| Men's rugby union at the Games of the IV Olympiad | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||
| Venue | White City Stadium | ||||||
| Date | 26 October | ||||||
| Competitors | 30 from 2 nations | ||||||
| Medalists | |||||||
| |||||||
Rugby union at the 1908 Summer Olympics. The event was summarised under the"Football" heading along withassociation football. The hostGreat Britain was represented byCornwall, the1908 county champion. Defending Olympic championsFrance withdrew, leavingAustralasia,[1] (represented in rugby by theAustralia national team exclusively) as the only other remaining entrant.[2]
The visiting team competed in the London Olympics in conjunction with the inauguralAustraliatour of the United Kingdom of 1908-09, in which they would ultimately go 25-5-1 (win, draw, lose) in their 31 matches. The Australian team entered the rugby tournament and were the only other team alongside Cornwall (who were representing Great Britain).
Australia had already beaten Cornwall, the Englishcounty champions early in the tour – an 18–5 defeat of Cornwall in their third tour match atCamborne RFC on 3 October 1908.[3] BothScotland andIreland had declined theRugby Football Union's invitations to participate in the Olympic competition, whileFrance withdrew, leaving just the Australian and Great Britain to play for gold and silver medals.
The interest in the Olympic rugby final was only lukewarm, with the final being held in the last week of the Games, that had taken place over six months.[4]
In 1908Twickenham Stadium was still being built: the match was played at theWhite City Stadium,London, on an area alongside the Olympic Games swimming pool, which measured 110 yards in length with a long line of netting stretched beside to catch flying balls. Large mattresses were spread along the rim of the pool to prevent injuries to falling players.[5] One day was allocated to the Olympic rugby tournament, with the game taking place in a thick mid-week London fog at a virtually deserted White City in wet conditions. Often, a kick for touch saw the ball end up in the pool, and it was said that the Australians were more adept at handling the slippery ball.[6]
Penzance RFC and England international wingerBarrie Bennetts had to withdraw with an injury in the morning and was replaced by Barney Solomon – the elder brother of the much more famous Bert. Cornwall had five current or future England players – captainJohn Jackett of Falmouth at full back, Bert Solomon at centre, England andBritish Lions fly-half John "Maffer" Davey at fly half who partnered St Ives and England scrum half, Tommy Wedge. The pack whichscrummaged on a first up/first down principle in those days included another England man A J Wilson who was a student atCamborne School of Mines.
Australia outscored Great Britain six tries to one to win the gold medal by 32-3.[7] Silver was awarded to Cornwall and no bronze was awarded. The Cornish silver olympic medal was 'drawn for' by the players and won by Thomas 'Chicky' Wedge and it has been on display at theSt Ives RFC clubhouse ever since. After the match, theCornish players were 'entertained to dinner' by the Cornish Members of Parliament.[3]
Zavos quotes a contemporary newspaper account by Major Trevor inThe Daily Telegraph on 27 October 1908,"It will be remembered that less than a month ago there was a match played between Australia and Cornwall atCamborne and although the Australians also won on that occasion, the beaten side then played on the whole, a very good game. Yesterday the champion England county was practically at full strength, but from start to finish they were outplayed. The methods by which this victory was gained were even more creditable to the winners than the completeness of the victory itself and it is only fair to the Australians to speak of their play in terms of unqualified praise. The ground was very slippery and very heavy and as a result of several hours of continuous rain the ball was very greasy. The excellence of the play of the Australian backs therefore surprised the spectators. They gave a display of football which would have done credit to a Welsh international side, at its best. They scored eight tries and so good was the play leading up to each of them that it would be hard to say which was the best."[8]
| Team details | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
| Rank | Team |
|---|---|
 |  Australasia |
 |  Great Britain |
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Back | John Jackett |
| Three-quarter-backs | Barney Solomon |
| Bert Solomon | |
| Frederick Dean | |
| Jimmy Jose | |
| Halfbacks | Thomas Wedge |
| Maffer Davey | |
| Forwards | Richard Jackett |
| E. J. Jones | |
| Arthur Wilson | |
| Nicholas Tregurtha | |
| A. Lawrey | |
| Charlie Marshall | |
| A. Wilcocks | |
| John Trevaskis |
As part of the centenary celebrations, theBritish Olympic Association arranged a match betweenAustralia and theBarbarians which was held atWembley Stadium on 3 December 2008. The Barbarian players, who normally wear their club socks, all wore gold and black socks to represent Cornwall, in a game which Australia won 11-8.[9]
