The History of Sport Played in China's Treaty Ports
In this April 1938 issue of Walla Walla we find an amusing cartoon featuring a certain "Handsome Harry" Havriluk. It will require a litlle more research, but I think that this is most likely Paul Havriluk who was playing rugby for the Marines in Shanghai in this period.
The Walla Walla magazine, this one from January 1938 included comprehensive reports of the rugby matches that the Maribes played in Shanghai.
Almost ten years later, the magazine had developed into a multi paged magazine. This one from my collection was published in January 1938.
No doubt many Marines Rugby stories were told in this Shanghai bar in the 1930s.
In this November 1937 issue of Walla Walla we see three soldiers pictured who are practising for the annual Thanksgiving American Football game played. Two of them, Lieutenant Bruce T Hemphill and Lieutenant Herman Nickerson also played rugby in Shanghai for the Fourth Marines.
The cover of the first issue of Walla Walla in June 1928. In that first issue was a competition to name the magazine.
The Sha
Previous Artifacts
Artifact 15May 2015 = The tournament rules for the 1938 Shanghai sevens
Artifact 14 April 2015 = Rugby player's 100th Wedding Anniversary
Artifact 13 March 2015 = A 1990s Beijing Devils shirt
Artifact 12 February 2015 = The first Shanghai Hairy Crabs rugby shirt
Artifact 11 January 2015 = The Beijing Devils from almost 20 years ago in June 1995!
Artifact 10 December 2014 = US Fourth Marines rugby squad list 1931- 32
Artifact 9 November 2014 = The Morse Cup for matches between Hong Kong Football Club and Shanghai Rugby Football Club
Artifact 6 August 2014 = An England team photograph from March 1903
Artifact 4 June 2014 = An England team photograph from February 1875
Artifact 3 May 2014 = A menu from a rugby dinner held in December 1936
Artifact 2 April 2014 = 1939 Match programme for Hong Kong vs Shanghai
Artifact 1 March 2014 = 1930s Original Playing Shirt
Background
The US Marines arrived in Shanghai in February 1928 and stayed until November 1941. During that time they published a weekly newspaper, the Walla Walla, that kept the large contingent of American soldiers informed of events in Shanghai and beyond. The first issue was published in June 1928 as a four page bulletin and over the years grew into a large professionally produced magazine, often with full colour covers and more than thirty pages.
The magazine
I have acquired four copies of the magazine on eBay over the years. They present a fascinating glimpse into the life of the Marines in Shanghai in their 14 years. As noted elsewhere in this website (see here) the Marines learned to play rugby in China and became a formidable opposition. The Walla Walla Magazines present a fertile source of information about their rugby playing adventures and details of the rugby players non rugby activities.
I will be shortly visiting the Marines Archives and library in Quantico, Virginia near Washington to look at their complete run of Walla Walla Magazines. Before then, I have chosen a selection of rugby related articles, advertisements and photos to give an overview of what other artifacts I hope to discover...
Walla Walla, the US Marines weekly Shanghai newspaper
Artifact of the Month Number 16 - June 2015 (for previous artifacts see bottom of page)