The Sportsman, February 26, 1903
 

*INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOL
MATCH.


L’ECOLE ALBERT LE GRAND v. DULWICH
COLLEGE.

THE DULWICH BOYS WIN.

On Monday last, at the Stade Francais Ground, Paris, Dulwich College defeated the crack Parisian ecole, L’Ecole Albert le grand, by two goals two tries and a dropped goal (20 points) to two tries (6 points). About 1000 spectators witnessed the encounter, the first of its kind that has ever taken place. M. Muir, the captain of the Stade Francais Club, refereed. The ecole won the toss, and elected to play uphill, with a very strong wind in their favour, and at 3.30 Thorburn kicked off. Play immediately settled down near the half-way line, a feature of the game being the hard, low tackling of the Alleynians, notably Wade and Gibson. Owing to a badly-judged catch on the part of Barry, the game was transferred to the Parisians’ “25.” Here a free kick was given to Dulwich for offside, but the wind was too strong to allow of an attempt at goal; and soon afterwards the home forwards rushed to the Dulwich “25,” but lost their opportunity through erratic passing. Scrums ensued in the Dulwich “25,” and Wade gaining possession from one of these transferred to Gregory, who ran strongly to the half-way line and handed on to Butler. Butler passed to Caswall, and the Dulwich left wing, sprinting hard and straight down the touch-line, handed off two three-quarters and the back and ran round behind the posts. Wade failed to convert. The home team redoubled their efforts, and put in some very fine forward work. Butler relieved with a run to the Parisian “25,” but a strong kick by the home back found touch near the Dulwich line, where some fine defence was seen on the part of the Dulwich three-quarters. After ten minutes’ hot work near the goal the ball went over the line, and Ripley touched down. The Parisians, however, continued to press, De Talance and Besson showing up well, and after a bout of passing Barry scored a fine try near the left touch-line. The kick failed, and the score was 3 points each. The game now became more open, and both sides pressed in turn. Finally Wade got off from a scrum on the half-way line and transferred to Butler, who ran right through, jumped the full back, after the manner of A. E. Stoddart, and scored between the posts, Stack converting. Dulwich thus led at half-time by 8 points to 3. With the wind in their favour, it soon became evident that the Alleynians were the superior team. The game was now almost entirely confined to French territory. Owing, however, to some excessively vigorous kicks, Dulwich failed to score for a considerable time. Once Stack tried kicking across, but it led to nothing. At length, from a five-yard scrum, the ball came once more out to Caswall, and he ran in behind the posts. Stack failed to convert. The home forwards now made another effort, and for some time assumed the offensive. Barry, in particular, made several fine attempts to get through, but was closely marked by Butler. The Parisians continued to have the best of the scrums, and finally Cardeilhac got off from half-way and passed to De Salet, who scored in the right corner. The kick at goal failed. Upon resuming a free kick was awarded to the home team, and for some time L’Ecole pressed. Caswall, however, intercepted a pass, and punted into touch ten yards from the French line, where a neat piece of combination resulted in another try to Dulwich, Caswall scoring in the corner. A very fine kick by Butler resulted in a goal, and Dulwich led by 16 points to 6. After much hot scrummaging in the French “25,” Butler missed a difficult drop at goal by inches, and two minutes later Gregory, attempting the same feat from nearer the centre, succeeded, adding 4 points to the score of his side just as the whistle blew. Final result: Dulwich College, 20 points; L’Ecole, 6 points. The superiority of the visiting team was most marked in the three-quarter line, many of the French spectators expressing great admiration subsequently for the accuracy of the passing. Especially were they surprised that the English passed with two hands instead of one. The game was far more even than the score would seem to indicate. But for Caswall’s extraordinarily fine play on the left wing, the match might well have ended in a far closer fashion. The Parisians played throughout with great dash and pluck, but their three-quarter line failed to combine sufficiently, and their fielding was never brilliant. The match served admirably to contrast the two styles of tackling, high and low. Dulwich invariably went low, the Parisians high, and there was no question but that the former method was by far the more effective. Wade was too good for his man at half, which gave the visitors an enormous advantage in the attack. The teams were:

L’Ecole Albert le Grand: H. Tavernier (back), Barry (capt.), Ancona, Levee, and De Salet (three-quarter backs), De Talance and Cardeilhac (half-backs), D’Harcourt, Privat, Chambry, Poiree, De Plaghac, Besson, De Tamisier, and Bouchacourt (forwards).

Dulwich College: Ripley (back), H. C. Caswall (capt.), Gregory, Butler, and Stack (three-quarter backs), Wade and Purves (half-backs), Thorburn, Courtney, Kemp, Gibson, Troup, E. Caswall, J. M. Wright, and Yeo (forwards).

Referee: M. Muir.

 


 

Notes:
Printed unsigned in The Sportsman; entered by Wodehouse in Money Received for Literary Work as

{ Internat Public School
Footer in Paris
}

with the notation (Feb. 26) (8/10), i.e., payment of eight shillings and tenpence.
In the McIlvaine bibliography this is entered under D131.1 as two separate items from a single issue of The Sportsman, but we understand the braces to indicate that it is a single item as found here.
Wodehouse wrote another report of the same game for the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, appearing in the April 25, 1903 issue.
 

The French school, École Albert-le-Grand, in Arcueil, a southern suburb of Paris, was founded in 1863 by Father Eugène Captier of the Dominican order. Its rector from 1880 onward, Father Henri Didion, created the college motto Citius, altius, fortius, and, as a promoter of the modern Olympic Games, suggested that motto for the Olympics. The school closed in 1906.
More information (in French) and photos at Wikipedia.