The grave of rugby innovator William Webb Ellis, which has become a place of pilgrimage in Menton

It’s rare to have a happy graveyard keeper. However, Patrick Gilley claims it is. Indeed, its modern appearance surprises. When we see him, we like to imagine a powerful rapper or a 40-year-old Instagram influencer. But discovering him as a Guardian of Darkness, we would never have believed it. “I assure you, I thrive here. This place is exceptional.”, He insists that he has barely crossed the heavy gate of the Vieux-Château cemetery on the heights of Menton (Maritime Alps), the last town on the Côte d’Azur before the Italian border.

After a few steps, we understand why our guide loves this place so much: it is simply a magical place. Diving into the blue waters of the Mediterranean, the steep site offers an unforgettable perspective: Ventimiglia (Italy) to the east, Monaco to the west, and eternity in the shade of cypress trees. We feel good there.

Menton’s oldest cemetery is not only a haven of peace for grieving walkers. And as Patrick Gilley says with a smile, it is, too “The place to be”. The forty-year-old is doing better and better in English. He has no choice if he wants to direct the oval football fans who have been flocking for several months to the grave of William Webb Ellis, the inventor of rugby who died in 1872 at the age of 66. Sometimes, they come from very far away to attend the World Cup matches to be held in France in 2023, and many fans want to pay tribute to their hero buried in the Vieux-Château.

Let’s remember the legend. One autumn day in 1823, young William, 16 years old and a student at the prestigious private college in Rugby, a small town in central England, participated in a football match on the football field. The big side, rough terrain such as clashes between players. At this moment, this well-rated but somewhat stubborn Latino will do the irreparable. He catches the round ball (which was legal at the time), but instead of stepping back – as required by the regulations – in preparation for his kick towards the opposing camp, he rushes forward under the astonished eyes of his fellow students and scores into the goal. . At school, a plaque commemorates this original gesture committed, we can read, “With enlightened disregard for established rules.”.

A balloon made from pig bladder

It doesn’t matter if no serious historian confirms this founding myth, as the years went by Rugby City would become the Kingdom of Rugby. About 1835, shoemaker William Gilbert, whose shop was a stone’s throw from the school, invented the oval ball initially made from pig bladder, then replaced with a rubber inner tube. Ten years later, several “Rugby” Enact the first thirty-seven rules of the new order. Finally, in 1871, former college students founded the English Rugby Union, the Rugby Football Union, It was immediately decided that the England national team would wear a white kit similar to that of the school team.

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