Rugby union at the 1920 Summer Olympics explained

Event:Men's rugby union
Games:1920 Summer
Venue:Olympic Stadium
Date:September 5
Competitors:33
Nations:2
Longnames:yes
Silver: France
Prev:1908
Next:1924

Rugby union at the 1920 Summer Olympics was played in Antwerp, Belgium. Two nations entered the rugby union event at the 1920 Summer OlympicsFrance and the United States. The French team were thought to be assured of the gold medal and came in as raging favourites in the event. However, the United States team surprised everyone when defeating France by eight points to nil.[1]

Summary

The rugby football Olympic tournament consisted of only one match. It was played between the United States and France. The US squad was made up of American football players from California universities, notably Stanford, California, and Santa Clara. Due to American football becoming an increasingly violent sport, these and other west coast universities chose to instead play rugby union from 1906–1914.[2] [3] [4]

On the other side, the French team was composed of rugby players from four clubs near Paris: Racing Club, Olympique, Club Athlétique des Sports Généraux, and Sporting Club Universitaire.

United States player Rudy Scholz wrote about the match:

After the Olympic competition, the US team toured England and France in 1924, playing three games in England as preparation for the 1924 Olympic competition.[5] [6]

On 19 September, in Lyon, United States defeated a team representing the southeast of France 26–0. The American team also achieved victories against a southern French team (in Toulouse) and a southwest side at Bordeaux. United States was later defeated by France 14–5 in Paris.[7] |referee=}}

Medal summary

Medal table

data-sort-type="number"Rank !Team Matches Points Avg. Tries Avg tries
1 8 8 1 1
1 0 0 0 0

Medalists

Rugby unionvalign=top


Charles Doe
George Fish
James Fitzpatrick
Joseph Hunter
Morris Kirksey
Charles Mehan
John Muldoon
John O'Neil
John Patrick
Erwin Righter
Rudolph Scholz
Dink Templeton
Charles Lee Tilden (capt)
Heaton Wrenn
Harold Von Schmidt
----(did not play the game):
Matthew E. Hazeltine, Sr.
Colby Slater
James Winston
valign=top
Édouard Bader
François Borde
Adolphe Bousquet
Jean Bruneval
Alphonse Castex
André Chilo
René Crabos
Curtet
Alfred Eluère
Jacques Forestier
Grenet
Maurice Labeyrie
Robert Levasseur
Pierre Petiteau
Raoul Thiercelin----(did not play the game):
Raymond Berrurier
none awarded

Notes

Rugby Commissioner and President of the California Rugby Union, Harry Maloney, was Coach and Trainer of the team.

Notes and References

  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20080102230222/http://www.uidaho.edu/clubs/womens_rugby/RugbyRoot/rugby/FAQ/Trivia/olympics.html Rugby in the Olympics
  2. News: Many changes in rugby game . The Evening News (San Jose). September 14, 1906. November 10, 2010.
  3. Book: Elliott, Orrin Leslie . Stanford University – The First Twenty Five Years 1891–1925. 231–233. Stanford University Press. 1937. Stanford, California. November 10, 2010. 9781406771411.
  4. Park. Roberta J. Winter 1984. From Football to Rugby—and Back, 1906–1919: The University of California–Stanford University Response to the "Football Crisis of 1905". dead. Journal of Sport History. 11. 5–40. https://web.archive.org/web/20100807203402/http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/JSH/JSH1984/JSH1103/jsh1103b.pdf. 2010-08-07. 3.
  5. News: Gallagher. Brendan. Olympic spirit was forgotten amid violence and acrimony. The RugbyPaper. 400. 15 May 2016. 32–3.
  6. Web site: CalBear81. 1924 Rugby: A Wild Olympic Rematch. 20 June 2012 . 18 May 2016.
  7. https://web.archive.org/web/20200418011023/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1920/RUG/mens-rugby.html Rugby at the 1920 Antwerpen