This is rue Nationale, one of the main streets of Lille (in the north of France - map).
I have purchased this postcard for a tiny detail... There is a sign on the building on the right advertising for the next women rugby fixture... "Femina Hirondelles Paris" vs "Lille Rugby Athletic Club"...
I have been fairly surprised to discover that women rugby was then played in this Northern part of France where rugby was far from being popular... could this be that women rugby in the 20s had a greater exposure than today ?
Google doesn't know about "Lille Rugby Athletic Club"... any idea ?
I also take the opportunity to show this 1'50 video showing the girls of Cercle Femina Paris - the leading omnisports women club in Paris after WW1 - playing rugby in 1928 (rugby starts after 30s). Low quality, but interesting document... credit to BritishPathé : I should probably contact them and ask to support this blog by providing better quality footages...
Technorati Tags : rugby, lille, hirondelles, women RWC
Hiya i am doing a project on womens paticipation in rygbi. I am compareing french to wales. I was wondering wether it would be posible to use that footage of the women playing rygbi in 1928? Iv found this page healpful but anyother information you could ofer would be amazing. thanks
Posted by: Anna | 14/10/2007 at 23:37
Hello Anna,
As I mentioned, this video footage is copyrighted by British Pathé (see link above) but I imagine that they wont worry too much if you're quoting their material for academic purposes (click anywhere in the player to access to the vid @ Dailymotion and find html code)
Actually, this is not exactly rugby as we know it.. : in the 20s there was a French championship of "barette"... 10 players a side, no tackles but blocking your opponent is allowed.
Lille - where this picture was shot - was champion in 1924 (even Google ignores it... thank you Joris for the tip...)
Posted by: Frederic | 16/10/2007 at 07:57
Looking at the film and rules of Barette I suspect that this is actually proper rugby - if not then it is a VERY vigarous form if barette!
Posted by: John Birch | 04/03/2008 at 01:28
Do you know the date this postcard was published? By the comments listed above, it could be after the mid-late 1920s, but there are a large number of Lille postcards scattered all over the web that appear to date to the turn of the century.
I wonder if this postcard you acquired is a tinted version from a larger set widely found on the internet. One can find an image of rue Esquermoise, close to rue Nationale, at:
http://mmiiiblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/denka-dinki-danke.html
And there are several more of a set at the website below. The blogger below has one postcard with a 1925 cancellation stamp, but another marked from 1902.
http://histoiresdunord.blogspot.com/2007_03_04_archive.html
Posted by: mitchellirons | 03/07/2008 at 15:20