The Legacy of Vichy

The issue of how much of the past should impact on the present is an long running one. The debate seems to interminably swing between two none too subtle poles of thought. Events that pale into insignificance compared to genuine horrors are most likely to be dismissed. But yet.

Sport is based and deepened by its history, its events, its characters. My rule of thumb is that if you take the great things as somehow still part of what attaches you too a sport then you take the bad things, the less savoury and the downright criminal. The banning of Rugby League by the Vichy regime during WWII, instigated by the French Rugby Union, definitely falls into the latter category.

However the sport survived and flourishes and here I explain why.

Au revior, mon braves.