Fair Play the Story of Rugby at the Olympics the Rugby and Olympic Values
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Fair Play The Story of Rugby at the Olympics The Rugby and Olympic values Which Rugby and Olympic values are the same or similar? Is Rugby a good fit with the Olympics? Did you know Rugby has been at five Olympics? Rugby at the 1900 Olympics in Paris Three teams competed in the Rugby tournament. A French representative team defeated a team from the German city of Frankfurt and Moseley Wanderers from England. The Moseley team had played a full game of Rugby in England the day before they made the journey to Paris. They arrived in the morning, played the match in the afternoon and were back in their home country by the next morning. The proposed game between the British and German sides was cancelled and both are credited as silver medalists. The Franco-Haitian centre Constantin Henriquez de Zubiera became the first black gold medalist. Three months earlier he had competed in the tug of war. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Summer_Olympics Rugby at the 1908 Olympics in London The host Great Britain was represented by Cornwall, the 1908 county champion. Defending Olympic champions France withdrew, leaving Australasia, represented by the Australia national Rugby union team as the only other remaining entrant. The interest in the Olympic Rugby final was only lukewarm with the final being held in the last week of Games that had taken place over six months. In 1908 Twickenham Stadium was still being built. The match was played at the White City Stadium, London, on an area alongside the Olympic Games swimming pool which measured 110 yards in length with a long line of netting stretched beside to catch flying balls. Large mattresses were spread along the rim of the pool to prevent injuries to falling players. One day was allocated to what was called the Olympic Rugby tournament. The game was rather a damp squib and took place in a thick mid week London fog at a virtually deserted White City. Often a kick for touch saw the ball end up in the pool and it was said that the Australians were more adept at handling the slippery ball. Australia outscored Great Britain six tries to one to win the gold medal with a 32-3 victory. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union_at_the_1908_Summer_Olympics Rugby at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp Two nations entered the Rugby event - France and the United States. The French team were very much thought to be assured of the gold medal and came in as raging favourites in the event. However, the United States team caused a massive shock, defeating France in the only game eight points The USA Rugby Olympic Team, 1920 to nil. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union_at_the_1920_Summer_Olympics Rugby at the 1924 Olympics in Paris During the final between France and the United States at Colombes Stadium, French fans booed and hissed the American team for the remainder of the game after star player Adolphe Jauréguy was flattened by a hard tackle two minutes after the opening whistle, leaving him unconscious with blood pouring down his face and having to be carried off the field on a stretcher. In the second half, French fans threw bottles and rocks onto the field and at American players and officials, wild brawls broke out in the stands, U.S. reserve Gideon Nelson was knocked unconscious after being hit in the face by a walking stick, and French fans invaded the pitch at the final whistle, leaving the French team, aided by the police, to protect the Americans. At the medal ceremony, The Star Spangled Banner was drowned out by the booing and hissing of French fans, and the American team had to be escorted to their locker room under police protection. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union_at_the_1924_Summer_Olympics YouTube (2:05) USA takes gold in Olympic Rugby – USA v France – Paris 1924 Rugby’s exclusion from the Olympics The pitch invasion at the 1924 Paris Olympics had given Rugby a poor image and this, together with the problems of attracting sufficient teams to make it a viable sport and the desire to include more individual and women's events, spelled the death knell for Rugby at the Olympics. Baron Pierre De Coubertin stepped down as head of the Olympic Movement after 1925 and with his departure the sport lost one of its major advocates. In 1928 the IOC turned down a request to stage Rugby at the Amsterdam games. An exhibition tournament was held at the 1936 Berlin Games, with France, Germany, Italy and Romania competing. In what was, to date, the last Rugby match played at the Olympics, France beat Germany in the final 19 to 14. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugby_union_at_the_Summer_Olympics The campaign to return Rugby to the Olympics Watch the video “Rugby Sevens is reaching out” used by the International Rugby Board as part of their bid for Rugby Sevens to be included at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. What messages were included to promote the benefits of Rugby Sevens at the Olympics? Did you recognise any of the Rugby people in the video? Rugby Sevens is reaching out (2:40) Rugby Sevens wins Olympic yes vote in 2009 and begins to grow in popularity Rugby Sevens wins Olympic yes vote (3:20) London 2012 inspires future Rugby Olympians (1:30) Olympic excitement sees athletes switching to Sevens Carlin Isles. Olympic Dream YouTube (2:42) Carlin Isles currently plays Rugby for the United States national sevens rugby team. Isles had been touted as the fastest Rugby player in the world. Before taking up Rugby in 2012, Isles ranked as the 36th fastest sprinter in the United States with a 100 metres outdoor personal best of 10.24 seconds. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlin_Isles Source: http://www.mamamia.com.au/women-in-sport/australia-womens-rugby- sevens/#bO5aq2dPkL2m5YK5.97 Rugby at the 2016 Olympics in Rio Rugby sevens at the 2016 Summer Olympics was held over six days in August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. The 2016 Olympics was the debut for rugby sevens at the Summer Olympics, though rugby union was last played at the 1924 games. In the Men's tournament, pool A consists of Fiji, Argentina, USA and Brazil. Pool B includes South Africa, Australia, France and Spain while pool C consists of New Zealand, Great Britain, Kenya and Japan. Fiji won gold, Great Britain silver and South Africa bronze. In the Women's tournament pool A consists of Australia, USA, Fiji and Colombia. Pool B includes New Zealand, France, Spain and Kenya while pool C consists of Canada, Great Britain, Brazil and Japan. Australia won gold, NZ silver and Canada bronze. Rugby at the Paralympics – Wheelchair Rugby Wheelchair rugby was first contested at the Summer Paralympics as a demonstration sport in 1996. It became an official medal-awarding sport in 2000 and has been competed at every Summer Paralympics since then. Only one event, mixed team, is held. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelchair_rugby_at_the_Summer_Paralympics The Australian Team is known as the 'Steelers'. The 'Steelers' defeated Canada at the 2012 London Games to win its first gold medal. The sport is one of the few contact sports available for London 2012 Wheelchair Rugby (1:19 ) wheelchair sport athletes and was originally known as "Murderball". It was developed in Canada during the 1970s and made its way to Australia in 1981. The sport uses a volleyball for the ball and combines elements of basketball, soccer and ice hockey. The game is played on a basketball sized court. Each team has four players on the court at any one time. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_national_wheelchair_rugby_team Worksheet fun Lower Primary Middle Primary Upper Primary Assessment idea: Lower Primary Create a Rugby Olympic art piece which includes Rugby and Olympic symbols, values and/or messages. Assessment idea: Middle Primary Choose one of the Olympics at which Rugby was played i.e. 1900, 1908, 1920 or 1924. Write a short story about being a spectator at the Rugby final for that Olympics. You could include details about what you saw, heard and felt at the game (e.g. atmosphere, fashion on and off the field, weather, field conditions) as well as historical events of the time, information about the host city, and issues of the day. Assessment idea: Upper Primary Write an essay answering the following question: “How has the Olympics and Rugby changed since 1900?” You could include information about: • Sports included in the Olympic program • The type of Rugby played • Gender equality • Opening ceremonies • Politics • Technology • Audience numbers • Marketing • Fashion.