Vichy rulers order ‘immoral’ French Rugby League to die
Brendan Gallagher continues his expert and authorative look at the history of Rugby Union
RUGBY UNION players and teams over the centuries have invariably ‘enjoyed a good war’ with their brave deeds inspiring compatriots and showing the sport in a good light, and for the vast majority that was the case in World War 2, just as it was during the Great War.
There was, however, one notable fall from grace and abandoning of the moral high ground in World War 2 when a large number of senior French clubs prospered in Vichy France –the region of occupied France that happily accommodated the invading German forces.
Worse than that – because let’s face it, living in an occupied country must be incredibly difficult and to a certain extent life and sport should go on – was the cynical way in which the French Rugby Union used the situation to try and kill off Rugby League which by the eve of World War 2 was probably the strongest code in France.
Under the Vichy regime, and with the full collaboration of the French Rugby Federation, Rugby League clubs were closed down and their assets given to Union clubs, an outrage which to this day has never resulted in an official apology.
Rugby Union, meanwhile, if not flourishing, certainly survived the war in very good shape in France under the Germans. During 1943, 1944 and 1945 a full 96-club French Championship season was held with finals played at a packed Parc des Princes.
For French club rugby it was almost life as normal but their League counterparts were immediately forced underground. By the end of the war
Jeu a Trieze was decimated.
As early as August 1940 the sports minister installed by the Vichy government, Jean Ybarnegaray, announced: “The fate of Rugby League is clear. Its life is over and it will be quite simply deleted from French sport.”
In December that year Marshal Philippe Petain – head of the Vichy government – signed the notorious decree that ordered Rugby League clubs to merge with Union teams and give up their assets, mainly grounds and accumulated funds.
The French Federation tried to blame the politicians but Union officials also had blood on their hands. The Vichy government were acting on a report compiled by French Federation member Colonel Joseph (Jep) Pascot, an international from the 20s and the president of the FFR Dr Paul Voivenal a strong Vichy sympathiser.
Pacot offered the opinion that because League was professional and therefore contrary to sporting values it had contributed to the lack of moral education that had allowed Germany to sweep through France so easily. Really? Weren’t France’s top Union clubs just as professional for much of this period?
Although the French Federation as an organisation chose to cosy up to the German-friendly Vichy regime, perversely many individuals and smaller clubs led the resistance. Eight French internationals died on the battle front and local pockets of underground resistance were often based around small village teams.
Philippe Saint-Andre snr – the grandfather of the France captain and coach of the same name – was just such an individual until his summary execution by an SS patrol. His home village La Chapelle-en-Vercors and surrounding villages were at the epicentre of the French resistance.
“Vercors was the only part of France that never submitted to German rule or opted for peace and my grandfather was at the very heart of that,” says his grandson. “He was the mayor, already director of the school and he played wing for the local rugby club when it all started.
“For months on end he and friends and teammates would live high in the mountains, sleep in the pine forests or limestone caves with his comrades. They lived like animals. Sometimes in the middle of the night he would suddenly arrive at home for a few hours to see his wife and his son, my father Serge.
“Then one night in 1944, soon after the Allied forces had landed in the north, the Germans sent 20,000 troops into the region looking to flush out the Resistance – they had seen French flags fly from our mountain tops. My grandfather and 15 others were sleeping in a remote limestone cave.
“It was very early on July 25. The Germans discovered them and shot everybody dead. An execution. Then they went to the village of La Chapelle and burned everything, including my grandmother’s house. She had nothing left except a few pictures. Nothing.”
Meanwhile in Britain, unlike in World War 1, rugby didn’t close down altogether although club rugby was very ad hoc. A scaled down version of the Middlesex Sevens was held annually at Richmond and a limited Scottish Districts competition continued north of the border.
Oxford and Cambridge Universities contested regular matches although Blues were not awarded. Big crowds attended the matches at Grange Road and Iffley Road which both staged a game apiece each year.
Such was the turnaround of students being called up or volunteering that the sides could differ markedly from match to match. Cambridge ‘won’ the series of war games 9-2 with one game drawn. “Philippe SaintAndre snr was summary executed by an SS patrol”
One notable development during World War 2 was the free association of Union and League players who played together in regimental and service teams.
Indeed two fund raising games were organised between League and Unions players, the first being staged at Headingley on January 23, 1943 when, playing Union laws, the Rugby League XV won 18-11.
The rematch came on April 24, 1944
when a Rugby League Combined Services Xlll beat the Rugby Union Combined services Xlll 15-10 at Odsal. Curiously, Bob Weighill a future RFU secretary and arch defender of amateurism, played in – and enjoyed – the Bradford encounter.
With huge numbers of servicemen swilling around in Britain in the months leading up to D Day – June 6, 1944 – there were also a large number of well-attended charity matches with all the services in action along with overseas regiments and a strong Civil Defence XV – who could call on all the miners and steelworkers in important reserved occupations.
On January 1, 1945 – with the end in sight – rugby started on a series of 22 Victory Internationals over 16 months which were Test matches in all but name. Indeed in 2013 the WRU decided that caps should be belatedly awarded to those who played against France in 1945 and 1946.
France, where Rugby Union as previously discussed, had survived in pretty good shape awarded caps for all the matches during this period. On one occasion England and New Zealand – who called themselves the Kiwis –- fielded two teams on the same day as the rush to fill stadia and get some money back into the game continued apace.