Rugby union at the 1908 Summer Olympics. The event was summarised under the "Football" heading along with association football. The host Great Britain was represented by Cornwall, the 1908 county champion. Defending Olympic champions France withdrew, leaving Australasia, as the only other remaining entrant.
Sport in Cornwall includes two sports not found elsewhere in the world, except in areas influenced by Cornish culture i.e. the Cornish forms of wrestling and hurling. The sports otherwise most closely associated with Cornwall are rugby union football and surfing.
Rugby union in Cornwall is Cornwall's most popular spectator sport with a large following. The followers of the national side are dubbed Trelawny's Army. In 1991 and 1999 Cornwall won the County Championship final played at Twickenham Stadium, beating Yorkshire and Gloucestershire respectively to win the Cup. They had another strong spell in the 2010s, reaching seven of the eight finals contested between 2013 and 2022, winning four of them.
Thomas James "Rusty" Richards, MC was an Australian military officer and national representative rugby union player, who was born at Vegetable Creek, Emmaville in New South Wales. Richards is the only Australian-born player to ever represent both Australia and the British Lions and as such the Tom Richards Trophy is named in his honor. He is an inductee to the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame.
Sydney Albert 'Syd' Middleton DSO, OBE was an Australian Army officer and national representative rugby union player and rower. He won a gold medal in rugby at the 1908 Summer Olympics and competed in rowing at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Malcolm Julian "Mannie" McArthur was an Australian rugby union national representative rugby union player. He won a gold medal in rugby at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Edward John Jackett, known as John Jackett, was an English rugby union player, who represented the England national rugby union team, the British Lions, and competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics for Great Britain. He is the elder brother of Richard ″Dick″ Jackett, who was also in the Great Britain team which won the Olympic silver medal.
Bert Solomon regarded by many as the finest rugby player to ever come out of Cornwall was a Cornish rugby union player who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics at White City Stadium, London. He played for Redruth R.F.C. and was capped 26 times for Cornwall.
Nicholas Jacob Tregurtha was a British rugby union player who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics. He was born in St.Ives, Cornwall, United Kingdom. He died in 1964 in Bodmin, Cornwall. He was a member of the British rugby union team, which won the silver medal.
Richard Jackett was a Cornish rugby union player who played his club rugby for Falmouth R.F.C. and between 1905-14 Leicester Tigers where he made 59 appearances scoring 8 tries. He was capped 71 times for Cornwall and was a member of the 1908 County Championship winning team that beat Durham 17-3 in the final played at Redruth in front of 17,000 spectators. He also played in the Cornwall side that represented Great Britain winning a silver medal in the 1908 Summer Olympics at White City Stadium, London losing to Australia in the final 32-3. He was the brother of Edward Jackett.
The 1908–09 Australia rugby union tour of the British Isles was a collection of friendly rugby union games undertaken by the Australia national rugby union team against invitational and national teams from England and Wales, as well as several games against sides from North America. This was the first Australian tour of the Northern Hemisphere and the side is sometimes referred to as the "First Wallabies".
Colonel Richard Davies Garnons Williams was a British Army officer and Welsh rugby union player who represented Wales, Brecon and Newport. He played in the first Wales international rugby union match in 1881.
Frederick Wood was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative half-back. He was vice-captain of the Wallabies on their first overseas tour in 1908–09 and later captained the side in Test matches in 1910 and 1914. His representative career lasted from 1905 to 1914.
René Emile Henri Boudreaux was a French rugby union player.
Lieutenant-Commander John Skinner Wilson was a Trinidad-born rugby player, who represented Scotland, United Services RFC and London Scottish FC. He enrolled in the Royal Navy in 1898. He was killed in World War I in the Battle of Jutland, serving as Lieutenant-Commander aboard HMS Indefatigable. He is remembered on panel 10 at the Plymouth Naval Memorial.
Philip Patrick Carmichael was a rugby union player who represented Australia. He won a gold medal in rugby at the 1908 Summer Olympics.
Penzance RFC formed in 1876, was a rugby union club based in Penzance, Cornwall, England. They amalgamated with Newlyn RFC in 1944 to form Penzance and Newlyn RFC, currently known as the Cornish Pirates.
The 2008 Australia rugby union tour was a series of seven matches played by the Australia national rugby union team in November–December 2008. The tour was preceded by a match against All Blacks for the Bledisloe Cup and closed with a match against Barbarian FC
Henry "Norkey" Dewar was a New Zealand rugby union forward, who played for the All Blacks, and represented Taranaki and Wellington provinces.
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