Category Archives: Services
War Games: Rugby in 1939
Extracted from Howard Evans and Phil Atkinson’s ‘War Games: Rugby Union during the Second World War’ Continue reading
Lion of the RAF
Extracts from ‘Lion of the RAF: the Extraordinary Life of George Beamish, War Hero and Rugby Star’ by Paul McElhinney (Amberley Publishing) Continue reading
Rugby, Resistance and the RAF
After more than four years of Nazi occupation Paris was finally liberated on the 25th August 1944. Central to the French struggle had been their underground resistance movement and the air campaign of the Royal Air Force. In the aftermath representatives of both met at Parc du Princes for a unique game of rugby.
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After the War: The Victory Internationals, 1945-46
With the onset of the Second World War, official international rugby was put on hiatus in 1939. After the war ended in 1945, there was one season before fixtures officially resumed and it was in this period that the Victory Internationals were played to fill the void… Continue reading
Remembering Bob Weighill
Remembering Bob Weighill, the England captain who helped pave the way for the Normandy landings… Continue reading
The 1919 Rugby World Cup Final…
A century ago, in this deciding clash for George V’s King’s Cup, could the Mother Country reverse their earlier defeat by New Zealand, or would the men from 12,000 miles away maintain their edge and build on the winning reputation they and their countrymen had built over the previous fifteen years? Continue reading
Play-offs loom in the 1919 King’s Cup…
The Services teams from Down Under finally clashed at Bradford after a snow-postponement, and the against-the-odds Aussie win helped the Mother Country in their hopes of forcing a play-off for the 1919 Kings Cup… Continue reading
