Rule n°33 "the Island is all in goal"

Are you sure, dear reader, that you know all the rules of Rugby game ?

Just consider rule n°33 "the Island is all goal"... (in French "l'Ile est entièrement dans l'en-but")

I am "obviously" refering to the very first written rules of our favorite sport, written in 1845 by three 17 years old students of Rugby College (W.D.Arnold - Thomas Arnold's son -  W.W.Shirley and F.Hutchins )... A French editor recently had this fine idea to publish a booklet (here @ Amazon in French, and here @ Amazon in English) gathering and translating both 1845 and 1871 rules, together with a nice foreword by Jean Lacouture and historical explanations by Jed Smith, the curator the RFU Museum of Rugby at Twickenham (cf this previous note)

1845 rules - again, the very first written rules of any kind of football-rugby - were then comprizing of some local particularities of Rugby College, about discipline, about college rules etc... but also about local topography !

If the "Big-Side", i.e. this large area of deep grass inside the college walls, being just perfectly sized for the practice of rugby... , is fairly well known in "rugby litterature" (cf this 1900s postcard below), I must admit I didn't know anything about this Island... Here is larger map of Rugby College as shown in this book... and let's imagine a XIXth rugger diving for a valid try in this Island... without the support of the video referee...



Nota : "The Island" is a 1891 etching published in Illustrated London News (June 6, 1891) in a 8 page supplement about "the great schools of England" - great text and pictures about Rugby school...

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Why bore the New Zealanders' Full-Back ?

"Why bore the New Zealanders' Full-Back ?" asked this full page cartoon published by British weekly newspaper The Sketch, November 1st, 1905.

According to illustrator Harry Rowntree (a New Zealander, I admit...), it seemed that All Blacks fullback Billy Wallace, Leon MacDonald and Mils Muliaina predecessor in the famous 1905 "Colonial" squad, was so easy during the games that he could rest in a deckchair and have tea while his teammates were outrageously dominating their opponents...

Full caption reads :

A hint to the opponents of the "All Blacks"

If you will not let the New Zealanders' full back take part of the game, why not entertain him in this fashion until the end of the match ?

To put the things back in their historical context, Rowntree and all rugby commentators were utterly impressed by the first results of these newly named All Blacks in this loooong tour (September 1905- February 1906 ! 35 games played... 34 won and 1 lost to Wales... 976 points "for" 59 points "against"....). As of November 1st 1905, the Blacks had already played 13 games against serious regional teams (Cornwall, Midlands, Leicester, Gloucester...) with an impressive series of stats : 100% won... 450 points "for" and 15 points "against"... 107 tries "for" (8 per game... !!) and only 2 tries "against"...

But if one can imagine that Billy Wallace could have been pretty idle "defensively" during these games, just consider that his personnal "offensive" stats are as impressive as the "defensive" ones.... 30 games played (out of 35.... no turnover for him...), 27 tries, 74 conversions and 3 penalty kicks... hardly no time to rest in a deckchair...

Here is a portrait of Billy Wallace, from The Sketch, November 29, 1905 (strong press coverage, indeed....)

edited Sept.27 : Sean Fagan of RL1908 fame is referring this link to the New Zealand Rugby Museum where you could read Wallace's full bio. Sean also suggest that my stats are misleading because they include many games where Wallace was not playing fullback... Sean has it right, as usual !

"Yet Wallace was never more than a reluctant fullback. His personal
preference was as a wing and of the 11 tests he played only three, his
debut in 1903, against Ireland in 1905 and the Anglo Welsh in 1908,
were as a fullback. Of his 51 All Black games only 19 were as a
fullback."

 

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France - Ireland 1925

Things are getting more serious at the RWC... tomorrow France will challenge Ireland, and the defeated team has 99% chances to leave the competition at pool stages.

I will attend to the game in Paris with my 8 years old son... his first rugby game ! we have the replica jersey, we have the blue-white-red make up.. we are ready !

Easy transition, indeed, to introduce this fine painting by Georges Leroux, published in L'Illustration in 1925,  showing rugby action at Colombes stadium... (larger pic here) Please note the dense crowd... the cameraman close to the players.... and the poor position of the French fullback...

Actually I have already posted this picture some time ago, but never noticed another detail : the artist signed and dated his work on Dec.31, 1924... whereas this fixture was played the day after, i.e. Jan. 1st 1925... wrong date ? or is it that the artist just painted after his imagination... ?

Thinking about Ireland... let's also share this poor but interesting picture of French captain Philippe Struxiano (Stade Toulousain) celebrating in Dublin our first victory ever against Ireland (and France fist away victory ever, as well) in April 1920... (first Tournament after WW1)



You could also read some press report (in French) here, and get a larger picture there...




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England vs South Africa, 1913... and tonight !

Nice picture showing both teams posing together, published in Illustrated London News, Jan.11, 1913.

That year, the Springboks led by the Morkel brothers defeated Scotland, Ireland, Wales... and finally England

Check the hi res picture here to get the names of the players... (CN Lowe, RW Poulton, NA Wodehouse as captain...)

This picture is an obvious reminder that tonight both teams are playing in Paris for the supremacy of their pool... I'll be at the Stade de France (my first fixture of this RWC...)

I hope that the souvenir of this 1913 tour won't be a bad omen for my English friends...

ok... time to go to the Stadium !



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Women rugby in France, 1920s

This is rue Nationale, one of the main streets of Lille (in the north of France - map).

I have purchased this postcard for a tiny detail... There is a sign on the building on the right advertising for the next women rugby fixture... "Femina Hirondelles Paris" vs "Lille Rugby Athletic Club"...



I have been fairly surprised to discover that women rugby was then played in this Northern part of France where rugby was far from being popular... could this be that women rugby in the 20s had a greater exposure than today ?

Google doesn't know about "Lille Rugby Athletic Club"... any idea ?

I also take the opportunity to show this 1'50 video showing the girls of Cercle Femina Paris - the leading omnisports women club in Paris after WW1 - playing rugby in 1928 (rugby starts after 30s). Low quality, but interesting document... credit to BritishPathé : I should probably contact them and ask to support this blog by providing better quality footages...

Is this post related to the RWC ? ... errr, no ! but you could check that older post insted, about Women RWC last year...

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Rugby memorabilia... in real life !

Now, it's serious...

It's no longer about collecting rugby pictures on my own, nor bringing bribes of rugby history online... rugby-pioneers.com is now getting public... "in real life" as you say on the net...

First, I will be a speaker during a two-days conference organised by Sciences Po, one of the most reknown university in Paris, next October 11th and 12th. The conference - partly in French and in English - will discuss various aspects of rugby history around the world. As of myself, I will give a 1h lecture based on pictures (and possibly old movies, if I can arrange it...)... no more details today, I don't have any clue of how I am going to package this !

The program of the conference is here. Access is free, but register first at [e-mail]

Venue : Sciences Po, 56 rue des Saints-Pères 75007 Paris, salle Goguel

Second, I have provided most of the iconography to an exhibition named "Rugby : les Années Folles 1890-1930" hosted by Societe Generale (Societe Generale - one of the main sponsors of RWC - has been supporting rugby since... 1904, their coporate team CASG used to be a major team in the 20s). You'll find there pictures, stories and some memorabilia... inside a wonderful XIX century building located closed to the Opera House.

Some details (in French) here... or drop me mail for further questions !

Entrance is free (Monday - Friday) from 9 am to 5.45pm (untill November 3d)

Venue : Societe Generale 29 bd Haussmann 75009 Paris

You're all welcome !

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