Jean BATMALE

Born in the South of France, in Pau, Jean Batmale was an excellent footballer, who had spells with Levallois, le Club Français, Clichy and Red Star (with whom he would win the French Cup in 1922.) He was called up as a reinforcement by Stade Rennais Université Club in 1922, where he would demonstrate his qualities, notably his speed and ability to read the game, as a midfielder. Batmale was awarded six caps by the French national team over four seasons, playing notably in the Olympic Games in Antwerp in 1920, and in Paris in 1924. After suffering a knee injury, he left Stade Rennais in 1925 to become Player-Manager with Alès, and then Nice. But as a lover of Brittany, he would return in 1936 to Rennes to take over from Pepi Schneider as Head Coach (alongside Walter Kaiser in his first season.) He would go on to spend nine seasons in Rennes (with a brief interlude of one year with TA Rennes for the 1941/1942 season), even putting his boots back on, as he did in the 1943/1944 campaign, at the tender age of 48! He would go on to manage several clubs in France thereafter, including Roubaix, Toulouse and Monaco, as well as the amateur side, Noeux-Les-Mines, where he would discover a certain Raymond Kopa. Subsequently, he would go back the Rennes area, taking charge of TA Rennes, and then the Cadets de Bretagne, between 1951 and 1955. He then returned to Stade Rennais once more to take charge of the training for the Amateurs and the Youth Teams for eight years. His career in football ended at Drapeau de Fougères as Sporting Director. Based in Rennes permanently, he would pass away aged 77 years.