old gentleman - in the video I mentionned before...

PS : a few words in French to help Google and other search engines... 75 ans du Rugby à 13 (jeu à treize ?) en France... Jean Galia, Max Rousié...

Rugby & Mustard "A National Game"

Okay... a post for the serious rugby memorabila collector only... this 1880s litho showing a fine rugby scene is the lid of a fantastic tin box advertising for Keen's Mustard... rugby is the "National Game, Keen's mustard is the "National Condiment"... easy to remember + strong message...

This tin box was auctionned last week on eBay,(*) but I couldn't get it (so to say, it was pretty expensive...)... Too bad, because it brings all what I like in memorabia collecting : a great rugby illustration, and a reminder that rugby was (still is ? hummm...) a prominent sport in these early days of sports as a social activity...

The other sides of the tin box are showing various aspects of the life and sports in the British Empire (India, South Africa...). Special mention to Kangaroo hunting in Australia...

(*) I hope that both the seller and the actual buyer won't mind my borrowing of the pictures... Thank you !

rugby

XIXth century Black Rugger...

Where does this guy come from ?? A Black Rugger among XIXth century Victorian die-cuts ?

And what a rugby kit ! rugby cap with gold tassle... French (Dutch ? elsewhere ?) jersey...

Fair enough, young man, go and join your paper friends for a game...

Pirates !

This post is inspired by current controversy in France, New Zealand and Ireland (why this ? rugby countries only... ?) about internet control and so-called "graduated response"... Here is my modest support to the "Pirates" vs the lobbies of cultural industries...

Pirates, Buccaneers, Skulls and Crossbones are as old as rugby... many early teams around the world have elected such names and attributes... the most famous being Rugby college itself (cf this previous post) : here are, on the left, a sketch from French book "Bien jouer au Rugby" by C.Rutherford and R-M Rolland (1934), on the right a 1880 print "The Rugby Boys at Football" (large pic here), and below a very early photography dated 1864 borrowed @ www.historic-uk.com.

 



The team picture all above is one of my faves... New Zealand Napier Pirate Club, shot in 1889, proudly wearing home-made skulls and crossbones and presenting Hawkes Bay RU Challenge Trophy... This picture (large pic here with the name of these gentlemen) comes from the wonderful "History of New Zealand Rugby Football" by A.C.Swan, 1945. Let's zoom in...



My fellow collectors Sean and John have also reported "Pirates" in Australia (Sydney 1890s) and Ireland (University College, Cork, 1930s)... And it has recently appeared to me - it was a big surprise for me! - that the very first jersey of the famous Barbarians was also wearing skull and crossbones... Here are W.P.Carpmael and friends in 1891...



You could find a larger picture here, out of another great old book "The Barbarians 1890-1932 - A complete Record" by Emile de Lissa (Vice President of Barbarians FC in 1932)... Pirates & Barbarians, what a headline !

Have you ever been to Huddersfield (in 1910) ?

Following my post earlier this month about Huddersfield rugby tram, I've received this fine series of postcards from Rugby League collector Stuart Quinn. The "Team of All Talents" is (almost...) all here !

Upper picture shows the team posing with 1910 Yorkshire Cup, Huddersfield's first trophy before several in a row before WW1.Then come Hall of Fame players Wagstaff and Rosenfeld followed by Holland, Ganley, Lee, Swindon, Rogers and Gleeson. Below is another picture of the same team led by W.Kitchin.

Both team pictures also show Pat "Nimmo" Walsh, a gentleman from down-under once portrayed by RL historian Sean Fagan on his rl1908.com fame. Please check my old posts (three years ago...) for more Pat Walsh : Waratahs 1904 and Representative caps...

Again, thank you Stuart !

"Play up, Ireland" 1875-2009

"Play up, Ireland" says this old Baines card... my contribution to celebrate Ireland Grand Slam in 2009 ! I know a couple of my regular readers who must be happy today...

Let me also take this opportunity to celebrate the very first Irish national rugby team... back in February 1875, when the first International was played against England at Kensington Oval.



You'll find more information about this fixture and Irish Rugby Football Union history on IRFUwebsite. Here is a short abstract :

From 1874 to 1879 there were two Unions. The Irish Football Union had jurisdiction over Clubs in Leinster, Munster and parts of Ulster; the Northern Football Union of Ireland controlled the Belfast area. When the first International was played against England in February 1875, the teams were twenty a side and the Irish team included 12 players from Leinster and eight from Ulster. The first fifteen a side match was in 1877 and the first Munster players were chosen in 1879.

This 20-a-side team (name of the players + hi-res picture here), led by G.Stack, lost its first game 2 goals and 1 try to nil...

Indeed a difficult start for Ireland, which had to wait for 5 more years before scoring a single point in an international game (match #8 vs England in January 1880)... plus another year to record its first victory in February 1881 vs Scotland (detailed records are here: page 1, 2 and following)

Let me zoom on these gentlemen... Green hoops and no shamrocks... Irish jersey then turned to be white (with a shamrock !) for their second game vs England in Dec.1875, and then plain green as (more or less) we know it... (Thank you, Feargal, for the explanations !)



Team pictures are scanned from "Football : The Rugby Union Game" by Rev.F.Marshall (wonderful book published in 1892).

rugby, Ireland

Testing new diaporamas...

About 75 fine vintage rugby prints.... Diaporama provided by Fotonauts...

Moving backwards...

England rules... we're back to times when every game between England and France was the occasion of a severe lesson of rugby... French rugby is moving backwards...

This print is cover page of French weekly newspaper "Le Petit Journal Illustré", April 1921, by artist André Galland... larger picture here...

It's indeed the third time that I am publishing Galland's rugby artwork... and some other to come...

Thristle and Shamrock...

Tournament is back this week-end !

I am waiting for England v France next Sunday (hey... I'm French !)... Even if my favorite bookmaker believes that the odds are (slightly) in favor of the Frogs... (France  1.83:1 / England 2.10:1), I'm far from being that confident... I'm sure that Martin Johnson has found sweet words to motivate his troops...

Before that "Crunch", Ireland will play Scotland at Murrayfield tomorrow. Searching for pictures, I've remembered that day in October 1923 when Home Union countries set up mixed teams to celebrate the 100th anniversary of rugby (say, the Webb Ellis legend...). The game was played in Rugby college, on the Close, where it all began...

Here is a larger picture of this Thristle and Shamrock team with the names of the players.

Eight "Dark Blues" : J.M.Dykes, J.C.R.Buchanan, L.M.Stuart, D.Davies; A.L.Gracie, W.E.Bryce, J.R.Lawrie, M.Bannerman

Seven "Emerald Greens" : R.Y.Crichton, T.M'Clelland, W.P.Collopy, W.E.Crawford, D.J.Cussen, G.V.Stephenson, H.W.Stephenson

I've scanned this picture in W.Rowe Harding's "Reminiscence and Opinions", published in 1929 by this fine Welsh player (for sale here @ rugbyrelics.com... thanks Dai for the scan, your dust cover is better than mine...)

W.Rowe Harding was playing in the Anglo-Welsh team lead by W.W.Wakefield (larger pic here) which finally won a "thrilling contest" 21 to 16...



Even French Rugby Union was represented ... as C.M.Rutherford, an Englishman but a true pioneer of French Rugby as a player - Racing Club de France - in the 1900s and then as an official and a referee, was touch judge... This gentleman deserves a full bio some other day !

Rugby tram to Huddersfield, 1909

"Well played Huddersfield" shines this old tram !

Light bulbs garlands to celebrate Northern Union club Huddersfield - today "Giants" in Super League -. In 1909/1910 Huddersfield won the Yorkshire Challenge Cup, opening the way to several years of success before WW1 for "the team of All Talents", led by "Prince of Centres" Harold Wagstaff...

Check the picture carefully : the portrays of the players are displayed behind the windows...

I can't recognize the players, but obviously the same series of photographies as this postcard dated 1909 as well (W.M.Edwards... no stats about this gentleman, I'm afraid)

I like this game of chasing for rugby details in old postcards...

One final word to recall that Huddersfield is the city where stands George Hotel, the place where on August 29, 1895 twenty-one northern clubs held a meeting and by a majority of 20 to 1 voted to secede from the RFU to set up their own Northern Rugby Football Union (which became Rugby Football League in 1922) (History of RL on Wikipedia here)

For those who like the history of Rugby League AND do speak French (anyone ?), I strongly recommend this 1h documentary "Rugby à XIII : Envers et contre tous" that can be purchased and downloaded here (5€) (also check the small teaser in the right column of my website)

And to make this long post even longer... let's also share this (poor) Baines card...

Edited March 9th : Sean @ rl1908.com suggests that the photos in the tram are RL Hall of Fame players Albert Rosenfeld, an Australian and all time best try scorer in British League... 80 tries during 1913-14 season, and Harold Wagstaff. You could check this fine blog about RL History to get a full bio of these great ruggers (Rosenfeld here... Wagstaff there...)

Rugby League, Northern Union

Next year in Cardiff...

I was not invited to attend France v Wales last Friday in Paris (full report @scrum.com and the last 5 minutes in video @YouTube)... let's hope that the WRU will think about it next year in Cardiff... a complementary press ticket like this one from February 1929 will just be perfect !

I'll be also happy to join the dinner after the game ! (this invitation and menu don't belong to me... I have this picture on my computer but I don't know who to credit for... they probably come from an auction catalogue)

 

rugby, WRU

Tom Browne's comic rugby series

Some comic postcards... it's been a long time...

Tom Browne (1870-1910) was one the most popular cartoonist in England at the turn of the XXth century.

You could find an enthusiastic bio on "About Postcards" , a blog dedicated to postcards collecting (and thank you for Tom B's photo).

So, many sporting postcards among his massive production... and special mention to rugby football !

Here are four rugby postcards c.1905... and many others in my drawers for future posts... top to bottom are "Touch", "a Try", "Are we down-hearted? No!!!" and "Who's got the ball?" (click on the links for larger pics)

Tom Browne

Maori rugby players can play tennis !

A kind contribution from New Zealand... referred by Dick Garratt from Maori Sports Awards (Te Tohu Taakaro o Aotearoa Charitable Trust) which shows George Nepia and John Hoani MacDonald, two of the finest Maori athletes ever, playing tennis in Sydney, at Rushcutters Bay tennis courts in 1935. (pictures from Sydney Morning Herald)

Nepia and MacDonald were respectively captain and vice-captain of the Maori team then touring to Australia. Upper photography (larger picture here) will give you the impressive list of sporting distinctions gained by these two champions... Interestingly, both were honoured in Rugby Union, Rugby Union and Tennis... Both belong to Maori Sports Hall of Fame.

Are these "bridges" between rugby and tennis common ? Earlier this month, former French international player Jean Gachassin (aka Peter Pan) - 30 caps between 1961 and 1969 - was elected President of Federation Française de Tennis (French Tennis Union).

(picture from Depeche du Midi website - thank you!)

Rugby on stamps... merci La Poste...

This note is for my blog-friend @Pem... sorry, private joke ;-)

Another rugby-pioneers.com "goodies"... I used to have mousepads, name cards, postcards... here are the stamps... Maybe I should open a corner-shop...?

French post office La Poste has been providing a "make your own design" online service since a year or so (www.montimbreamoi.fr)... that I visited only recently...

Indeed, this is not a "world premiere" as similar services are also proposed by USPS in the US and Royal Mail in the UK, but this is surely quick and easy to use for a nice result (and what about an API to Flickr like moo.com ?... and why so many ugly babies in the public gallery...? )

Memorabilia collectors would recognize Bristol colours published in 1906 by Ogden's Cigarettes, as well as French Art Deco artist Harry Eliott's "La Vie Sportive" postcard... Actually, a new challenge for Derry @ rugbystamps.com if he wants to catch up with each and every rugby stamp around the world...

 

Technorati Tags : rugby, stamps, La Poste

France v Scotland : Secret Cigarette Card...

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...

        

   

and a short video presentation...

Enjoy the rugby this week-end...