Bouclier de Brennus
Encyclopedia
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, is a trophy awarded to the winners of the French rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
domestic league.
The shield was not named, as it is often believed, after the famous Gallic
Gauls
The Gauls were a Celtic people living in Gaul, the region roughly corresponding to what is now France, Belgium, Switzerland and Northern Italy, from the Iron Age through the Roman period. They mostly spoke the Continental Celtic language called Gaulish....
warrior Brennus but rather artist Charles Brennus, co-founder of the USFSA
Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques
Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques is a former French sports governing body. During the 1890s and early 1900s it organised numerous sports including athletics, cycling, field hockey, fencing, croquet and swimming...
, the original governing body of rugby union in France
Rugby union in France
Rugby union is the second most popular team sport in France, after association football, and is the dominant sport in most of the southern half of the country. It was first introduced in the early 1870s by British residents. Elite French clubs participate in the professional domestic club league,...
. Charles Brennus sculpted the shield himself in 1892, based on an original design from his friend and fellow USFSA co-founder Pierre de Coubertin
Pierre de Coubertin
Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin was a French educationalist and historian, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games...
, the man who founded the modern Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
. The trophy consists of a brass shield and plaque both fixed on a wooden support made of ash. The wooden frame gave the shield its nickname of Planchot, which means "plank" in Occitan (planchòt). The Brennus shield is one of the most recognisable trophies in France and is an integral part of French sporting folklore.
Birth
The Bouclier de Brennus was the brainchild of baron Pierre de CoubertinPierre de Coubertin
Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin was a French educationalist and historian, founder of the International Olympic Committee, and is considered the father of the modern Olympic Games...
who recognised the need for a trophy to be awarded to the first winner of the Rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
domestic league set up by the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques
Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques
Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques is a former French sports governing body. During the 1890s and early 1900s it organised numerous sports including athletics, cycling, field hockey, fencing, croquet and swimming...
(USFSA), which was, at the time, the organisation in charge of all amateur
Amateur
An amateur is generally considered a person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science, without pay and often without formal training....
sporting competitions in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
As president of USFSA Coubertin went to his good friend Charles Brennus, himself member of USFSA and professional engraver, to have a trophy made for the first final in french rugby history scheduled for the 20th of March, 1892.
The original design was Coubertin's idea, the trophy consists of a brass
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
shield which includes the arms of USFSA as well as the moto "Ludus Pro Patria" (games for the nation), a plaque which would receive the names of the clubs winning the trophy and finally a wooden support made from ash
Ash tree
Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...
.
Because Charles Brennus was also the president of Parisian club SCUF it was decided that this club would be the legal custodian of the trophy. Up until today tradition dictates that during the award ceremony that immediately follows the final of the French league, the trophy should be given to the winning team by 2 young players of the SCUF club.
Today
Like other sporting trophies, the Bouclier de Brennus had a very eventful life and by the end of the 20th century was in battered condition. A century of celebrations and resulting mistreatment, including the shield being used as a skateboardSkateboard
A skateboard is typically a specially designed plywood board combined with a polyurethane coating used for making smoother slides and stronger durability, used primarily for the activity of skateboarding. The first skateboards to reach public notice came out of the surfing craze of the early 1960s,...
on several occasions, had taken its toll. Therefore, from 2003 it was decided that the trophy would be restored and kept in a safe place and that a replica would be made and awarded in lieu from then on.
The inaugural winner of the trophy was Racing Club de France in 1892
French Rugby Championship 1892
French Rugby Championship 1892. On 20 March 1892 the USFSA organised the first ever French rugby union championship, a one off game between Racing Club de France and Stade Français. The game was refereed by Pierre de Coubertin and saw Racing win 4–3. Racing were awarded the Bouclier de Brennus,...
. Up until 1898 only clubs from Paris could participate in the league; this changed in 1899 when Stade Bordelais
Stade Bordelais
Stade Bordelais are a French rugby union club, based in Bordeaux.The club was established in 1889. Bordelais were a major force in the French championship during the 1900s...
won the title and became the first club outside of Paris to win the shield. As of today 27 clubs have had the honour to see their name engraved on the hallowed trophy; the last one was Stade Toulousain
Stade Toulousain
Stade Toulousain, also referred to as Toulouse, is a French rugby union club from Toulouse in Midi-Pyrénées. Toulouse is one of the finest rugby clubs in Europe, having won the Heineken Cup four times – in 1996, 2003, 2005 and 2010. They were also runners-up in 2004 and 2008 against London Wasps...
in 2011
2010–11 Top 14 season
The 2010–11 Top 14 competition was a French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby . Home-and-away play began on August 13, 2010 and continued through April 2011. The regular season was followed by a three-round playoff starting in May that involved the top...
.
Trivia
- Although they are the legal custodian of the trophy, Parisian club SCUF have never won it. The closest the club came was in 1911 and 1913 when it lost the final on both occasions.
- The original trophy had to be used one last time in 2004 when it was discovered that one of PerpignanUSA PerpignanUnion Sportive des Arlequins Perpignanais or Unió eSportiva Arlequins de Perpinyà , generally abbreviated as USAP in both languages, is a French rugby union club that plays in the city of Perpignan in Pyrénées-Orientales. The club currently competes in the Top 14, the top level of the French...
's titles was missing from the replica.
See also
- Top 14
- Fédération Française de Rugby