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 football, commonly known simply as rugby union or more often just rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in England in the first half of the 19th century. Rugby is simply based on running with the ball in hand. In its most common form, a game is played between two teams of 15 players each, using an oval-shaped ball on a rectangular field called a pitch. The field has H-shaped goalposts at both ends.
Today, baseball is a popular sport around the world with numerous countries practicing it at amateur and professional levels.
Rugby sevens 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.
The United States men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Eagles, represents the United States of America Rugby Football Union in men's international rugby union. USA Rugby is the national governing body for the sport of rugby union in the United States, and is a member of Rugby Americas North, one of six regional governing bodies under World Rugby. Until rugby returned to Olympic competition, with sevens at the 2016 Rio Games, the United States was the reigning Olympic rugby champion, having defeated the one other competitor in 1920 and the two other competitors at the 1924 Summer Olympics.
Sport in the United Kingdom plays an important role in British culture and the United Kingdom has played a significant role in the organisation and spread of sporting culture globally. In the infancy of many organised sports, the Home Nations were heavily involved in setting out the formal rules of many sports and formed among the earliest separate governing bodies, national teams and domestic league competitions. After 1922, some sports formed separate bodies for Northern Ireland, though many continued to be organised on an all-Ireland basis. For this reason, in many though not all sports, most domestic and international sport is carried on a Home Nations basis, and England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland are recognised as national entities.
Sport in New Zealand largely reflects the nation's colonial heritage, with some of the most popular sports being rugby union, rugby league, cricket, association football, basketball, horse racing and netball, which are primarily played in Commonwealth countries. New Zealand has enjoyed success in many sports, notably rugby union, rugby league, cricket, America's Cup sailing, world championship and Olympics events, and motorsport.
The South Africa national rugby league team to date have competed at two Rugby League World Cups in 1995 and 2000.
Sport is an important part of Australia that dates back to the early colonial period. Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union, association football, cricket and tennis are among the earliest organised sports in Australia. Sport has shaped the Australian national identity through events such as the Melbourne Cup and the America's Cup. Australia also holds the record for the largest attendance at a Rugby Union match with almost 110,000 spectators watching the Wallabies play the All Blacks in 2000.
Rugby union in Australia has a history of organised competition dating back to the late 1860s. 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 played at youth, high school, college, amateur, professional, and international levels and governed by USA Rugby. There were over 125,000 players registered with USA Rugby as of 2016. Over 2,500 rugby union clubs exist around the country, including those who are part of college rugby. Professional club competition has existed as Major League Rugby (MLR) since 2017.
Rugby union has been played in New Zealand since 1870 and is the most popular sport in the country as well as being its national sport.
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, winning multiple Olympic gold medals, World Rugby Sevens Series and Rugby World Cup Sevens.
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.
Unlike in most countries in Europe, sports in Luxembourg are not concentrated upon a particular national sport, but encompasses a number of sports, both team and individual. Despite the lack of a central sporting focus, over 100,000 people in Luxembourg, which has a total population of only 610,000, are licensed members of one sports federation or another.
Rugby union is a popular sport in the British Isles, including England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The game was arguably invented in 1823 by William Webb Ellis, and in 1871 the English Rugby Football Union was the first national rugby football union to be founded. It is organised separately in each of these countries, and also on an all-Ireland basis.
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. Women's rugby has become popular recently. These days, women's rugby is gaining a higher profile thanks to international tournaments' exposure and financial investment.
Rugby union is the most popular sport in Fiji ; however, rugby league, netball, and association football are also widely played. Various forms of traditional boat racing and wrestling are also popular.
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 sevens was played at the Olympics for the first time at the 2016 Summer Olympics, with both men's and women's contests. It was added to the Olympics following the decision of the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen in October 2009. The champions for the inaugural rugby sevens tournament in 2016 were Fiji for the men and Australia for the women. Prior to 2016, 15-a-side matches were played in 1900, 1908, 1920, and 1924.
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