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Charles de Saint-Cyr (9 February 1875 – 3 June 1940) was a French footballer and author. In 1897, he co-founded Red Star with Jules Rimet, the future president of FIFA.

Early life

Charles de Saint-Cyr was born in London in 1875, but spent most of his life in France, where he became an intenséiste poet, a school of which he must have been the only disciple.

At some point in the mid-1890s, he began publishing poems in the French magazine Le Sillon ("The Furrow"), which had been founded by Marc Sangnier in 1894. There, he met Jules Rimet, only a year older, who also published verses, as well as stories and even a Christmas tale, so the two boys began chatting and soon bonded, since they had similar tastes, with Charles eventually revealing a rather surprising corner of his life: Unlike his colleagues, he did not frequent the brasseries of the Latin Quarter to find inspiration, but instead ran through the alleys of the Bois de Boulogne in his underwear while wearing a jersey on his back that exonerated him; he was a "sportsman" of the Racing Club de France.

Sporting career

Alongside Ernest Weber, a fellow journalist and former member of Club Français, Saint-Cyr introduced football to Rimet, and with such mentors, the future president of FIFA was quickly converted. In January 1897, In the following month, on 21 February 1897, the 23-year-old Rimet gathered his circle of close friends at the sports café on rue de Grenelle in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, which included Saint-Cyr and Weber, along with his brother Modeste and his brother-in-law Jean de Pessac, and together, they founded the multi-sports club Red Star, with football gradually taking over all the activities offered. Despite still being in his early 20s, Saint-Cyr seems to have never played for Red Star.

In February 1903, Saint-Cyr was Racing's representative in the USFSA's football commission. At some point between 1911 and 1913, French photographer Céline Laguarde made a portrait of Saint-Cyr, which is currently conserved at the Musée d'Orsay.

Later life

In 1919, Saint-Cyr published a book called Complaintes poèmes suivis de Noël ("Complaints poems followed by Christmas"), which won the Prix Capuran [fr] in 1920.

At Le Sillon, Saint-Cyr evolved from a poet to an apprentice journalist, and likewise, many years later, in 1924, he founded La Semaine à Paris, which he directed until April 1932. In early 1928, he published an article in La Semaine severely criticizing Lupu Pick's 1926 film Das Haus der Lüge ("The House of Lies"). On 15 February 1929, he wrote and published a dithyrambic article about Teinosuke Kinugasa's 1928 film Jūjiro ("Crossroads"), on the occasion of its Parisian release at Studio Diamant, stating "never has the screen offered me one of such complete beauty, of such constant emotion".

Death

Saint-Cyr died in Paris on 3 June 1940, at the age of 65.

References

1. ^ "Notice de personne "Saint-Cyr, Charles de (1875-1940)"" [Personal record "Saint-Cyr, Charles de (1875-1940)"]. catalogue.bnf.fr (in French). Retrieved 19 January 2025.
2. ^ "Le Red Star, mémoire d'un club légendaire" [Red Star, memory of a legendary club]. www.allezredstar.com (in French). Retrieved 19 January 2025.
3. "Racing Club de France (équipe première) contre United Sports Club" [Racing Club de France (first team) against United Sports Club]. gallica.bnf.fr (in French). Le Journal de la jeunesse. 1 January 1897. p. 428. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
4. "Jules Rimet 150 ans - Red Star FC" [Jules Rimet 150 years - Red Star FC]. www.redstar.fr (in French). 23 October 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
5. "Le Red Star, un club de football mythique" [Red Star, a legendary football club]. didiersaillier.com (in French). 24 October 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
6. "Commissions Sportives de l'U.S.F.S.A." gallica.bnf.fr (in French). L'Auto. 22 February 1903. p. 5. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
7. "Charles de Saint-Cyr - Céline Laguarde". www.musee-orsay.fr (in French). Retrieved 19 January 2025.
8. "Charles de SAINT-CYR". www.academie-francaise.fr (in French). Retrieved 19 January 2025.
9. "La Semaine à Paris" [The Week in Paris]. data.bnf.fr (in French). Retrieved 19 January 2025.
10. "L'inauguration du Studio 28 (février 1928)" [The inauguration of Studio 28 (February 1928)]. www.la-belle-equipe.fr (in French). 20 March 2015. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
11. "Entretien avec Teinosuke Kinugasa (Pour Vous 1929)" [Interview with Teinosuke Kinugasa (For You 1929)]. www.la-belle-equipe.fr (in French). 16 September 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2025.

• 1875 births
• 1940 deaths
• French men's footballers
• Footballers from London
• Racing Club de France Football players
• 20th-century French sportsmen
• French writers
• French poets