Rugby union at the 1920 Summer Olympics

Men's rugby union
at the Games of the VII Olympiad
VenueOlympic Stadium
DateSeptember 5
Competitors33 from 2 nations
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s)  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) France France

Rugby union at the 1920 Summer Olympics was played in Antwerp, Belgium. Two nations entered the rugby union event at the 1920 Summer Olympics — France and the United States. The French team were thought to be assured of the gold medal and came in as 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 three California universities, 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, CASG, and SCUF. This team is put together at the last minute with only 4 real international players, following the unexpected arrival of the American team and the withdrawal of other expected competitors Czechoslovakia and Romania.[5][6] The British nations has announced long before the tournament that they wouldn't take part, the September schedule being too early for their teams to be competitive.[7]

United States player Rudy Scholz wrote about the match:

It started at 5 PM, (time here for all big matches) and there was a crowd of about 20,000 present, despite the fact it was raining. At a council of war we decided that because the ground was wet and slippery and the ball likewise, we would make it a forward game. The French tried a backfield game, and they lost although they were fast. The slippery ball and field proved their undoing...[8]

Post-Olympic tour of France

After the Olympic competition, a tour of France is organized for Les Californiens by the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA). This tour includes 4 matches, the last one being a test match against France.[6]

On 19 September, in Lyon, United States defeated a team representing the southeast of France 26–0. The American team also achieved a 11-3 victory against Stade Toulousain in Toulouse on 26 September in front of a 15,000 crowd[9] and a 6-3 victory against a southwest side at Bordeaux.[6]

The Anvers rematch is played on 11 October at Stade de Colombes near Paris. United States is defeated by France 14–5, with 4 tries by Eugène Billac, François Borde, Raoul Got et Adolphe Jauréguy, against one by Harold von Schmidt.[8][10]

The US team again toured England and France in 1924, playing three games in England as preparation for the 1924 Olympic competition.[11][12]

Match details

United States 8–0France France XV
Try: Hunter
Con: Templeton
Pen: Templeton		Report
Olympic Stadium, Antwerp
Attendance: 55,000[13]

Medal summary

Medal table

Rank Team Matches Points Avg. Tries Avg tries
1st place, gold medalist(s)  United States 1 8 8 1 1
2nd place, silver medalist(s) France France XV 1 0 0 0 0
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
(none awarded)

Medalists

Above: United States, gold medal; below, France, which lost 8–0
Event Gold Silver Bronze
Rugby union  United States

Trainer/Selector: Harry Maloney
Player/Coach: Daniel Carroll
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

 France

Édouard Bader
François Borde
Adolphe Bousquet
Jean Bruneval
Alphonse Castex
André Chilo
René Crabos
Sélim Curtet
Alfred Eluère
Jacques Forestier
Armand 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. He is also known for introducing and coaching rugby and soccer at Stanford University for many years.

  • James Fitzpatrick, Matthew E. Hazeltine, Sr., and Harold Von Schmidt are missing in the IOC medal database but they did compete in the match. They are also visible on the team picture.
  • James Winston is listed in the IOC medal database but he did not participate.
  • Bill Muldoon and George Davis were also squad members of the American team but did not compete (and are not listed in the IOC medal database).
  • Raymond Berrurier is listed in the IOC medal database but he did not participate.
  • Constant Lamaignière, Eugène Soulié, and Robert Thierry were squad members for the French team but they did not play (and were not listed in the IOC medal database).
  • Morris Kirksey also won gold for the United States in the 4x100 metre relay at these games.

References

  1. ^ Rugby in the Olympics on University of Idaho website
  2. ^ "Many changes in rugby game". The Evening News (San Jose). September 14, 1906. Retrieved November 10, 2010.
  3. ^ Elliott, Orrin Leslie (1937). Stanford University – The First Twenty Five Years 1891–1925. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp. 231–233. ISBN 9781406771411. Retrieved November 10, 2010. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  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"" (PDF). Journal of Sport History. 11 (3): 5–40. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-08-07.
  5. ^ Trueman, Nigel. "1920 Antwerp Olympics". rugbyfootballhistory.com. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  6. ^ a b c Escot, Richard [in French]; Rivière, Jacques (2010-11-17). Un siècle de rugby [A Century of Rugby] (in French) (13th ed.). Calmann-Lévy. pp. 58–59. ISBN 978-2-7021-4118-2.
  7. ^ "Rugby in the Olympics: History". irb.com. IRB. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  8. ^ a b Rugby at the 1920 Antwerpen on Sports Reference
  9. ^ "30 septembre 1920". Le Miroir des sports. 1920-09-30. p. 206.
  10. ^ "France (6) 14 - 5 (5) United States of America". espnscrum.com. ESPN. Retrieved 2012-05-10.
  11. ^ Gallagher, Brendan (15 May 2016). "Olympic spirit was forgotten amid violence and acrimony". The RugbyPaper. No. 400. pp. 32–3.
  12. ^ CalBear81 (20 June 2012). "1924 Rugby: A Wild Olympic Rematch". Retrieved 18 May 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ "OLYMPICS - Antwerp, 5 September 1920, 17:00 local, 16:00 GMT". espnscrum. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
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