Parc des Princes, March 22nd 1906 : France and England playing the first match of a long lasting rivalry...
This was only the second international game for France, a few months after having hosted an inaugural game vs Gallaher's All Blacks on January 1st... a game which proved that Froggies could be a decent opponent for England. Yet, the match was played on a Thursday: RFU was keen to play in Paris, but not ready to modify the agenda of clubs games traditionally playing on Saturdays!
This game opened the way for other Home Unions to play vs France, i.e. Wales in 1908, Ireland in 1909 and at last Scotland in 1910.
On my photography (click to enlarge), both teams are friendly mixing up outside the changing rooms of the old Parc des Princes. French players wear for the first time a light blue jersey, embroided with "USFSA" (the predecessor to FFR) blue and red rings, while English players show their traditional kit.
Final score 8-35 (2T 1C - 9T 4C) is anecdotical... full stats are here...
Some famous faces of pre-ww1 rugby are here like Adrian Stoop (above, left), John Raphael or Vincent Cartwright for England... Gason Lane (capt.above, right), 18 years old Marcel Communeau or Emile Lesieur for France.
The three referees, Louis Dedet and Cyril Rutherford (yes, an Englishman in Paris...) for USFSA, and George Rowland-Hill for RFU were also to "godfathers" in their respective rugby unions...(below a double page in La Vie Au Grand Air, March 1906)
Two rugby "trivia" about this game if you want to challenge your friends!
Let me first notice that no less than three foreign players were playing in this Equipe de France: Englishman William Crichton and Welshman Ernest Lewis, both playing in Le Havre, and American Allan Muhr (upper left corner below), first try scorer for France in the history of all "Crunches"... later a famous official of USFSA and FFR who died in a nazi camp in 1944...
Let me also mention that three Black rugby players were selected for this "original" Crunch, Georges Jérome (bottom right corner) and André Verges (bottom left corner) both from Stade Français for France, and James "Darkie" Peters (upper right corner) for England... all of these three gentlemen being the first Black sportsmen to earn an international rugby cap for their respective countries.
And now waiting for the 97th France v England next Saturday in Twickenham!! (*)
(*) Since 1906, England leads by 52 won, 37 lost and 7draw... but since WW2, France leads by 35 won, 34 lost and 6 draw... If Englands wins next saturday, both teams will be "leveled" over the past 70 years of rugby...
Not the first international for France as they played the All Blacks in Jan 1906......
Posted by: Ovalballs | 22/02/2013 at 22:35
no doubt! This was only the second international game for France, a few months after having hosted an inaugural game vs Gallahers All Blacks on January 1st..
Posted by: Frederic (www.rugby-pioneers.com) | 22/02/2013 at 23:33