Golf and Rugby in the Olympic Games

The Game Room
21

Actually its funny that. The US is the current Olympic champion in Rugby. Course it was last played back in the 20s I think and was the 15 a side game.

Being a fan of the 15 man code I find 7s to be a little too open. Give me a few more rolling mauls.

But one of the great things about this is that it gives the likes of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa a great chance to win medals. And hopefully, being Irish, it will increase the exposure of the 7 a side game here as we could do with training up a few more backs who can actually run fast.

22

A bit off topic, but what’s with that? They play some ridiculous playoff system in Which Japan and the US both beat each other, but Japan wins the gold. Double elimination makes way more sense to me.

23

There are 22 players on a full team. There are 15 from each team on the field any one time - plus 7 substitutes.

Half the world is made up of former British colonies. South Asia, China, the Antipodes, half of Africa, most of North America…

It’s “rugby sevens” not “rugby-7”. 7-a-side rugby; it’s the rugby equivalent of Arena Football.

24

That’s roughly true but the big difference is that Arena Football was played on a smaller field whereas sevens is played on the same pitch as fifteens. No size difference.

25

Yeah, but there’s no form of rugby I’m aware of which uses a smaller pitch, so it seemed like the best comparison.

26

I’m interested in seeing how the inclusion of Rugby plays out. America tends not to care about it too much, but could easily become a strong if not dominant team given the glut of juiced up college football players that have no chance of going pro.

27

I think Olympic rugby will probably work the same way as Olympic football (soccer)- professionals are allowed to compete, but there will be a restriction on how many top-flight professionals are allowed to play, to maintain separation between the Olympic tournament and the World Cup.

In soccer the rule is that all players must be 23 or under, except for three exceptions per squad.

There’s zero chance of the US fielding a competitive team under normal rugby rules, and using the full-squad format; the US has won only two matches in the four Rugby World Cups it has competed in.

The US sevens team is really quite good and would certainly be in medal contention, except that the age limit would more or less restrict the team to selecting players with four years’ experience at most, since there are no scholastic rugby programs to speak of here. That would be a huge disadvantage.

28

Ok “Rugby Sevens”, Is it a Men’s sport only? Or are there womens teams as well?

I cannot seeing it get the nod over golf if it is a men-only sport.

29

Womens’ too. There’s a Womens’ Rugby Sevens World Cup.

30

China?

31

The reason for the age restriction in soccer is that it’s exactly the same sport as played in the World Cup and FIFA don’t want that overshadowed.

Sevens is not the same sport (there are slightly different rules as well as having 8 players less per side), so no need for any restriction.

32

Well, not all of it, but lots of it. The European powers basically divvied China up into “spheres of influence” during the 1800s.

Yeah, but sevens has its own World Cup too.

33

Maybe, except that there are no professional sevens players. There may be a pro or two who comes over from fifteens, but it’s not likely. Most players move from sevens to fifteen-a-side rugby (if they move at all).

And I would submit that just by getting into the RWC indicates that the US squad is SOMEWHAT competitive. Of course they’re not going to defeat the likes of the All Blacks, Springboks, etc., but none of the other second and third tier teams do either.

And I would also say that the US sevens side is not that good. I believe they finished out of the top ten in the IRB sevens rankings for last year. They’re about the same level as the fifteens side. I believe finished last year ranked about 15 or 16.

Also, there are quite a few scholastic programs to speak of around the country (US). More and more high school teams are popping up all over the place and the sport is growing in the US. If USA Rugby would get their collective heads out of their asses and raise some decent money, the USA just might be a powerhouse one day.

34

Don’t forget Hong Kong which, coincidentally, hosts the premier rugby sevens tournament.

35

Actually the IRB are gonna scrap the sevens world cup as part of this deal. The thing is guys who sepecialise in sevens in most countries are not the top class 15 a side players at all. I mean I couldnt even tell ya what province half the Irish sevens players play for.

So really the olympics should have no trouble attracting the best sevens talent.

One thing about all this though is the issue of the Great Britain and the Irish reprentations.

The Irish Rugby Football union covers the whole of Ireland, while the Irish olympic team only covers the Republic of Ireland. Considering we’re still sorting out what flag and anthem to use sorting out an Olympic team is going to be a pain.

So what the hell do players from Northern Ireland do?

Also there is no United Kingdom Rugby Union Team*, there are seperate Welsh, Scottish and English Unions and northern Irish players represent Ireland as mentioned above.

  • The British and Irish Lions reperesent Britain and ALL of Ireland. But they are a 15 a side touring team that only assembles once every four years.