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Continuing on the theme of commemoration, today I want to explore the construction of memorials on sports grounds as they continue to keep the memory of the war alive. To do so, I will return to rugby and examine the RFU and their home ground of Twickenham.
The experiences of rugby during the war saw many international players volunteer and were killed in the war. 27 former international RFU players died in the war, and hundreds of club players were also killed in the war.
The high levels of voluntary service from rugby players in the RFU saw the organization and its leader, Sir Rowland Hill, claim a moral victory for patriotism, military service, and masculinity over its rival the Football Association.
During the war rugby was played by military teams and saw international matches with Canadians, South Africans, Kiwis, Australians and French teams. At the end of the war, rugby clubs around Britain and Ireland erected memorials to remember their members who died and served.
While no formal memorial was erected at Twickenham, a memorial book by journalist EHD Sewell, The Rugby Internationals Roll of Honour, was published in 1919 with photos and biographies of the leading international players who died in the war.
As the centenary arrived, the RFU undertook two memorial projects to remember the war at Twickenham. In 2016, the Rowland Hill Memorial Gate or the Lion Gate was updated to include a new memorial to the First World War in the form of the Rose and Poppy Gates.
Created by British artist Harry Gray, the gates feature the symbol of the RFU, the English Rose, transforming into a Poppy. The poppies are unique in that Gray used the bottom of bronze shell cases recovered from First World War battlefields to make them.
This video was made by Gray and the RFU to speak about the symbolism and construction of the gate.
In 2018, the RFU worked with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to commemorate former England captain Ronald William Poulter-Palmer. Buried in Hyde Park Corner Cemetery in Belgium, according to Twickenham lore Palmer’s last words were ‘I shall never play at Twickenham again.’
Soil from Twickenham’s field was scattered over his grave, while soil from his grave was buried in Twickenham, at the entrance to the tunnel so players always run over it before a game. Both memorials were unveiled during the annual Army and Navy Rugby Match in Twickenham.
The article posted below by @CWGC goes into more detail of their participation in the memorialization of Poulter-Palmer.
https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/news/bringing-twickenham-to-rugby-legends-ronnie-palmer/
https://www.cwgc.org/our-work/news/bringing-twickenham-to-rugby-legends-ronnie-palmer/
The memorials help to perpetuate the memory of the war in English rugby and ensure that links between sport and war are maintained through commemorative actions. Do other national stadiums/arenas have war memorials?
