Jean Rigal (soccer player)

Jean Rigal (born December 12, 1890 in Boulogne-sur-Seine , † November 5, 1979 ) was a French football player and later an official of the French Football Association (FFF) .

In the club

The outside runner - as far as one can use this playing position for the early days of modern football - only played for one club throughout his life, the AF Garenne-Colombes from the immediate vicinity of Paris . This club belonged to the Catholic sports movement , which was organized in the Fédération Gymnastique et Sportive des Patronages Français (FGSPF) . Before the First World War , this association was dominated by Étoile des Deux Lacs and Patronage Olier from Paris and the Bons Gars from Bordeaux , so that Rigal could never win a national championship or celebrate a cup title. In any case, these successes were only officially recognized in France from 1917/18 (cup) or 1932/33 (championship), and Rigal ended his playing career in 1919, shortly after the end of the war.

The national player

Jean Rigal played eleven full internationals for the Équipe tricolore between May 1909 and January 1912 . He is the first player in the history of French football to have double-digit international matches . On his first appearance, which ended with a 2-5 defeat against Belgium , he also scored his only goal in the national jersey, which at the time was still blue and white ringed and had a red collar. This game in Belgium took place on a Sunday afternoon; Since the 18-year-old debutante had to work until 6 p.m. on Saturday - he was employed in a company in the textile industry - he could not ride with the other players, but sat on the train alone in the evening and came after a rather uncomfortable night on a wooden bench the next morning, a few hours before kick-off , in Brussels .

The record of the eleven international matches is negative: nine defeats are only offset by two draws, including the first game (1911) in which the French did not lose to the Italians .

The Sélectionneur

In April 1919, the unified football federation FFF was (initially FFFA for Fédération Française de Football Association ), founded in July 1922, the then only 31-year-old Rigal in the committee was appointed, which in France until well after the Second World War the Selected national players - hence the name Sélectionneur  -, adjusted to the opponent and looked after the game. At that time there was no national coach, at most a sports teacher was entrusted with the physical preparation of the players. Rigal was a member of this selection committee until May 1936 and then again from August 1949 to October 1956; He was jointly responsible for putting together the French squad for the 1924 Olympic football tournament and for three World Cup finals : 1930 , 1934 and 1954 . The chairmanship of this body consisting of two to five people was held from 1919 to 1958 by Gaston Barreau ; Rigal's better-known colleagues included Henri Bard (1924–1930), Paul Nicolas (1949–1953 and 1954–1959) and Alex Thépot (1953–1956), three other ex-national players. Even at almost 66 years of age, he did not retire for good, but looked after the French amateur national team for a few years.

Literature / sources

• Denis Chaumier: Les Bleus. Tous les joueurs de l'équipe de France de 1904 à nos jours. Larousse, o. O. 2004 ISBN 2-03-505420-6
• Gérard Ejnès / L'Équipe: La belle histoire. L'équipe de France de football. L'Équipe, Issy-les-Moulineaux 2004 ISBN 2-9519605-3-0

Remarks

1. ↑ For the player with the same family name who looks very similar to Jean Rigal, who according to Yves Dupont: La Mecque du football ou Mémoires d'un Dauphin. Selbstverlag, Sète 1973, pp. 26 and 29, played for Olympique Cettois at least between 1908 and 1911 , it must be a namesake.
2. ↑ According to the French-language Wikipedia as early as September 1919.

Web links

• Data sheet with photo of Rigal (French)