 Je tombe ce matin sur un visuel superbe... comme seul la publicité corporatiste sait en trouver... au delà de l'image, la force du message me laisse encore tout tremblant... "Entreprendre, c'est aimer l'audace" Souvenez vous ... les Monty Pythons avaient déjà décelé chez les experts-comptables la fibre aventurière... Mâtin, quelle poilade...
There must be a couple of foreign readers who don't know that the "Bouclier de Brennus" ("Brennus' Shield) is the trophy awarded each year to French Rugby champion... This large and heavy shield is named after Charles Brennus, one of the "godfathers" of French rugby, who crafted it... as he was an engraver specialized in medals and trophies... By the way, here is an ad, published in 1905, for his workshop in Paris. Among other things, Brennus created and managed a leading rugby club in Paris, the SCUF aka Sporting Club Universitaire de France, which owns the trophy and "lend" it to the winner each year... You could check the website of SCUF to get the whole story (in French... and I hope that Florent won't mind me stealing one of his Brennus' pictures, below...) Ironically, the SCUF never managed to become Champion (though they reached the final twice in 1911 and 1913....) All this story is leading to the fact that last Saturday, Toulouse enjoyed a 17th "Bouclier" (from 1912 to 2008....) after an impressive win over Clermont (ranked n°1 before play-offs)... Here are the guys and the "Bouclier" (Jauzion, Kelleher, Ellisalde, Servat, Pelous, Médard and all the champions...) - picture via P.O.Carles (thanks dude !) and credit to ? (thanks anyway as well !) My upper picture is a brochure with the calendar of all fixtures of 1921-1922 championship (then organized by USFSA, as French Rugby Union would be created the following year...)... Three noticeable things from this picture (larger one here @ Flickr) : - first, too bad that a mouse has eaten part of the cover page of the brochure... - second, in 1922 the Champion was Stade Toulousain... again.. - third, interesting ad on the cover... from a cycle manufacturer in... Clermont...Identificateurs Technorati : rugby, charles brennus, SCUF, stade toulousain, bouclier de Brennus
 I am sometimes asked why ruggers do wear horizontal stripes, while footballers wear vertical stripes... ? My not-so-universal theory about it brings three facts on the table... First, why stripes ? this is a very complex question, that have been discussed by French historian (and rugby-fan...) Michel Pastoureau in a splendid book named "The Devil Cloth : a History of Stripes" (Columbia 2001)... it's just brilliant... and too rich or too complex to be sumerized here...it talks about jokers, musicians, fools, prisonners... and sportsmen... and why stripes used to be a symbol of exclusion or infamy in ancient times... it's an amazing analysis from one of the most reknown scientist in medieval history and heraldic history... just read it ! (here at Amazon in French or in English) Second, as football code began to evolve into two different codes ("Football Rugby" and "Football Association") in the second part of the XIXth century, it was a natural thing for each "football familiy" to have adopted a differentiated kind of jersey... horizontal for Rugby vs vertical for Association... and plain colours for all ! Third, why horizontal stripes ? because as the Rugby code was spreading, newly created teams were certainly willing to follow their model, i.e. the colours of Rugby college... the place where it all begun ! Upper picture : "Famous English Football Players 1881" in Boys' Own Paper... you will recognize my header... (large pic here) Lower pictures : left is XIX century rugby kit at Rugby college (horizontal stripes...), right is an early XXth century Association postcard (vertical stripes...)
  Sonic Youth en concert le 9 août... en marge de l'exposition " Sensational Fix" qui leur est consacrée au LiFE de St Nazaire... Sonic Youth est sur la route depuis plus de 25 ans... et dans mes K7, LP, CD, balladeurs, iPods, playlists depuis 20 ans... Sans doute un des groupes que j'ai le plus de plaisir à écouter, réécouter, écouter encore... un de ceux qui passent toutes les épreuves du temps... un de ceux qui me touchent le plus... et dont j'ai toujours raté les passages à Paris :-( Mieux vaut tard que jamais, je viens d'acheter les tickets... Et ça me fait sacrément plaisir... Sonic Youth - Sugar Kane ( Live - Jools Holland Show ' 92 )
 After England had some very bad times in New Zealand last week, an inexperienced French side is now heading to Australia... hard times for European teams... I guess that this tour will very much look like this 1903 comic postcard, titled... "the weakly rugger"... (full size pic here)
 Bashing French football is such an easy game... that I won't play it (yet...) Having said that, let's confess a couple of things related to football... First, I do have some nice football pictures in my rugby collection, such as this early XXth century postcard... claret and blue... Then, I used to play international football with "Equipe de France"... okay, it was the team of French Embassy in Singapore back in 1991... some serious and "official" games vs England, Germany or Dennmark... all teams wearing their respective colours, like these French jerseys drying at home after my washing duties...  There's one thing for sure, I enjoy playing football with friends much more than watching it on TV... and let's not even think of going to a football stadium !...
"Fred Astaire brings sexyback", via SkaVideo mix credit to Nedyken
"Sporting France" - special issue... a special booklet published by French magazine l'Illustration to discuss sports in France after the 1924 Olympics in Paris.
A rugby ball on the cover... and a full page article by Octave Levy, first President of the newly created Federation Française de Rugby (French Rugby Union) about the poor 1924 rugby tournament eventually won by US team vs France... like in 1920... to the disappointement of the crowd...
 On the cover page are the football players from Uruguay, winners of the Olympic tournament... say, that's my (small) tribute to Euro 2008 in Austria & Switzerland... as France is playing tonight a win-or-get-back-home match vs Italy...  (larger picture @ Flickr : 1, 2 or 3)
Tomorrow is the last round of French pro championship ("Top14") before semi-finals and final... Clermont, Stade Toulousain, Stade Français and Perpignan are already qualified, but it remains some uncertainties to know which teams will be 3rd and 4th... my bet is that Paris will remain third, thus playing vs Toulouse in semi-finals...
Stade Français vs Stade Toulousain... a long time "classic" ... and my two favorite teams...
And here is a postcard from the 1920s showing the entrance of "Ernest Wallon" stadium... long time "home" of the Stade Toulousain... (larger pic here)
 Recommandé par des InfluenceursLe grand Hervé Resse est de retour ... 100 questions musicales pour passer l'été... il a juré que ce serait plus facile que l'an dernier... Les règles sont là... et le groupe Facebook iciJe compte tricher et demander beaucoup d'aide autour de moi...! On peut même faire équipe !
 All what I like ! A French colourful illustration describing a rugby game to 1900s kids... Great artwork ! Movement and colours... This print is the cover page of "Le Petit Français lllustré - Journal des Ecoliers et des Ecolières" ("Illustrated Young Frenchman - Schoolboys and Schoolgirls newspaper"), November 1901. (very large picture here @ Flickr)
College kids advertising for Ogden's cigarettes... published in The Graphic, March 1902...
Caption reads :
- I say, Bert, why don't you make your own cigarettes ?
- Because, Jack, I can't make Ogden's 'Guinea Gold'
My friends in advertising business will enjoy the simplicity and the ingenuousness of the message...and some other friends will regret these days when noboby was there to regulate and take care about your health, your feeding, your drinking or lifestyle...
"O tempora, O mores !" as old Cicero used to say...
(larger pic here)
 No doubt, it's US football... but still a rugby attitude... and H-bars... and a handsome athlete... in this nice magazine cover issued in 1931. There's a full size print here...
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 !
 My friend Sean in Sydney is now chasing for ghosts... He wanted to share with us this old and unidentified photo, found with 3 or 4 newspaper cuttings of rugby matches in the very late 1890s in New South Wales... Ethereal appearance, as Sean said... (larger picture here)
 I'm not going to discuss the defeat of Stade Toulousain in HCup final... the end of the season will be real tough for these guys... But let's keep with Stade Toulousain for a while, and share with you some views of this real treasure for a rugby collector... Here is a scrapbook, made by a young boy from Toulouse, which covers French rugby championship in the 20s... mostly Toulouse, but also Bayonne, Biarritz, Perpignan, RCF... or the All Blacks... mostly press clippings, and some postcards or drawings... Some larger pics on Flickr here, here or there... cool, isn't ?
 Initially, I was planning to write something about the H-Cup final (Go, Toulouse ! Go !) tomorrow in Cardiff... I was searching for pictures "connecting" Toulouse and Ireland... and changed my mind when I came across this picture... Here is the boys' team of Lascaux (yes, the famous cave paintings...) in 1913... as very often, the team is a mix of all social classes... the son of farmers, the son of the butcher, the son of the teacher, etc... in a very poor rural France like Lascaux, you can immediately identify the boys who couldn't afford the "official" rugby jersey or even boots... on the opposite, you can always identify at first glance the most favoured boy ! Like in this postcard... just check the boy in the middle of the picture wearing an Irish jersey with a shamrock (yep, my connection with the HCup final...) ! he's got the nicest jersey, he owns the ball (a heavy investment indeed), he is the captain... and I'm sure that his father owns the rugby field and has paid for the posts ! I've read that story many times in old rugby books... Am I speculating ? possibly... but it also happenend in England... as in this fine print by Fougasse in Punch Magazine, 1935... Caption reads : "If you do that again, you leave the field" "Pooh ! It's father's"
Another sport from the deadpool of forgotten sports... the game of Net Ball, as reported by The Boy's Own Paper in a 4 pages article in 1910, seems to be a great blend of Rugby and Basket Ball ! This article explains that this game is a modern codification of a ball game that has been played for centuries in Cornwall - called "Hurling" (though it as no affinity with the Irish game...) Nothing to do either with Net Ball as it is played today by women... ! This Cornish Net Ball seems to be much funnier... ! nine players-a-side playing with a rugby ball on a rugby ground (physically demanding !)... running and passing only, as kicking and dribbling are forbidden... no off-side and forward passes allowed... and so are tackles, of course ! No scrums : when a player and the ball are held ("a lock") after a tackle, the forwards gather round and the referee bounces the ball on the ground midway between them... as below.... Anyone knows if this Net Ball has survived ? You could find larger picture and the text of the article in this Flickr folder.
 A perfect photography... a perfect goal kick... I am very impressed by this photography, shot in England c.1925 (Guys Hospital vs Harlequins) and published in French magazine "Le Miroir des Sports" (I don't know the exact date or year, I am afraid). Splendid work by the photographer who managed to capture all the energy and commitment of the Guys Hospital kicker (larger pic here)... a rather unusual centring as the photographer was probably lying on the ground behind the players... great technical skills to focus on the action... I'd want to know more about the photography and reprography techniques from this "rugby-pioneers" era... I just bought a small book (in French) about the history of photography...
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