RAS LECTURE
THURSDAY 22nd May 2014
7pm for 7.15pm
Tavern at the Radisson Xingguo Hotel
SIMON DRAKEFORD‘Cut from the Same Cloth'
The forty-five minute talk will be followed by a Q&A session. Simon, a former Club Captain, Hermit’s Captain, Secretary and current Historian of the Shanghai Rugby Football Club will be visiting Shanghai in order to promote his book telling the history of rugby in Shanghai from 1867 to 2013. He will be signing copies of his book at this event, cost 400 RMB.
His talk will include brief details about the respective histories of the two clubs, the numerous failed attempts to arrange the fixture before and after the First World War and the fifteen times that the interport fixture was played from 1924 until 1949. He will also share stories about some of the rugby personalities associated with both teams
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Simon was born in Coventry, Warwickshire, England in 1964. He has been involved in various rugby teams as a player and committee member since the early 1970s.
He moved to China in 1998 later becoming Chairman of the Hong Kong Pot Bellied Pigs Rugby Club. On moving to Beijing in 2003 he joined the Beijing Devils Rugby Club where he became Chairman in 2004. A further move to Shanghai in 2006 involved changing clubs again and joining the Shanghai Hairy Crabs Rugby Club. He served the ‘Crabs’ as Secretary, Second Team Captain, Club Captain and Honorary Historian. During his time in China he founded the Beijing Rugby League and co-founded the Shanghai Rugby League and the Yellow Sea Cup tournament.
Simon first experienced the joy of researching the past at the age of sixteen when he completed a project for his Archaeology ‘C.S.E.’ exam about the Saxon boundaries of Long Itchington, the Warwickshire village where he was raised. Thirty years later, in 2010, he embarked on his second project discovering the history of the old Shanghai Rugby Club.
As a result of this research the Shanghai Hairy Crabs Rugby Club renamed itself the Shanghai Rugby Football Club and adopted the original 1904 club logo. He returned to England in 2013 from where he intends to embark on a third project, one about association football in Shanghai before the First World War.
ABOUT THE BOOK
The Treaty Port of Shanghai was established in 1843. As the ‘Model Settlement’ developed and the population increased thoughts inevitably turned to recreation. A racecourse was built almost immediately as were other essentials such as the club and a church. Cricket was first played in Shanghai in 1854. Ten years later the Shanghai Cricket Club was well enough established to have run up a large debt threatening its existence. There are records of a second cricket team in Shanghai at this time called the Shanghai Zoroastrian Cricket Club suggesting that Parsee Indians had their own team. A rowing club was founded in 1867 and in the same year the first Shanghai Football Club took the field, playing a variation of the game that was more like ‘rugby’ than ‘soccer’ but in reality was a hybrid of both forms.
The path to the creation of the Shanghai Rugby Football Club was winding. Rugby football and association football were played in each of the four different Shanghai Football Clubs established in 1867, 1881, 1889 and 1892. In 1904, the rugby players broke away from the fourth Shanghai Football Club and so at last a standalone rugby club was formed which remained in existence until 1950. Forty-five years later, foreigners once again established a rugby club in Shanghai.
Simon’s book is a definitive history of rugby in Shanghai. The facts behind the story from 1867 to 2013 are documented in the appendices in extraordinary detail. They include a list of more than 1,500 games, the names of thousands of players, and scores of different teams.
The narrative condenses this detail down to tell the story of how it all happened. It includes day to day stories of old Shanghai’s privileged elite and of the police, soldiers and sailors who patrolled and defended it. You will discover their heroism, sense of duty and loyalty to their country, their class and their team. On the darker side, there are stories of bankruptcy, murder, piracy, suicide, torture, and even a few sex scandals. Overlaying all of this was the commitment and dedication of men to keep the sport of rugby going so that they could participate in the sport that they loved. This book documents their perseverance and legacy.
RSVP: to RAS Bookings at: bookings@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn
ENTRANCE: Members 70 RMB - Non Members 100 RMB
Includes a glass of wine or soft drink
Priority for RAS members. Those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption.
MEMBERSHIP applications and membership renewals will be available at this event.
RAS MONOGRAPHS - Series 1 & 2 will be available for sale at this event. 100 rmb each (cash sale only)
WEBSITE: www.royalasiaticsociety.org.cn