In a portrait given to The Rugby Paper, Irish fly-half Brian Mullen, who played for Clermont and Hyères, looks back on his years in French clubs. Anyone who knew rugby in the 80s describes a brutal atmosphere between brawling and hidden professionalism.
It’s a rugby that under-20s can’t know. In a portrait made by The Rugby Paper, Brian Mullen, Irish flyhalf who played for Clermont and Hyères, looked back on his time in France during the 1980s. A period when French rugby had not yet become professional and foreign players were rare on the pitch. of the hexagon. As described by the main interested party: “Today it is a trend for British players to cross the Channel. But when I went to Clermont, I was often the only foreigner on the pitch.” The number 10, first arriving in the Auvergne capital to do an end-of-season tour with his English club Old Boys, signed up at the end of this tournament with a Clermont university which offered him a year of training. study and play at the same time for the rugby section of the establishment.
It was after this university experience that the Irishman joined the Jaunards coached at the time by Jean-Pierre Romeu. During the 13 matches he played for ASM during the 1987/1988 season, he was able to face legends of French rugby: “I played against internationals like Frank Mesnels, Denis Charvet, Jean-Patrick Lescarboura every week, in front of crowds of 15,000 people.” While he wanted to continue to wear the colors of ASM, the flyhalf will have to return to England following the stroke his father suffered.
Caught in the chaos of 80s rugby
But what marked Brian Mullen during his visit to France was the atmosphere that reigned around the pitches: “It was brutal, really brutal. There were fights everywhere, you’ve never seen anything like that.” recalls the fly-half with nostalgia. The Irishman even states in his portrait that the Clermont guards were used to wearing protective shells for their private parts. But a scuffle marked the person concerned during his stay in France: “I remember a match, when we played against Auch, Jacques Fouroux’s former club, where a fight spilled onto the athletics track and the spectators also got involved. Carnage!”
In the 80s, rugby was still supposed to be amateur. However, Brian Mullen says that during his second visit to France, at RC Hyères, he was paid and that he received a bonus of 100 francs for each point scored on the foot. But following the departures of presidents and coaches, due to poor results, the bonuses stopped and the former Irish player returned definitively to the Channel to return to England and a less demanding championship. Despite all these mishaps and fights, Brian Mullen keeps good memories of his French years, since he often goes to Clermont to attend reunions of former players.
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