Jump to content

Rugby union at the Summer Olympics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Rlevse (talk | contribs) at 02:09, 14 July 2006 (→‎Efforts for inclusion: same thing). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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

Rugby union has in the past been a men's medal sport at the modern Summer Olympic Games, being played at four of the first seven competitions. The sport was first part of the Olympic program at the 1900 Paris games. It subsequently featured at the London games in 1908, the Antwerp games in 1920 and the Paris games in 1924. Shortly after the 1924 games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) cancelled rugby union as an Olympic sport.

There have been numerous attempts to bring the sport back to the Olympic programme. The most recent have been for the inclusion of the sevens version of the sport, which is played at similar competitions such as the Commonwealth Games. The IOC however, have thus far not re-instated any form of rugby union.

Introduction in 1900 and the 1908 games

The sport was introduced by Pierre de Coubertin, who is famous for reviving the modern Olympics. He also helped to establish rugby in France, his most notable achievements were refereeing the first domestic French club championship in 1892 and France’s first international, on New Year’s Day, 1906 at Parc des Princes.[1][2] Coubertin formed the IOC in 1894, but rugby union would not be featured until the II Olympiad.

1900

Three National Olympic Committees (NOC) entered a team at the 1900 games, they were; France, Germany and Great Britain. The German and British teams were not national teams in the current sense of the word, but represented by clubs. Mosley Wanderers RFC played for Britain, while the Frankfurt Club represented Germany.[2] Rules were also different from today's, with 3 points for both tries and penalties, 2 points for a conversion and 4 for a drop goal.

France won the gold, beating Great Britain 27 points to eight and defeating Germany 27 points to 17. The final round robin match, between Germany and Britain was never played, as the teams were unable to stay in Paris until the scheduled match date. Some sources list the German team as second, because of the points difference, but no such determination was made in 1900.[3] 6,000 people watched the game between France and Great Britain, which was the largest crowd at the games.[4] Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera, a player on the French team, is the first known coloured athlete to compete in the Olympic Games.

1908

Rugby union was not played at the 1904 games in St. Louis, nor at the 1906 interim Games, but was included in 1908, when the Olympics were held in the sport's native country. The Rugby Football Union (RFU) was involved in the organization of the sport at the Olympics.

Like the 1900 games, three teams entered; 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 prior to the commencement of the tournament, being unable to field a representative team. Australasia's team, the Wallabies, was already on tour in Britain, while the best Anglo-Welsh players were on tour in New Zealand at the time.[4] Great Britain was therefore represented by the Cornwall county team, who were chosen by the RFU as an appropriate side after they defeated Durham in the 1907 English county championship. The choice of Cornwall was controversial, as only three of their players had ever represented England, as well as the fact that Australia, who had been on a tour of the United Kingdom, had defeated them 18 points to five.[5]

As expected, Australasia defeated Great Britain, claiming the gold medal, the score being 32 points to three. The match at the White City Stadium was played under poor conditions, in fog and with a slippery field.[6]

Two of the Australian team members would later win another Olympic gold medal: Danny Carroll would win another rugby gold with the United States in 1920, while Syd Middleton would win a gold medal in rowing at the 1912 Games, where rugby was not on the programme. The sport also failed on the provisional schedule of the 1916 Summer Olympics, which were cancelled due to World War I.

USA victory in 1920 and 1924

1920

A campaign to send an American side to the 1920 games in Antwerp started in California after a rugby union Cal-Berkeley touring party returned from British Columbia undefeated in 1920.[5] The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) granted permission for entry, though they did not provide financial support. Selection of the team was left to the California Rugby Union. Officials and players organised fundraising dances and baseball games, successfully raising enough money with the help of community donations. A pool of players from Stanford, Cal-Berkeley and Santa Clara made up the squad.[5] 1908 champion Danny Carroll, a player-coach at Stanford at the time, was the team's most prominent member.

When the U.S. arrived in Antwerp, the Czechoslovakian and Romanian teams had withdrawn, leaving only France and the United States. The British RFU had decided not to enter a team as no to interfere with the start of their domestic season.[7]

The only match was played in rain before some 20,000 spectators. The U.S., featuring many players new to the sport of rugby, caused a shock by winning the only match eight points to zero, all points being scored in the second half. One of the U.S. team members, Morris Kirksey, took home two more medals medal from Antwerp, finishing second to Charles Paddock in the 100 m dash, and anchoring the winning the 4 × 100 m relay team.

1924

The sport was again included in the subsequent 1924 games in Paris. The USOC decided to send a team in order to defend their gold medal. Along with the U.S. and the host nation, Romania entered. It is alleged that the reason only one other European team entered is because others had fears over the behaviour of the French crowds.[8] The American team was again made up of mainly Californian players, seven of whom were members of the 1920 team. The U.S. squad departed on a seven-day voyage to England on an ocean liner from New York City.[8]

When the U.S. team arrived in Paris, the squad were 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 stay and compete, refused to leave. A fight broke out between them and officials, and the Americans rushed the customs area and broke through.[8] Following a discussion, the team was allowed to stay. The event set up the American 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.[9]

Controversy continued when it became known that the American side had no field practice privileges, forcing the squad to use 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.[9] The Americans would later march to Stade Olympique de Colombes and scale the fence to practice on regular grounds. Vice-captain Charlie Doe later commented, "If they wanted to push us around, then we damn well pushed back."[9] Further conflict arose when the French told the Americans that they could not film their match against Romania, as a French company had exclusive media rights. They were eventually allowed to film the game for historical and educational purposes.[9]

The U.S. soundly defeated Romania 37 to 0 in front of a crowd of 6,000, which booed their every move and cheered the Romanians. France defeated Romania 61 to 3. In the lead up to the final match of the round robin tournament between France and the US, it is claimed that the Americans were the recipients of abuse, such as insults and being spat at.[9] Citing a conflict of interest, the Americans disputed the appointment of the referee for the final, resulting in a Welshman being chosen instead.[10] France entered the game as 20-1 favourites.[11] The gold medal game was played in front of 21,000 spectators at the Colombes venue which had a large wire fence built around the field for the game on May 18.[12][5] [13] The U.S. defeated France 17 to 3, becoming the only team to win gold twice in the sport. Acts of violence erupted in the crowd and the few American spectators were set upon.[5] The crowd's jeers drowned out the medal ceremony and the Americans were subsequently ushered to safety.[13] Despite the infamous events, the French media went on to portray the U.S. players as heroes.[5]

Cancellation

The IOC removed the sport following the Paris Games. Pierre de Coubertin stepped down after 1925, which may have also hurt the sport's chances for inclusion.[2] In 1928 the IOC officially turned down a request to stage rugby union at the games in Amsterdam. It is believed that the IOC wanted to place more of an emphasis on individual sport, another problem was that the sport did not receive the full backing of the British entries.[14] Apart from Britain, rugby had only attracted a very small number of competing nations, three being the highest number in 1924. Officials also cited the French crowd's behaviour at the 1924 games and the lack of widespread international participation.

At the 1936 Games in Berlin, there was an exhibition tournament held, with France, Germany, Italy and Romania competing. The French team beat Germany in the final 19 to 14.[7][15]

In 1976, 22 African countries and Guyana boycotted the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, after their demand to have New Zealand excluded was not met. A New Zealand rugby team had toured South Africa, which had been banned from the Olympics since 1964 because of its apartheid politics. Rugby union not being an Olympic sport, the IOC declined to exclude New Zealand.

Efforts for inclusion

Italy in 1960 the Soviet Union in 1980 and South Korea in 1988 made requests to have rugby union brought back.[16] The 1980 request did not pass, and although the 1988 games came close to seeing the sport's admission which was backed by the International Rugby Football Board (now, International Rugby Board, IRB), the request fell short.[2][17][10] In 1995, the IRB 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.[18]

In 2002, a plan was presented to induct rugby sevens, golf and the Chinese martial art of wushu, which would see the removal of baseball, softball and modern pentathlon.[17] 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.[19]

Sevens was one of five sports that submitted a proposal to the IOC at a meeting in Singapore for inclusion in the 2012 games. Emirates threw their support behind rugby sevens' inclusion, pointing out that their Dubai Sevens competition (in reference to the 2004 event) attracted 50,000 internaional tourists and 152 participant nations and was the recipient of the Best Sporting Event in the UAE award.[20] The IOC stated that no sport would be added unless others were dropped.[21] The IRB were confident of being included this time, however, the selection of two sports out of the five nominees as potential 2012 sports went to squash and karate, as determined by a voting procedure.[22]

Despite dropping baseball and softball as Olympic sports, the IOC did not add any new sports (squash and karate were not included either as neither sport obtained two thirds majority in the final decesion).[22] The IRB pointed out that, by the IOC's own evaluation, rugby sevens would be among the top five in most categories compared to the existing Olympic sports, in terms of broadcast, commercial and ticket sales opportunities.[23]

Games results

Games Gold Silver Bronze
1900 Paris Template:TeamMedalWinner Deutschland Deutschland (GER)
Great Britain Great Britain (GBR) 		(N/A)
1908 London Australasia Australasia Great Britain Great Britain (GBR) (N/A)
1920 Antwerp Template:TeamMedalWinner Template:TeamMedalWinner (N/A)
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
Great Britain Great Britain 2 0 2 11 59 - 48 - 2 - 2
Deutschland Deutschland 1 0 1 17 27 - 10 - 1 - 1
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 d "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. ^ Bill Mallon (1998). The 1900 Olympic Games - Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. McFarland. ISBN 0786403780.
  4. ^ a b "A short but eventful Olympic Rugby history". sportnetwork.net. Retrieved 21 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ 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)
  6. ^ Bill Mallon and Ian Buchanan (2000). The 1908 Olympic Games - Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. McFarland. ISBN 0786405988.
  7. ^ a b Buchanan, Ian. "Rugby Football at the Olympic Games". Journal of Olympic History. 5 (1): 12–14.
  8. ^ 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)
  9. ^ a b c d e 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) Cite error: The named reference "victory" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  10. ^ a b "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)
  11. ^ "Olympic Club Rugby – A Legacy of Excellence". ocrugby.com. Retrieved 21 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ Comité Olympique Français (1924). Les Jeux de la VIIIe Olympiade Paris 1924, Rapport Officiel. Paris: Librairie De France. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  13. ^ a b Coppo, Richard. "The History of Rugby in the Olympic Games". rugbymag.com. Retrieved 21 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ "Rugby Union". olympics.com.au. Retrieved 15 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  15. ^ Laget, Serge. "Rugby: Olympic tackles and scrums". Olympic Review. 1991 (288/289): 510–513.
  16. ^ "The Game of Rugby in Rome?". Bulletin du Comité International Olympique. 1956 (55): 55–56.
  17. ^ a b "RUGBY SEVENS READY TO OFFER WORLD CUP TO OLYMPICS". rugby.com.au. Retrieved 25 May. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ "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)
  19. ^ 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)
  20. ^ "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)
  21. ^ "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)
  22. ^ 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)
  23. ^ "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)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rugby_union_at_the_Summer_Olympics&oldid=63710444"