Léopold Fabre

Léopold Fabre (February 6, 1907 – February 18, 1987) was a French international Rugby union player who played as a prop or hooker in the 1920s and 1930s.

Trained in XV Rugby at F.C. Lézignan, he made his debut in the French Championship in the 1925-1926 season. The arrival of player-coach Jean Sébédio enabled the club to climb the ranks and, with team-mates Maurice Porra and Gaston Amila, reach the final of the 1929 edition, which they lost to U.S. Quillan. He remained loyal to the club despite threats of expulsion for brutality. In the end, the club remained an outsider in the Championship. In April 1930, he won his first and only cap for the French national team, winning 31-0 against Germany in Berlin. In April 1931, F.C. Lézignan was excluded from the Championship for brutality, so L. Fabre decided to join the Stade Châteaurenardais and played a few matches for the Stade Toulousain during the 1930 French Amateur Rugby Union.

In 1934, he bounced back by taking part in the first French XIII Rugby event, at the invitation of his former national team-mate Jean Galia, for the "Pionniers" tour. Back in Lézignan, he lobbied for the creation of an XIII Rugby club, but this was to no avail. He returned to F.C. Lézignan in September 1934 to train with his two brothers, the younger of whom, Émile Fabre, was a future international Rugby union player and captain of the Stade Toulousain. He had to make do with friendly matches to pull on the F.C. Lézignan jersey again, before retiring from the sport in 1936.

Youth and early career
Léopold Fabre was born on February 6, 1907, in Toulouse. His mother, Marie Basilisse Eustelle Cuguillère (born February 28, 1878, in Gardie), a non-professional woman, recognized him as a natural son on March 6, 1908, and his father, Léopold Fabre (born July 10, 1861, in Lézignan-Corbières), a rentier, recognized him as a natural son on November 29, 1911. He married Geneviève Suzanne Cazals on December 10, 1937, at Béziers town hall. In this region of France, he quickly became immersed in oval ball and XV Rugby. He attended the Lycée de Foix before joining Lézignan-Corbières and its club, F.C. Lézignan.

1925-1931: Léopold Fabre's career with F.C. Lézignan
With F.C. Lézignan, Léopold Fabre discovered the French Rugby XV Championship in the 1925-1926 season. The club competed in the "poule d'excellence", the French first division. The Lézignan club was coached by Jean Sébédio, the colorful former international and player-coach of A.S. Carcassonne, nicknamed "le Sultan". The club was banned from playing home matches at its Moulin stadium due to incidents on the pitch, but still qualified for the Championship. Little by little, Léopold Fabre found his place among the forwards and was noticed by the press for his talent, while results led the Aude-based club to be considered outsiders in the Championship under the leadership of captain J. Sébédio, who continued to play despite his age. During the 1926-1927 season, F.C. Lézignan came very close to reaching the semi-finals of the Championship and battled with the Stade Français of Adolphe Jauréguy, Jean Duhau, and André Verger for qualification, even beating them on March 20, 1927 at the Buffalo stadium, and it was only an extra match, the so-called play-off, that determined who would qualify due to a tie on points in the group stage. In Colombes, the Stade Français managed to take the lead over L. Fabre's F.C. Lézignan in this decisive match, 11-5. The 1927-1928 season saw a new addition to the front line with Maurice Porra at hooker. In the French Championship, the club found itself in Pool G alongside Racing C.F., Stade Bordelais, U.S. Montauban and C.A. Brive. The club did well but failed to qualify for the four-team pool phase after losing the qualifying play-off match to Stade Bordelais 9-0.

1928-1929
The 1928-1929 season was more promising, with J. Sébédio no longer a player, but still the coach of this Aude-based team. The club surprised everyone with a series of victories, first halted by U.S. Quillan, the last finalist in the French Championship, and then by A.S. Béziers in November 1928. As the season progressed, F.C. Lézignan emerged as a serious outsider in the French Championship. Throughout the season, the club beat other contenders such as S.C. Mazamet, Stadoceste Tarbais, U.S. Perpignan, Racing C.F. and S.U. Agen. With limited resources, the team's strength was limited, and it was the object of an unflattering reputation inflicted by defeated teams, denouncing the chauvinism of its fans, the brutality of its players and the partiality of the referees during home matches at the Stade du Moulin. On the other hand, the team is praised by many of its opponents when it plays on its home ground, where it is appreciated for its open, mobile game and its confidence in the scrum. F.C. Lézignan dominated the five-team pool and then the three-team pool, ahead of F.C. Grenoble and Boucau Stade, to qualify for the Championship quarter-finals.

In the quarter-finals, F.C. Lézignan took on Stade Bordelais at Toulouse's Ponts-Jumeaux stadium, and at this stage of the competition, the team's excellent preparation for the end of the season made it a major title contender. Lézignan came out on top, winning 27-5. In the semi-finals of the Championship, the Audois club faced A.S. Béziers in Carcassonne, while the other semi-final pitted U.S. Quillan against S.U. Agen, giving the Languedoc committee three qualifiers for the semi-finals. The semi-final, played on the Pépinière pitch in front of 15,000 spectators, was a tight affair, and it was only after extra time (6-6 at the end of normal time) that Lézignan won 9-6 thanks to a final try from Célestin Wisser to qualify for the first final in its history and face U.S. Quillan in a 100 % Audoise final. The date of the final was the subject of debate, with Quillan wanting it to be played on May 19 and Lézignan wanting it postponed until May 26 to allow their players to recuperate. In the end, the first option was chosen by the French Federation. The final, played in Toulouse against Jean Galia and Eugène Ribère's U.S. Quillan, was marred by several brawls that played havoc with the game, much to the dismay of the spectators. In this match, F.C. Lézignan led 8-0 after 45 minutes, before collapsing at the end of the game and letting the Quillan team win 11-8. A few weeks later, in mid-July 1929, F.C. Lézignan's exclusion from the French Championship for one year was voted by the board of the Fédération française de Rugby XV due to match facts pointing to the brutality of the club's players during the final. During this period of uncertainty, the club saw the departure of M. Porra, who signed for F.C. Lyon, while L. Fabre remained with the club.

1929-1930
After weeks of hesitation, and following a reorganization of the Languedoc committee, F.C. Lézignan once again qualified for the French Championship. L. Fabre took over the heeling role following the departure of M. Porra, and F.C. Lézignan remained an important team in the Championship, even taking on U.S. Quillan in a calm spirit far removed from the brawls that shook the end of the 1928-1929 season, with a Lézignan victory. F.C. Lézignan was finally re-qualified for the Championship in December 1929, enabling it to compete in the Division d'Excellence (first division of Rugby XV). The Aude-based club made it out of the 5-team pool with F.C. Lourdes and S.A.U. Limoges, but saw its run come to an end in the 3-team pool, where it reached the quarter-finals after being beaten by Section Paloise. At the end of the season, L. Fabre took part in several friendly matches, including one between Stade Toulousain, with whom he lined up, and S.O. Béziers.

His repositioning at hooker this season was a success. Léopold Fabre learned that he had been called up to the French national team. On March 30, 1930, he took part in a meeting in Toulouse in aid of the Midi disaster victims, where he won a place in the squad for the match against Germany. The match was scheduled for April 6, 1930 in Berlin. He replaced his club partner Charles Bigot (who played as a prop for F.C. Lézignan) and was the only Lézignan selected for the match. To get to Germany, the French team gathered in Paris and traveled by sleeper from the capital to Cologne, then from Cologne to Berlin. The match demonstrated the superiority of the French, who won by a score of 31-0.

1930-1931
F.C. Lézignan and Léopold Fabre enjoyed a satisfactory 1930-1931 season. They emerged from their group of five by eliminating Stade Hendayais and U.S. Montauban, and went on to join U.S. Cognac and C.A. Périgueux in the "group of three" round. L. Fabre enjoyed one of the most successful seasons in his position as hooker, where he remained one of the Championship's benchmarks, prompting the sporting press to question the French selectors about his absence from their call-ups. In March 1931, the club was eliminated from the group of three by A.S. Montferrand. The season was fraught with controversy over the brutality of Lézignan players during matches. The club was eventually deregistered by the French Rugby Federation, forcing the players to find another club for the 1931-1932 season. Léopold Fabre decided to join the Stade châteaurenardais with his brother Albert. The club failed to qualify for the division d'excellence.

1934: End of the Rugby XV chapter and Pionnier du Rugby XIII in France
During the Rugby League in France, the movement's initiator, Jean Galia, banished from Rugby XV, decided to convince several players to join him. Fabre announced his arrival in Rugby XIII by denouncing brown amateurism, as did many Rugby XV players, including many internationals. He declares that in the days of the Union française de Rugby amateur, he was paid 350 francs for each match he played for the Stade Toulousain, accusing this organization of "being pure" in the amateur sense, and of renovating French XV Rugby. The world of XV Rugby was in an uproar over these revelations, particularly given the British demands for strict amateurism in XV Rugby. For the first demonstration of Rugby XIII in France, Jean Galia organized a tour of England for a French selection in March 1934. Léopold Fabre was part of this selection, to be known as "Les Pionniers" (The Pioneers), surrounded by some of the greats of XV Rugby at the time, such as Robert Samatan, Jean Duhau, Charles Mathon and Charles Petit, eager to denounce the brown amateurism of XV Rugby after having been banished, and to put their talents to good use in Rugby. This tour helped launch the Treiziste movement in France, creating numerous clubs and setting up a French Championship in the autumn 1934.

End of career
Léopold Fabre supported the efforts of former F.C. Lézignan presidents Guiraud, Dufour and Sermentin, and players Gaston Amila and Maurice Porra, to set up a Rugby XIII club in Lézignan-Corbières, but the project failed. At the start of the 1934 school year, he accompanied his two younger brothers to training sessions, including Émile Fabre, a great talent who would go on to become an international Rugby XV player and captain of the Stade Toulousain. At first, he was unable to take part in official matches because his switch to Rugby XIII led to his disbarment by the French Rugby XV federation. He then played in friendly matches to get back into XV Rugby with F.C. Lézignan until 1936.

Post-career
In 1939, he was requisitioned during the Second World War to work near an air base. He died on February 18, 1987 in Thézan-lès-Béziers (Hérault).

See als0

 * List of France national Rugby league team players