Celtic De Paris

[daveh]

Anyone on here have any history on this club or know where I might find some.Trying to trace the circumstances around them signing RH Lloyd-Davies around April 1951 who played just one game for them and then ended up in a French jail !!

[RayCee]

He's a bit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_de_Paris

[Wiltshire Warrior Dragon]

No disrespect to RavCee for trying to answer the question, but the Wikipedia entry looks doubtful.  The club was not founded in 1950, as suggested.

Mike Rylance's seminal works on French rugby league, The Forbidden Game and The Struggle and the Daring, both make references to Celtic de Paris.  They were one of the clubs represented at the meeting to agree details of the first competitive season of treiziste play, well before WWII, and may be the Parisian club that took part that year; it is not entirely clear to me whether it was them or SO de Paris.  At one point, both these clubs appear to have been playing in prewar professional competition. 

[RayCee]

No problem WWD, I just posted the link without confirming it as accurate as it's not a club I know about. I also read this and didn't post it as it was in Spanish but gone back and here it is translated. I can't verify the accuracy here either:

 

According to the “Treizist” literature, the club was expected to participate in the French championship from October 1934 at the same time as eleven other clubs, including another Parisian: Sport Olympique de Paris. However, Mike Rylance's work "The Forbidden Game" indicates that the club is part of "Group B" during the 1935-1936 season. At the end of a triumphant tour of the French rugby team, a project created by Maurice Tardy saw the light in the capital, Paris, in the context of a rivalry between a rugby union that vindicates its professionalism and is committed to a clearer game . and richer in offensive phases and a "theoretically" amateur rugby where defense prevails over attack and whose last final of the Coupe de France resulted in the score of 6-3 without any attempt being scored. On the basis of a Parisian club based in Saint-Denis called "Celtic", Maurice Tardy decides to form a team that can compete in the French Championship for the national title and fill the Parc des Princes for the big posters and draw on the Cipale for smaller posters.

For the 1951-1952 season, he draws a team with big names, in turn convinces Roger Arcalis of the back of the French rugby team, Yvon López of Lyon XIII passed by AS Montferrand, Abadié pillar, Francis Lévy of Catalan XIII , Dushort, Duthoit, Lasserre, Prévost de Bergerac, Raoul Pérez from Marseille, Julien Bernard, Élie Brousse from Lyon, Alfonso, Vacher from ASPTT, international Henri Durand, René Moulis, all formed by Robert Samatan and Georges Caussarieu. Gérard Dufau, Racing captain was also announced but remains in XV, unlike Crabos who arrived in September 1951. Celtic began their season in Avignon with the additions of Maurice Bellan and Jochem, and won the match 17-12. During the 1952-1953 season, the team lined up internationals Puig-Aubert, Henri Durand, Maurice Bellan, René Moulis, Élie Brousse, Francis Lévy and René Duffort.

 

[daveh]

Thanks guys,it was more a hit and hope really that there would be any detailed info out there but it's a start