Goodbye

Dear All, 

one hundred years ago, on the 9th of October 1918, Hanns Braun, a German athlete, was killed in an airplane crash near Saint-Quentin (Aisne, France).

And today only a few verses taken from Chants du désespéré (1914-1920) by Charles Vildrac to say goodbye: this is the last post of "World War I Bridges". Many thanks to all of you for your kind attention during these years.

All the best,
World War I Bridges

March 28, 2012 - October 9, 2018


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"After the Final Whistle. The First Rugby World Cup and the First World War." An interview with Stephen Cooper

Once again we are happy to move our attention on a book by Stephen Cooper. His newest After the Final Whistle (Spellmount Publishers Ltd) is again about rugby and of course about rugby during the Great War years. We had a nice dinner in Varago (Maserada sul Piave, Italy) in September 2014 talking about the progress of the book and the new researches involving also the territory of Italy. The book has been released last year during the Rugby World cup. Here below is his interview for which we thank him.

Q: "The Final Whistle" and "After the Final Whistle". Already in the titles, it seems there's a clear connection between your two books dedicated to rugby and the First World War years. Could you explain this connection?

A: All history writing is work in progress because the past continually gives up more of its treasures. At the time of publication of ‘The Final Whistle’ I had discovered 87 rugby players from Rosslyn Park who had died in the Great War; now the total is 109. The book itself gave new impetus to the quest, both for me and for readers who contacted me with possible names, but also stories of other players from other clubs and countries. Although I started to work on other projects (like a novel) I found the subject would not let me go; it even ‘followed’ me wherever I went. In September 2014, I found myself staying in a XVI century villa in the Veneto; on the wall of my room was an English hunting print from the 1850s, showing the home and father of one of my rugby players.

There was also a sense of unfinished business for me. As a new writer with ‘The Final Whistle’, I was nervous of talking about my personal inspiration, preferring to keep the book an objective history. As far back as 2009, I had taken a junior tour to Compiegne in France, where we played a memorial game against a French club which had lost 58 of its 120 members. An army officer addressed the teams before the match and said (in French): ‘rugby and warfare share a common language, but we must remember they are very different.’ This directly led to the first words of my book, where I explored that language of rugby and war. But I never really examined WHY rugby and the military should be so closely connected.

Two months after my return from Italy in 2014, I chanced across a reference to a rugby tournament played in 1919 by soldiers returning after the Armistice. The tournament was known as the King’s Cup. Teams came from the armies of Australia, Canada, New Zealand South Africa, France and Britain. I realised this was in effect the first ever world cup, long before rugby created its first official one in 1987 - and even before the first football competition played in Uruguay in 1930. With the Rugby World Cup arriving in England in September 2015 in the middle of Great War Centenary commemorations, here was a great opportunity to examine the rugby/war link again.

Q: How did you collect the material that gave life to this second book?

A: For once - now I had become an experienced internet researcher - I found there was very little information on the web about the King’s Cup. But perhaps in the early days I did not know where to look. There were no books ( which was good for me!) and only a few brief mentions. In order to persuade myself (and my publisher) that there was enough material to make a book, I went to the archive of the World Rugby Museum at Twickenham. An afternoon of reading contemporary accounts convinced me there was a book to be written. It would be called ‘After The Final Whistle’ because the King’s Cup was played in a new springtime of 1919, after four hard years of war, but it would be a companion to my first book, not a sequel. I also decided that I would cover all the rugby nations of the era (including USA) and necessarily include stories of survivors, not just those who were killed. This, after all, was the message of the King’s Cup- we have survived, it’s time to return to peaceful ways and sport again, and build new nations and a new world from the ashes of war.

Once the research started in earnest, I encountered the same wonderful enthusiasm around the world as I did with my first book. The Rowers Club in Vancouver, Canada, told me their story and sent me material. At the Oxford Cambridge Varsity match in 2014, I met many South African ‘Blues’, which led me to the unpublished diary of Frank Mellish, who was a wartime artilleryman, and played for England and the Springboks after the war. Contacts in Italy, France and Australia were unfailingly helpful. A twitter contact sent me pictures and letters from his club in Glasgow. And I spent a small fortune on Amazon and eBay tracking down old rugby books. When that failed I spent many hours in the wonderful British Library, reading books that cannot be found anywhere else.

Q: How long did it take to write this second book and how long did it take to write "The Final Whistle"?

A: . ‘Final Whistle’ took me 2 years. This book took 10 weeks – my publisher awarded the commission on 2 December 2014 and gave me a deadline of 16 February, in order to meet publication in time for the Rugby World Cup. I had to write in personal time, as I was merging two charities in my dayjob. I set myself a target of 2000 words every day and did the research as I was writing. I worked on Christmas Day and, as the deadline approached, was awake most nights at 3am, tapping away at my computer.

Q: What did you change in your approach to writing (if something has changed, of course)?

A:I kept the same very personal style. Not everyone likes it, but I thought it was important to have some humour and present day references, and not just write a dry academic history. But, crucially, I wanted to celebrate the human triumph of those who lived, not just mourn the tragedy of those who died. I wanted to span the big international players and their national teams right down to the small clubs and the unknown men. I also explored sidetracks and byways, simply because they interested me, and I thought readers would enjoy them. And I wanted to look forward to today where rugby can play an important part in healing conflict, as the inspiring work of Asad Ziar the founder of the Afghan Rugby Federation proves. I described my first book about 15 men as a ‘portrait in miniature’; this is painted on a much bigger global canvas.

Q: Are you promoting the new book? Where and how?

A: The book was published in the UK in August 2015 in time for the World Cup. I spoke at a number of literary festivals and there is a podcast from the UK National Archive (actually two). It has sold well since the RWC ended - I think readers were too busy watching the games! Around the world, it is easiest to find it on online bookshops like Amazon. It has been released in USA/Canada and Australia, but it is a book to be discovered.

Q: Could you suggest other book titles related to sport during the First World War?

A:. Clive Harris and Julian Whippy wrote an excellent book of sportsmen’s biographies in ‘The Greater Game: Sporting Icons who fell in the Great War’, as did Gavin Mortimer in ‘Fields of Glory’. ‘The Final Over’ by Christopher Sandford is all about English cricket in summer of 1914. Gwyn Prescott’s fine ‘Call them to Remembrance’ covers Welsh rugby internationals. Andrew Riddoch wrote ‘When the Whistle Blows: the story of the footballers battalion’. In French there is La Melee des Tranchees by Francis Meignan. Floris Van der Merwe has written ‘Sporting Soldiers: South African troops at play during World War 1’.

Q: Are you already imagining a third book? Thanks for your time.

A: So many stories from my first book haunt me and they now inspire my ambition to write a novel (I have done enough non-fiction history), especially the story of Robert Dale, the kite balloonist, who died in 1918 and now lies in Giavera cemetery. I am also working on another set in Sicily (a long story full of magical realism) and have an idea for a prison camp story in Berlin. Too many stories, not enough time.

Again on sports and World War One: the Italian cyclist Carlo Oriani

Carlo Oriani (1888-1917)

Few weeks ago the organizers of the "Tour de France" officially announced that the cycling race next year will pay tribute to the outbreak of the World War One and to its victims, passing through the scene of some of the most ferocious fighting at the Western Front. Stage are planned among other in Ypres, Arras, Verdun and Douaumont. We wonder if a similar initiative will be adopted also by the organizers of the "Giro d'Italia", as some rumors seem to indicate. However we won’t talk about the Centenary and the cycling races today, we rather turn back to the Great War and its protagonists to tell you a story of a man which discloses another way to connect sport and WWI. 

Many of the cyclers who took part to the Tour de France or to the Giro d'Italia before WWI were later involved actively in the conflict. Among them, also Carlo Oriani. Born in a small village near Milan in 1888, he took part to the most important Italian cycling race from its first edition – where he had the fifth place, with the Stucchi team – then won the Giro d’Italia in 1913. When Italy entered the war in May 1915, bicycle sections were immediately formed within many of the army units in order to transport men and supplies to and across the front. Moreover, bikes allowed for quick and silent movement behind the lines and supported communications, becoming so crucial. Also Carlo Oriani was enlisted as bersagliere ciclista and served the army till the rout of Caporetto in 1917. The historical sources are lacking, so we can report only legends or oral accounts. It seems, however, that Oriani reached the river Piave during the chaotic retreat and – according to some reports, trying to help a comrade, according to others simply swimming across the river – he contracted pneumonia. The young man never recovered and died in an hospital of south Italy in December of the same year. You can see in the photo Carlo Oriani in uniform during the WWI.

The Poets and the World War: "Breakfast" by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson

Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
(1878-1962)

This is a very short poem by Wilfrid Gibson, one of the founders of Georgean Movement in poetry. At this time of the evening (European time) in many houses the televisions are switched on and the screens are filled with football and other sport matches. The supporters are probably arguing and complaining about the coaches' latest choices and perhaps thinking of what they have betted (the winning team, the final score, the score at the end of the first half... well, the betting business is a little bit changed if compared to the war time and more complicated). More or less a "similar" situation we find in this shocking and atrocious poem (a triolet if we borrow the words from poetry metrics). The protagonists are recalled in the middle of a sport bet. Of course the differences are huge: they lie while eating breakfast and they only bet with a rasher and a loaf of bread. It's breakfast time, so morning time, when Ginger dies. The moment of the death has often a particular meaning in warfare and in war poetry. We hear the screech of the shells passing overhead, at the beginning and the end of the poem. As for the names, these might be mere inventions of Wilfrid Gibson, since there are not records of a team with the name of "Hull United". Anyway, in the notes of The Penguin Book of First World War Poetry edited by George Walter, we read:

"However, Hull City Reserves and Halifax Town both played in the Midland Counties League and met twice in 1914 - on 3 October and 12 November - so one of these matches may be what Gibson has in mind".

This poem is really a shocking and incisive example of the crossings of everyday war life, friendship and some echoes coming from the life far from the trenches in form of sport matches.


BREAKFAST


We ate our breakfast lying on our backs,
Because the shells were screeching overhead.
I bet a rasher to a loaf of bread
That Hull United would beat Halifax
When Jimmy Strainthorpe played full-back instead
Of Billy Bradford. Ginger raised his head
And cursed, and took the bet; and dropped back dead.
We ate our breakfast lying on our backs,
Because the shells were screeching overhead.

Pilates and the Great War

Did you know that the invention
 dates back to WW1 years?

Pilates was recently ranked as one of the Wellness-Trends of the past decades, and we guess a description of this training method is therefore not required. Yet, this “system of exercises that promote the strengthening of the body, often using specialized equipment”, as its founder described it, is closely related to the Great War. It is someway funny to compare the image of all people that nowadays go to the training centers and stand on their comfortable exercise mats on the one hand, and, on the other, the image of the places where actually this sport was ideated: an hospital for German prisoners in the Isle of Man during the WWI.

Born on December 9^th, 1883 in a small village near Düsseldorf, Joseph Hubertus Pilates was the second oldest child of nine children. His father was a gymnast, his mother a self-educated naturopath, and they likely provided him the suitable environment for his early commitment with both Eastern and Western form of training, combined with the study of Greek and Roman Philosophy. Being during most of his childhood ill, Joseph Pilates tried in fact to overcome his physical illness developing his body with body building, boxing, gymnastic and diving. In his late twenties, after the death of his first wife, he moved to England, where he wanted to further his boxing-training. Here he was hired with his brother by a German circus troupe and toured through England.

But as in August 1914 the Great War broke out, he was submitted to the new policy of internment (in the United Kingdom, the “Aliens Registration Act” was introduced on 5th August 1914). With other German nationals he was confined first in Lancaster, then at the Isle of Man. It is not clear to which of the two Camps – the Cunningham’s Young Men’s Holiday Camp in Douglas or the Camp at the Knockaloe Moar Fram, established only by October 1914 – Joseph Pilates was sent. For sure, he spent almost five years of internment in the Isle of Man. And it was during this period that he started developing his new training method. First he offered wrestling and self-defense training to his fellow internees, then, in the fall of 1916, he began working in one of the hospital as a physical therapist. He tried to assure benefits also to those confined to a bed from illness or injury. Fixing bedsprings to the headboards and the footboards of the hospital beds, he enabled bedridden patients to exercises against resistance and offered so simple, yet effective instruments to train the patients and improve their strength and health. As the influenza epidemic that killed thousand in England in 1918 started to spread in the camp, he stated that most of the internees he had trained didn’t got sick.

After the war, Joseph Pilates came back to Germany, where he improved his exercise method combining it with the dance technique. Impressed by the results of his training, the German government asked Pilates to train the new German Army. But Joseph disliked the political climate of his home country and decided to move in April 1926 to New York, where he spent the rest of his life working and improving his techniques. Pilates’ history is for sure an adventurous one, and the training exercises and instruments he has invented and developed are for sure well known, and it is not up to us to talk about them. We referred shortly to Pilates, just to say once again, that we shouldn’t forget the even some of the most funny “trend” of our societies are rooted in the past, even up to the WWI Camps in the Isle of Man.

The sports and the Great War: "The Final Whistle" by Stephen Cooper

When we think about sports and the Great War, an image often rises and that is the one of the British football players: the ball is exactly in the centre of the picture, three men are jumping and their heads are bent to hit it. The other players seem happy, even not concentrated on the game. If you still haven’t understood the image we’re talking about, just search it with the keywords "football" and "great war": it’s going to pop up immediately. But football is not the only sport practiced during the war time, and we would like to start a new journey through sports during the Great War from rugby and from a moving and magnetic book that the historian Stephen Cooper wrote. The Final Whistle. The Great War in Fifteen Players (The History Press, 2012, £ 14.99) is an excellent attempt to track the impact of Great War on the lives of fifteen players belonging to the Rosslyn Park rugby club. Nobody came back alive from that war.

Cooper’s narrative strategy is simple and clear from the incipit: “This is the story of fifteen men and more who heard that first shrill blast and answered its call to arms; they did not live to hear the final whistle that ended the game”. So here are the names of these players, since it makes sense to remember them all: Charles George Gordon Bayly, Guy du Maurier, Alec Todd, Eric Fairbairn, Nowell Oxland, Jimmy Dingle, Syd Burdekin, Guy Pinfield, John Bodenham, Wilfred Jesson, John Augustus Harman, Denis Monaghan & J.J. Conilh de Beyssac, Robert Dale, Arthur Harrison, Charles Button.

Stephen Cooper allows the reader to follow the protagonists in every theatre of war until the end of their lives. We of course recommend this book to all people interested in World War One and sports, in (social) history of rugby, in the destiny of people who fought that first world war and above all we see in Cooper’s vivid recall what could remain a kind of leitmotif for Centenary initiatives. It seems that also this author is suggesting once again: forget about battles, weapons and strategies for a while. Focus on men, on their stories and these will lead you to discover the undiscovered. For us, there’s one reason more to welcome this book: the chapter 13 is fully dedicated to Robert Dale, now buried at the Giavera British Cemetery in the Treviso province, a stone's throw away from our impalpable headquarter.