Ernest Francis Marie Guéguen (30 May 1885 – 25 September 1915) was a French footballer who played as a forward for US Servannaise and the French national team in the early 1910s.[1][2][3][4]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ernest Francis Marie Guéguen | ||
| Date of birth | 30 May 1885 | ||
| Place of birth | Saint-Servan, Brittany, France | ||
| Date of death | 25 September 1915 (aged 30) | ||
| Place of death | Souain, Marne, France | ||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1908 | Gallia Club | ||
| 1908–1914 | US Servannaise | ||
| International career | |||
| 1913 | France | 1 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Playing career
editErnest Guéguen was born in Saint-Servan, Brittany, on 30 May 1885, as the son of a baker.[5] He was playing for the Gallia Club when the USFSA selected him as a reserve for the French B squad that was going to compete in the football tournament of the 1908 Olympic Games, but he ended up not traveling to London, thus avoiding France B's humiliating 0–9 loss to Denmark on 19 October.[6][7] Nicknamed "the great spring", he is described in the French press as "a solid guy, cut with an axe, topped with a Breton head".[8]
On 27 February 1913, the 27-year-old Guéguen earned his first (and only) international cap for France in a friendly match against England amateurs at Colombes, which ended in a 1–4 loss.[1][2][3][5] In a time when the national team was mainly composed of footballers who played in Paris and Northern teams, Guéguen became the first-ever player from Breton to wear the tricolor jersey.[1][9] Warned at the last moment, he had to travel all night directly from Brittany, arriving only two hours before kick-off, and then to make matters worse, he immediately took two balls to the face,[5] which earned him a bloody nose, thus being very mediocre at the start, missing everything he attempted, but he improved in the second half, making the assist to André Poullain for his side's only goal, which was greeted with thunderous applause.[10]
Later life and death
editA 1st class private of the 247th Infantry Regiment, Guéguen was killed by the enemy in Souain, Marne, during the Second Battle of Champagne, on 25 September 1915, aged 30.[1][5][9] Two comrades, including Frédéric Bougeard from Plérin, had to testify to his death to the civil registry.[5]
His surname was associated the following year with a cup contested in Brittany.[citation needed]
Bibliography
edit- Perry, Raphaël (2021). Bleus éphémères [Ephemeral blues] (in French). Paris: Hugo Sport. p. 43. ISBN 978-2-7556-9244-0.
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Ernest Guéguen". www.fff.fr (in French). Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ a b "Ernest Guéguen, international footballer". eu-football.info. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ a b "Ernest Guéguen (Player)". www.national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ "Ernest Gueguen". www.worldfootball.net. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ a b c d e "Guerre 14-18. Ils étaient footballeurs" [War 14-18. They were footballers]. www.letelegramme.fr (in French). 5 August 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ "Football Tournament 1908 Olympiad - Squad Lists - France B". RSSSF. 8 September 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ "Les matches des Jeux Olympiques" [The matches of the Olympic Games]. gallica.bnf.fr (in French). L'Intransigeant. 8 October 1908. p. 4. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ Perry 2021, p. 43
- ^ a b "Les internationaux français morts au combat à la Première Guerre mondial" [French internationals killed in combat during the First World War]. www.chroniquesbleues.fr (in French). 11 November 2024. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
- ^ "L'Angleterre bat la France" [England defeats France]. gallica.bnf.fr (in French). L'Auto. 28 February 1913. p. 5. Retrieved 19 December 2024.