Sport and physical culture in Occupied France Edited by Máire Cross, David Hopkin and Jennifer Sessions This series is published in collaboration with the Society for the Study of French History (UK) and the French Colonial Historical Society. It aims to showcase innovative monographs and edited collections on the history of France, its colonies and imperial undertakings, and the francophone world more generally since c. 1750. Authors demonstrate how sources and interpretations are being opened to historical investigation in new and interesting ways, and how unfamiliar subjects have the capacity to tell us more about France and the French colonial empire, their relationships in the world, and their legacies in the present. The series is particularly receptive to studies that break down traditional boundaries and conventional disciplinary divisions. To buy or to find out more about the books currently available in this series, please go to: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/series/ studies-in-modern-french-and-francophone-history/ Sport and physical culture in Occupied France Authoritarianism, agency, and everyday life Keith Rathbone Manchester University Press Copyright © Keith Rathbone 2022 The right of Keith Rathbone to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Published by Manchester University Press Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 5261 5328 9 hardback First published 2022 The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Front cover: Éducation Générale et Sports, January 1942. Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Typeset by New Best-set Typesetters Ltd Contents List of figures page vi Acknowledgements viii Introduction 1 1 The interwar battle between amateurism and professionalism: the use of physical education and sports by the French left and right 31 2 Building the world they wanted: bureaucrats, teachers, and athletic fields in Vichy 77 3 Playground politics, childhood disobedience, and Vichy’s National Revolution 118 4 Why rugby and not football? Vichy anti- professionalism and the sporting environment of wartime France 158 5 The resilience of communities: agency and autonomy in wartime sporting associations 198 6 French sporting associations and the creation of the myth of résistancialisme 247 Conclusion 291 Archival sources 302 Bibliography 316 Index 333 Figures 0.1 Julian Durai intercepts a crossed ball, 17 May 1942 (La Coupe de France de football) Le Matin (Paris), 18 May 1942 4 0.2 Rise in number of football licences, 1930–1943 (B. Prêtet, ‘Sportifs et sports en France 1940–1945’ (Ph.D. Thesis, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre, 2014)) 5 0.3 Demarcation lines in Occupied France (Wikimedia Commons) 18 2.1 Philippe Pétain (with cane) and Jean Borotra open a sporting field in Billezois (Institut National du Sport, de l’Expertise et de la Performance (INSEP) ‘Terrains scolaires d’éducation physique et sportive’ (July 1941)) 83 2.2 Type E1 sporting field – the smallest predesigned sporting facility blueprint produced by the Sports Ministry (Archives nationale de Pierrefitte, AN 17F14465 ‘Type E1’ (undated)) 102 3.1 Pedagogical handbook for primary schools featuring Hébertist exercises. (Institut d’histoire du temps présents, IHTP ARC 074-119 ‘Comment organiser dès maintenant l’Éducation physique et sportive à l’École primaire’.) 126 3.2 Doctors test young men’s lungs at the Racing Club de France (‘Allons … lentement … encore un Figures vii effort’ (Let’s go … slowly … still an effort) L’Auto (Paris), 5 February 1941) 135 3.3 Schoolchildren participate in the Oath of the Athlete. (Bibliothèque nationale de France, BNF 4-V-14352, ‘Le Serment de l’athlète dans toute la France’, Éducation générale et sports: revue officielle du Commissariat général à l’éducation générale et aux sports (17 May 1942).) 138 5.1 Growing membership at the Racing Club from 1882 until 1945. (Racing club de France, RCF Archives ‘Assemblée générale ordinaire du Racing club de France’ (1944).) 232 6.1 Martyred members of the Yidisher Arbeter Sport Klub (Mémorial de la Shoah, CDJC ML_A2_90 ‘Trente-sept résistants morts pendant l’occupation, anciens membres du club sportif YASK’ (undated)) 262 Acknowledgements In the years between 1940 and 1944, the number of registered football players jumped from one hundred and sixty thousand to more than two hundred and forty thousand. The growth of soccer in spite of the difficulties of the Occupation struck me as strange, and I took the lived experience of these athletes, playing games in the midst of the Vichy period, as the subject of my research. It would have been impossible to complete this book without the help of numerous other people: colleagues, friends, archivists, and family members. All gave generously with their time and energy. Any mistakes or errors of fact or interpretation are my own and mine alone. My first debt goes out to my colleagues at Macquarie University, especially Kate Fullagar, Clare Monagle, Robert Reynolds, Jan Zwar, Nic Baker, Kelli-Lee Drake, and Bettie Ha; the College of Wooster, particularly Greg Shaya; and Northwestern University, especially Sarah Maza, but also Benjamin Frommer, Tessie Liu, John Glassman, John Bushnell, Deborah Cohen, Peter Hayes, Henri Lauzière, Ed Muir, Keith Woodhouse, Annerys Cano, Susan Delrahim, Susan Hall, Paula Blaskovits, and Elizabeth Murray. I also want to thank Alice Conklin, Alan Beyerchen, and James Bartholomew at the Ohio State University. Patrick Clastres, Paul Dietschy, and Claire Andrieu at Sciences Politique de Paris welcomed me to their seminars and offices for conversations. Henry Rousso, Marc Olivier Baruch, Nancy Green, and Claire Fontaine made time for me while I was in France. Jonathyne Briggs has been a close friend and careful reader of material. Other scholars, such as Julian Jackson, Shannon Fogg, Daniel Lee,