Charles Bernat

Charles Bernat was born in Paris on 5 May 1876, as the son of Pierre Jean Baptiste Bernat (1849–1902) from Manhac and Marie Zurbuchen (1847–1905) from Bern, Switzerland.{{Cite web |url=https://gw.geneanet.org/80hermes?n=bernat&oc=&p=auguste+charles |title=Auguste Charles BERNAT |language=es |website=gw.geneanet.org |accessdate=12 January 2025 }}

As the son of a well-off family from the wealthy districts of Paris, he was sent to Britain for a language study trip, doing so at the Catholic St Joseph's College, Dumfries, Scotland,{{Cite web |url=https://www.chroniquesbleues.fr/Fernand-Canelle-portrait |title=Les premiers Bleus: Fernand Canelle, le meilleur parmi les pionniers |trans-title=The first Blues: Fernand Canelle, the best among the pioneers |language=fr |website=www.chroniquesbleues.fr |date=6 April 2023 |accessdate=11 December 2024 |archive-date=3 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241203182145/https://www.chroniquesbleues.fr/Fernand-Canelle-portrait |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=https://www.scottishfootballmuseum.org.uk/news/scottish-influence-implementing-football-in-australia-and-france/ |title=Scottish Influence Implementing Football in Australia and France |website=www.scottishfootballmuseum.org.uk |date=16 June 2018 |accessdate=11 December 2024 |archive-date=15 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241215191505/https://www.scottishfootballmuseum.org.uk/news/scottish-influence-implementing-football-in-australia-and-france/ |url-status=live }} where he developed a deep interest in football, and where he might have met José María Barquín and Enrique Goiri, the latter being just one year younger than him, both of whom being fellow football enthusiasts from the European mainland.{{cite web |url=https://www.dgwgo.com/sport-news/one-of-the-oldest-contested-cups-in-world-of-football-played-for-at-st-josephs-college-dumfries/ |title=One Of The Oldest Contested Cups In World Of Football – Played For At 'St Josephs' College Dumfries |website=www.dgwgo.com |date=13 June 2015 |accessdate=11 December 2024 |archive-date=31 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210131133536/http://www.dgwgo.com/sport-news/one-of-the-oldest-contested-cups-in-world-of-football-played-for-at-st-josephs-college-dumfries/ |url-status=live }}

Shortly after returning to Paris to complete his studies at the Lycée Janson-de-Sailly, he met Eugène Fraysse, who had also become a football fan while studying abroad, so they decided to join forces to import the sport into France, and together, they founded Club Français in October 1892, which was the first club reserved exclusively for the French, hence the club's name.{{cite web |url=https://www.sofoot.com/articles/aux-sombres-heros-de-la-coupe-2-2 |title=Aux sombres héros de la Coupe (2/2) |trans-title=To the dark heroes of the Cup (2/2) |language=fr |website=www.sofoot.com |date=25 April 2017 |accessdate=11 December 2024 |archive-date=19 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240419112500/https://www.sofoot.com/articles/aux-sombres-heros-de-la-coupe-2-2 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=https://www.scottishsporthistory.com/sports-history-news-and-blog/the-father-of-french-football-a-tailor-from-worcester |title=The father of French football: a tailor from Worcester |website=www.scottishsporthistory.com |date=8 February 2016 |accessdate=11 December 2024 |archive-date=5 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205152222/https://www.scottishsporthistory.com/sports-history-news-and-blog/the-father-of-french-football-a-tailor-from-worcester |url-status=live }}

File:Le Club français, champion de France de football en 1896.jpg

Club Français joined the USFSA in March 1894, and on 22 April of the same year, Bernat played as a midfielder in the semifinal of the inaugural USFSA championship, which ended in a 0–1 loss to The White Rovers.{{Cite web |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxkpjd&view=1up&seq=409 |title=White Rovers contre Club Français |trans-title=White Rovers against Club Français |language=fr |website=babel.hathitrust.org/ |date=28 April 1894 |accessdate=11 December 2024 |archive-date=25 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221125001429/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxkpjd&view=1up&seq=409 |url-status=live }} On 24 February 1895, Bernat and his teammate Fraysse were the only Frenchman selected to play for the first representative team of Paris in a friendly match against the London-based Folkestone at the soggy pitch of the Seine Velodrome, which ended in a 0–3 loss.{{Cite web |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k7618567h/f2.item.zoom |title=Sports Athlétiques – Football |language=fr |website=gallica.bnf.fr |publisher=Le Radical |page=2 |date=26 February 1895 |accessdate=11 December 2024 |archive-date=24 December 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211224194031/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k7618567h/f2.item.zoom |url-status=live }}

Together with Lucien Huteau, Marcel Lambert, Gaston Peltier, Georges Garnier, and captain Fraysse, Bernat was a starter in the Club Français team that won the 1896 USFSA Football Championship, doing so without losing a single match.{{Cite book |last1=Denaunay |first1=Stéphane |last2=De Ryswick |first2=Jacques |last3=Cornu |first3=Jean |last4=Vermand |first4=Dominique |title=100 ans de football en France |trans-title=100 years of football in France |language=fr |date=July 1989 |publisher=Atlas |isbn=9782731207434 |location=Paris |page=27 }} In the following year, on 25 April 1897, he started in the final of the inaugural Coupe Manier against the newly crowded champions of France Standard AC, helping his side to a 4–3 win after extra-time.{{Cite web |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k83316135/f3.item.r=bernat.zoom |title=Coupe de France |trans-title=French Cup |language=fr |website=gallica.bnf.fr |publisher=Tous les sports |page=3 |date=26 April 1897 |access-date=7 February 2025 }} On 13 December 1898, Bernat was one of the five players from Club Français who featured in a selection of the best Parisian players from the USFSA in a friendly against a German national selection in front of 200 people; Paris lost 1–2.{{Cite web |url=https://www.retronews.fr/journal/journal-des-sports/13-decembre-1898/4054/5388930/3 |title=Football Association – Le match Franco-Allemand |trans-title=Football Association – The Franco-German match |language=fr |website=www.retronews.fr |publisher=Journal des sports |page=3 |date=13 December 1898 |accessdate=11 December 2024 |archive-date=27 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241127215104/https://www.retronews.fr/journal/journal-des-sports/13-decembre-1898/4054/5388930/3 |url-status=live }} On 16 April 1899, he started in the play-off match against Standard AC to decide the 1898–99 USFSA Paris Championship, helping his side to a 3–2 win.{{Cite web |url=https://www.retronews.fr/journal/journal-des-sports/17-avril-1899/4054/5388582/2 |title=Championnat de Paris - Club Français contre Standard Athletic Club |trans-title=Paris Championship - Club Français against Standard Athletic Club |language=fr |website=www.retronews.fr |publisher=Le Journal des sports |page=2 |date=17 April 1899 |accessdate=12 January 2025 |archive-date=13 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241113054821/https://www.retronews.fr/journal/journal-des-sports/17-avril-1899/4054/5388582/2 |url-status=live }} In the following year, on 6 May, he started in the final of the 1900 USFSA Football Championship, which ended in a 0–1 loss to Le Havre AC.{{Cite web |url=https://www.retronews.fr/journal/journal-des-sports/7-mai-1900/4054/5389600/2 |title=Championnat de France - Club Français (1) contre La Havre AC (1) |trans-title=French Championship - Club Français (1) against La Havre AC (1) |language=fr |website=www.retronews.fr |publisher=Le Journal des sports |page=2 |date=7 May 1900 |accessdate=12 January 2025 |archive-date=13 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241113004921/https://www.retronews.fr/journal/journal-des-sports/7-mai-1900/4054/5389600/2 |url-status=live }}

Like so many other footballers of his time, his career came to an end with marriage, doing so in the 9th arrondissement of Paris on 5 January 1901, to the Belgian Jeanne Charlotte Goulancourt (1873–1941). Following the death of Lucien Canelle in 1905, his son Fernand took over the presidency of the Club Français, which he ran with the help of Bernat until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

On 1 April 1907, the 31-year-old Bernat put on his boots again to serve as the captain of the so-called Vieilles Gloires ("Old Glories"), a team made up of fellow retired players from the 1890s, which included some of his former CF teammates, such as Garnier, René Ressejac-Duparc, and Ernest Weber.{{Cite web |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4623361f/f7.item.r=bernat.zoom |title=Les Vieux Etonians battent les Vieilles Gloires, par 4 buts à 1 |trans-title=Old Etonians beats Old Glories, 4 goals to 1 |language=fr |website=gallica.bnf.fr |publisher=L'Auto |page=7 |date=2 April 1907 |access-date=12 January 2025 |archive-date=12 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250112231321/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4623361f/f7.item.r%3Dbernat.zoom |url-status=live }} They faced the English club Old Etonians, and after conceding three goals in the first half, the captain Bernat made some changes at half-time, which improved the team as the game ended in a 1–4 loss. After the match, the two teams dined together and toasted to each other, while "Miss Goulancourt of the Opera" (the alias of Miss Bernat) made herself heard, and "had it not been for the fear of being indiscreet, the audience would have long requested the favor of hearing the harmonious and graceful voice of Miss Bernat".

A few days later, on 7 April, Bernat attended the final of the 1907 USFSA Football Championship between RC France and RC Roubaix, alongside other former CF players, such as Garnier and Duparc.{{Cite web |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4623368b/f7.image.r=bernat.zoom |title=Autour des balustrades |trans-title=Around the balustrades |language=fr |website=gallica.bnf.fr |publisher=L'Auto |page=7 |date=8 April 1907 |access-date=12 January 2025 |archive-date=12 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250112231321/https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4623368b/f7.image.r%3Dbernat.zoom |url-status=live }}

At some point, Bernat became the director of the {{ill|Stade Buffalo|fr}} in Montrouge, which was inaugurated in 1922 and could accommodate 20,000 spectators for football or rugby union matches.{{Cite web |url=https://surlatouche.fr/rugby-a-xiii-la-guerre-des-terrains-1934/ |title=Rugby à XIII: La guerre des terrains (1934) |trans-title=Rugby League: The War of the Fields (1934) |language=fr |website=surlatouche.fr |date=19 November 2019 |accessdate=11 December 2024 |archive-date=7 November 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241107185518/https://surlatouche.fr/rugby-a-xiii-la-guerre-des-terrains-1934/ |url-status=live }} Following a pioneering tour of England, Bernat filed the statutes of the "French Rugby League XIII" on 6 April 1934 in Paris, and the entity's board was then elected, with François Cadoret being appointed as president, Charles Bernat as secretary general, and Louis Delblat, new director of Stade Buffalo, as treasurer.

On 13 December 1915, Bernat divorced Goulancourt, and a few months later, on 25 May 1916, he married Alice Pauline Georgette Nico at the Saint-Maur-des-Fossés.

Outside football, he was a businessman and accountant. Bernat died in the 13th arrondissement of Paris on 28 December 1948, at the age of 72.

;Club Français

• USFSA Paris Championship:
• Champions (1): 1898–99
• USFSA Football Championship:
• Champions (1): 1896
• Runner-up (1): 1900
• Coupe Manier:
• Champions (1): 1897

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernat, Charles}}

Category:1876 births

Category:1948 deaths

Category:French men's footballers

Category:Footballers from Paris

Category:Club Français players

Category:Men's association football midfielders

Category:20th-century French sportsmen

Category:French businesspeople