Rugby-Pioneers

1934-2009 : Rugby League in France is 75 years old

Sean sent me yesterday a kind reminder... Rugby League in France is 75 years old today as "Federation Française de Rugby à XIII" ("FFR13" French Rugby League) was created on April 6th 1934.

Frankly, I am not going to discuss about the tumultuous history of Rugby League in France... born in the 30s when French Rugby Union was shaken by a major crisis, almost killed in the 40s when banned by pro-fascist Vichy government, re-established as a major sporting power in the 50s culminating with the organisation of the first Rugby League World Cup in France in 1954, and pretty much marginalized in modern times (less that 10,000 licenced players in France.. vs more than 300,000 for Rugby Union).

English speaking readers could find some related stories here at rl1908 (French RL - Still waiting an apology) or on Wikipedia (History of French Rugby League). French speaking readers will find more on French Wikipedia here (Rugby à XIII), or simply by watching the video ("Rugby à XIII : Envers et contre tous"... 5€ VOD... good value for money !) advertised in the right column. If you're found of historical papers, I also encourage you to google for Robert Fassolette's papers (such as 1, 2, 3 or 4). Robert is both a RL coach and RL historian... and a passionate advocate for his favorite sport.

Enough said ! I am not going to discuss... my point is to give a small tribute to French Rugby League pioneers...

Above are the "Galia Boys" in Leeds (according to Robert "Sherlock" Fassolette... ), March 1934 (larger pic here). A team of 17 players - all banned from French R.U. because of "professionalism" - set up by Jean Galia, invited in England by Rugby Football League in an attempt to promote Rugby League in France on the "ruins" of French Rugby Union... a successful attempt indeed, as those guys with hardly no experience in RL showed impressive skills during their 15 days tour... 6 played , 5 lost vs Leeds (17-25), Wigan (27-30), RFL selection in Warrington (16-32), London Highfields (17-19) and Salford (13-35), 1 won vs Hull (26-23)

Jean Galia, here with R.U. Equipe de France..., was possibly the best forward in French rugby in the late 20s / early 30s. Galia, who played R.U. for Quillan, Perpignan and Villeneuve, earned 20 caps with Equipe de France between 1927 and 1931 (cf this earlier post feat. Galia vs NSW Waratahs). He was banned - with many other players - from French Rugby Union in 1933. He quickly became the most active sponsor of Rugby League in France, and first suggested a World Cup of RL as early as 1935 ! Galia is featured on the opulent 1930s Courtney Goodwill Trophy along with Dally Messenger (Australia), Albert Baskerville (New Zealand) and Harold Wagstaff (Great Britain) (credit to Sean for the tip!)

Let me also pay a tribute to Max Rousié, fast and powerful scrum half, who also earned a few caps @ 15 before becoming one of the most famous Rugby League players. He's here - as Roanne captain - shaking hands with Lancashire captain in Paris (Stade Buffalo). Rousié is also below posing with Sylvain Bès, another fine rugger who is interviewed - as an old gentleman - in the video I mentionned before...

PS : a few words in French to help Google and other search engines... 75 ans du Rugby à 13 (jeu à treize ?) en France... Jean Galia, Max Rousié...

Rugby & Mustard "A National Game"

Okay... a post for the serious rugby memorabila collector only... this 1880s litho showing a fine rugby scene is the lid of a fantastic tin box advertising for Keen's Mustard... rugby is the "National Game, Keen's mustard is the "National Condiment"... easy to remember + strong message...

This tin box was auctionned last week on eBay,(*) but I couldn't get it (so to say, it was pretty expensive...)... Too bad, because it brings all what I like in memorabia collecting : a great rugby illustration, and a reminder that rugby was (still is ? hummm...) a prominent sport in these early days of sports as a social activity...

The other sides of the tin box are showing various aspects of the life and sports in the British Empire (India, South Africa...). Special mention to Kangaroo hunting in Australia...

(*) I hope that both the seller and the actual buyer won't mind my borrowing of the pictures... Thank you !

rugby

XIXth century Black Rugger...

Where does this guy come from ?? A Black Rugger among XIXth century Victorian die-cuts ?

And what a rugby kit ! rugby cap with gold tassle... French (Dutch ? elsewhere ?) jersey...

Fair enough, young man, go and join your paper friends for a game...

Testing new diaporamas...

About 75 fine vintage rugby prints.... Diaporama provided by Fotonauts...

Next year in Cardiff...

I was not invited to attend France v Wales last Friday in Paris (full report @scrum.com and the last 5 minutes in video @YouTube)... let's hope that the WRU will think about it next year in Cardiff... a complementary press ticket like this one from February 1929 will just be perfect !

I'll be also happy to join the dinner after the game ! (this invitation and menu don't belong to me... I have this picture on my computer but I don't know who to credit for... they probably come from an auction catalogue)

 

rugby, WRU

Maori rugby players can play tennis !

A kind contribution from New Zealand... referred by Dick Garratt from Maori Sports Awards (Te Tohu Taakaro o Aotearoa Charitable Trust) which shows George Nepia and John Hoani MacDonald, two of the finest Maori athletes ever, playing tennis in Sydney, at Rushcutters Bay tennis courts in 1935. (pictures from Sydney Morning Herald)

Nepia and MacDonald were respectively captain and vice-captain of the Maori team then touring to Australia. Upper photography (larger picture here) will give you the impressive list of sporting distinctions gained by these two champions... Interestingly, both were honoured in Rugby Union, Rugby Union and Tennis... Both belong to Maori Sports Hall of Fame.

Are these "bridges" between rugby and tennis common ? Earlier this month, former French international player Jean Gachassin (aka Peter Pan) - 30 caps between 1961 and 1969 - was elected President of Federation Française de Tennis (French Tennis Union).

(picture from Depeche du Midi website - thank you!)

Rugby on stamps... merci La Poste...

This note is for my blog-friend @Pem... sorry, private joke ;-)

Another rugby-pioneers.com "goodies"... I used to have mousepads, name cards, postcards... here are the stamps... Maybe I should open a corner-shop...?

French post office La Poste has been providing a "make your own design" online service since a year or so (www.montimbreamoi.fr)... that I visited only recently...

Indeed, this is not a "world premiere" as similar services are also proposed by USPS in the US and Royal Mail in the UK, but this is surely quick and easy to use for a nice result (and what about an API to Flickr like moo.com ?... and why so many ugly babies in the public gallery...? )

Memorabilia collectors would recognize Bristol colours published in 1906 by Ogden's Cigarettes, as well as French Art Deco artist Harry Eliott's "La Vie Sportive" postcard... Actually, a new challenge for Derry @ rugbystamps.com if he wants to catch up with each and every rugby stamp around the world...

 

Technorati Tags : rugby, stamps, La Poste

France v Scotland : Secret Cigarette Card...

France v Scotland tomorrow at Stade de France... and a recent find that will only interest a few hardcore rugby memorabilia collectors...

Let me tell you the whole story... Collecting each and every rugby cigarette cards is a titanesque (and expensive...) mission that only a few Masters in collecting are tackling (Paul, John, Justin... if you're passing by...). That's why I've decided to keep it low profile... and only collect British cards involving French rugby ! Untill very recently, I was thinking that my herald mission was completed as it was believed to be only two of them... and, booom !, I found that W.D.&H.O.Wills cigarette card, card n°32 in "Homeland Events series 1932" captioned "Rugby International Match"

A careful reading of the back of the card will detail that the front picture is Scotland v France at Murrayfield, 1931... where French side (Galia, Rousié, Ribère...) lost 4-6 to the Scots... Hope the odds will be better for France tomorrow !

BTW, let me introduce Justin McCullough's "Rugby Cards International Collectors Guide"... a wonderful Rugby Card Reference book published last year that every serious collector or memorabilia fan should consider buying : you'll find all details about it on Justin's website... Here are the cover and a sample page...

        

   

and a short video presentation...

Enjoy the rugby this week-end...

Caps & co...

A new cap recently joined the "family" in my display cabinet...
Thank you, Mando!

Could someone help me to identify it ? Embroidery reads A.T.F.C. or T.A.F.C. (yes, it could be Association....). Only hint : it was manufactured in Manchester...

The (other) Calcutta Cup

A story from India... referred to us by Paul Walsh, manager of the Kolkata Jungle Crows XV in Calcutta...

VI Nations tournament is about to start, and Paul reminds us of the fact that there is another Calcutta Cup... another trophy as old as the Cup challenged by England and Scotland every year, disputed among local clubs in Calcutta.

Above is the 1917 Calcutta Cup winner, i.e. the Brecnockshire Battalion from South Wales Borderers (larger picture here). This picture is used by kind permission from the Museums of the Royal Regiment of Wales. Curator Martin Everett indicates that "soldiers of Brecknockshire territorials were mobilised in August 1914 at the start of the First World War. The battalion was sent to Mhow in India as a garrison battalion. The Calcutta Cricket & Football Club had introduced Rugby in India in 1872 and the club provided a Challenge Cup for army teams in India. The Brechnocks XV, containing a number of Welsh club players, won the cup in 1917".

Martin mentions that several members of the South Wales Borderers regiment were also Welsh international players, i.e. Charles M. Pritchard, who was part of the famous Welsh side that beat the All Blacks in 1905 and was killed in France in August 1916.  There's a full story about Welsh rugby players who died in service during WW1 here @ BBC Wales : this story was published last November when our rugby memorabilia fellow Phil Atkinson brought his pupils to Pritchard's grave in France and had them work on his bio (too bad : only UK residents can play the video...)

And, as a nice shortcurt in history, here are the Calcutta guys who won the very same trophy last summer (Jungle Crows b CCFC 45-20 mid of page here)... Congrats, Crows !


(picture credit to The Telegraph - larger pic here)

Finally, let me also take this opportunity to share my only vintage print about rugby in India... published in 1894 in Germany (how come... ?!)



Caption (in German) reads "Englishmen in India - Soldiers playing Football"... larger picture here. I am not able to identify the place nor the team (though one of them has a very distinctive jersey) but it could be another episode of this famous Calcutta Cup ...

rugby, calcutta cup

"Queerest Rooster" for New Zealand RWC 2011

The news broke up yesterday : All Blacks v France will kick off next Rugby World Cup in New Zealand !

Okaaaaay... three more years to go... a loooong time ahead, I agree, but I must confess that I am starting to elaborate plans to travel down there...

As a matter of coincidence, I receiced yesterday this funny cartoon from Christchurch, NZ, which show an interrogating "All Black" kiwi and a distressed "French" rooster, after the 3rd Test Match of France tour in NZ, 1961.

The kiwi - wearing a "made in Europe " rugby crown -  says "Queerest Rooster I ever saw - He laid an egg !", wheras the egg reads "Top Grade Reputation - Second Grade Performance"... no comment ! (full size pic here)

I know... rugby memorabilia from the 60s isn't exactly my "pioneers" era... but apart from the topic (disclaimer : I am French...), I've found this item weird enough to join my collection... Actually, it's a 7" vinyl record of the commmentary of the game by Bob Irvine,  published by HMV and NZ Broadcasting Service. Yes ! a rugby game on a record...!

That day, a solid All Blacks side captained by Colin Meads defeated France 32 - 3 at Christchurch (5 tries to 1). Three tests and three disapointing defeats for a French side who was at the time the strongest European team (led by François Moncla with Guy & André Boniface, Guy Camberabero, Pierre Lacroix, Michel Crauste, Amédée Domenech...).

Time goes by... and nothing changes... 


PS - and teaser ! - : I recently acquired "The Complete Rugby Footballer by D.Gallaher & W.J.Stead" written in 1906 by All Blacks captain and vice-captain Gallaher and Stead... the "Master" of all rugby books that I'll be happy to display and comment here...

 

The Rugby world is a village...

10.41 am today : the stats of my website (cf the "Live Traffic Feed" widget, in the right column) show a strange configuration ...

The last 10 visitors come from 10 different countries and from 5 different continents... : Singapore, France, South Africa, USA, Netherlands, Sweden, Laos, Australia, Italy and India (googling for "secret weapon postcards"...)

I wasn't aware that Rugby Memorabilia was so... universal ! (so to say, Google likes me...)

Checking the last 25 connections brings almost the same picture, adding visitors from Canada, Ireland, England, Germany, Thailand, Argentina, Wales, Korea and Japan...

The Rugby world is a village, I said...

PS : Hey, how would you like to illustrate internet traffic analysis with rugby images ?!?... instead, here is the nice cover of boys' magazine "The Captain", November 1931... universal picture, as well !

(large pic here @ Flickr)

rugby

Fantasy Team of WW1 Heroes

A team you've seen never before... actually a photoshop work to create a fantasy team of international ruggers who died during WW1.

The original picture is this photo of the Equipe de France who played vs England in April 1914 at Colombes... last international game before WW1 broke out... out of the 30 players, 11 were to be killed at war...

The line-up of this team goes from Scotland to New Zealand... from Ireland to South Africa... (larger pic here) :

3rd row :

David GALLAHER (NZ), J.J. CONILH DE BEYSSAC (F), Alfred MAYSSONNIE (F), Felix FAURE (F)

2nd Row

Basil MAC LEAR (Irl), Blair SWANNEL (Aus), Charles Meyrick PRITCHARD (Wal), Ronald POULTON-PALMER (Eng) (captain), Jan (Jacky) MORKEL (AfS), Gaston LANE (F), Emmanuel IGUINIZ (F), Maurice BOYAU (F)

Front Row:

Jean LARRIBEAU (F), Walter Riddell SUTHERLAND (Sco), Marcel BURGUN (F)

This fantasy team is an initiative of French Ministry of Defense ("Office National des Anciens Combattants" i.e. "Department of Veterans Affairs"), who took the opportunity of an international U13 tournament early this month in Rodez (France) to organize a temporary exhibition about French athletes during WW1, and to circulate 3000 copies of a fine leaflet about "Rugby & Rugbymen" (available here for download : the players' bios are inside...)

I was happy to bring a couple of pictures to this project... among other contributors, I've spotted the names of "online friends" Sean Fagan, David Arrou and Eric Lanuza...

Let me add a few links about this major tounament in Rodez, aka Top12, for 11-13 years old boys which gathered 800 boys and girls (edited Oct.17), from 40 teams and 10 countries (France, England, Wales, Ireland, Germany, South Africa, Belgium, Romania and Italie). The program (in French) is here as well as the list of the teams... the story was covered here...

Edited Oct. 17 : not to forget Top12 website here...

Pictures by permission. Credit to ONAC de l'Aveyron and Imprimerie Hérail, Rodez

 

rugby, ww1

Creative Commons are good for you !

Legal stuff...

It's my pleasure to share my pictures with people who share my interest in rugby memorabilia ! So far, I have contributed to several books, academic projects, newspaper articles, rugby exhibitions or conferences, menus (yes, a "rugby" pub in South France...) and.... Wikipedia.

Most of my pictures belong to the public domain (basically, because they are old enough - usually 70 years after initial publishing for newspaper prints or 70 after the death of the artist for artworks, under French law). Still, you have to deal with me to clear reproductions rights if you want to use my pictures... as I provide for the scans or the digital sources.

Either this blog or my photo hosting service (Flickr) do promote Creative Commons (check the logo in the right column) as a licencing system that brings both a strict legal framework and a maximum flexbility for the content owner : I can elect whether commercial use is permitted or not, whether modifications are permitted or not, under which conditions if any... For instance, this website is published under a Creative Commons licence "attribution" "share alike" or CC BY SA (cf the pictos in the right column under "legal stuff") which means that there is no restriction to the use of my work, provided that you "attribute" it to me ("BY") and that you share it in return with others ("SA" "Share Alike"... you don't add copyrights on it !)...

One click to get a "human readable" licence as they call it... another click to get a full text "lawyer readabale" licence code ...

 

It also has some technical implications (techo-adverse people can skip to the next paragraph...). All my pictures at Flickr carry this legal information as a metadata, so that online services could determine automatically if pictures are used (copy, print, etc...) in compliance with this CC licence...

Creative Commons framework easily let interested people use my pictures into their own projects... without having to enter into long lasting - and sometimes expensive - copyrights clearances... As long as you respect the CC rules, you don't even have to ask me...

The upper picture is a great example... last year, during the Rugby World Cup, CRDP d'Alsace (Centre Regional de Documentation Pedagogique) - a French public organization that provides documents, pictures, texts, etc... to school and college teachers to help them prepare their lectures - have made available a dozen of my pictures to illustrate some facts about rugby history : it's exactly what Creative Commons licences are aiming for... : sharing, enriching, creating something new... and sharing it again for the benefit of everyone...

And now some French kids know about the Maori Tour in France in October 1926...

Congratulations to the French Ministry of Education for this fair use of Creative Commons licences !

Travel guides for RWC 2011 in New Zealand...

I'd want to travel to New Zealand in 2011 for next Rugby World Cup...

In the meantime, I'm digging into the rich history of kiwi rugby... I bought some nice books this summer... my travel books, say...

Here we have :

"History of new Zealand Rugby Football 1870-1945" by A.Swan, 1945... tons of stories, hundreds of pictures...

"All Blacks in Springbokland" by M.F.Nicholls, 1928

"The triumphant tour of the All Blacks in England, Ireland and Wales 1924-1925" plus an history of the game and memories of 1905

"The tour of third All Blacks 1935" by C.J.Oliver and E.Tindill

"New Zealand rugby football : some hints and criticisms" by I.Hunter

There are some others on my wish list... it's just a matter of money :-)

And also sharing this nice ad on the back of the 1925 "Triumphant tour" ... beware of kiwis !

Top Secret Messages and Top Players, c1900

It's not the first time that I'm displaying this fine serie of 1900s top players from Home Countries... but this time, I was happy enough to find a whole serie from the same owner... and it comes with some mysterious secret code !!

Let's first mention that these chromo-litho postcards were first published in 1899 - some of the very first rugby postcards ever ; full story here by Brian Lund @ ovalballs.com - to portray (from top) J.T.Mabon of Jed Forest and Scotland, the legendary A.J.Gould from Newport and Wales, the no-less-legendary Louis Magee of Bective Rangers and Ireland (Hello to the Magee family!) and J.F.Byrne of Moseley and England (Hello to Moseley fans !)



Having said that, what is this intrigating hand-wrtting on the cards ? I guess that two kids had elaborated a secret code to exchange messages... a mix between greek alphabet, hebrew or just algebrical signs (and a lot of "@"... maybe some XIXth century geeks...)... it doesn't seem very difficult to break as it's a basic "one sign" = "one letter" code but I am a bit lazy there... first and last word are always the same and must be the names of these young spies !

Full size pictures @ Flickr : Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England

Enjoy !

French rugby against racism

Tonight on French TV, there'll be a documentary about the history, role and input of Black athletes in French football (see trailer - in French - below feat. Marius Tresor, Lilian Thuram, Patrick Viera and many more...). This work aims to explain, discuss and ease the issue of racism in football... or not only in football...

When I read the news this morning, I said to myself that it would be interesting to recall that early French rugby had always welcome players from all nationalities, from all social backgrounds.. and from all colours... since the very first days of French championship back in 1892.

As a symbol, let's not forget that two Black ruggers were capped with the very first Equipe de France vs New Zealand in 1906.
Georges Jérome (left) and André Verges (right), both forwards from Stade Français, were here shot in La Vie Au Grand Air, Dec. 1905, in an article introducing the newly formed team to the public. They are also sitting 3rd and 6th in the front row of Equipe de France team picture...

I am not candid enough to ignore that the condition of Black players then got worse in rural and post-war rugby... but yet a strong message !

(here are larger pics of Jerome, Verges and 1906 Equipe de France)

Natives vs Show-Bizz : it's a matter of tie...

 

I started to play rugby in 1986 when I was 20... At the time, French rugby was revigorated by a gang of 5 talented players from Racing Club de France, self-named the "Show-Bizz" aka Franck Mesnel, Jean-Ba Laffont, Eric Blanc, Yvon Rousset and Philippe Guillard... These gentlemen brought to the highest point the rugby values of fun, flair, friendship, eccentricity... together with performances and hard work... culminating in 1987 when Racing three-quarters played (but lost...) the final of French Championship wearing a pink bow-tie... or in 1990 sipping Champagne in crystal glasses (served by Yvon Rousset...) at half-time of their their second (and winning!) Champional final...

At the end of their "rugby years",  the "Show-bizz" five founded Eden Park, a tremendous sucess story in sportswear and fashion, which brand logo couldn't be anything else than a pink bow-tie... This 20 years adventure is commemorated in a richly illustrated book published last year, "Rugby Papillon" (on sale here ; some sample pages available).

So what ??

"Show-Bizz" and Eden Park is not exactly rugby history (yet...) ??

The point is that I was recently sorting out some pictures about the New Zealand Maori team that toured to England in 1888-1889 - please read that former post about it - and suddendly realised that some of the "Natives" were also wearing ties with their rugby kit !

I can't determine from this b&w picture if the ties were also pink (doubtful....), but I am now sure that the "Show-bizz" Racingmen have something to share with their Maoris elders !!

Let's also caption my pictures :

Portrays are W.Anderson and G.A. Williams from the New Zealand Natives team in 1888 - I have found these pictures in "Football : Rugby Union Game" by Rev. F.Marshall, published in 1892, an fantastic archive of XIXth century rugby.

Below is RCF center Eric Blanc (now RCF Manager...) during 1987 final ; credit to "Rugby Papillon"

Happy birthday ! 100 years of Rugby League in Australia

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Discalimer : I like Rugby League !

Second disclaimer : I like Australian Rugby League even more !

1908 - 2008 : Rugby League celebrates its 100th anniversary these days in Australia ! Happy birthday down under, and I am happy to participate to the fiesta...

Modern times, first : if you have a couple of spare hours before you, you should pay a visit to NRL website... National Rugby League (yes, they did it the American way... "Australian" RL is just "National" RL...) is loaded with tons of videos to bring you the best of the games, present or past... this website is incredibly rich... there even is an "teleport" access to Second Life that will interest some of my readers...

History, then : I would urge any rugby fan to read each and every story shared by rugby historian Sean Fagan on his great website rl1908.com ... Sean goes far beyond the history of Rugby League in Australia... it will give you a deep insight in the evolution of all rugby codes... a "Must" !

Bridgeing between history and modern times, let me advertise for a temporary exhibition organised by the National Museum of Australia "League of Legends : 100 years of Rugby League in Australia" that will move around Australia over the next 12 months. All details and lots of pictures of this fantastic memorabilia (caps, jerseys, trophies, pictures...) on NMA website here... Sean has written a chapter of the catalogue of this exhibition - "The Game Begins" - , that I am displaying here... All credits to the NMA and I hope that they won't mind me to publish their pictures... Having said that, the full catalogue can be either purchased or downloaded (in pdf) here...

And now for something different... the mad kiwis at Alternative Rugby Commentary (do make sure this website is in your bookmarks...!) have celebrated NRL anniversary their own way... just hilarious !

And finally, let me "hurray" with the 1908 Kangaroos shouting their war-cry upon their arrival in England... full story at Sean's place...

Technorati : rugby league, nrl

Pierre Vitalien "Le rugby aux Jeux Olympiques"

Introducing a recent French rugby book, by Olympic collector and writer Pierre Vitalien about Rugby at the Olympic Games (1900-1936).

Pierre has spent a lot of time and efforts to gather all possible documents about the games held in Paris (1900), London (1908), Antwerp (1920), Paris again (1924) and Berlin (1936... a pre-olympic tournament that was unknown to me until I read it...)... All possible stats, press pictures, postcards, bio of all players... are displayed there, as this book is much more about memorabilia than historical analysis... Let's also mention that I have brought a very modest contribution to this book...

Do you want to have a look at it ? please check this 3 min video ... my new job as a book reviewer (thanks to my webcam...) !

Pierre Vitalien : le rugby aux Jeux Olympiques
envoyé par Frederic

This book costs @ 30€ + shipping costs. It is not available online, as it is published and commercialised by Pierre Vitalien himself. If you are interested, just send me a mail for inquiries or orders ; I will forward it to Pierre.

Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, vitalien, olympic games