Bouclier de Brennus - Top 14's prize
Fri, 27 Jun 2008 12:41
The trophy for winning the French championship is the Bouclier de Brennus. Grand Slams and things are all very nice but nothing beats the Bouclier de Brennus for ecstasy, euphoria and sheer glee.
The New Zealanders call the Ranfurly Shield the Log. In Occitan, the language of Southern France, the French call the Bouclier de Brennus Le Planchòt, the Plank. Both shields go back over a 100 years, Brennus's shield nine year's older than Ranfurly's.
The Bouclier de Brennus is named after a man - Charles Brennus who made the shield in 1892. Brennus was the founder of USFSA (Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques) along with the more famous Pierre de Coubertin, who is regarded as the father of the modern Olympic movement. De Coubertin did the design and Brennus, an engraver by profession, did the sculpting in brass on a wooden support of ash. The shield has the USFSA coat of arms and the world Ludus pro Patria - a game for the nation. It also had a plaque for the names of the winners.
When USFSA split into several sporting bodies, one of them the French Rugby Federation took the shield with them. The legal custodians of the shield are SCUF (Sporting Club Universitaire de France) who have never themselves won the trophy though they were losing finalists in 1911 and 1913. Each year two SCUF players hand over the trophy to the winners.
What is awarded now is not the original. In 2003 it was decided that the battered original would be restored and kept safe. What is handed over now is a replica which gets carted about in celebration and will take its share of battering while the restored original rests in splendour.
