THE RL1908 BLOG
News, Reviews & Opinion - Sean Fagan - RL1908.com
France's
Jean Galia
Upon
seeing his first game of rugby league
(Australia v England in Paris in 1933)
Jean Galia enthused:
"It
is splendid, splendid viewing, masterly
combinations, inversions of attacks, all
this is Rugby with XIII.In the other Rugby
it is rarely seen."
"Once
you come to it, one remains full of admiration.
In its presentation, elegance, intuition,
imagination, virtuosity."
"It
lends itself to the most subtle combinations.
The cross passing links in all possible
angles."
"Such
players, such assuredness and technique,
has to be seen to be believed."
"However
it exists - my
eyes have seen it!"
Plans
for playing the first rugby league match
in France - in 1921 - were thwarted by
the Fédération française
de rugby (French Rugby Federation).
Paris'
Stade Pershing (Pershing Stadium) had
been booked for an exhibition match to
be held on January 29, 1922, with an English
"Northern Union XIII" to play
against the touring Australian Kangaroos.
However,
the French RU, which had only formed in
1919 and was wary of competition, declared
in early November 1921 that it would ban
and refuse to allow the future use of
any ground in France that hosted the proposed
"professional rugby" league
match.
Australian
and English rugby league officials endeavoured
until after Christmas 1921 to hire another
suitable ground, but when none could be
secured, and with the Kangaroos having
to book their tickets for the sea voyage
home, the exhibition match was abandoned.
There
was "great indignation in Northern
Union circles" over the stance and
actions of the French RU, and the Athletic
News took particular exception, declaring:
"When the soil of France was in need
of protection in 1914, the Northern Union
lads of Yorkshire and Lancashire, who
volunteered, did not pollute La Belle
France."
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The
story of rugby league in France is remarkable
- that the code has prevailed at all is testament
to the life-long work of many.
French
rugby league has faced and overcome obstacles
that arguably few other sports, anywhere else
in the world, have been confronted by.
Though
earlier attempts had been made to start the 13-man
game in France, the first match came in 1933 when
the touring Australian Kangaroos played against
England at Stade Pershing in Paris.
Australia
easily won the contest 63-13, and the free-flowing
football found much appeal with the French.
In
March 1934, former Fench rugby union star Jean
Galia brought together France’s first rugby league
team, making a tour of England with matches against
clubs.
Upon
the team’s return home, the first French rugby
league clubs were formed.
Rugby-a-treize
was up and running.
Quickly embracing the opportunity, an international
match between England and France was arranged
and played at the Buffalo Velodrome in Paris.
With
20,000 Parisians cheering them on, an entertaning
game won by England 32-21 gave great enthusiasm
for the pioneers of the code in France.
The
Leeds club from Yorkshire made a tour of France,
and then later in 1934 the French Rugby League
Federation was formed.
In 1935 France secured a 15-all draw against England,
and were granted entry to the International Championship
tournament. It was a rapid rise, continued by
the first Test matches against Australia in 1937.
With
a clear intent on pushing ever upwards, the French
began lobbying for the introduction of a Rugby
League World Cup tournament (a dream that was
realised in 1954).
In
February 1939 the French rugby league team became
the first sporting team from France to defeat
England on their opponent’s soil (winning 12-9
at St Helens).
A
significant milestone in French sport, but the
victory tasted all the sweeter in the context
of nearly 1000 years of often bloody conflict
between these two European neighbours.
Popularity
in the code saw it begin to outrival rugby union
as the nation’s preferred brand of rugby, with
over 220 rugby league clubs formed in just five
years.
Developments though were soon brought to a halt
with the outbreak of World War Two.
In
August 1940 the pro-Nazi collaborationist Vichy
government then took the astonishing decision
to issue an order abolishing rugby league. It
seized the FRL’s assests and financial reserves,
and decreed it unlawful to play the game. The
Vichy Sports minister, Jean Ybarnégaray,
declared: "The fate of rugby league is clear.
Its life is over and it will be quite simply deleted
from French sport."
A
2002 French government inquiry into the ban found:
“When Vichy's department of sport was set up,
influential officials of the French Rugby Federation
endeavoured to eliminate this competitor, which
they claimed was a dangerous deviant form of rugby
union.”
At the end of the war, General de Gaulle lifted
the ban, but the FRL never had its assests restored,
and the code was dealt a near fatal blow.
Until
1990 it could not even call itself rugby - it
was allowed only to use the name game “Jeu”, in
its title “Jeu à 13” (play with 13).
In the 1950s, with more than a few former French
resistance fighters in their ranks, France was
still able to muster a formidable international
team. With more than a dash of creative flair
and almost indifference to the tenents of the
game, French teams threw convention out the window.
Their
first tour of Australia in 1951 has been acclaimed
as the most entertaining visitors of the century.
In their wake, they were dubbed by the Sydney
press as producers of “champange rugby”, with
the team’s goal kicking fullback Puig Aubert a
particular crowd favourite. Through the 1950s
France won three consecutive series against the
Kangaroos in a golden era for the game.
Despite the florish of success in the 1950s, the
underlying loss of clubs and development brought
about the WW2 ban, took its toll. Rugby league
in France also had to contend with FRU and its
clubs having little concern for the IRB’s governing
rules of amateurism.
In the decades that followed, lingering discrimination
against rugby league continued, and in many respects
it is remarkable that the code has endured in
France.
Despite
the lack of success at the 2008 World Cup, the
Catalan Dragons are providing a means to lift
the profile and support for rugby league in France.
Further
reading:
On
April 6th 2009, Lyle Beaton wrote an article on
Sportingo, reflecting upon the long history
of rugby league in France and and marking the
75th anniversary.
The
75-year War: How French Rugby League survived
to conquer
In
2007 The Independent newspaper published
an extensive article examining what happened to
rugby league in France during WW2 and the code's
ongoing fight for restitution.
Badge
of dishonour: French rugby's shameful secret
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