No stopping the American battlers
IT'S exactly 100 years ago since France and the USA met in an Olympic rugby match and I'm guessing their Sevens clash at Stade de France on Wednesday afternoon might not be quite as controversial as their Olympic final at Stade Colombes in 1924.
USA won that final 17-3 but despite being the best attended event by some distance30,000 or more – it led to rugby losing favour and being chucked out of the Olympics.
After the final whistle the raising of the stars and stripes for the gold medal ceremony was loudly booed while the American team were given a police escort from the Colombes changing rooms to their waiting bus.
Agropup of young American students, studying in Paris, were set upon by a number of French “gentlemen” wielding metal tipped walking sticks. One Gideon Nelson from DeKalb Illinois and his mate BF Larsen of Provo Utah were both knocked unconscious with Nelson also incurring two serious scalp wounds.
Franz Reichel, secretary of the French NOC, apologised to the American the following day calling the crowd's conduct ‘abominable' while the ageing Baron De Coubertin, the inspiration behind the modern-day Olympics, buried his head in his hands. Before the game, at their last training session at the ground, the Americans' changing room had been ransacked and valuables taken while they were surprised on matchday to note that a seven foot high fence had replaced the modest three foot fence that had surround the ground the previous days.
Quite why emotions were running so very high is not clear but the ferocious American Football style tackling practised by the Americans has caused much consternation, both in their win over Romania at the Olympics and three warm up games in the UK where they had defeated a strong Combined Services side in Plymouth and given a good account of themselves against Blackheath and Harlequins.
The Americans won the pre-match mind games. American sport was ruthless, and they didn't mind making waves. They objected to France's preferred refereeAdmiral Percy Roydsand the English official was replaced by Welshman Albert Free-thy who had taken charge of their warm-up game against Quins and hadn't seemed overly disturbed by the USA's destructive tackling.
And then the American captain Colby ‘Babe' Salter pulled off an audacious psychological masterstroke. The Americans had been training and playing like professionals for a couple of months and backed their fitness so at the coin toss with opposite number Jean Vayasse, he suddenly asked if the game could be extended by ten minutes. Two halves of 45 minutes. Vayasse was nonplussed, but Freethy nodded his assent putting the pressure back on the French captain who, probably not wishing to lose face, lamely agreed. Thunder and rain greeted the anthems and it was all the USA in the first half even if they only led 3-0 at half-time after a well taken try by flanker Linn Farrish. It was fast and furious with the main excitement being the Americans brutal tackling of star French back Adolphe Jaureguy, the darling of the crowd. Twice' Lefty' Rogers left him sprawling on the ground gasping for air which whipped the crowd into a fury as stones and missiles started to be thrown at the Americans.
Ten minutes before the break it reached a crescendo when Alan Valentine, a three-time Oxford Blue and the most experienced of the Americans, pulled off a third massive hit on Jaureguy who was knocked unconscious and also suffered a cut lip. The French medics stretchered him off, France were down to 14 men and wagers on a big France win were beginning to look extremely ill advised.
After the break the Americans opened up gloriously with all their natural athleticism to score four more tries through Dud De Groot, John Patrick, Lefty Rogers and Cesare Minelli. The inspiration much of the time was Dickie Hyland whose play drew extravagant praise from one French reporter Marcel Berger who wrote in Les Novelles Litteraires “Hyland was so clever in the second half playing the three-quarter spot that the position for all time should be called the Hyland. I'm almost glad the Americans won, they are the world's best. But it's not surprising. I saw our players late last night out on Boulevard Montmartre.”
