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Rugby union at the Summer Olympics

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File:Olympics postcard.jpg
A postcard of the rugby event at the 1924 Olympics.

Rugby union has been a men's medal sport four times at the Summer Olympic Games. The sport was first on the Olympic program at the 1900 Paris games. The sport was a fixture at the London games in 1908, Antwerp in 1920, and Paris again in 1924. Shortly after the Paris Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) cancelled rugby union as an Olympic sport.

There have been numerous attempts to bring back rugby union to the Summer Olympics, those most recent attempts being in regards to the inclusion of the Rugby sevens version of the sport. The IOC have thus far not included the sport since it was removed in 1924.

Introduction in 1900 and the 1908 games

The sport was introduced by Pierre de Coubertin, who is famous for reviving the modern Olympics. As well as helping establish rugby in France, he also refereed the first-ever domestic club championship in France in 1892[1] and France’s first International, on New Year’s Day, 1906 at Parc des Princes.[2] Coubertin formed the International Olympic Committee in 1894, and rugby was first featured as an Olympic sport in the II Olympiad.

Three National Olympic Committees entered a rugby team at the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris; they were France, Germany and Great Britain, who were represented by Mosley Wanderers RFC.[2] France won the gold, beating Great Britain 27 points to 8, and then won 27 points to 17 against Germany. No decider was played so Germany was awarded silver and Great Britain received the bronze. 6,000 people watched the game between France and Great Britain, which was the largest crowd at the 1900 games. Rugby union was not played at the 1904 Summer Olympics in St. Louis.

The next time rugby was played at the Olympic Games was at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Again, three National Olympic Committees sent teams; Australasia (representing Australia and New Zealand), France, and Great Britain (which included the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland), though France pulled themselves from the event at a very late stage prior to the commencement of the tournament. The Australasian NOC was represented by the Australia national rugby union team, while Great Britain was represented by the Cornwall county team. Cornwall was chosen by the Rugby Football Union as an appropriate side to represent Great Britain after they defeated Durham in the 1907 county championship. This was a controversial decision, as only three of their 15 players had ever represented England, as well as the fact that Australia, who has been on a tour of the United Kingdom, had defeated Cornwall 18 points to 5.[3] As expected, Australia defeated Great Britain, claiming the gold medal by winning 32 points to 3. The sport did not take place at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, and it is unclear as to whether rugby union was going to be taking part in the cancelled 1916 Summer Olympics in Berlin.

American victory in 1920 and 1924

A campaign to send an American side to the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp started in California after a rugby union Cal-Berkeley tour to British Columbia returned undefeated in 1920.[3] The United States Olympic Commitee gave permission for an All-American side, though they would not provide financial support. Selection of the team was left to the California Rugby Union. Californian officials and players organised fundraising dances and baseball games, and coupled with community donations, the funds were successfully raised. A pool of players from Stanford, Cal-Berkeley and Santa Clara made up the squad.[3] When the side arrived in Antwerp, both Czechoslovakia and Romania had withdrawn their teams, leaving only France and the United States. The United States caused a shock by winning the only match, 8 points to nil to take the gold medal.

Rugby union was again played at the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. The United States Olympic Committee decided to send a rugby team in order to defend its gold medal. Three nations entered: the United States, France, and Romania. It is alleged that the reason that only one other European team entered, Romania, is because other European nations had fears over the behaviour of the French crowds.[4] The American team was again made up of mainly Californian players, some of whom were members of the All-American Stanford University football team. There were seven players who were members of the 1920 gold medal winning team. The squad departed on a seven-day voyage to England on the SS America from New York City.[4]

After arriving in Paris, the squad was shocked to find that they were being denied entry because the French Olympic committee had forgotten to forward their visas. The disgruntled Americans, determined to complete what they came to do, refused to leave. A fight broke out between the Americans and the officials, and the Americans rushed the customs area and broke through.[4] Following a discussion, the team was allowed to stay. This scene set up the side to be a French media target. The French already held considerable animosity towards the team after they were beaten at Antwerp, and used the event to portray the team in a negative light.[5]

The customs incident was the start of a rivalry between the two nations at these particular games. After the Americans protested the appointment of referees in a match, their side lost their practice field privileges, though it is not clear how or why this resulted. The Americans retired to a local park to practice. During one of these informal practices, the Americans were robbed of $4,000 worth of possessions, including cash, despite a French attendant being on standby.[5] Fed up with the training conditions, the Americans marched on Stade Olympique de Colombes, and the team scaled the fence and went on with practice. Vice-captain Charlie Doe later commented, "If they wanted to push us around, then we damn well pushed back."[5]

Despite the setbacks and negative attention from the French, the Americans soundly defeated Romania in front of a crowd of 6,000, which booed their every move and celebrated every Romanian move. In the lead up to the final, it is claimed that the Americans were the recipiant of abuse, such as spitting and insults in the streets.[5] The final match, the gold medal and first medallian match of the games was played in front of 50,000 spectators.[3] The final took place at the Colombes venue on May 18 1924. The United States prevailed over the French, defeating them seventeen points to three, and became the only team to win gold twice in the sport. Acts of violence erupted in the crowd[3], and it is claimed that the crowd's jeers drowned out the medal ceremony. The Americans were subsequently ushered to safety. Surprisingly, the French media went on to portray the Americans as heroes.[3]

Cancellation

The IOC pulled the event from the Summer Olympics, although the rugby event sold more tickets than the track and field events at the 1924 games.[6] Pierre de Coubertin stepped down after 1925, which may have hurt rugby's chances for inclusion as well.[2] In 1928 the IOC officially turned down a request to stage rugby union at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam. It is believed that the IOC wanted to place more of an emphasis on individual sports. In addition, the sport did not receive the full backing of the British entries.[6] Officials also cited the French crowd's behaviour at the 1924 games and the lack of widespread international participation.

Efforts for inclusion

Discussions have taken place on re-instating rugby at the Summer Olympics, either as the full 15-a-side game or as the 7-a-side game. Both the Soviet Union in 1980 and South Korea in 1988 made attempts to have rugby union brought back, South Korea came fairly close to seeing the sport's admission, but eventually fell short.[7] In 1995, the International Rugby Board (IRB) became became an IOC Recognised International Federation. This moment was marked by a ceremonial signing by Juan Antonio Samaranch prior to the commencement of a test match between Wales and South Africa at Cardiff Arms Park.[8]

An attempt was made in 2002 to reignite rugby union at the Summer Olympics. A plan was presented to remove baseball, softball and modern pentathlon, and add rugby sevens and golf. The plan was turned down and no vote was ever taken by the IOC, depite being supported by IOC president Jacques Rogge who is a former Belgium rugby international and regularly attends rugby union games at Twickenham.[9]

Sevens was one of five sports that submitted a proposal to the IOC at a meeting in Singapore for inclusion in the 2012 Olympics. The IBR were confident of being included for the 2012. Emirates threw their support behind rugby sevens' inclusion in 2012, pointing out that their Dubai Sevens competition (in reference to the 2004 event) attracted 50,000 internaional tourists and 152 participantn nations and was the recipiant of the Best Sporting Event in the UAE award.[10] The IOC stated that no sport would be added unless others were dropped.[11] The selection of two sports out of the five nominees as potential 2012 sports went to squash and karate, as determined by a voting proceedure.[12]

Despite dropping baseball and softball as Olympic sports, as well as rugby sevens again having Rogge's support, the IOC did not add any new sports to the 2012 games (squash and karate were not included either as neither sport obtained two thirds majority in the final decesion).[12] The IRB pointed out that, by the IOC's own evaluation, rugby sevens would be amoung the top five in most categories compared to the existing Olympic sports, in terms of broadcast, commercial and ticket sales opportunities.[13]

Games results

Games Gold Silver Bronze
1900 Paris Template:TeamMedalWinner German Empire German Empire (GER) Great Britain Great Britain (GBR)
1908 London Australasia Australasia Great Britain Great Britain (GBR) -
1920 Antwerp Template:TeamMedalWinner Template:TeamMedalWinner -
1924 Paris Template:TeamMedalWinner Template:TeamMedalWinner Template:TeamMedalWinner

Cumulative results

Team Played Won Lost For Against Difference Gold Silver Bronze Total
Vereinigte Staaten Vereinigte Staaten 3 3 0 64 3 61 2 - - 2
Frankreich Frankreich 5 3 2 116 53 63 1 2 - 3
Australasia Australasia 1 1 0 32 3 29 1 - - 1
German Empire German Empire 1 0 1 17 27 -10 - 1 - 1
Great Britain Great Britain 2 0 2 11 59 -48 - 1 1 2
Rumänien Rumänien 2 0 2 3 98 -95 - - 1 1

References

  1. ^ Mortimer, Gavin. "Where les Anglais fear to tread". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 15 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ a b c "Rugby football in the Olympics". uk.geocities.com/moseleyfan. Retrieved 15 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Rugby at the Olympics". rugbyfootballhistory.com. Retrieved 15 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b c "7th International Post Graduate Seminar on Olympic Studies". sport.gov.gr. Retrieved 15 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ a b c d Jenkins, Mark. "An American Victory in Paris". wesclark.com. Retrieved 15 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b "Rugby Union". olympics.com.au. Retrieved 15 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ "Rugby at the 1924 Olympics". wesclark.com. Retrieved 15 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "Rugby & The Olympic Games". irb.com. Retrieved 15 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Mackay, Duncan. "Sevens captains hit back at 'joke' remark". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 9 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ "Emirates Supports IRB Rugby Sevens 2012 Olympic Bid". asiatraveltips.com. Retrieved 9 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "Five up for Games inclusion". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 15 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ a b "Singapore 2005: 2012 Olympic Sport Vote". olympic.org.uk. Retrieved 15 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ "IRB chief angered by Olympics snub". scrum.com. Retrieved 15 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
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