And some of the guys here are recorded to hold a silver medal at Paris Olympics in 1900 ! at least four of them (Heinrich Reitz, August Schmierer - who both socred tries in Paris - Fritz Müller and Adolf Stockhausen)
I have already posted about the 1900 Olympics... Coubertin also included a (small) rugby tournament with 3 teams only : a "not really" Equipe de France (I mean, 15 guys from Paris led by Frantz Reichel), the Moseley Wonderers (renamed Wanderers on this occasion...) representing England, and this Frankfurt Football Club representing Germany (if someone can explain how those teams were selected, please drop a comment...).
Only two matches were organized ("France" b "England" 27 -8 and "France" b "Germany" 27 - 17) as the organisation failed to set up a match between "England" and "Germany"... As a result, "France" won the tournament whereas "Germany" ranked second because of a better "goal average".
Here is a press coverage of that game, showing French famous rugger and sportsman Frantz Reichel.
Obviously, none of the foreign player there knew they were participating to so-called "Olympic Games" as the event was "diluted" into the Paris Universal Exhibition... They didn't get any medals either, as medals only appeared four years later in Saint-Louis...
PS : according to my press clippings, a "fortunate innovation" was introduced in France on the occasion of this Olympic tournament : the scoreboard...
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