Reassessing Voivenel’s Mon beau rugby

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Keith Rathbone situates Mon beau rugby among discourses of regional identity, Pétainist nationalistic ideology, and the importance of amateurism in sports. In his assessment of this text, Rathbone calls into question the popular judgment that it falls fully in line with Vichy’s National Revolution and suggests a new reading of the role Voivenal played in the destruction of le rugby à treize in the 1940s. Many historians have situated Mon beau rugby within the context of Vichy’s National Revolution and concluded that it wholeheartedly supported the Pétainist agenda (Dine, 2001, 102-108). Indeed, Voivenel wrote ardently about his belief in the Vichy state and in the role that physical activity could play in the revitalization of the French nation. Nevertheless, Rathbone argues that Mon beau rugby presents an image of local Southwestern rugby culture that is ultimately at odds with Vichy’s plan for national regeneration. Voivenel’s narrative voices support for the policies of the Vichy regime, yet his writing continually challenges the centralization efforts of the state through reflections on the important communal role that rugby association played in rural France. Thus Rathbone’s close reading reveals a more nuanced portrait of a sportsman who simultaneously supported Pétain’s National Revolution and opposed its deleterious effects in the Southwest.