Rugby Reads: "Le Coq: A Journey to the Heart of French Rugby"
Le Coq: A Journey to the Heart of French Rugby was released last year and offers an important look at the game in France.
This book is part travel writing, part memoir, and packed with plenty of history. It is a romp across France in search of the spirit and soul of French Rugby. In its historic core in the Southwest, Rugby is still far more popular than soccer.
The travel parts of this book are just as enjoyable as the rugby portions. The author dines with some of the best in the rugby world, and we are often given a blow-by-blow account of these meals. He also spends time naming some of his favorite dishes and restaurants in France. This is not unwelcome because France’s Southwest is both a rugby heartland and also known for its culinary traditions. The author’s storytelling abilities are excellent, and jokes leap from the page like an unseen tackler when you least expect it.
Rugby is a violent game, and many violent episodes are hashed out in the pages of this book. As Bills points out, modern instant replay has removed many of these tendencies from the game.
One of the more interesting stories in the book is the fate of Rugby League in France. Known as rugby à treize (rugby of thirteen) in France, had gained popularity in France rapidly after it was introduced in 1934.
In 1939, on the eve of World War II, the French league had some 225 clubs. The national side even beat a combined England and Wales to win the 1938-39 European Championship, defeating the hosts. France’s emergence as the very center of rugby league was not impossible.
However, then came World War II with German occupation in the north and Petain’s government in the south the country was divided into two. The Vichy regime felt professional rugby was too industrialized and, thus, not what the country wanted to promote.
Most of the rugby heartland was under Petain’s government. Bills mentions that rugby league was banned but doesn’t mention that many assets seized by the Rugby Union in France were never returned. As late as 1989, Rugby League games could only be called jeu a treize—the game for 13. This is an important part of Rugby history, but Bills avoids telling it.
A more glaring admission may be that women’s rugby in the country is given short shrift. Still, there is not room for everything, and he packs the book with plenty of interesting episodes, like the U.S. diplomat William Henry Hunt, who became the president of Racing Club Stéphanois in central France on the eve of World War I. Hunt was of mixed African-American and Native American heritage and was widely accepted in France at a time when such individuals faced prejudice within the United States.
Bills spends much time with the biggest stars France has produced in recent years. His sketch of Antoine Dupont, who led France to a Grand Slam in the 2022 Six Nations and was pivotal to their World Cup campaign, is one of the more interesting parts of the book.
Alas, France did not win the Rugby World Cup in 2023. However, with Dupont's switch to Rugby 7s, the country did win the Gold Medal in men’s rugby at the 2024 Summer Olympics, proving that there are many chapters yet left to write in the history of French rugby.
Many sports books take themselves too seriously. This author it seems to knows when to kick and when to run in balancing whimsical episodes with serious ones. This book is a delightful blend of cultural exploration, rugby insights, and historical trivia. It captures the esprit de corps of France in a way even casual fans of the sport will enjoy.
