# Why isn't Rugby in the Olympics?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-rugby-in-the-olympics/32456>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 8, 2000, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-rugby-in-the-olympics/32456 "2000-09-08T04:05:18Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-rugby-in-the-olympics/32456/21 "2000-09-08T21:36:12Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by TomH \*  
> \*\*Cricket was included in the schedule for the 1896 Olympics, but nobody entered. In 1900, only Britain and France entered, after which it was dropped from the games.
> 
> Britain won by 158 runs. \*\*

IIRC Britain (well, England) didn’t even try too hard, deciding to enter a Devon County Wanderers side. I think the modern equivalent would be if the US sent a local community college basketball team instead of the Dream Team.

Leading on from this question: What were the standards of the Olympic rugby sides in 1920 and 1924? Anywhere near a representative national side?

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**Author:** ![Lance\_Turbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lance_turbo/32/6156_2.png) [@Lance\_Turbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lance_Turbo)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-rugby-in-the-olympics/32456/22 "2000-09-08T21:59:14Z")

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I took part in a poll recently about which sport should be made an Olympic sport. (The poll was on the Washington Post web page IIRC, so I don’t think it has a whole lot of merit.) Anywho, rugby finished second to Ultimate Frisbee in the poll. Of course, the only thing that brought the poll to my attention was a chain e-mail that was making its rounds through the electronically linked Ultimate community. This may have skewed the poll a bit.

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**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\
**Post date:** [September 8, 2000, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-rugby-in-the-olympics/32456/23 "2000-09-08T22:02:18Z")

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There were only three teams that competed in the 1924 Rugby competition: USA, France, and Romania.  
France beat Romania 59-3. USA beat Romania 39-0.  
(Although I have seen other scores.) The US beat France 17-3 (or thereabouts) for the gold medal.

The US team came from Stanford, according to this article.

[http://www.geocities.com/Pipeline/Curb/2471/1924\_olympics\_2.html](http://www.geocities.com/Pipeline/Curb/2471/1924_olympics_2.html)

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**Author:** ![Kipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kipper)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-rugby-in-the-olympics/32456/24 "2000-10-06T07:02:14Z")

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A proposal has just been presenteted to the IOC by the International Rugby Board for Rugby’s inclusion in the 2008 Olympics. This was reported as being “recived well”.

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**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\
**Post date:** [October 6, 2000, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-isnt-rugby-in-the-olympics/32456/25 "2000-10-06T13:00:36Z")

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Woo Hoo! I guess I’d better quit smoking and start running if I want a shot at the team.

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