Great news for the rugby community... the IOC voted earlier today (81 for , 9 against) for Rugby to return to the Olympic Games in 2016, almost 100 years after its last appearance in the Paris Olympics in 1924 (video here). The proposed competition will see twelve teams competing in seven-a-side rugby rules - both men and women.
There's a lot to say about this... I'll come back in the next few days on the historical links between rugby and the modern Olympics in the 1890s... I'll come back in the next few days on the French side which lost the 1924 final... but today I'd like to quickly illustrate the roots of 7s rugby...
Back to the 20s/30s in London... Since 1926, Middlesex County RFU has been organising a major charity 7s tournament at Twickenham. Above is the 1933 programme... a tournament won by Quins, who defeated Wasps in the final... (details here and there - other participants were the Exiles, London Scottish, Old Cranleighans, London Welsh, Blackheath, London Irish - winners in 2009 ! - , Old Paulines, Edgware, old Merchant Taylor's and... Rosslyn Park)
As Middlesex 7s explained it here, 7s Rugby was actually born in the Scottish Borders in 1883 (126 years ago !) where Melrose's Ned Haig organized a one-day rugby tournament... to raise money for his club. Teams were reduced to 7, and play time reduced to 15 minutes, to enable a full competition during one afternoon. History records that the first winners in 1883 were Gala RFC... Below are Gala's A.Haig ad D.Sanderson posing with The Ladies Cup - the tournament trophy - (credit to "The Official History of the Melrose Sevens" by Walter Allan)
You could pay a visit to Melrose 7s website to find a more detailed history of 7s Rugby and how this game has spread since them...
PS : I also have the 1934 programme of Middelsex 7s... won by Richmond over Blackheath... and refereed by W.W.Wakefield
Belle affiche! Nice poster! ;-)
Posted by: Christian Dubuis Santini | 09/10/2009 at 19:11
Beau travail Frédéric !
éric etienne.
Posted by: redondo | 09/10/2009 at 19:54
Whaouuu ! Pas certain qu'à L'Equipe ils sachent faire aussi bien, aussi beau. C'est frais, c'est Fred ! La classe ! pas une faute de goût. Ce vert menthe dans le veau nous fait saliver. Attendrons-nous 2016 ? Et d'abord où serons-nous ? A Rio, amigo...
Posted by: comme fou | 09/10/2009 at 21:36
History lightening breaking news... Que du bonheur !
Posted by: Pascalou | 10/10/2009 at 00:13
"si tu ne viens pas à la Comme Fou, c'est la Comme Fou qui viendra à toi"
Heureux de vous nombreux par ici !
@Ritchie 2016 : j'aurai 50 ans à mon tour... mon fils 17... je nous verrai bien à la Caïpirinha sur la plage...
Posted by: Frederic | 10/10/2009 at 00:43
Terrific graphic designs on those two programmes - I particularly like the second one in red. I'd love it as a poster!
I think having 7s as part of the Olympics is a huge breakthrough. For a start, there's state funding for Olympic sports now being made available to rugby across the world. But more intangibly there's just the glamour of winning Olympic gold that rugby will now share in.
One pause for thought though: in 20-30 years time will 7s be a bigger part of the game than 15-a-side?
Posted by: Gaw | 15/10/2009 at 20:33
historical links between rugby and the modern Olympics in the 1890s
we wait this links
Posted by: Hello News | 25/10/2009 at 04:04
salut fred, j'habite en afrique du sud et mon copain est fou des springboks biensur. je voudrais vraiment lui offrir un maillot ou un ballon signé. tu connaitrais pas un super site de Rugby memorabilia ?
merci, camille.
Posted by: camille | 02/11/2009 at 18:56