René Bonnet (footballer)
{{short description|French footballer}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name = René Bonnet
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| fullname =
| birth_date = 1880
| birth_place = France
| death_date = Unknown
| death_place =
| height =
| position = Defender
| youthyears1 =
| youthclubs1 =
| years1 = 1913–1914 | clubs1 = AS Française | caps1 = | goals1 =
| nationalteam1 = Northern France
| nationalyears1 = 1913
| nationalcaps1 = +1
| nationalgoals1 = 0
| nationalteam2 = France
| nationalyears2 = 1914
| nationalcaps2 = 1
| nationalgoals2 = 0
}}
René Bonnet was a French footballer who played as a defender for AS Française and the French national team in 1913–14.
Biography
Very little is known about his life; Bonnet was playing football for AS Française in 1913, when the USFSA selected him to play for the so-called Lions des Flandres, a regional scratch team representing Northern France, in a friendly match against the English Wanderers on 1 November; he scored an own goal in an eventual 1–4 loss.{{cite web |url=http://footnostalgie.free.fr/championnat/lfa13-14.pdf |title=1913–14 Saison de football |trans-title=1913–14 football season |language=fr |website=footnostalgie.free.fr |page=42 |access-date=7 January 2025 }}
Three months later, on 8 February 1914, Bonnet earned his first (and only) international cap for France in an away friendly against Luxembourg, playing the full 90 minutes both as a defender and as a captain as France suffered a 5–4 loss.{{cite web |url=https://eu-football.info/_player.php?id=2277 |title=René Bonnet, international footballer |website=eu-football.info |access-date=7 January 2025 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.fff.fr/equipe-nationale/joueur/7624-bonnet-rene/fiche.html |title=René Bonnet |language=fr |website=www.fff.fr |access-date=7 January 2025}}{{cite web |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k46259755/f1.image.r=bonnet.zoom |title=Le Luxembourg bat la France |trans-title=Luxembourg beats France |language=fr |website=gallica.bnf.fr |publisher=L'Auto |page=1 |date=9 February 1914 |access-date=7 January 2025}} His date of birth is unknown, but the most frequently cited year is 1880,{{cite web |url=https://www.worldfootball.net/player_summary/rene-bonnet/ |title=René Bonnet |website=www.worldfootball.net |access-date=7 January 2025 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.chroniquesbleues.fr/Chronologie-des-veterans |title=Chronologie des vétérans de l’équipe de France |trans-title=Chronology of the veterans of the French team |language=fr |website=www.chroniquesbleues.fr |date=17 July 2024 |access-date=7 January 2025 }} which means that he would have been 33 or 34 years old during his only international match, which seems quite improbable given that 30-year-old players were extremely rare in the French team before the First World War. If true, he was the first 30-year-old player in the history of the Bleus, and held the record for the oldest player in the French national team for over 14 years until May 1928, when Juste Brouzes played his last match for France at the age of 34 years and 132 days.
Two weeks after his international debut, on 22 February, Bonnet helped AS Française claim the 1913–14 USFSA Paris championship.{{cite web |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k46259896/f5.item.r=bonnet%20desaulty.zoom |title=La AS Française est champion de Paris de l'U.S.F.S.A. |trans-title=The ASF is the Paris champion of the USFSA |language=fr |website=gallica.bnf.fr |publisher=L'Auto |page=5 |date=23 February 1914 |access-date=7 February 2025 }}
Honours
- USFSA Paris Championship:
- Champions (1): 1913–14
References
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