The White Rovers Paris (France)
The
White Rovers were founded in in November 1891 by a British man named Jack Wood.
It had come from the fact that football had been introduced in Paris a year
earlier from a British colony that had brought the sport to the area. Wood, who
was a decent amateur footballer back in England, decided to introduce a more
structured game to the French capital and meetings were held at the Café
Francais on rue Pasquier in Paris. Along with his brother Tom, they decided to
apply association football rules instead of rugby rules. They introduced the
first goal posts used in French football, whilst also organising the first
known football match as in the country, leading them to be known as the
‘Father’s of French Football’. Other members of the board were Emile Ernest
Cox, Walter Hewson, Edward Barclay and Claude Rivaz.
The
founding of the club, The White Rovers Paris was officially announced in Les
Sports althetiques. The club was mainly made up of Britons and Americans, while
another club who were set-up by a group of Scots nearby, named Gordon FC,
became their biggest rivals. However, due to difficulties in getting numbers to
play, the two clubs decided to merge and became just The White Rovers, playing
in all white shirts with a blue Maltese cross on the front of it. The club
played it’s matches in the Paris suburb of Courbevois, near a railway station.
It
wasn’t until 2nd of March 1892 when the club played its first
official match against another French club, International Athletic Club. The
White Rovers won the game easily, with the final score ending 10-1 to the home
side. This game is seen as the first interclub match to have taken place in
France. The captain of Inter-Nos as they were nicknamed decided to join The
White Rovers afterwards, feeling that he would progress his football career
with the French club. His name was Louis Cotton.
In
1892, there was now three established football clubs in the city of Paris.
Standard Athletic Club and Club Francois joined The White Rovers, with the
three clubs creating a sporting rivalry as they played each other on numerous
occasions. The White Rovers first meeting with Standard AC took place on
December 11th, 1892. White Rovers won the game, 5-1. They also beat
Club Francois in their first meeting on the 8th January, 1893,
winning that game, 3-2. The White Rovers felt that, in Paris, they were not
being challenged enough and so they looked at England to see if they could take
on one of their clubs. The opponents chosen to play in the first international
club game on French soil was London side, Marylebone FC. The English side
proved too strong for their French opponents, and won the game 4-1.
In
1894, the first French Football Championship was set-up with six clubs in total
competing. The White Rovers were one of these clubs alongside, Standard AC,
International Athletic Club, Cercle althlettique d Neully, Club Francais and
Cercle pedestred’Asnieres.The format was a knock-out type competition, with a
First Round, Semi-Final and then Final. CP Asneres and Club Francais received
byes into the semi-final stage, whilst Standard AC were awarded a walkover
against International Athletic Club as the latter could not field a team. The
White Rovers may as well have gotten a walk-over as the thrashed Cercle
Athletique de Neully, 13-0.
The
semi-final match was a much closer affair, as they faced Club Francais, beating
them narrowly, 1-0, thanks to a goal from a player named Mac Bain, in the 75th
minute. The final would be played against Standard AC, on the 29th
April, 1894. The game ended 2-2, and as penalties had not been invented back
then, it was decided a replay would be played to decide the wnner of the first
French Championship. The replay was played on May 6th, 1894 and this
time a winner was decided. It was Standard AC who won the first French
Championship, beating their rivals, White Rovers, 2-0, on the day.It was a sign
of things to come. Whilst The White Rovers were often labelled favourites to
win the French Championship, they never did, finishing runners-up on four
occasions, and consecutively between 1894 and 1897. The 1898 and 1899 seasons
saw the club fall away and they didn’t even challenge foe the title. This
caused players to leave with recruitment of new players hard to do as the other
Paris clubs were winning titles. So, in 1899, the club decided to dissolve,
citing lack of players and one of the pioneers of French football were gone
from the footballing world.
The
White Rovers are an example of how the English influenced and helped make
football one of the most popular sports globally, not least in France. The
White Rovers are one of those clubs that were pioneers of the game, but never
got the silverware to show how big of a club they were. Maybe they can make a
return? Challenge PSG for the title. They would probably come runners-up.