With rugby fever running high we would like to ask you to participate in the petition to make rugby an Olympic sport.

Why should I participate?

The clock is ticking fast and the Olympic Committee will soon make a decision and choose two out of seven competing sports – among them squash, golf, baseball, karate and of course Sevens Rugby. In 2005 the International Rugby Board failed to get rugby in the Olympic Games 2012 in London. The olympic-rugby.org petition aims to swing the vote this time and generate as much publicity and momentum for the cause as possible, before the decision gets made in October 2009. Rugby is a team sport, so we must team up, scrum down and make it happen. Crouch, touch and pause - Engage!

 

Sign the petition now on http://www.olympic-rugby.org and support rugby’s inclusion.

 

What exactly does olympic-rugby.org do with the petition signatures?

 

The IOC, the International Olympic Committee is meeting in June 2009 to discuss potential new sports to be included, Golf, Karate, Squash all being serious contenders. In October a decision on the Olympic Sports Program for 2016 will be made at a meeting in Copenhagen - there are two vacant slots! The National Olympic Committees (NOC) will send their representatives to decide at the conference. You and everybody else are free to contact their country's committee member(s) and make a case for your sport's / rugby's inclusion. The NOC's and their members can be found here: http://www.olympic.org/uk/organisation/noc/index_uk.asp Olympic-rugby.org is simplifying that process and provides a one stop platform to channel the combined forces of the rugby world towards the IOC by sending the petition signatures and motivations per country to each IOC member and the National Olympic Committees. The olympic-rugby.org Forwards maul perfectly off the lineout, strong pick and go and they are over the line, delivering 8 million signatures on the final whistle to win the game!

 

Bob Skinstad signs the petition and chats rugby

 

Springbok legend Bob Skinstad chatted to Bodo, one of of the olympic-rugby.org guys about rugby and Olympic rugby - he also signed the petition of course! Click on the link http://www.olympic-rugby.org/news/the-skinny-2-bob-skinstad-signs-the-petition-and-chats-rugby to see what Bob Skinstad had to say.