Che Guevara (first on the right) with an Argentine rugby team, c. 1948.
Rugby was played by famous Argentinian revolutionaries Alberto Granado and Che Guevara. After meeting through the game and going on to tour South America (see The Motorcycle Diaries) the pair would settle in Cuba and become national heroes. Alberto Granado later became Cuban's Rugby first Patron and helped develop the sport in the Country where it had not been traditionally played.
During the 1990s and first decade of this century Rugby slowly developed with the involvement of several touring teams from foreign countries such as Canada and France. These teams helped to provide both coaching and much needed equipment. With no olympic support at this time, Cuban rugby had no financial backing from the government with teams often playing under precarious conditions with no changing rooms, goal posts and even no markings on the pitch.
In 2002 the Cuban Rugby Union organized the Cuban Rugby Championship for the first time, with both a 15 a side and sevens tournament.
First IRB Sanctioned Tournament
In 2010 Havana hosted an 8-team International Rugby Sevens tournament, the first IRB sanctioned tournament to be performed in the country. The tournament was a big success, receiving coverage from the national press—introducing many Cubans to the sport who previously knew nothing of the game. The Cuban national team beat Mexico, showing a big improvement in playing standards on the Island but then lost to a US select side named Atlantis 0-15. The tournament also featured 3 Cuban development sides.
As of 2010 Cuban rugby is still lacking financial backing despite rugby sevens recently being given Olympic status. It is hoped this will change in the future.
In 2016 the first multi-team veterans (over 35s) rugby tournament was played in Cuba. The Copa de Amistad (Friendship Cup) was organised by a small group of Australians led by Rowan Ward, and assisted by Cuban 'rugbyistas' Osmel Hernandez and Leonid Baro, who the Australians had met and befriended in earlier trips to the Caribbean island. Played over 6 days 29 Oct to 4 Nov 2016 the tournament was a big success, with 8 teams participating from Cuba, Australia, USA (California and Colorado), Canada, Chile and Israel. There was also a barbarians team with strong representation from Argentina. The presence of the Israeli team, the Elders of Zion, was reportedly the first sporting team from Israel to tour Cuba in over 50 years. The tournament raised over US$10,000 in funds and materials supporting Cuban youth rugby, a project for adolescents with Downs Syndrome in Havana (Petalos de Amor) and the introduction of a science-based sustainable development course in universities in central Cuba.
Rugby union, widely known simply as rugby, is a full contact team sport that originated in England in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends.
While much has been written about baseball in the United States, it was often played in numerous other countries. Today, baseball is a popular sport around the world.
Super Rugby is a professional men's rugby union international club competition involving teams from Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hemisphere competitions dating back to the South Pacific Championship in 1986, with teams from a number of southern nations, the Super Rugby started as the Super 12 in the 1996 season with 12 teams from 3 nations: Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The Super 12 was established by SANZAAR after the sport became professional in 1995. With the top players from nations that represent 16 of the 24 top-three finishes in the history of the Rugby World Cup, the competition is widely regarded as rugby union's toughest provincial competition.
Rugby sevens, and originally known as seven-a-side rugby, is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40 minute halves. Rugby sevens is administered by World Rugby, the body responsible for rugby union worldwide. The game is popular at all levels, with amateur and club tournaments generally held in the summer months. Sevens is one of the most well distributed forms of rugby, and is popular in parts of Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, and especially in the South Pacific.
Alberto Granado Jiménez was an Argentine–Cuban biochemist, doctor, writer, and scientist. He was also the youthful friend and traveling companion of Che Guevara during their 1952 motorcycle tour in Latin America. Granado later founded the University of Santiago de Cuba School of Medicine. He authored the memoir Traveling with Che Guevara: The Making of a Revolutionary, which served as a reference for the 2004 film The Motorcycle Diaries, in which he was played by Rodrigo de la Serna. An elderly Alberto Granado makes a short appearance at the end of the film.
Sport in the United Kingdom plays an important role in British culture. The United Kingdom has given birth to a range of major international sports including association football, badminton, billiards, bowls, boxing, cricket, croquet, curling, darts, golf, fives, hockey, netball, rugby, tennis, table tennis, snooker, squash, and water polo. The standardisation of various sports, such as in rowing, dancesports and motorsports occurred in the United Kingdom.
Henry Paul, also known by the nickname of "HP", is a former dual-code international rugby league and rugby union footballer. Paul represented New Zealand in rugby league and England in rugby union and rugby sevens. He once held the world record for the most consecutive kicks on the field, a record now held by Neil Jenkins. Paul still holds the record of kicking the most goals in a Super League season with 178 for Bradford back in 2001 and the record for the most goals in a game, being 14, when playing for Bradford in 2000.
The South Africa national rugby league team are a rugby league football team that represents South Africa. South Africa to date have competed at two Rugby League World Cups in 1995 and 2000 but have failed to win a game in the competition.
Rugby league football is a sport in the United States. While rugby league has been played in the United States since 1954, with Australia and New Zealand playing games there on the return from the Rugby League World Cup in France, serious attempts to start the sport in the United States began only in the late 1970s. The establishment of a national team and a domestic competition in the late 20th century has seen more recent progress.
Rugby union is a football code within Australia with a history dating back to 1864. Although traditionally most popular in Australia's rugby football strongholds of New South Wales, Queensland and the ACT, it is played throughout the nation.
Rugby union in the United States is a growing national sport. Rugby union at the youth, high school, college, amateur club, professional, and international levels is governed by USA Rugby. There are over 125,000 players registered with USA Rugby as of 2016. Over 2,500 rugby clubs exist around the country, including those of whom are part of college rugby. Professional club competition exists as Major League Rugby.
Rugby union is the unofficial national sport of New Zealand. The national team, the All Blacks, is currently ranked the second best international rugby team in the world, after South Africa. The sport has been known in New Zealand since 1870. The top domestic competitions are the semi-professional ITM Cup and amateur Heartland Championship, and above them Super Rugby, in which New Zealand has five franchises. The country co-hosted and won the first ever Rugby World Cup in 1987, and hosted and won the 2011 Rugby World Cup. They have won three World Cups, tied with South Africa, the most of any other country. They are also the current World Champions in 7s rugby for men and women.
Rugby union in Fiji is a popular team sport and is considered to be the national sport of the country. The sport was introduced to Fiji in the 1880s. Fiji is defined as a tier two rugby nation by World Rugby. The national team has competed at the Rugby World Cup and made it as far as the quarter finals. Their sevens team is also noted for their success, and have won the Rugby World Cup Sevens twice and the World Rugby Sevens Series three times.
Rugby union in Kenya is a popular sport, in particular due to the success of the Kenya national rugby sevens team in the rugby sevens format, and tournaments such as the Safari Sevens, which has been growing yearly, and now includes numerous international teams.
Sport in Italy has a long tradition. In several sports, both individual and team, Italy has good representation and many successes. Football is the most popular sport in Italy. Italy won the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and is currently the second most successful football team in World Cup history, after Brazil, having won four FIFA World Cup championships.
Association football is the most popular sport in almost all Asian countries. Cricket is the second most popular sport in Asia. Other popular sports in Asia include baseball, basketball, badminton and table tennis among others. Top sporting nations in Asia include China, Taiwan, Japan, India, South Korea and Philippines.
Women's rugby union is a full contact team sport based on running with the ball in hand. The same laws are used in men's rugby union with the same sized pitch and same equipment. Rugby was originally a men's sport, and women's rugby has become popular only more recently. These days, women's rugby gaining a higher profile thanks to international tournaments and financial investment.
Rugby union is the national sport in Tonga. Sumo has a following, while football, judo, surfing, volleyball, and cricket have gained popularity in recent years. Rugby league and Australian football are also played.
Rugby union in Sri Lanka is mainly played at a semi-professional and recreational level. It is a popular team sport with a history dating back to 1879. In 2012, according to International Rugby Board figures, there were over 103,000 registered rugby union players in Sri Lanka, making it the second largest rugby-playing nation in Asia, behind Japan.
Seven countries have hosted and co-hosted the Rugby League World Cup. England, France, Australia and New Zealand have hosted the World Cup on multiple occasions and the tournament has never been played outside its traditional 'heartlands' in these areas. The Rugby League International Federation is responsible for picking hosts. From 1954 to 2008 World Cups were sporadic and hosts were picked and tournaments were arranged between the four traditional rugby league playing countries and the RLIF. From 2013 and beyond countries have to send an application to the RLIF to host the World Cup as more teams participate in international rugby league.
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