I have purchased a bunch of cool postcards this summer...
Here is Aviron Bayonnais in 1914, following their first French Championship title in April 1913 (31-8 vs SCUF ; check the stats at finalesrugby.com)
Bayonne (here is the map...) was among the first regional teams to contest Parisian supremacy over French rugby (with Bordeaux, Toulouse, Lyon...) introducing the then famous "jeu à la Bayonnaise" made of passes rather than dribbling, made of speed rather that strength...
Oddly enough, early Aviron Bayonnais owes a lot to a Welsh rugger, Harry-Owen Roe - a former Penarth player - who moved to Bayonne for profesional reasons in 1908 (sure ?). At a time when French rugby was lagging far behind Welsh rugby (yes Phil, it has changed...), Roe brought considerable experience and know-how to a team of athletic young men led by Fernand Forgues (the gentleman in the middle of the picture). Aviron Bayonnais quickly became a very competitive and reknown team... Today, if you're looking for Aviron Bayonnais Head Office in Bayonne, just ask for Harry-Owen Roe Street...
BTW I always appreciate when "pioneers" are remembered like this... and I guess that there are not that many streets in France named after a foreign rugby player ! (there also is a "Fernand Forgues Avenue" in Bayonne...)
I am currently trying to identify all the players on this picture, or at least international ones.. in 1914 line-up, we could possibly recognize Fernand Forgues (11 caps, 1911) (ok, easy...), Jean Domercq (2 caps, 1912), Maurice Hedembaight (3 caps, 1913), Felix Lasserre (15 caps, 1914), François Poydebasque (2 caps, 1914), Paulin Bascou (1 cap, 1914) and Emmanuel Iguinitz (1 sel, 1914) ... Just tell me ! you could find a bigger picture here.
This post is dedicated to Brian O'Driscoll ;-)
PS : Moris Dia, editor of Baiona - a citizen blog about Bayonne - has developed a great "rugby" plug-in for IE and Firefox to keep you updated with the best "rugby" RSS feeds... a lot of quality French news and blogs (inclusing mine... he ! he !), but also international links from all around the rugby world.
Great job, indeed.. to be downloaded here (it's safe and easy)
Technorati Tags : rugby, aviron bayonnais, fernand forgues, owen roe
hello! just wanted to say that harry owen roe was my great uncle (my great grandmothers brother)...i wish i could of watched him play all those years ago...great to see info on so many websites about him. i have many photos myself of him and this tops it...
Posted by: stephanie difrancesco | 13/03/2008 at 23:04
Hi
Thanks for info on here. Harry Owen Roe was my grandfathers first cousin. If anyone has any further info I would be pleased to hear from you.
Many thanks
Sandra
Posted by: Sandra Walters | 07/08/2008 at 17:54
http://fotoruffian.blogspot.com/2009/08/aviron-bayonnais-stade-francais_22.html
Posted by: hembor | 22/08/2009 at 21:13