Rugby Union Enters the Scrum for Olympic Status

When International Olympic Committee delegates gather in Lausanne in October to decide whether to include up to two new sports in the 2016 Games, their meeting will be held close to where a statue of the organization's founder, Pierre de Coubertin, stands. It is his spirit that rugby union executives will be invoking as they press for the sport's inclusion in the Olympics for the first time since 1924.

De Coubertin was then in his final year of the IOC's presidency. He had been responsible for rugby's inclusion in the 1900 Olympics having introduced the game in France after visiting a number of schools in Britain, including Rugby. He refereed the first French league final in 1892 and France's first international in 1906.

Rugby union proved more popular with spectators than participants with no more than three teams taking part in any of the four Olympics the sport was a part of. The 1924 final, which saw the United States defeat the hosts, France, was marred by a pitch invasion at the end with police having to protect the visitors and provide security at the medal ceremony.

Numerous attempts have been made in the last 85 years to get union restored as an Olympic sport but ever since the game went open in 1995, the campaign has been more concerted. The International Rugby Board knows that Olympic status would open doors for several emerging nations, not just in terms of finance but in getting rugby on school curricula.

Rugby union is one of seven sports looking to secure Olympic status in 2016: golf, karate, squash, roller-sports, baseball and softball are the others, the latter two having had their membership suspended. The IOC's executive board meets in Berlin on Thursday to decide which, if any, to recommend to the meeting of the full committee in October.

"It is a big day for us," said Mike Miller, the IRB chief executive. "Olympic status would have a profound effect on rugby. Countries of high population, such as the United States, China, India, Brazil and Russia, would benefit particularly but the impact would be felt throughout the game. There is only so much we can do as a governing body: for example, only Olympic sports make the school curriculum in Russia.

"Rugby being included in the Pan American Games has made a difference to the United States and what we have been at pains to emphasize is that we are very much a global sport. We invited IOC delegates to the Rugby World Sevens in Dubai last March and three of the big hitters in the men's event were knocked out in the quarter-finals while in the women's Brazil and China made an impact."

Whereas in 1924 rugby was represented by the 15-a-side game, the IRB sees Sevens as more suitable for the modern, television era, both because of its greater simplicity and the shorter duration of the matches. A women's tournament would be played alongside the men's. The board has pledged to end the World Sevens, a tournament held every four years, and make the Olympics the showpiece event of the smaller form of the game.

"There is a perception of rugby being played mainly in eight countries but that is false," said Miller. "A crowd of more than 40,000 turned up to the final of the Europe Sevens in Germany this year, Georgia and Russia regularly attract 60,000 gates when they play each other, we are making inroads in countries like Mexico through pioneering programs and the 2019 World Cup finals will be held in Japan.

"There are big markets to exploit, such as the Americas and Asia, and Olympic status would complement what the board does with the money it receives from World Cups. We are one of the world's big sports, as Rugby World Cup shows every time it is held, and we believe our inclusion would be appropriate."

Like de Coubertin, the current president of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, has a rugby background having won 10 caps for Belgium. "Jacques has stayed out of the process and he will not be doing us any favors," said Miller. "Our bid will stand or fall on its merits, which is as it should be. We have put forward a strong case, but you can never forecast how a process like this will turn out. All we can do now is hope."