Olympic Rugby petition

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By Harry Kimble, 1 Jun 2009 Harry Kimble is a Roar Pro

Tagged:: International Olympic Committee, International Rugby, Olympics, Olympics rugby, Rugby sevens, Rugby Union

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As the deadline approaches for the vote by the International Olympic Committee about which new sports to include, the worldwide Rugby community is gearing to let them IOC know that Rugby should be one of them.

Several weeks ago a petition was made up and is aimed at getting as many Rugby supporters around the world to add their names to it and for the petition to be presented before the vote to the IOC members.

The English Sevens Rugby team unveiled the petition at the conclusion of the IBB London Sevens last week.

Already South Afric’s Jean de Villiers, Englishman, Lawrence Dallaglio and Argentine, Augustin Pichot have spoken out about being in favour of Rugby’s inclusion in the Olympics.

At the conclusion of the 2008 IRB World Rugby Sevens in Dubai, a 14 minute video was released showing the merits of Rugby for IOC consumption.

Now all Rugby supporters can add their names to the petition by going to the website and adding your name.

Already over 12,000 names are listed and all are urged to contribute to the list. Of the names already on the list, most are not from the traditional Rugby countries but from the emerging nations.

The top 10 in order are Germany, USA, Spain, Brazil, England, Portugal, Poland, Netherlands, South Africa and Georgia.

Your help in adding your name to the petition can only help the emerging Rugby nations whose only hope of fostering the game in their countries is with government assistance and that can only happen if Rugby is an Olympic sport.

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The Crowd Says (75) | Page 1 of Comments

Working Class Rugger said | June 1st 2009 @ 10:31am | Report comment

If Rugby gains access to the Olympic games it would give the development of the game worldwide in both formats a huge boost.

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onside said | June 1st 2009 @ 11:21am | Report comment

I hope rugby does not make the cut. They should also remove baseball and tennis.
What does Rugby bring to the Olympic table.I struggle to think of another team sport
that is so difficult for a newcomer to understand, or more importantly,the rules are
so open to interpretation the winner is decided by the individual whim of the referee.

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Maria said | June 1st 2009 @ 11:31am | Report comment

Rugby should be in the Olympics . The only ones who dont want rugby in the Olympics are the rugby league fans who knows that rugby will get millions of dollars worth of funds to develop the game .
Its only 7′s rugby and it would be one of the highlights of the Olympic games .

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Working Class Rugger said | June 1st 2009 @ 11:38am | Report comment

They have removed Baseball. It’s actually attempting to gain re-entry alongside Rugby. Why shouldn’t it make the cut. Rugby is a great game. The world’s second largest football code. The Seven’s format is quick, skillfull, athletic and most importantly entertaining. Which apart from a few of the current Olympic events is exactly what the games need. It opens up opportunities for smaller nations to compete and has a viable women’s game. And perhaps most importantly in terms of performance enhancing drugs it has a clean image which can’t be said of many of the current and recently removed Olympic events.

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Working Class Rugger said | June 1st 2009 @ 11:46am | Report comment

Good point Maria on the development point. If Rugby gained Olympic status it would open up the opportunity to gain access to the available Olympic funding. Which in turn could be directly applied into the development of the game directly at the grassroot levels. Starting 7′s or even 10′s competition in schools nationwide would drive Rugby into the future.

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onside said | June 1st 2009 @ 4:03pm | Report comment

Maria,
I didnt read it properly and did not realise it is Sevens.That said I am not a fan of Sevens outside of
existing tournaments.Its good fun,fast and entertaining,but its not rugby .I dont get this,”put everthing
into the Olympics” line of thinking.What about par three golf.I am not trying to be silly or a smart Alec,
but you cant have every sport in the Olympics even if some are popular.In terms of individual sports,
,which is where the Olympics began,games like darts and snooker have a greater claim than Rugby.
And hey, I am not anti league or anti any sport.I have been to the HK 7′s a few times and two RWC’s.
Football is the biggest code in the world and I think participants should be limited to maybe under 21 .
Some professeional sports,are too over the top.Hang on , just thought of another one,ten pin bowling.

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Pippinu said | June 1st 2009 @ 4:13pm | Report comment

I would have thought that Rugby 7s was a clear cut candidate for the Olympics – being a format that is well suited to being done and dusted inside 12 days, or whatever it needs to be – not to mention that it’s a great TV product.

If that weren’t enough, it would have as much claim as just about every team sport currently played in the Olympics, and in most cases, even more of a claim.

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MVDave said | June 1st 2009 @ 4:51pm | Report comment

Rugby 7s why not Futsal or 20/20 Cricket or any other cut down version of a game? The Olympics is overcrowded already and with Football already in doesnt need another code of football. Rugby 7s is in the Commonwealth Games and thats where it should stay as it is more relevant there.

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Working Class Rugger said | June 1st 2009 @ 5:10pm | Report comment

How is Rugby 7′s more relevant to the Commonwealth Games than it could be to the Olympics. For the recent 7′s WC in Dubai 88 mens teams and 80 women’s sides competed for 24 spots and 16 spots respectively. The IRB has 116 member unions. And several that are awaiting to qualify for a position. It is a global game. Maybe not to the scale of Football but its still relevant. It sure more internationally paticipated in than Handball and that’s in the Olympics. In fact the only team sports that could claim to have any real significant global reach are Football and Basketball.

Onside

You might not agree with even 7′s in the Olympics but it has a strong case for it. Seven’s has grown rapidly on a annual basis since the World Tour was introduced and has introduced many new players and fans to the game as a whole. Rugby accessing the Olympics for the first time since 1924 would push the growth of the game even further.

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Pippinu said | June 1st 2009 @ 5:12pm | Report comment

Dave
it’s true – the Olympics schedule is overcrowded – with crap.

Introducing rugby 7s would achieve at least two things:
1. instill some much needed credibility to program currently lacking it; and
2. give a half a dozen pacific island nations the chance to participate in the Olympics as equals, and maybe even win a medal (as opposed to the usual culprits lining their pockets with gold with made up events).

For instance, why was the triathlon introduced into the Olympics? For two reasons:
1. to give wealthy Western nations a chance at winning more medals; and
2. to give the illusion to their respective populations that they were actually good at a sport involving running.

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