Michel Boucheron

Michel Boucheron (born 30 March 1903, Clermont-Ferrand, France — died 31 May 1940 (aged 37) in Dunkirk) was a French rugby union former player who is the head coach of the Italian national team.

Michel Boucheron

Date of birth	30 March 1903
Place of birth	Clermont-Ferrand, France
Date of death	31 May 1940
Place of death	Dunkirk, France
Rugby union career
Position(s) Scrum-half Amateur team(s) Years Team Apps (Points) 1924–1931  ASM Clermont Auvergne () Teams coached Years Team 1934–1938 1936  CUS Torino  Italy

Player career

He plays with AS Montferrand between 1924 and 1931 with Louis Puech, futur president of the Stade Toulousain and accesses the first division, the elite club Montferrand never left.[1]

Coaching career

After his playing career, he left work at the Michelin factory in Turin and it leads to the rugby team of the city, the CUS Torino, up 1938, and whose captain is Vincenzo Bertolotto, Italian international. He is appointed technical director in February 1934 the teams colors white and blue and with this reponsability that the French gave the CUS momentum that allows dynamic and modern rugby Turin to impose at national level, just behind the Amatori Rugby Milano. Coaches are French school in Italy at that time : Julien Saby in 1934 became technical adviser to the Italian national team. When, in 1936, Saby happening in the Amatori Milano, already able to attract the best Italians players, the Federation is almost forced to choose Michel Boucheron as coach given the work done in Turin. It participates in the 1936 FIRA Tournament in May in Berlin when Italy finished third.[2] This is a brief interlude for the French. In 1937, Julien Saby takes the national team and Boucheron returns to Turin.

Michel Boucheron, known "Michu" during his visit to the ASM, is to helm the CUS to the end of 1938. "I leave the white and blue to return to France", said he after, as Bergoglio written in 1949, takes place in the Italian Chamber of Deputies scandal to the cry of "Tunis-Djibouti-Suez" : through the cheers that Italians MPs support the declaration in 1938 of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the natural aspiration of Italy on these territories. After leaving Italy, he finds himself at Dunkirk with the 92nd Regiment of Marines where he embarked on the destroyer Sirocco. On this torpedo during Operation Dynamo, he was killed May 31, 1940, along with former players of the ASM. His name appears on a monument in memory of the fallen in the two World Wars and in the Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin members of ASM Clermont Auvergne.

Honours

As a player

• Champion of Honor (second level of domestic club rugby union) in France 1925

As a coach

• Finalist Serie A in 1936
• 3rd 1936 FIRA Tournament in Berlin in May 1936 with Italy

References

1. www.cybervulcans.net (in French)
2. ESPN Scrum

Publications

• (in French) Christophe Buron and Yves Meunier, Les "Jaune et Bleu" de A à Z : L'ABCdaire de l'ASM Clermont Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand, Editions Revoir, March 2010, (ISBN 978-2-35265-024-9)
• (in Italian) Benedetto Pasqua and Mirio Da Roit, Cent'anni di rugby a Torino, Turin, Ananke, May 2011, (ISBN 978-88-7325-375-4)
• (in Italian) Francesco Volpe and Paolo Pacetti, Rugby 2012, Roma, Zesi, October 2011

External links

• Official site Association Sportive Montferrandaise (in French)
• Official site Memorial du Souvenir of Dunkirk (in French)