Rugby, Syrah, Russian Roulette and Death in the Afternoon

The Land of the 'Sorcier de Sauclieres'

Photo by Giovanni Calia on Unsplash

I once had a farm in Sauvian on the Mediterranean shore of the Languedoc. Chateau le Thou had evolved from a Roman villa whose foundations were laid over 2,000 years ago. It had belonged to a Roman general or centurion named Sauvianus in the employ of Julius Caesar’s redoubtable Spanish Legions. The Legion in which Sauvianus served was probably the ‘Legio X Equestris’, the 10th mounted legion levied by Caesar in 61 BC. As the first legion ever levied personally by him it was always his favourite and most trusted. After 16 years of campaigning, Caesar disbanded it in 45 BC after victories at the battles of Pharsales and Munda, giving the veterans farmlands around Narbonne and Beziers. Many villages around the area south of Beziers carry names like Serignan, Lezignan, Sauvian created by the veteran legionnaires Serignanus, Lezignanus, Sauvianus.

The Rugby connection to the ancient history of Chateau le Thou lies in the wonderful way the sport can act as a catalyst for enriching the life experience of rugby lovers everywhere. In 1998 I became part of a venture to invest in a vineyard called Chateau le Thou in Sauvian. The leader of this venture was my great French friend Jacques Damitio to whom I had been introduced at 12 years of age. My father , RCC ( Clem) Thomas who played 11 years for Wales 1949-59 was a confirmed francophile and wanted me to become bilingual in French. I was duly sent over to Paris to stay with Georges Damitio’s family which included a boy called Jacques the same age and with similar sporting interests as myself. Clem had met Georges frequently in the 1960s when playing in Old Boys international jamboree matches on the eve of 5 Nations internationals in Paris organised by Philippe Chatrier, later President of the World Tennis Federation. Georges had not been a rugby player but had enjoyed a long and successful athletics career in which he became the French high jump Champion on 6 occasions and long jump champion once in 1949 when he became the first Frenchman to jump 2 metres. He competed in the 1948 London Olympics coming 5th in the high jump and 6th in the long jump. At the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games he reached the high jump finals. A notaire( property lawyer), he had moved back to France from Morocco, his birthplace, in the mid 1950s and wrote a book, “ Les Pieds Noirs” about the French nationals living in North Africa who considered Morocco or Algeria as their homeland, ‘they are the Pieds-Noirs. The Arabs call them that simply because they are of European stock and born in North Africa. They are caught up in an adventure in which they are like foreigners.’

Every year from the age of twelve I went to stay with the Damitio family in Epernon, near Rambouillet. Jacques and I became lifelong friends culminating in me being appointed many years later, whilst based in Paris working for the French energy and chemicals group Total, President of Paris Universite’ Club (PUC) Rugby in 1997, a Top 14 team when appointed, with Jacques as my deputy. As our friendship developed, during the 1980s Jacques had become fascinated by ‘la tauromachie’…bullfighting, and over a period of 15 years I must have attended around 100 corridas mostly in the South West of France held in the magnificent and picturesque ‘arenes’ at Nimes, Arles, Bayonne, Dax, Vic-Fezensac and Beziers. I learned of the close cultural links that exist between the rugby communities and the bull fighting aficionados within South West France. And also the wine growing community who I met at all the best ferias that are held in the summer months.

By the time we bought Chateau le Thou I had been visiting Beziers for over ten years, always to attend the Feria de Beziers held around the 10th of August and enjoyed the warm hospitality of the Cabrillac family. ‘Cabri’ is a lawyer but during this period became deputy mayor of Beziers and was responsible for the Feria bullfights. His influence around Beziers is considerable and when Jacques lost his driving license for numerous speeding offences in 1998, he organised a chauffeur who doubled as a chauffeur for one of France’s top oenologues, Francois Serre, at that time the most respected oenologue in the blending of the Grenache and Syrah grape varietals, a winner of the Best Oenologue of the year in France, and who was responsible for the blending of the thirteen varietals in Chateau Rayas( predominantly grenache), one of the top Chateauneuf du Pape wines on the market. Robert Parker, renowned wine critic from the USA twice awarded Chateau Rayas a score of 100. So the chauffeur told Jacques that his boss Francois Serre was helping an old lady find a buyer for a rundown vineyard in Sauvian, a village 10 kms South of Beziers. A few months later Jacques bought Chateau le Thou aided by a Welsh inspired triumvirate that included Mike James and Robert Davies, then the major shareholders of Swansea RFC, and myself.

The venture continued the rugby theme as we developed the vineyard by increasing the scope and quality of the wines, aided by our oenologue, Francois Serre, including the top wine, a syrah/grenache/mourvedre blend called ‘Cuvee Georges et Clem’ in memory of our deceased fathers. Georges had died in a terrible aviation accident. He had retired to Biarritz and he had flown his own light plane for over 30 years. One morning he took off from Biarritz Airport with his wife Janine, affectionately known as Jan-Jan, their Polish maid and George’s dog intending to go to Paris. The plane took off headed into a bank of clouds off St Jean de Luz and was never seen again. Tragically no remains were found. It was a devastating tragedy that is painful to recollect. So two friends from different countries brought together by a love of rugby football are together remembered for posterity in the “ Cuvee Georges et Clem”. It was a fine blend of Syrah, grenache and mourvedre that was listed on the wine list of one of France’s most renowned restaurants, ‘Guy Savoie’ in Paris.

For over twenty years Beziers became my adopted spiritual home, whether at the bastide and vineyard Chateau le Thou, the frequent rugby matches at Le Stade de la Mediterranee or the Cabrillac town house only 500 metres from les Arenes de Beziers.

In the 1970s AS Beziers Herault as it is called today was simply the best club rugby team in the world. Between 1971 and 1984 they won the ‘Bouclier de Brennus’ trophy as French champions on 10 occasions, and only lost once in the final in 1976. It was a truly awesome rugby dynasty whose players became iconic legends. Michel Palmie, Alain Esteve( known as the beast of Beziers), Alain Paco, Jack Cantoni, Richard Astre, Armand Vaquerin. The guiding force behind the players was one of the greatest coaches of his generation, Raoul Barriere. He was capped at prop for France on one occasion in 1960, possessed a boxer’s broken nose, built like a gorilla but had a rugby intellect that developed a philosophy and style of play that dominated the French rugby landscape for over ten years. He belongs in the pantheon of great rugby coaches not only for his successful record but also as a deep thinker of the game. He was highly respected for his use of sophrology, a dynamic relaxation method developed by the neuropsychiatric Alfonso Caycedo. But he also believed in intimidation and brute force from his forward packs that would enable the scrum-half Richard Astre, his on field conductor to spin the ball wide as defences narrowed through the relentless, aggressive pounding of men like Esteve, Palmie, Paco and Vaquerin. I spent a raucous evening seated next to him in a bodega during the Beziers Feria and he expounded of how he had been influenced by the way Wales had developed a style of play from the late 1960s. He had met Carwyn James who I knew well through my father and had become an admirer of the intellectual intensity Carwyn imbued in his teams.

Didier Cordoniou, the Narbonne/Toulouse international centre said that in the 1970s, ” We were weak with fear when playing Beziers before, during and even after the match. Thanks to Raoul Barriere their players swarmed all over the pitch “. His scrum-half Astre said, “ He had the intelligence to include all the players in his communication with them, and this triggered a new style of game where winning was far more important than playing well.” But Astre was being diplomatic with his eulogy because the reality was that Barriere created antagonistic tensions and confrontation within the players group who were not really friends away from the pitch. Esteve refused to speak directly to Barriere, always referring to him as ‘ l'autre con’, ie ‘ the other bastard’. Astre had to act as the go-between, so Esteve would say to him” go and tell the other bastard that I don't like this in the line-out or whatever technical or tactical point he wanted to make. However due to their dynastic success he was nicknamed ‘ le sorcier de Sauclieres ‘ ( the wizard of Sauclieres), as Sauclieres was the name of the stadium Beziers played at during this era.

Armand Vaquerin was the dominant front row forward of his era, winning all ten French championships for Beziers and 26 caps for France. Balding, unshaven, moustached and muscular he played with a startling ferocity. He was a part owner of a bar in Beziers called “ Le Cardiff” where I had a beer with him in the early 1990s. Tragically he died playing Russian roulette in the bar on July 10 1993. A symbolically violent end to a life in a town and region that embraced old fashioned macho values that seem bizarre today. But the history of rugby and bull fighting in the Languedoc are inextricably linked. How does this region of France embrace two so very different activities of significant difference? The Anglo-Saxon traditions of rugby football and the bullfighting culture of Andalucia, Castille and Catalonia ?

Rugby became hugely popular in the 1920s as an expression of rural values with the French championship reorganised around qualification via regional pools. This competitive dynamic became known as ‘rugby de muerte’, a Spanish inflected bull-fighting expression, the rugby of death. One small village of 3,000 people became notorious for luring top players to play for cash and condoning outrageous violence on the rugby pitch……Quillan. In 1927 the Perpignan fixture resulted in the death from injuries inflicted on the hooker Gaston Riviere. This was not an isolated incident with one of the most ferocious games being the Lezignan v Quillan French Championship final, clash or battle in 1929. Thus a tradition of sporting violence and shamateurism became embedded in French rugby that lead to appalling scenes during the France v Wales match in 1930 and the expulsion of France from the 5 Nations tournament until 1948.

Beaten finalists in 1928 and 1930 Quillan won its only championship success in 1929 defeating Lezignan. In a game dominated by fighting throughout by both sets of players this was ‘le rugby de villages’ with a vengeance. Whilst this level of violence was an inherent part of intense local rivalries, the traditional south-west France enjoyment of ritualised violence is alive and well in the sport's DNA. Another symbol of the south-west was the 'castagne’, a Gascon noun meaning ‘fight’, revealing the cultural importance of fighting in a part of the country already well known for its machismo.

One remarkable personality was Jean ‘le Sultan’ Sebedio. He played for France before and after the First World War, fought in the Syrian campaign( where he earned the nickname ‘the Sultan), and as coach took Lezignan to the infamous final in 1929. His coaching regime was unusual, to say the least : having lost a good deal of his vitality as a result of frighteningly excessive drinking, he cultivated his personality by sitting in the middle of the pitch with a long whip and a wide sombrero, making his players run around him like circus horses. Sebedio's incarnation in his own persona of the structural linkage between wine, drink and rugby in the Languedoc is striking with centres for all such activities established in and around Narbonne and Beziers reflected in the ancient ‘provincia narbonensis’ where the Romans had first planted their vines. However it was Sebedio's close association with violence and his ability to intimidate visiting players and referees for which he is remembered. He kept a human skeleton hanging in the referee's changing room, with a whistle jammed between its jaws. He would casually inform any concerned official that it was nothing to worry about, just the last referee to give a penalty against Lezignan.

I personally witnessed a game of ‘rugby de villages’ which was played with old fashioned ‘rugby de muerte’. In the late 1990s Dax played its first competitive derby game for twenty years against its bitter rivals Mont-de-Marsan. The two small towns were separated by 50km of road running through Les Landes. The match had been organised as part of the Feria de Dax and scheduled to kick off at 9pm. Jacques and I dined with Jean-Michel Cazes, proprietor of Lynch-Bages in Pauillac, a 5th growth Grand Cru in the 1855 Bordeaux wines classification, but which today would merit a 1st growth ranking. In Dax the bullfighting arena is adjacent to the rugby stadium. The bullfight ended at 8.40 with a tour of triumph from all three toreros, Enrique Ponce(4 ears and a tail), Morante de la Prebla(4 ears) and Miguel Abelian(3 ears). Thousands of bull fighting aficionados poured out of the arena, crossed the small road and transformed into Dax rugby supporters with a switch of arenas. Frankly I wasn't sure which occasion portrayed the actual blood sport. The ball became irrelevant for the full 80 minutes as both teams went head hunting. It was absolute visceral bedlam and the match finished with 11 against 12 remaining on the pitch. It was totally bonkers.

This propensity for violence still manifested itself during the Beziers dynastic run of success that lasted into the 1980s. On my first visit to Beziers in the late 1980s I noticed on entering the streets of Beziers multiple businesses all bearing the same name…Palmie’. Palmie Autos, Palmie Assurances, Immobilier Palmie and at the bullfight, Michel Palmie presiding in the Presidence box. You couldn't miss his huge head, lugubrious face with a black Pancho Villa moustache. Talk about machismo !! He won 6 championships and 23 caps for France including the 1977 Grand Slam, but in 1978 he was banned for life after partially blinding the Racing Club prop Armand Clerc. He paid his dues and later in the 1990s became the FFR's representative on the European Professional Club Rugby organisation responsible for the European Heineken Cup. Over the years I met him many times and he invited me to visit the Ganadero de Fleury d'Aude, a fighting bull ( toro bravo) stud farm of 1,500 hectares run by his close friend Robert Marge. Marge now succeeded by his son Olivier started the stud in 1993 with 44 breeding cows and a stud bull from the renowned Cebada Gago ganadero.In 1994 a further 66 breeding cows were added with stud bulls from Nunes del Cuvillo , Santiago Domecq and Jandila. My memory is riding on horseback with him around the estate seeing the elevage des toros close up and personal. The estate also referred to as La Manade Marge is only 10 kms from Chateau le Thou from whose vineyard the Stade de la Mediterranee ( now renamed Stade Raoul Barriere) is clearly visible in the distance.

I experienced all this alongside a remarkable group of friends who could belong in any Hemingway novel. The lugubrious Cabri, his vivacious fire-cracker wife Cathyaline, Jacques, Ivan the gitane, the beautiful Fabienne, partner of Alain affectionately nicknamed ‘Crin Blanc’ (White mane). Alain Emery had been a boy actor who in 1953 starred in a French TV series about the wild horses of the Camargues called “Crin Blanc”. He went on to become the right hand lieutenant of Regine, Paris’ Queen of the Night, creator of the world's great nightclubs like Jimmy's in Monte Carlo. In the 1960s and 70s Alain was Paris’ most notorious Bohemian party goer, a boyfriend of Francoise Sagan, dancing all night at “Chez Castel” in la rue de la soif in St Germain or opening yet another club for Regine in Trouville. Alain was the last rebel but the original playboy from the era of Brigitte Bardot, Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsborough. We were an eclectic mix of people transplanted from a scene in “ The Sun Also Rises”, a fun cast of characters constantly seeking fulfillment and happiness through ephemeral moments whether sharing a bottle of pastis in the bar of the Imperator Hotel or participating in a bullfight in Nimes, Arles, Beziers or Bayonne. We were all friends searching for happiness that doesn’t have a hangover.

Chris Thomas Langland Bay, May 2022