Entre « Locarno » et « splendid isolation »

Des relations franco-allemandes singulières : le rugby dans l’entre-deux-guerres (1927-1938)

Abstract

In Germany and France Rugby has a very different social status. Whereas in France stadiums are well-filled and the Top 14 is among the best world championships, rugby in Germany has until today not attracted great crowds of supporters. For this opposing development of rugby in both countries, France and Germany share a common rugby history: between 1927 and 1938 rugby sport relations were intense with up to 16 matches between the two national selections, encounters which today are lost and forgotten in time and only rarely reconsidered by researchers, mostly due to the minor significance of German rugby on an international scale. However, those sports exchanges are the result of an important sport-political constellation during the interwar period, a sport relationship ignited by the “spirit of Locarno” in 1926. Being aware of federal and political interests on both sides, relations were being intensified during the 1930s and eventually lead to the foundation of the International Federation of Rugby Amateurs (FIRA) in 1934.