Wonderful stuff Chris! - loved it - have to say that Andre Moga was very instrumental in helping the direction of Gullivers in France during the 80s and 90’s - along with your other pal Gerard Krotoff and Gaston Lesbats. Those early years were when French clubs enticed the best players to join them often on the strength of their planned rugby tour and because back then they had little personal connection with the English speaking rugby world, Gullivers got in and organized some phenomenal tours - RC Toulon being one of the few clubs to have incorporated Machu Pichu into a 3 week rugby tour - indeed, Daniel Herero, who ran RCT back then told me that they probably wouldn’t have won the French championship I think in the early ‘80s if they had not started off the pre season training with a good bonding tour.
With Toulouse club President Jean Fabre and Pierre Villpreux, besides organizing tours, I helped them set up what was probably the first pro rugby tournament, the Toulouse World Masters, way before the game went pro - never knew how they got away with it!
So many more stories - including getting a leg on the ladder for tickets at Parc des Princes via an intro from Gerard K to a certain M Chirac!
Keep your musings going and happy to hear Mark say you were in pretty good form at Christmas . All the best - hally.
Thanks for your recollections of French rugby's equivalent of Le Temp Perdu...I remember the tour that Begles made to Bristol( Bordeaux's twin city!), where we had tea with the mayor and spent more time in Harvey's and Averys than on the pitch. Needless to say Andre Moga was the tour manager ! The Bristol Evening News reported our game against Bristol( which Clem reported on for the Guardian) and led with a huge bold headline, "PEACEMAKER HERO CHRIS ". The game got very feisty with the Begles front row raising their knees into set scrums after deliberately kicking off direct into touch! The ref realised I spoke English and instructed me very sternly to tell Michel Geneste, the captain of Begles that he would start sending the Begles players off the field. The game then settled down into a bit more of an exhibition match. Andre was forced to intercede after the Clifton match because Michel Geneste rabbit punched the referee in the back of his head ...in the showers after the game!! All hell was let loose. Somehow Andre got the incident swept under a Bristolian carpet.
Happy Days !!!
Best Wishes,
Chris
ps I have some great Gérard Krotoff stories!! I'll draw on them in future Rugby Musings.
Wonderful stuff Chris! - loved it - have to say that Andre Moga was very instrumental in helping the direction of Gullivers in France during the 80s and 90’s - along with your other pal Gerard Krotoff and Gaston Lesbats. Those early years were when French clubs enticed the best players to join them often on the strength of their planned rugby tour and because back then they had little personal connection with the English speaking rugby world, Gullivers got in and organized some phenomenal tours - RC Toulon being one of the few clubs to have incorporated Machu Pichu into a 3 week rugby tour - indeed, Daniel Herero, who ran RCT back then told me that they probably wouldn’t have won the French championship I think in the early ‘80s if they had not started off the pre season training with a good bonding tour.
With Toulouse club President Jean Fabre and Pierre Villpreux, besides organizing tours, I helped them set up what was probably the first pro rugby tournament, the Toulouse World Masters, way before the game went pro - never knew how they got away with it!
So many more stories - including getting a leg on the ladder for tickets at Parc des Princes via an intro from Gerard K to a certain M Chirac!
Keep your musings going and happy to hear Mark say you were in pretty good form at Christmas . All the best - hally.
Thanks for your recollections of French rugby's equivalent of Le Temp Perdu...I remember the tour that Begles made to Bristol( Bordeaux's twin city!), where we had tea with the mayor and spent more time in Harvey's and Averys than on the pitch. Needless to say Andre Moga was the tour manager ! The Bristol Evening News reported our game against Bristol( which Clem reported on for the Guardian) and led with a huge bold headline, "PEACEMAKER HERO CHRIS ". The game got very feisty with the Begles front row raising their knees into set scrums after deliberately kicking off direct into touch! The ref realised I spoke English and instructed me very sternly to tell Michel Geneste, the captain of Begles that he would start sending the Begles players off the field. The game then settled down into a bit more of an exhibition match. Andre was forced to intercede after the Clifton match because Michel Geneste rabbit punched the referee in the back of his head ...in the showers after the game!! All hell was let loose. Somehow Andre got the incident swept under a Bristolian carpet.
Happy Days !!!
Best Wishes,
Chris
ps I have some great Gérard Krotoff stories!! I'll draw on them in future Rugby Musings.