They disgraced themselves by smoking at half time

I was given this book as a prize at Bramcote Hills Grammar School for first year work in 1958/9. The entry for France says…
A French team came to London for the Olympic Games in 1908. ‘The French’, wrote a scornful English critic, ‘did not play football, they fiddled’. They had two teams - one was beaten 9-0, the other lost 17-1, and the players further disgraced themselves by smoking at half time.
I didn’t win another prize.