Félix Julien
{{short description|French footballer (1884–1936)}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = Félix Julien
| image = AS Bon Conseil in 1907.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Julien (squatting, second from right) in 1907
| full_name = Félix Jean-Baptiste Julien
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1884|07|20|df=y}}
| birth_place = 15th arrondissement of Paris, France
| death_date = {{death date and age|1936|10|12|1884|12|07|df=yes}}
| death_place = Lorient, France
| position = Forward
| youthyears1 =
| youthclubs1 =
| years1 = 1905–1910 | clubs1 = AS Bon Conseil | caps1 = | goals1 =
| totalcaps =
| totalgoals =
| nationalyears1 = 1908
| nationalteam1 = France C
| nationalcaps1 = 0
| nationalgoals1 = 0
| nationalyears2 = 1909
| nationalteam2 = France
| nationalcaps2 = 2
| nationalgoals2 = 0
| medaltemplates =
}}
Félix Jean-Baptiste Julien (20 July 1884 – 12 October 1936) was a French footballer who played as a forward for AS Bon Conseil and the French national team in 1909.
Career
Born on 20 July 1884 in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, Julien played his entire football career in the patronage clubs, most notably at the AS Bon Conseil, a club in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, which was one of the many Catholic clubs affiliated with the Gymnastic and Sports Federation of French Patronages (FGSPF), then presided by Charles Simon.{{cite web |url=https://www.chroniquesbleues.fr/Francois-Marie-Barat-Felix-Julien-Louis-Tessier-portraits |title=Les premiers Bleus: François-Marie Barat, Felix Julien et Louis Tessier |trans-title=The first Blues: François-Marie Barat, Felix Julien and Louis Tessier |language=fr |website=www.chroniquesbleues.fr |date=5 January 2024 |access-date=9 May 2025}} In addition to football, he also worked as an assistant secretary of the referees' commission in the early 1906.{{cite web |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k53250907/f3.item.r=julien.zoom |title=Commission des arbitres |trans-title=Arbitration Commission |language=fr |website=gallica.bnf.fr |publisher=Les Jeunes |page=3 |date=20 January 1906 |accessdate=9 May 2025 }} The following year, on 20 January 1907, he played for an FGSPF team made up of the best players from the patronages in a friendly against the English club North London AFC, helping his side to a 4–2 win.{{cite web |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k46232895/f7.item.r=julien.zoom |title=Les Patronages contre North London A.F.C. |trans-title=The Patronages against North London AFC |language=fr |website=gallica.bnf.fr |publisher=L'Auto |page=7 |date=20 January 1907 |access-date=9 May 2025}}
In October 1908, several players from the patronages, including Julien, were selected by the USFSA for the upcoming football tournament of the 1908 Olympic Games, but only as members of the would-be France C squad that was originally listed to compete; none of them traveled to London because the USFSA decided to send only two teams instead of three.{{cite web |url=https://www.rsssf.org/tableso/ol1908f-det.html#sqfrc |title=Football Tournament 1908 Olympiad - Squad Lists |publisher=RSSSF |date=8 September 2024 |accessdate=19 December 2024 }}{{cite web |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k53252119/f3.image.r=julien.zoom |title=Football Association - Les Jeux Olympiques |trans-title=Football Association - The Olympic Games |language=fr |website=gallica.bnf.fr |publisher=Les Jeunes |page=3 |date=19 September 1908 |accessdate=9 May 2025 }}
Despite being one of the best players from the patronages around 1906–08, he was not called up for the French national team because the coach of the time, the northerner André Billy of USFSA, preferred players from the Nord. When the USFSA was replaced by Simon's CFI, however, he was immediately called up for the first two matches of the CFI reign, both in May 1909, in friendlies against Belgium in Brussels and England amateurs in Gentilly, losing on both occasions.{{cite web |url=https://eu-football.info/_player.php?id=9914 |title=Félix Julien, international footballer |website=eu-football.info |accessdate=9 May 2025}} After the latter match, the French newspaper L'Auto (the forerunner of L'Équipe) stated that he was "not a good dribbler".{{cite web |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k4624149m/f5.image.r=julien.zoom |title=L'Angleterre (F.A) bat la France (C.F.I.) par 11 buts à 0 |trans-title=England (F.A) beat France (C.F.I.) by 11 goals to 0 |language=fr |website=gallica.bnf.fr |publisher=L'Auto |page=5 |date=23 May 1909 |access-date=9 May 2025}} He remains one of only three players of Bon Conseil to have represented the French national team, the other two being François Barat and goalkeeper Louis Tessier.{{cite web |url=https://eu-football.info/_club.php?id=646 |title=AS Bon Conseil, Paris, football club |website=eu-football.info |accessdate=9 May 2025}}
Later life and death
On 8 April 1913, Julien, an architect by profession, married Jeanne Mercier in the Saint-Louis church in Lorient. Mobilized at the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, he was serving in the 70th Infantry when he was wounded by a bullet in the chest on 20 November 1914. In 1921, the 37-year-old Julien played a veterans' match.
Julien stayed linked to the Army until June 1936, when he was discharged from the reserve roster due to an intestinal problem, which most likely served as the cause of his death in Lorient on 12 October 1936, at the age of 52.{{efn|Some sources have erroneously confused him with another Félix Julien, who was also born in 1884, but on 7 December, in the Paris commune of Corbeil-Essonnes. He belonged to the 69th line regiment, being seriously wounded in January 1915, also by a bullet in the chest, and later dying in Clermont-en-Argonne on 1 March 1915.}}
Notes
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References
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External links
- [https://www.fff.fr/equipe-nationale/joueur/7217-julien-felix/fiche.html Félix Julien] at French Football Federation
- {{NFT|pid=51824}}
- {{Worldfootball.net|felix-julien}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Julien, Felix}}
Category:Footballers from Paris
Category:French men's footballers
Category:France men's international footballers
Category:Men's association football forwards
Category:20th-century French sportsmen