#fontaineblau

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Interior of Château de Fontaineblau | France

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My Uncle Paddy and Napoleon

My Uncle Paddy, founder of New Ross Rugby Football Club in 1936, loved Napoleon Bonaparte. He idolised him.

Paddy's drive to set up a rugby club in New Ross in 1936 brought him into conflict with the dominant sporting organisation of the day, the Gaelic Athletic Association. The GAA regarded rugby and cricket as 'garrison sports' played by the British Army, and so refused to support them. Very few of the original team had even seen a rugby match. Two things saved the day: the local soccer club in the person of Andy Shortall and Andy Furness, and the Second World War.

The War brought a battalion of the Irish Army to Wexford for the duration,and they needed sporting outlets. So the club was soon flooded with soldiers eager to play rugby.

But Paddy did not stop there: he wanted to visit Napoleon's tomb in Les Invalides in Paris.

This he did with my aunt, and my parents, and some friends.

But I digress.

Here is a story about Napoleon that Paddy would have appreciated. It was 1812, just at this time of year, October. And that is significant. Because the temperature here in Dublin is 15 degrees centigrade, a most unusual warmth for this time of year. And it was the same in Moscow, that day, as Napoleon sat with his generals in the grounds of a palace.

Napoleon was dreaming about his vineyard in France as he sipped champagne.

'Why is it.' he asked no one in particular, 'that everyone warns about the Russian Winter when it is warmer here than at home in Fontaineblau?'

There must, I imagine, have been some serious glances exchanged around him. The French had 300,000 men camped outside Moscow, waiting for the order to retreat to France. And here He was, quaffing champagne, and philosophising about the unseasonably warm weather. He must be losing his grip.

But my uncle Paddy and Napoleon had that in common. They liked nothing better than a glass of champagne, and a chance to philosophise.

And the following day the temperature plummeted, the snows came, and the troops set off on their return journey. Temperatures fell to -30C at some points. Numbers vary, but of the 600,000 troops who set out from France in June,only 22,000 made it back.

Night Bivouac of the Great Army

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