Frederic Humbert (2010) wrote about Maurice Martin and Fernand Bidault’s visit to Bordeaux on 24 March 1907 to record the French Rugby Union Championship final.
I thought it might be interesting to learn more about two of our first notational analysts of rugby union.
There is a French Wikipedia page about Maurice. It records Maurice’s love of sport including cycling. He was one of a group who established the Bordeaux to Paris race in 1891. His sport articles were published in La Petite Gironde.
Maurice received a gold medal from l’Union française des œuvres laïques d’éducation physique in 1929 for his services to sport.
He died in Bordeaux in 1941 at the age of 80.
Pierre Fressonnet provides some detailed information about Fernand Jean Charles Bidault who was born in Orleans on 28 February 1879. (Pierre draws upon some primary research by Frederic Humbert in 2011.)
Fernand graduated from the Sorbonne. After a career in sports journalism, he enlisted in the French Army in 1914. He died on 2 December 1914 from wounds received at Vauquois on 29 October 1914.
Pierre notes that Fernand wrote widely about sport and was the principal rugby reporter for La Vie Au Grand Air:
Dans “La Vie Au Grand Air”, la signature de Fernand BIDAULT accompagne presque tous les comptes-rendus du championnat de Paris, des grands matchs du Championnat de France ou des premières rencontres internationales.
One of his essays, Ballon Oval, is available on Scribd.
There is more information about Fernand in an article written by Maryline Prevost in the Orleans Magazine.
Photo Credit
Maurice Martin 1899 (Wikipedia)
Fernand Bidault (page grab, Orleans Magazine)
