Rugby-Pioneers

Breaking news - 7s Rugby at Olympic Games 2016

2009-10-09T16:46:43+02:00

Great news for the rugby community... the IOC voted earlier today (81 for , 9 against) for Rugby to return to the Olympic Games in 2016, almost 100 years after its last appearance in the Paris Olympics in 1924 (video here). The proposed competition will see twelve teams competing in seven-a-side rugby rules - both men and women.

There's a lot to say about this... I'll come back in the next few days on the historical links between rugby and the modern Olympics in the 1890s... I'll come back in the next few days on the French side which lost the 1924 final... but today I'd like to quickly illustrate the roots of 7s rugby...

Back to the 20s/30s in London... Since 1926, Middlesex County RFU has been organising a major charity 7s tournament at Twickenham. Above is the 1933 programme... a tournament won by Quins, who defeated Wasps in the final... (details here and there - other participants were the Exiles, London Scottish, Old Cranleighans, London Welsh, Blackheath, London Irish - winners in 2009 ! - , Old Paulines, Edgware, old Merchant Taylor's and... Rosslyn Park)

As Middlesex 7s explained it here, 7s Rugby was actually born in the Scottish Borders in 1883 (126 years ago !) where Melrose's Ned Haig organized a one-day rugby tournament... to raise money for his club. Teams were reduced to 7, and play time reduced to 15 minutes, to enable a full competition during one afternoon. History records that the first winners in 1883 were Gala RFC... Below are Gala's A.Haig ad D.Sanderson posing with The Ladies Cup - the tournament trophy - (credit to "The Official History of the Melrose Sevens" by Walter Allan)

You could pay a visit to Melrose 7s website to find a more detailed history of 7s Rugby and how this game has spread since them...

PS : I also have the 1934 programme of Middelsex 7s... won by Richmond over Blackheath... and refereed by W.W.Wakefield

Rugby in Japan

2009-10-05T20:05:30+02:00

I'm gathering some documents about early Japanese rugby ... Above is a full page print published in Harper's Weekly, May 1874 showing, as caption explains, "a foot-ball match between Englishmen and Scotchmen near the city of Yokohama, in Japan" (king size picture here). Searching the web, I've found these explanations from author Mike Galbraith in "History of Rugby in Japan" on Yokohama (YC&AC) Rugby Club website.

Rugby seems to have first been played in Japan by the British in the late 1860’s or early 1870’s when the foreign settlement was established in Yokohama. A battalion of “Tommies” was stationed on “Camp Hill” (presently known as Minato No Mieru Oka Park) between 1864 and 1874 and they were well-known as ‘a sporting lot’. Many of the first rugby matches in Japan probably involved these “Tommies”.

According to Wikipedia, "local" rugby was later introduced to students at Keio University in 1899 by two Cambridge fellows, Edward B.Clarke and Tanaka Ginnosuke... sorry, no picture yet...

We also have to consider New Zealand "regional" influence in the development of Japanese rugby, as per this cover of Otago Witness from May 1908 (click for larger copy) showing Kobe Rugby Interport and Yokohama (again...) Interport Rugby Teams. The scan is poor, but the captions are explicit about Kiwi influence : team players are mainly expats (but not only...) and the captain of Kobe team is C.L.Spence, late of Dunedin, whereas Yokohama is captained by Mr G.K.Totton of Auckland (from the "Yokohama branch of the New Zealand Insurance Company"... the newspaper said). (credit and warm thanks to PaperPast, online archives service of NZ National Library... so many documents to dig there...)

(break) Note to myself for a future post: Universities and Ports... cradles of worldwide rugby...

Japanese Rugby Union was created in 1926 (say, just 6 years after French Rugby Union...)... and did welcome Canada for its first international fixture in 1932 (Japan b Canada 9-8). Has someone some pictures to share ? Instead (!), I'm posting this fine Japanese illustrated postcard from the 1920s (errr... my guess...).

I'll be very happy if someone could identify the teams and translate the caption below the rugby picture (my guess is that it simply reads "rugby football"...Oct 6 : correct ! thanks Naly D) ! Here is a zoom...

Okay... I still have a couple of pictures to share... next time !

edit Oct 6 : just found a well documented "brief history of Rugby Union in Japan". I don't know who to credit ? this page is here @ pakistanrugby.com

Phil Atkinson also recalls a series a photographies recently sold on eBay about the Canadian tour in 1932. If the owner reads these lines... I would be happy if he/she would agree to share some of his pictures here ! ("sample" below...)

Schoolboys rugby in Paris, c1900

2009-09-29T22:41:25+02:00

French rugby was born in Paris high schools and Lycées around 1880... here are two high places, cradles of many good club ruggers : above is Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux, south of Paris, were young Frantz Reichel discovered rugby... below of College Stanisas, an elitist Catholic school in Paris with sporting premises ("Bellevue") in Meudon...

(both postcards in his res here and there)

The revival of the "Entente Cordiale"

2009-09-25T20:13:51+02:00

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

Freaky Plaster Olympic Rugger, 1924

2009-09-22T23:50:25+02:00

Ooops... a full week without posting any new story... 50% busy + 50% lazy = 100% sorry...

Say, I was sad to discover that my small archives were unable to illustrate the rugby highlights of the week... no pictures of the first New Zealand v Australia fixtures in 1903, 1905 and 1907 (large victories of the Kiwis... last Saturday and... 100 years ago) ... no pictures of old "black and red" Toulouse v Toulon games (yes, that French rugby... and, yes, Wilko rules...).

Instead, let me introduce this freaky little rugger who recently joined my home team : a plaster rugby statuette wearing French colours, by French artist E.Coffin (what a name...). This "big head" statuettes (rugby, tennis, boxing and other sports...) were designed to celebrate Paris Olympic Games in 1924 (video here). They were sold to visitors (and athletes ?) during the competition, and I've also spotted some of them in sports mail order catalogues. For hardcore collectors only !

But also a kind reminder that IOC will rule about the ~~likely~~ possible return of rugby at the Olympic Games next October 9...

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

2009-09-15T01:16:07+02:00

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...)

CRFC - Could you help me identify this cap ?

2009-09-08T19:28:28+02:00

A new rugby cap at home... fine but unusual colors... embroidery reads CRFC 1905-06...

Could someone help me identify what Cxxx Rugby Football Club stands for ?

Hint #1 : the cap was sold by Bowrings Arundel in London

Hint #2 : it's a pretty large cap... so could be either young or adult size (i.e. club or college...) (actually, not a real hint...)

There's a larger pic here @ Flickr.

The Colours of Swansea

2009-09-04T18:35:50+02:00

David Dow, a Welsh rugby photographer who manages Dragon Tales Rugby in Swansea, is kindly sharing with us this picture of 1894-95 Swansea RFC 1st XV carefully restored and coloured from a damaged original photography.

As David explains: "Swansea RFC 1st XV 1894-95 [stands] in front of the old, old grandstand. The blue caps are Swansea caps and the red ones are Glamorgan caps for playing for the county side. Billy Bancroft's cap is probably an international one but the three feathers insignia has fallen off. Well, he had plenty of them! The hard part is not to over embellish the image and to get the white shirts the right 'off white' colour."

The picture belongs to Swansea RFC Archives (check their website to find tons of pictures...), as part of a remarkable initiative to collate, save and digitize the "All Whites" memorabilia (pictures, oral records, photographies of jerseys and caps) to ensure that all these treasures from the past will remain available for future generations. Let's hope (errr ???) that all major rugby clubs or unions do share the same philosophy...

I understand that St Helens clubhouse is a true rugby museum...

This picture is available to download here (1024 pix) or there (A3 king size pic)

Warm thanks to David and Swansea RFC !

And not to mention... all contributions are welcome here !

Season VI is open... without any remorse !

2009-09-02T18:53:12+02:00

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)

"A Giant Awakens"... teaser...

2009-07-30T15:37:39+02:00

"A Giant Awakens" is a 52 minute HD sports documentary that explores 130 years of rugby in America... a lot more details on the film website...

I was happy to contribute last winter to this project lead by producer and director Sylvain Doreau in SF... Indeed, I do have a couple of interesting pictures and movies about early American rugby... from the 1870s in East Coast universities (here) to the 1920s Olympic glory (here or there or below... and some more in my drawers...)

As Sylvain writes it: "The project is completed and we're finalizing our production licences. The film target is film festivals, National and international TV, online streaming and rentals, DVD and Blu-ray. We're planning to release a Dvd/Blue-ray by the end of the summer and will continue to ramp up our national media exposure until the end of he year."

Enjoy the teaser and stay tuned !

You can register on the website (here) or join the Facebook fan page to be informed real time about the project...

Olympic Hall of Fame... and nobody knows it :-(

2009-07-28T19:13:47+02:00

I've discovered this great story while researching about my previous topic (cf Rabbits & Wallabies... 1908)... Here is Daniel Carroll, not even 20, i.e. the yougest member of the 1908 Wallabies squad which won rugby Gold medal at 1908 Olympic Games... He was said to be a fast winger... and scored two tries during the final (vs Cornwall representing Great Britain, final score 32-3)

In 1912, Carroll toured in California with the Wallabies... and stayed to study geology at Standford where he graduated in 1920, aged 32... but served in the US Army during WW1 before ... At Stanford, he played and coached rugby... Because of his outstanding rugby background, he was selected as player and coach of the US rugby Olympic squad at 1920 Olympics in Antwerp... and earned a second gold medal... for USA!

Four years later, having definitely settled in California, he coached US rugby Olympic team in Paris... and won a third gold medal for USA... (I'm not sure that coaches did get medals actually... but he surely deserved it !!)

Here is this gentleman again... left in 1920, right in 1924 wearing American colours... my pictures being "zoomed" from these two French pictures... first is the 1920 US team touring in Toulouse, France, after the Olympics in Belgium... below is the 1924 US squad training in England before Olympic games in Paris (larger pics here and there)

This great story was totally unknown to me until I googled this Australian sports website... please read Spiro Zavos' paper (Dan Carroll : rugby's greatest Olympian) for full bio and details... (to be honest, the story was also mentioned in Pierre Vitalien's book about rugby at the Olympics... but I've missed it until now... and it also gives me an opportunity to advertise for Pierre's fine book again...)

About how some Rabbits could have played the Tri-Series...

2009-07-24T19:21:33+02:00

Here are two postcards showing Dr H.M.Moran's rugby team which travelled to British Isles to win the 1908 Olympic gold. Both postcards ("printed in England") show the same photography (+ some early "photoshop" corrections in the background on the second one... )... but not the same caption... (larger pics here and there)

The Australian team - indeed almost New South Wales rugby team - is named "The Rabbits" in the upper picture, and "The Wallabies" (as we know them...) in the bottom one...

Moran (portray below) wrote in Viewless Winds (his recollections, published in 1939) that when the touring squad first arrived at Plymouth a pack of journalists were there who were anxious to give the team some distinctive name. The "Rabbits" was first suggested... and quickly rejected (rabbits were an introduced pest in Australia...) and soon after the team adopted the moniker of "The Wallabies"... but the first "Rabbits" postcards were already issued and printed !

"Wallabies" sounds better, I admit... but a Tri-Series All Blacks vs Rabbits, or a test like Lions vs Rabbits is something we could possibly miss...

All Blacks in 1905... Springboks in 1906... Wallabies in 1908... all "colonial" teams got their nicknames in a few years... let's recall that these early rugby tours were as much commercial enterprises as much as sporting challenges... touring team had to finance their travel and local expenses from gate money at the stadium or business deals (postcards... or sponsored rugby fixtures such as the game played by the All Blacks in Paris in January 1906 negotiated and financed by Stade Français officials ) ... amateur rugby, but professional methods... hence the "show business" circus (cool names, war cry...) with the objective complicity and support of British newspapers which found there material to narrate these long rugby tours...

PS : there's an "online exhibition" about 1908 Wallabies / Rabbits @ Rugby Memorabilia Society... just follow this link... and I've just asked the State Library of NSW the permission to use some of their wonderful old rugby pictures for future posts... stay tuned !