Rugby-Pioneers

High Tackle (and much more)

Here is a great 10 pages article by Fernand Bidault (the man on the roof in this previous post...) about rugby published in 1908 in "Je Sais Tout", a popular French encyclopaedia... candid text - obviously in French... - to explain rugby to an audience not familiar with sports, and many illustrations... like this powerful "Pacific style" tackle which is failrly surprising in early French rugby...

This article was spotted by Pascalou on French National Library website (some wonderful pre-WW1 photographies up there... definitely something I need to talk about soon... sample!) a couple of weeks ago... and now at home, scanned and ready to be shared... Here is a "player" to comfortably read the full text (enable "fullscreen" for a better experience)... and let's thank Pascalou for his scouting talents!

In my opinion, these sketches explaining basic tactics skill are most tastful...

This "Je Sais Tout" magazine was published by Pierre Laffite, also owner of French sports weekly "La Vie Au Grand Air"... hence common illustrations: "serious" collectors will recognize some of the photographies below that show various and anonymous action from French rugby championship... except the very last one which show Springboks power-players Paul Roos and Dougie Morkel !



 The latter picture, where Roos holds the ball for Morkel to kick, actually was the cover of "La Vie Au Grand Air" in January 1907. 

The Springboks ended their tour in Great Britain by playing in Paris, Parc des Princes, a poor French side... final score 54-6 game vs a Paris team (9 players from Stade Français incl. Combe, Lesieur, Jérome, Galichon...) NB : the "true" Equipe de France was playing in England two days after... cf previous posts here and there...

Must Read! Must Watch!

 

Breaking news!

Sean Fagan, who's been online for almost 10 years @rl1908.com and @colonial-rugby.com.au, is now developping a new website dedicated to the history and roots of our favorite sport.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please rush to @jottingsonrugby.com ! Sean brings exhaustive and fact-based historical researches, together with undisputed knowledge of the history of early rugby football (whatever code -RU, RL or other... in the 1800s and early 1900s) to deliver fantastic rugby stories that you'll never read anywhere else!

A "Must Read"!

Let me also introduce this new documentary film aired by Maori Television in New Zealand. "Beneath the Maori Moon" was a great book by Malcom Mulholland (here on sale @Huia Publishers) covering the rich history of Maori rugby (from Joe Warbrick and George Nepia to the likes of Zinzan Brooke...) and it's now a 15 episodes series every Thursday on Maori Television (thank you Sandy for the trailer!). 

Visit @maoritelevision.com for details and watch recent episodes online ("catch-up tv"). You'll be amazed by the quality and quantity of documents collected - photos, videos, testimonials (including Sean's... shot at Sydney SCG)...

A "Must Watch"!

Bonnie Lassies, Devilled Sardines, 1888

Feargal O'Rourke, a fellow rugby memorabilia collector in Dublin, is sharing with us this fine 120+ years old menu of a complementary dinner to the Irish rugby team hosted by Scottish Rugby Union, a rare souvenir of an early international game (the 56th in the History of international fixtures which started in 1871...) between Scotland and Ireland in March 1888... For your records, please note that Scotland won the game in Raeburn Place by one goal to nil... 

I don't have pictures of these 1888 teams, but some of the players here sound (a wee bit...) familiar such as C.Reid (later portrayed on a Baines card) and W.E.MacLagan (future captain of the first "Lions" squad to tour South Africa in 1891 - full story here) 

It seems that these gentlemen had enjoyed quite a good feast ! some nine toasts (from "to the Queen" to "to the Bonnie Lassies"... just to account for "official" toasts...) and even more courses : oysters, salmon, chicken, haggis, sirloin of beef, turkey, ox tongues, boiled ham... not to forget these very intrigating "devilled sardines" served between the rum baba and the dessert... !

Thanks a lot, Feargal, and "Bon Appetit" !

And now, my 2 cents of rugby history... this menu (say, this match...) could very well be a milestone in the evolution of the game "as we know it"... 

As indicated on the menu, both Irish and Scotch team were playing with 1 fullback + 3 backs + 2 halves + 9 forwards. A few months later, in December 1888 vs New Zealand Natives, Wales will introdruce a "revolutionary" organisation consisting in playing with 4 backs, i.e. 2 centers and 2 wingers.

This new organisation, under the ruling of Welsh legend Arthur "Monkey" Gould (here and there), let rugby game evolve from a dribbling and running game to a passing game...

It took several years for other Home Countries to adopt such "Welsh method" as England, Scotland and Ireland kept on playing with three backs untill the end of 1893 Tournament... Since then, the "Welsh Method" has been prevailing all other the Rugby World...

You've got mail !

Imagine how it was to manage the logistics of a rugby club in a time when e-mail and even telephone were just not available... It was a time of telegrams and letters, such as this fine call-up letter sent in Perpignan in 1923, requesting team players for a training the next Sunday...



My letter was sent by "Arlequins Clubs Perpignanais", aka the Quins of Perpignan, the second team of the city and strong rival of US Perpignan (French Champion 1914, 1921, 1926 and finalist 1924, 1926 )... before the two clubs merge together in 1933 to form Union Sportive Arlequins Perpignan, i.e. current French champion USAP...



Here are the "Quins" in Clermont in the late 20s (no date on my postcard), led by their President Jo Barande and Captain Vincent Graule (6 caps for France 1926-1931).


Interestingly, my call-up letter is signed by Mr Graule, Club Secretary, who could possibly be Vincent Graule's father... (no evidence I admit...)

Vincent Graule spent most of his rugby career as a center / fly half for "Arlequins", before moving to Lyon and gaining two French Championships with LOU in 1932 and 1933... thus deserving to appear on this chocolate trade card...

Edited May 10th : Vincent Graule's son kindly let us know that this call-up letter was signed by his uncle Marcel Graule, i.e. Vincent Graule's brother. Thank you!

"L'Equipe" went to Cardiff...

Wales v France tonight in Cardiff...

I'm saving 60 seconds for a last minute post...

Something special tonight... some fine "modern" illustrations by French artist Paul Ordner showing Welsh Red and French Blue colours... all of them published in the 60s by French sports newspaper "L'Equipe" in their rugby annuals...

The print above is "obviously" dedicated to "commefou"... (kind of private joke, I'm afraid...)



Tomorrow, I'll be at 7.30am in Gare de Lyon boarding for a (offline...) ski break ... and reading L'Equipe first thing in the morning...

Legal notice (and apologies...) : it's (almost) the first time in five years that I'm publishing copyrighted pictures (to L'Equipe or Ordner's heirs, I don't know)... I hope that some of you will visit me during my next stay in jail...

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 !

Night (Rugby) Drinks...

Another fine example of rugby advertising for alcoholic beverages ("apéritif") in France in pre-WW1 era... (large pic  )

This time, wine-maker Louis Koester in Cette (now Sète) on the Mediterranean seaside (where my Grandmother was born.. but that's another story...) went one step further : he just called his product "Rugby" !

Interestingly, local archives (Archives de l'Hérault) explain that Louis Koester also was the founder and president of the Regional Rugby Committee ("Comité Régional du Languedoc"). QED!

By the way, times are getting increasingly "digital"... these Archives de l'Hérault also provide some nice online memorabilia about local rugby  ("Rugby, terre d'Hérault"-in French)... Well done! And congratulations for sharing such documents (though I'm not exactly sure of their licencing policy....)! For instance, here are below a commercial letterhead from the same Koester, the original charter (1912) of Cette Rugby Club and a fine poster print advertising for another - weird, but that was tonight topic... - Kola Rugby...

 

"Union Jack" jersey in Toulon... probably announcing Jonny Wilkinson and the soon-to-come 6 Nations Championship...

Wanted : Women Rugby Memorabilia!

The 6th Women's Rugby World Cup will be played next August in England (official site )... RFU Museum in Twickenham is working on a temporary exhibition about women rugby and is searching for memorabilia (newspapers, photos, jerseys, cards, trophies, etc...). I'm trying to arrange some contacts here in France, but I'm sure that they would appreciate additional inputs (especially for material outside Great Britain)... Just drop a comment or a mail to contribute or share ideas !

As far as French rugby is concerned, I have to admit that I don't know very much about its history and that my memorabilia is pretty poor... This being said, the history of French Women Rugby is tied to the game of "Barette", a passing game - kind of hybrid between rugby and touch rugby (can someone post the original rules, it will help my undestanding of that code.. thanks !)

A first "root" of this French Barette brings us to the region of Bordeaux at the end of the XIXth century, where a phisician, Dr Philippe Tissié, wrote a code of "Barette" in 1899 (known as "la Barette Aquitaine") which quickly spread among local schools. It seems that girls were also playing... But, say, I'm not sure of the sporting interest of that game... (help ! a picture and the rules please !)

Another form of "barette" - say, rugby as we (almost) know it... - was played in France in the 1920s. It originated at Femina Sports, the leading omnisport women club in Paris (cf wikipedia - in French) and was reported to be sponsored by SCUF and former international player (5 caps between 1908 and 1913) André Theuriet. Below is Thieuret with Femina Sports ("Les Hirondelles") captain Miss Cubaret, and "Cadettes de Gascogne" (Bordeaux) captain Miss Dubarry... nice berets indeed !

 

Picture credit to INSEP - French National Sports Center - Please also check a dozen of other very interesting pictures of 20s women rugby from the same series here... and watch this 1928 movie - Femina again - showing various phases of a women rugby game (rugby starts at 0'30 - Credit to British Pathé).

Again, I'd like to get a copy of the rules (could someone help ?)... apparently 10 or 12 a side teams playing a vigarous passing game - no rucks, no mauls - but throw-ins and scrums... I assume that tackling below waist wasn't allowed...

Women rugby was popular enough for F.F.S.F. (Fédération Féminine Sports de France - French Union of Women Sports) to organise a French Championship... teams from Paris, Bordeaux, Lille as above (picture credit to sports historian Joris Vincent in Lille - also cf this older post)... the Championship medal below is a new find for my collection...

From another standpoint, let's also share this fine comic print by cartoonist Fabiano, published in Fantasio (kind of French "Punch Magazine") in 1925...or remember this other "erotic" print...

 

Caption reads  "Rugby Féminin - Enfoncez la mélée ! commande la capitaine... Mais comme son ami la regarde, elle se refait une beauté" (Women rugby - Break up the scrum ! the captain orders...).

To be honest, Women football was even more popular in the 20s, for instance touring to England or welcoming Dick-Kerr's Ladies F.C. in France in 1920... Actually, rugby and football team usually belonged to the same clubs... here are the same Paris Femina Hirondelles and Bordeaux Cadettes de Gascogne on the cover page of French newspaper "Le Petit Journal" in November 1923... (painting by André Galland... too large for my A4 scanner...)

 

Definitely a long post ! Please don't forget... Wanted : Women Rugby Memorabilia!

Little Silver Rugger

This Little Silver Rugger takes care of some of precious rugby books and caps in my cabinet... A nice item crafted in Germany c1900.

Actually, this picture doesn't give it justice... it doesn't look like a skull "in real life"

Books from left to right :
- Le Football (Rugby), E.St Chaffray & Louis Dedet, 1902
- Le Football Rugby, Jacques Dedet, 1922
- Le Football (Rugby), E.Pontié, 1905
- The Modern Rugby Game, Gwyn Nicholls, 1910
- Rugby Football, Henry Vassall, 1889

(Illustrated) Rugby in Japan - part 2

Second post about Japanese rugby (check the first one here)... to display a couple of early illustrations.

Strange piece of memorabilia above : this fine rugby action is a paper litho on the back of a small pocket miror... I've found no indication of date, but it's definitely "Made In Japan"...

Below is a postcard published in 1924 - posted in 1930 - showing all kind of Japanese athletes practising either traditional Japanese (Sumo, Kendo, Archery, Judo...) or Western (Tennis, Rowing, Basket-Ball, Base-Ball, etc...) sports. (large pic here)



A Japanese rugger is illustrated there... already wearing the colours of "Cherry Blossoms" national team... I guess that the photography inside the card shows the gates of this multi-sports club... Has anyone got a hint ?

The revival of the "Entente Cordiale"

Are we entering into a new phase of the Franco-British "Entente Cordiale" ?

This treaty signed in 1904 between France and United Kingdom (all details on Wikipedia here...) has something to do with the development of rugby in France. I'm not going to enter into details, but the tightening of political and diplomatical relationships between the two countries gave a strong canevas to foster invitations between French and British clubs, to welcome some British expat ruggers in French championship (yet ! - Harry Owen Roe in Bayonne, Percy Bush in Nantes etc... in Paris, Bordeaux...) and eventually to have France being invited to play against Home Nations - England first in 1906, Wales in 1908, Ireland in 1909 and finally Scotland in 1910 (*) -

Here are two documents celebrating the "Entente"... above is a postcard showing two soldiers playing rugby with the Kaiser's head (caption reads "une partie de football" - a football game ) and below is a full page print by Ernst Prater published in The Graphic in February 1911: The "Entente Cordiale" in The Football Field - England vs France at Twickenham - (larger print here where you could also read the caption)



Back to 2009, are we entering into a new phase of the Franco-British "Entente Cordiale" ?

I was initially fairly skeptic to witness the large number of British newcomers into French Top14 Championship as there are now 30 Brits and Scots in the French squads... but after two months competition, it seems that most of them have succesfully integrated into their respective teams either on the field or, more important, off the field to demonstrate that they are ruggers before being mercenaries... Yes, we do have videos of Wilko singing in a French pub... and, yes, we do have James Haskell undressing for next Stade Français 2010 calendar ("Dieux du Stade"... for sale on Stade's website) to illustrate that theory...

Hence a new proposal ! let's build a Franco-British team to tour into Southern hemisphere... ;-)

(*) indeed, French rugby will celebrate next year the centenary of our debut in the 5 then 6 Nations Tournament... we'll discuss that later

Art & Rugby (in Paris...) : The Mexican way...

I'm always surprised and pleased to discover artworks related to rugby. Last week, I spotted this fine "Retrato de un jugador de rugby" by Mexican artist Angel Zarraga (1886-1946), painted in Paris c1925.

Should I mention... this oil on canvas isn't mine... it was auctionned two years ago by Christie's in New York for a mere $157,000... (details here)

Angel Zarraga (portrait below - short bio here) left Mexico to travel around Europe aged 18, settled in Paris in 1911 - the center of the then art world - where along with Braque, Utrillo, Gris and Picasso, he was one of the founders of the School of Paris and became an important art figure and enjoyed commercial and critical success.

As Christie's explains "The artist's earliest experiments with a cubist language reveal his understanding of color and space but more importantly place him within the modernist's vanguard. Zárraga abandoned Cubism by the start of the 1920s for an expressionist language that is uniquely his but shares its roots with the works of Cézanne.

Retrato de un jugador de rugby, circa 1925, dates to a period in the artist's life when he became increasingly interested in athletic depictions--especially of football (soccer and rugby) players. Some of his most notable paintings within this theme are of players in action done in a cubist manner. However, his most iconic works on the sport are frontal portraits of female and male players which are captivating and lyrical character studies. This portrait focuses on a handsome young man--almost too young to play such a rough sport. The bold red stripes of his shirt contrast dramatically against the soft colors of the playing field and anchors him firmly to the ground. He epitomizes the eloquence of the sport--the almond-shaped ball is tenderly held up like a sacred object and he remains forever the image of the game."

I have no idea who could be that youg rugby player, but it's interesting to notice that Parisian rugby clubs had always welcomed Latin or South American athletes since the beginning of our championship back in 1892 (another story... another day... some hints here in that former story about Brazilian Paranhos at Stade Français)

BTW Google Images provides with other Zarraga's paintings, including this related work with football players (and Basque berets...)

The Rugby History Search Engine (geek stuff...)

"The Rugby History Search Engine" is a customized Search Engine 100% dedicated to... rugby history (no kidding!). This is a "DIY" technology provided by Google that enables to concentrate the search on a limited number of websites, and I have (arbitrarily...) elected to browse the most relevant "rugby history" websites (*)

You could either test it from the "box" above, or follow (and bookmark... ) this link.

It (almost...) looks like this...

And the results go like that (search on "Percy Bush")...

(*) basically all English speaking websites from my "Rugby Favorites" list in the left column... After some tests, I've decided to remove Wikipedia from the search because too much "noise"... This being said,  feel free to suggest others !

The pleasure of Catalan wine...

Hummm... shared some fine wine at lunch time with two sports afficionados... Red wine from the French side of lovely Catalonia, country of French 2009 Champion USA Perpignan... and country of this "Trilles" - a blend of red wine, quinine and tonic water -... a popular "aperitif" drink in these 20s and 30s... from a time when advertisers were very keen to associate rugby and alcoholic beverages...

Caption reads, in English "There's nothing better than Trilles after physical efforts!"...

This lunch was also an opportunity to discover Benoit's last masterpiece... I'am just teasing... this red "rooster" is a sample of a future jersey developed by Sport d'Epoque and available later this year... This jersey is a landmark in the history of French rugby and sports... no less !

Private Joke...

Cartoonist Fougasse knew it already... posing for a team rugby picture could require years of intense practice... and so do these 1920s ruggers (published in Punch Magazine)...

Captions read (larger picture here) :
- On the Command "Prepare to be photographied"
- Tenge the legs in order to provide an exaggerated impression of their muscular development
- Raise the soulders to increase the apparent width of the chest
- And fold the arms so that the muscles of each are forced into prominence by the hands judiciously placed behind them...

Well, that's basically what some members of this Crazy Ruck are intending to demonstrate... full story (in French...) here !

Thank you Richard, and all folks, for this nice lunch !

"Allons Enfants" into the unknown...

Modern history today ! A 30 years flashback to July 14th, 1979 ("Bastille Day") to recall the first victory ever of a French side touring to New Zealand...

Possibly one of my first "rugby" souvenir (I was 12)... that day, Jean-Pierre Rives and his goodfellows (Gallion, Joinel, Dubroca, Paparemborde, Dintrans, Codorniou, Aguirre...) defeated Graham Mourie's All Blacks 24-19 (names of all players here)... Above is the programme of the match, and below is a 10min summary of the game on French TV... You'll hear French commentator Roger Couderc almost dying from heart attack at the end...

This leads us to another classic New Zealand v France test match tomorrow at Carisbrook... French rugby is so desappointing these days that it would be foolish to place a bet on France, but our kiwi friends are our favorite victims of some rare "coup d'éclat" (1979, 1994, 1999, 2007)... "Our test matches are always a trip into the unknown..."

The last sentence isn't mine... It was mailed to me earlier this week by His Blackness Jed "Jedi" Thian... Some of you know that I am a big fan of his Alternative Rugby Commentary (here on the web - here on Facebook)... For those who don't know him yet, please do take three minutes to check these videos (shot in 2007) : the first one will show you Jed "at work" live in a pub and on the web, the second one is an hilarious teaser for the previous (and miserable...) French tour in New Zealand...

Jed has also set up a group on Facebook to cover tomorrow event... when I read the baseline ("Let see what makes these frogs tick...") and see the supporting picture there, I do have some ideas about his views on the game ;-)

Edited June 13th : yes... yes...yes... yes !!!

 

(picture credit to lequipe.fr )

Rugby-Pioneers Remix

I'm regularly asked for permission to use my old rugby pictures in various projects, and I'm always pleased to do so. So far, I've been contributing to several books, illustrations, movies, education or cultural projects... and now, it's about fashion ! Here is a rugby bow-tie, hand-made in England by Ms Lianne Hill @ Fabricraft, a fabric gift business specialised in XMas Stockings, personalised shoe bags... and eccentric bow-ties...

You can buy direct from the website, or visit Fabricraft @ Fairgound Craft & Design Center in Andover, Hampshire.

And now, my two minutes of propaganda!

Indeed, another tiny - but relevant - illustration of the value of "remix" in our economies, i.e. how someone's creativity and work can turn old rugby pictures into a new product...  This bow-tie might not be the most useful product of the XXIth century but I take two facts for granted : a) I'd never had this idea by myself and b) Ms Hill wouldn't have been able to design this nice piece of "rugby" fabric if the usage of my pictures was restricted by copyrights...  Those who regularly follow this website know that I am an active supporter of Creative Commons licencing initiated by Stanford Professor Larry Lessig... whose last book is precisely called... "Remix". If you're not familiar with Lessig's work, I would encourage you to check this 18' talk at TED conference (Nov.2007) on laws that choke creativity... and also to read his former books (some of them are free to download)... it's all about law and culture!

What a wonderful (digital) World...

When I started this website back in 2005, online resources for rugby history were more than scarce, and quite always to be credited to hardworking generous individuals... I'm happy to realize now "serious" institutions like public libraries and newspapers have now joined the (digital) game... 

Getting digital is great... sharing is even greater ! Let's consider for instance this fine comic print - "The Triumph of John Bull Junior - Episodes of Fast and Fancy in the Struggle for Rugby Supremacy" in NZ newspaper The Free Lance, August 20th 1904 - paying tribute to the All Blacks (I know, there weren't called "All Blacks" in 1904....) who defeated British Lions... This print is available in hi resolution thanks to efforts of The National Library of New Zealand... Their archive - PapersPast - contains more than one million pages from various NZ publications and covers the years 1839 to 1920... No need to say : you'll find some rugby treasures there !... I was like a kid in a toy factory during my first visits...

And now the cherry on the cake: The National Library of New Zealand grants permission for the reproduction of its material, the only requirement being that attribution to them is made (basically, same as my Creative Commons licence...). Ladies & Gentlemen from down under: thank you !

I truely believe that sharing knowledge - even the smallest contribution... - is a progress to our society, and it makes me really mad when public institutions behave like if they were business data banks... Example ? French National Library (as public as their kiwi collegues...) is also online: their service - called Gallica - brings a lot of interesting pictures and documents... but the material is restricted for use, and heavily priced even for non-commercial usage... bad!

Sharing this copyrighted picture of the first fixture between France and England at the Parc des Princes in March 1906, could possibly bring me into troubled waters... unless I pay 56€+VAT (almost 80 US$... price list here...). If some "Messieurs from BnF" do read these lines, don't hesitate to give a call to discuss my point...

In that respect, let's welcome "The Commons", an initiative from Flickr: a place where public libraries volunteer to share photographies free of any copyright, and sometimes ask in return for some help to identify the pictures... a few rugby pictures there, notably this team photography of 1908-1909 Kangaroos feat. Dally Messenger and Arthur Hennessy (full team here) provided by the State Library of New South Wales ...

... or the very same National Library of New Zealand (again, thank you... you rule !) which brings that great view of the crowd at Wellington Athletic Park in the 1920s... (Photo by William Hall Raine - king size pic available here)

This note is (too ?) long but doesn't claim to be exhaustive (don't hesitate to share your favorite online resources in the comments below...) Let's however also pay some credit to the "pioneer" of all online resources, i.e. US Library of Congress, which shares some hi res / no copyright rugby pictures, such as this famous WW1 poster published in 1915 by Central London Recruiting Depot... "Rugby Union Footballers are doing their Duty"... claiming that 90% of them have already enlisted and that "every player who represented England in Rugby international matches last year has joined the colours - in The Times, Nov. 30, 1914"...

Enough said ! Let's share !

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