Rugby-Pioneers

Leicester, England's Brightest Rose...

Let's celebrate the new Champion of England 2013: "Leicester, England's brightest rose"... 

These kind words aren't mine, but John Baines'... the famous late XIXth/early XXth cards publisher from Bradford... (click to enlarge)

Center of the card is Bobby Lewis, wearing a "1892" cap (Leicester or Midlands ?). I'm afraid that the web seems to be silent about this gentleman :(

This Bobby Lewis was probably a teammate of this E.Redman - what a modern attitude! - Leicester captain in 1895... here proudly wearing a nice "NS" i.e. "North v South" cap (representing North in 1892-93) in this wonderful "Famous Footballers" book

PS: and why not also share this small piece of Leicester memorabilia... a Churchman's cigarette card from the 20s showing the club colours and tie... That's the day, or never... :)

North v South, c.1890

He's a great find submitted to us by fellow rugby historian and collector Stuart Quinn in Hull. It's a lovely and colourful illustrated card (larger pic here) depicting a "North v South" game in the late 1880s or early 1890s... It shows no print on the back nor info about publisher or origin... Any input welcome!

Funnily, this nice illustration of dramatic rugby action doesn't show an actual "North v South" game... as it is copied from this other reknowned artwork by Messrs Overend and Smythe (below), i.e. England v Scotland played in Edinburgh in 1886. A mural reproduction of the original hangs in the Library of the Scottish Rugby Union at Murrayfield... (and I don't remember who I should credit for my modern repro...)  

Rev.F.Marshall's reference book "Football - the Rugby Union Game" indicates that this yearly game started as early as 1874 (played in Rugby on Januay 20th - drawn, nothing scored !).

Stuart and I would be very happy to know more about these "North v South" games. History, background, anecdots... any document around to be shared here?

Quickly browsing my pictures, I can only share a few press clippings (illustrations or photos) relating the "North v South" game in 1900, 1903 or 1893 below (larger pic here), i.e. a fine engraving by S.T.Dadd captioned "North v South at Manchester" and published in The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News Dec.23,1893. For the records, North won by 2 goals 2 tries (16 points) to 3 tries (9 points) that day...

Incidentally, one of the etchings shows England and North player Dickie - The World's Wonders - Lockwood (full bio)... another opportunity to enjoy these fine Victorian rugby cards!

PS: New Zealand has been also playing "North v South" games since 1897, but that's another story !

BYRRH Calendar 1928-29

Some French memorabilia again... A calendar of French Championship 1928-29 offered by winemaker BYRRH near Perpignan.

Motto reads "Generous Wine with Quinine - Recommended to Families and Sportsmen"... There's a book to write about the relationships between rugby and alcoholic beverages - at least in France!

From a rugby standpoint, French championship 1928-29 (Pool round A : 8 pools x 5 clubs - Pool round B : 8 pools x 3 clubs - QF / SF / Final ) went to Quillan... so far, the smallest town (3,500 hab.) to have won French Championship... a team set-up by local entrepreneur Jean Bourel accused of poaching players in rival clubs, as well as by-passing strict amateurism rules... but that's another story!

Felix Potin comic trade cards

Here's a serie of French comic trade cards published c.1900 by French retailer Felix Potin, signed "Lebegue" (no clue..) and part of a large set of "Sports" cards. My four "Foot-Ball" cards range from n°85 to n°90... while n°86 and n°88 are missing (help!!)...

Card n°87 above reads "une touche" ("a throw in"... as "touche" could mean "hit" in French)

Card n°85 below is captioned "Pour marquer un essai, il ne faut pas marquer le pas" (can't translate this poor pun about how to score a try...)

This old lady on card n°90 says "Je t'en supplie, Joseph, ne va pas les séparer, puisque je te dis qu'ils jouent" (Please, Joseph, don't separate them, since they're playing!)

And finally, card n°89 shows a drunk guy explaining "Moi, je ne me donne pas tant de mal pour enlever un ballon" (I do not give me much trouble to raise a glass - another hard to translate poor wordplay as French "enlever un ballon" both means "to raise a glass" and "to lift a ball"...)

Women rugby in Victorian times

 

 

Let me be honest, I'm not 100% sure (understatement...) that women rugby started to develop as early as 1895 when these colourful die-cuts were printed... 

Yet, I remember of Irish-born Emily Valentine who played rugby in 1887 in Royal Portora School in Enniskillen where her father had been headmaster (please check this BBC video on scrumqueens.com and read the whole story uncovered by John Birch on his website)

Or we could also think of the cigarette card series - the very same rugby kit imho - published in 1895 by Thomas Ogden of Liverpool to promote his "Otto de Rose" perfumed cigarettes for women. Possibly the rarest (and the most expensive...) of all rugby cigarette cards sets !

BTW I'm quite sure that the same artist (from Liverpool ??) did the artwork for this cigarette cards and my die-cuts... wonderful rugby kit!

Post-Scriptum : there was some international women rugby last week-end in Paris. While France was (logically... ?) defeated by England 3-15, the French U20 girls spectacularly "crushed" their young English opponents 50-0 !! (click for match reports on scrumqueens.com)

I love Baines Cards !!

 

+100 Baines Cards... late XIXth - early XXth c. ... for serious rugby collectors !

Some great teams... some famous players (Stoddart, Goldthorpe, Vassall...)...

Also include some Sharpe and related cards...

I've started to place these pictures on a map but there's still a lot of work to do! 

View Baines Cards in a larger map

BTW, this map is an open projet... don't hesitate to add your own cards ;-)

 

Gallaher Rugby Cigarette Cards 1912

Rule #33 : When you have no spare time, just post some nice pictures ;-)

I once declared to a friend - a fellow rugby memorabilia collector - that I will never start collecting cigarette cards... Indeed, it appears to be an endless task and some of the rarest (and most beautiful...) cards could cost an arm and a leg...

Yet... cigarette cards regularly bring nice rugby illustrations, quality portaits of players, vivid colours among B&W photographs and a good understanding of what rugby was about in the 1900s...

Say, I don't collect rugby cigarette cards... but do have a few hundreds of them now...

So... here is a series of 10 rugby cigarette cards published in 1912 by Gallaher (London and Dublin), part of "100 designs Sports Series"

Back of the cards are self-explanatory like "slow and lob passes are useless" or "tackling must not be mild and half-hearted"...

And I've also packed the cards into a 1min video... Enjoy!

Arms Park Grand Stand, Cardiff, 1885

Disclaimer : this post isn't related to RWC2011... it's just to say "Hello" to my Welsh friends !

I was happy to find last week a good copy of this fantastic book about the early days of Cardiff RFC, one of the most prominent rugby club in Wales.

"The Cardiff Rugby Football Club - History and Statistics 1876 -1906" compiled by club secretary C.S.Arthur in 1907 goes into every possible details about the first 30 years of the club, from its creation to that famous 17-0 victory against Paul Roos' Springboks on January 1st, 1907 (Percy Bush, Gwynn Nicholls, Rhys Gabe...cf below)

Among tons of teams or action photographies contained in this book, I've been particularly pleased by this picture I'm posting today... it shows the inauguration of the Arms Park Grand Stand, on Dec.26th 1885... Officials, and both Cardiff and Liverpool teams are lining up... 

Large picture here.

As C.S.Arthur puts it "I was this season that the grand stand on the six penny side was taken away and the centre portion of the present Grand Stand erected. It cost £362 and was first use on Boxing Day, the match being Cardiff v Liverpool. It was considered of such importance that a photograph, here produced, was taken.

A steel rope was also put round the ground, in place of the hempen rope used in previous years, and footboards were also put down, so that the spectators should no longer be obliged to stand ankle deep in mud as they frequently to do in former years.
[...]
In consequence of the phenomenal success of the First and Second XV., there was a great influx of spectators, and the gate receipt amounted to the sum of £720 3s. 9d., and the members' subscriptions to £153 8s. 6d., and ground tickets to £36 15s.
The stand was paid for out of the season's income ; the expenditures in other directions naturally increased, with the result that there was a deficiency of £43 13s. to carry forward to the next account."

Note (a) to myself : let's work on the economics and business matters of early rugby clubs...

Note (b) to myself : let's also work on the architecture of these stadium, "cathedrals" of modern times...

 

 

 

Otherwise, I also have some Baines cards of these clubs (a Cardiff Baines card in colour, anyone ?)

Post-Scriptum: some "extras" about Cardiff b Springboks 17 - 0, Jan.1st 1907, at Cardiff Arm's Park... 

First, here is the official programme from that day in Cardiff... This wonderful piece of memorabilia belongs to Richard S. who kindly let me scan and share it... thanks a lot, Richard ! 

Second, I recommend these online resources brought together (by Dai Richards of Rugby Relics fame) for their digital "World Rugby Museum" about the 1906-07 Springboks tour...

I hope they won't mind me copying some of their text and pictures to illustrate... thanks in advance !

A combination of a boggy field and a Cardiff team on top of their form saw the Springboks thrashed at Cardiff Arms Park. Ankle deep in mud the Springbok forwards were unable to match their Welsh opponents in the tussle up front. Cardiff had given the All Blacks a fright a year earlier when they were the only team to score two tries against them. Their 10 - 8 loss to the men of New Zealand was their only defeat in a wonderful season. Led by the genius of Percy Bush the home team included one of the greatest centre partnerships of all time in Gwyn Nicholls and Rhys Gabe, the latter having lined up for Llanelly against the Springboks only 3 days previous. Nicholls it was who opened up the scoring with a marvellous try converted by his brother-in-law Bert Winfield. Gibbs then scored a try for the home team, Winfield missed the conversion but landed a penalty goal late in the half. An early incident saw both Biggs (Cardiff) and Millar (Springboks) leave the field, both returned but Biggs retired from the game at half time. Despite playing the second period with only 14 men against the wind the Cardiff men were able to hold the tourists and prevent them from scoring. They added two further tries through Williams and Gabe to win by an astonishing 17 point margin.  

 Pretty long post, isn't it... ;-)

W.Shakespeare and I wish you a Happy New Year

As this fine postcard (1910) reads "May Christmas bring you joy and the New Year every happiness"!

I was a bit puzzled to discover that the sentence above the picture "He misses not much" comes out of William Shakespeare's "The Tempest" (1610). At first glance, there's nothing much about rugby in this play... except when you consider that this exact dialog relates to a rugby ground...

GONZALO.       How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green!

ANTONIO.        The ground indeed is tawny.

SEBASTIAN.    With an eye of green in't.

ANTONIO.        He misses not much.

Full text here if you want to suggest alternative interpretation...

In the meantime... Happy New Year again !

And Rugby World Cup 2011 looming ahead...

Edited Jan 3rd : let's also share this "customized" Baines card... so far, my best photo editing effort! (original 'Bramley' card here)

 

Rugby and Ties (and Cigarettes)

Pfff... almost one month without publishing anything... a mix between offline family holidays, other projects, serious work, kind of laziness... and maybe a small indigestion of rugby... 

Anyway, back to basics and let's display some collectors rugby cigarette cards...

Here are some "Well Known Ties" cards published by Churchman's Cigarettes in 1934 (1st series) and 1935 (second series) depicting rugby ties and rugby action, with the remainder consisting of military, tennis, soccer rowing and cricket ties (source : the essential Justin McCullough's "Rugby Cards - International Collectors Guide" - check it here!)

Well... maybe not the most interesting cards of the 20s/30s, but still an good insight of how Twickenham (top left), Murrayfield (top right) or Lansdowne Road (above) could then look like during the Tournament...

Other cards in these Series include Barbarians RFC, Richmond, Harlequins and Blackheath (below), as well as Wasps, Old Cliftonians, Old Etonians and Old Rugbeians.

Rugby Against Lung Diseases

"Rugby against lung diseases" sounds pretty serious, isn't it ?

But actually, this isn't a new Charity, only a fine early 1900 lithochromo... the kind of collecting pictures that I'm chasing all around...

This colourful picture (large pic here) is a zoom on a French Trade Card advertising for a drug... "Solution Pautauberge: Contre les Maladies du Poitrine", i.e. "Pautauberge Solution : Against Lung Diseases"...


 Rugby can heal everything, you know...

"Felix Potin" Famous French Rugby Players

  

      

     

   

  

For memorabilia collectors only !

Here are 12 of the most famous French rugby players from the 1920s and before... published by French retailer Felix Potin in 1908 ("Second Collection") and 1922 ("Third Collection").

These trade cards are part of impressive collecting albums dedicated to "Famous French People", both comprizing of 510 cards covering all aspects of political, cultural, scientifical, artistical, sporting,etc... life in France at the time.

Both albums have been entirely scanned by a passionate French trade card collector (online, in French @ imagivore.fr) : 1908 "Second Collection" is here, and 1922 "Third Collection" is there...

My "rugby" series is complete... which is always a great news for a collector !.. even though I have spotted two sportsmen (a "miler" in the 1908 album and a boxer in the 1922 album) who also have a good rugby track record...

Let's introduce these "Famous Players"...

Above is Henri Amand (Stade Français), a true pioneer, international cap n°1, captain of the first French side to play against the mighty All Blacks in 1906... and the only rugger to deserve a trade card in this 1908 "collection"...

Below are some of the most greatest players before and after WW1... All of them (11 cards) feature in the 1922 "collection"...

Fernand Forgues (Bayonne), Jean "The Sultan" Sebedio (Carcassonne and other teams), Félix "René" Lasserre (Bayonne, Cognac) and Philippe Struxiano (Stade Toulousain) were capped before the War broke up... the latter three were also capped in the 20s...

The other players, led by René Crabos (RCF and other teams) with Robert Thierry (RCF), François Borde (RCF and Stade Toulousain), Alfred Jauréguy (RCF ans Stade Toulousain), Raoul Got (US Perpignan), Fernand Vaqué (or Vaquer - US Perpignan) and Jean Clément (RCF) are emblematic of this talented generation who emerged in the 20s to turn France into a competitive opponent to Home Countries... most (*) of them are here, on the day of their first win in Murrayfield (1921)

(*) except Thierry and Jauréguy... who was possibly running too fast for the photographer... you could find this fantastic player here or there (with François Borde)...

Toulouse v Racing Club de France 1920... in video

Yesterday, Dusautoir and Kelleher's Stade Toulousain was playing against Steyn and Chabal's Racing Club de France... a disputed 28-23 win for Toulouse...

Today, a rare video document from French Championship 1920 showing the same Stade Toulousain and Racing Club de France... moving moments of the teams training, lining up at the camera and then playing the same game at the same Ernest Wallon stadium...

Many famous players on the field: Struxiano, Lubin Lebrère, Bioussa, Galau in Toulouse... the backs of Equipe de France A.Jaureguy, F.Borde, R.Crabos (these three then at the Army - Bataillon de Joinville - in Paris) and Géo André in RCF... some can easily be identify in the video...

I'll give more insights on the teams later... (hopefully...)

In the meantime, I let you enjoy the video and these pictures showing Stade Toulousain in 1921... the gates of Enrest Wallon Stadium in the 20s... and Toulouse emblematic scrum-half and captain Philippe "Strux" Struxiano showing his throw-in technique...

The video is credited to Stade Toulousain and Cinématheque de Toulouse. Actually, the video is displayed on Stade Toulousain website ("Museum")... but as a low low bitrate RealPlayer (technologies from the mid XXth century...). Let me thank them for their efforts to have this video live again... and hope they won't mind if I believe it was worth being shared here !

Scotland v France... 1931

Easy blogging... France just defeated Scotland this afternoon in Murrayfield (18-9)... and I'm displaying some memorabilia of an earlier similar game... in January 1931...

Here is the programme (disclosure : I don't collect programmes... but a few exceptions...) of the game... a poor 6-4 victory for the Scots, but no try that day... (nb : 4 points was the "price" for a drop-goal at the time). Inner pages show various Scottish teams (1912, 1930) and a previous game v Wales earlier during the 1931 season...  all pictures are available at Flickr

The teams were captained by W.N.Roughead (London Scottish) and Eugène Ribère (Quillan)... Some of future French rugby league stars (Jean Gallia, Max Rousié, Robert Samatan) were also there... (larger pic here - with the programme of music and bagpipes...)



I have a (small) picture of that game... actually a W.D.& H.O.Wills cigarette card published in 1932... (larger pic here)



By the way, I was also looking for an opportunity to display this dynamic print by André Galland, cover of French newspaper "Le Petit Journal", January 1922... it seems that the Scots were giving hard times to French winger Adolphe Jauréguy...
 
Again, a great rugby artwork... but too large for my A4 scanner!

Here we go again!

"6 Nations Championship" starting tomorrow... Here we go again!

I've got the same issue every year... how to match "live" sports with my rugby memorabilia... ?

Not always easy... just consider these fine Baines cards : there're just perfect to introduce England, Wales (tomorrow in Twickenham), Ireland or Wales... but how come Mr Baines couldn't anticipate and design some French or Italian cards as well ??

OK Computer (as someone said before...)... quick fix...not jealous anymore...

    

  And time for serious rugby now !

Season VI is open... without any remorse !

I'm back and ready for a VIth "season" of rugby-pioneers.com... I feel like a web dinosaur even if, I know, I'm somehow cheating on numbers... ("Season I" was just a 6 months "pilot" early 2005 , "Season II" starting Sept. 2005 was very basic... these posts are still - more or less - available on this old platform...)

Like every year, I hope that many of you will enjoy this area dedicated to rugby history, to rugby memorabilia, and to the men (not so many women, I'm afraid...) who pioneered our favorite game up to a (quite) universal sport ! Again, your comments, feedbacks, requests (or just "hello"...) are welcome...

Let start Season VI with this dynamic rugby tobacco card published by Ogden's in 1927. This "ABC of Sport" series shows a powerful rugger to illustrate... letter "F", as reads this cool poem on the back of the card...



I like this "should a foeman fall down with his face in the grass, be sure you stamp it well in as you pass !" ... British fair-play is legendary ! (and no, Jérôme, I won't discuss Bloodgate here...)

Hey! Ho ! Let's go !

(hi res picture @ Flickr)

Murray cigarette cards, 1911

Rule n°18 of easy blogging : when you don't have time to write down interesting stories, just show some rare and fine early cigarette cards... such as this series published in 1911 by Murray "high class cigarettes"...

Actually, a series of 12 cards dedicated to football rugby... but I only own 5 of them :-(

Farewell South Africa...

From a European perspective, 2009 rugby season will end tomorrow with the third and final test match between British & Irish Lions vs SA Springboks in Jo'burg... then waiting for 2009-2010 big circus domestic championship (Top14 in France) to start again mid August... And also waiting for South Africa to play in Paris next November (ok, that's way ahead...)... Time to say "goodbye" !

So, here is another tribute to South African rugby, displaying a colourful series of cigarette cards issued in 1933 by United Tobacco. There are 65 cards in total, showing all kind of different teams (local teams, provinces... and the Boks...).Too bad, I only have 20 of them (hey, I'm not a serious cigarette card collector...). Below is sample and a Flickr diaporama... maybe you'll find your favorite team there...

Coffee break !

I've already mentionned a couple of times that there are no French cigarette cards (why ?...). Instead, it's very much about "food & drinks"... I'm not going to list them all (then please check Justin McCullough's reference book...) but we do have a bunch a retailers trade cards, a lot of chocolate trade cards, a few soft cheese trade cards,... and some coffee trade cards, such as this "sports" series issued in the 30s (my guess...) by "Café Gilbert".

Here is the full set ...

 

Credits : the rugby picture is mine... while all the other sporting pictures have been kindly provided by Patricia who is a fan of vintage illustrations (check her blog "Agence Eureka" here, or her Flickr there...

J.Baines, Master of all rugby cards...

Two similar Baines-like cards... both portraying Hunslet superstar "Ahr" Albert Goldthorpe... (full bio here on Goldthorpe family website)

The left card advertises for Pears Soap, while the right card advertises for St Jacobs Oil, a sports liniment recommended - in bold letters... - by the trainer of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC...

At first, I was thinking that these cards were aiming to compete with "genuine" Baines Cards in school yards... before realizing that these cards were also printed by J.Baines of Manningham... This gentleman must have been a business genius... inventing (maybe ?) and industrialising (for sure... as soon as 1887) a product (the sport collecting cards for kids), defining marketing strategies playing on collectors' addiction (the more you collect, the better reward you can claim) or collectors' inexhaustible thirst for new pictures (more than 1000 known designs) , attracting advertisers to leverage on the popularity of his Baines cards... and possibly somehow megalomaniac, as he regularly portrayed himself on his cards instead of famous sportsmen...

PS : Here is an ongoing project for serious geeks... I once created a Google Map to locate all my Baines cards (94 cards now)... and fellow collectors' cards as well... I will update it from time to time... but feel free to add yours..

View Baines Cards in a larger map