André Puget (footballer)
 André Puget in 1904 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | André Louis Puget | ||
| Date of birth | 12 January 1882 | ||
| Place of birth | Paris, Seine, France | ||
| Date of death | 9 May 1915 (aged 33) | ||
| Place of death | Neuville-Saint-Vaast, Pas-de-Calais, France | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1900–1911 | Racing Club de France | ||
| International career | |||
| 1907 | France | 1 | (0) |
| 1907–1911 | Northern France | 2 | (1) |
| 1910 | France (unofficial) | 1 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
André Louis Puget (12 January 1882 – 9 May 1915) was a French writer and footballer who played as a forward for Racing Club de France as well as one match for the French national team in 1907.[2][3][1]
Early life and education
[edit]André Puget was born in Paris, Seine on 12 January 1882, as the son of a magistrate, advisor to the Court of Appeal of Paris, and knight of the Legion of Honor.[4] His father financed his stay in London, where Puget studied law, married, and then divorced, before remarrying less than six months later in Paris.[4]
In his spare time, Puget wrote and published a play in verse, if you please, and in two acts, entitled La Nuit Blanche (The White Night), with a preface by Remy de Gourmont, and this play appears in the "Anthology of Writers Who Died in the War", an article signed by Claude Farrère.[4][5] He was thus taken seriously more in the literary world than in football.[4]
Playing career
[edit]
In 1898, the 16-year-old Puget joined Racing Club de France, where he practiced several sports, becoming scattered. He was often criticized for his "softness", and for not having "the working spirit" since he did not participate in the game and its construction.[4] He was well-built and had everything to impose himself, except the will to do so, and likewise, one of his goals was described as "Puget, who until then had been very lazy, wakes up, and scores a goal after having "seized" the ball and having run the entire field"; this was the running theme that seems to define him, and therefore, he never reached his full potential.[4]
On 31 March 1901, the 19-year-old Puget started in the final of the 1901 Coupe Dewar, which ended in a 0–3 loss to Standard AC.[6] Together with Pierre Allemane, Paul Zeiger, the Matthey brothers (Fernand and Raoul), and captain Alfred Tunmer, Puget was a member of the Racing team that reached back-to-back finals of the USFSA Football Championship in 1902 and 1903, both of which ending in losses to RC Roubaix.[4][7] In the former, he even scored his side's third goal in an eventual 4–3 loss in extra-time,[7] while in the latter final, he started as a forward in a 2–2 draw, but then missed the replay two weeks later, in which Racing lost 1–3.[4] However, Puget achieved his revenge by beating Roubaix in the 1907 final (3–2), before losing the 1908 final again to Roubaix (1–2), starting both finals as a forward.[4] Puget also helped Racing win a three-peat of Coupe Dewar titles between 1905 and 1907, scoring once in the latter final to help his side to a 2–0 win over Olympique lillois on 28 April.[8]
A week earlier, on 21 April 1907, Puget earned his first (and only) international cap for France in a friendly match against Belgium at Uccle.[3][1][9] During the match, he assisted the winning goal (2–1), which was described in the press as follows: "Puget, seizing the ball, comes down at full speed and crosses into the area where François, Bon, and Camard push the Belgian goalkeeper Robert Hustin together, and the four men roll into the net"; this was France's first-ever away victory.[4]
Later life and death
[edit]During the First World War, Puget was sent to the Western Front, where on 9 May 1915, he participated in the initial assault on the German "Labyrinth" stronghold, located near Neuville-Saint-Vaast, which failed with more than 700 dead who were hacked to pieces by machine guns.[4] Puget himself was hit by two bullets in the head, dying instantly.[4] At the time, he was already recovering from a head wound caused by a shell fragment while he was driving an officer in the Ypres region, with the French press stating "The injury seemed serious, but sportsmen are in such good health that Puget triumphed over danger, so his recovery is only a matter of days", but then ten days later, a new article stated: "André Puget was killed".[4]
In 1916, Puget was posthumously nominated for the Jules Davaine Prize.[10]
Works
[edit]La Nuit Blanche (The White Night): play in 2 acts in verse.
Honours
[edit]- Racing Club de France
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "André Puget". www.fff.fr (in French). Retrieved 24 November 2024.
- ^ "André Puget". www.worldfootball.net. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
- ^ a b "André Puget, international footballer". eu-football.info. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Les premiers Bleus: Raymond Gigot et André Puget, piégés dans le Labyrinthe" [The first Blues: Raymond Gigot and André Puget, trapped in the Labyrinth]. www.chroniquesbleues.fr (in French). 1 September 2023. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
- ^ "André Puget, 1882-1915". viaf.org. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
- ^ "Finale de la Coupe Shériff-Dewar" [Sheriff-Dewar Cup Final]. gallica.bnf.fr (in French). L'Auto. 1 April 1901. p. 7. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
- ^ a b "Football association - Championnat de France" [Association Football - French Championship]. gallica.bnf.fr (in French). L'Auto. 20 April 1902. p. 7. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
- ^ "Football Association". gallica.bnf.fr (in French). L'Auto. 29 April 1907. p. 7. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
- ^ "André Puget - Stats and titles won". www.footballdatabase.eu. Retrieved 24 November 2024.
- ^ "André Puget". www.academie-francaise.fr (in French). Retrieved 24 November 2024.