Tug of war at the 1908 Summer Olympics

At the 1908 Summer Olympics, a tug of war tournament was contested. Each team consisted of 8 athletes. Nations could enter up to 3 teams.^[1] The host Great Britain was the only one to enter more than one (entering the maximum of 3 teams). Germany, Greece, Sweden, and the United States each entered one team apiece, though Germany and Greece withdrew. This left 5 teams (40 athletes) from 3 nations to compete.

Men's tug of war at the Games of the IV Olympiad
Venue	White City Stadium
Dates	July 17–18, 1908
Competitors	40 from 3 nations
Medalists
City of London Police  Great Britain Liverpool City Police  Great Britain Metropolitan Police "K" Division  Great Britain
← 1904 1912 →

Medal table

Position	Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Great Britain	1	1	1	3
—	Sweden	0	0	0	0
	United States	0	0	0	0

Medal summary

Gold	Silver	Bronze
City of London Police  Great Britain	Liverpool Police  Great Britain	Metropolitan Police "K" Division  Great Britain

Team rosters

Great Britain

City of London Police

• Edward Barrett
• Frederick Goodfellow
• Frederick Humphreys
• William Hirons
• Albert Ireton
• Frederick Merriman
• Edwin Mills
• John James Shepherd

Liverpool Police

• Charles Foden (captain)
• James Clarke
• Thomas Butler
• William Greggan
• Alexander Kidd
• Daniel McDonald Lowey
• Patrick Philbin
• George Smith
• Thomas Swindlehurst

Metropolitan Police "K" Division

• Walter Chaffe
• Joseph Dowler
• Ernest Ebbage
• Thomas Homewood
• Alexander Munro
• William Slade
• Walter Tammas
• James Woodget

Sweden

• Albrekt Almqwist
• Frans Fast
• Carl-Emil Johansson
• Emil Johansson
• Knut Johansson
• Karl Krook
• Karl-Gustaf Nilsson
• Anders Wollgarth

United States

• Wilbur Burroughs
• Wesley Coe
• Arthur Dearborn
• John Flanagan
• Bill Horr
• Matt McGrath
• Ralph Rose
• Lee Talbott

Results

Quarterfinals

The German and Greek teams withdrew, narrowing the seven-team field to five. Thus, the Swedish team and two of the British squads had byes in the quarterfinals.

The only match held was between the Liverpool team and the Americans. Liverpool won the first pull easily, after which the United States delegation protested against the footwear worn by the Liverpool police, who competed in their service boots. The protest was dismissed, and the Americans withdrew in disgust.^[2][3]

Winners		Score	Losers
Liverpool Police	Great Britain	2-0 (forfeit)	United States of America	United States
Sweden	Sweden	—	Bye
City of London Police	Great Britain	—	Bye
Metropolitan Police "K" Division	Great Britain	—	Bye

Semifinals

Liverpool again faced a foreign opponent, and again prevailed. The two London services squared off in the other semifinal, with the City police beating the Metropolitan men in a lengthy first pull. The second pull was not as tight a contest.^[2]

Winners		Score	Losers
Liverpool Police	Great Britain	2-0	Sweden	Sweden
City of London Police	Great Britain	2-0	Metropolitan Police "K" Division	Great Britain

Final

The Londoners defeated Liverpool in the final, winning the first two pulls.

Winners		Score	Losers
City of London Police	Great Britain	2-0	Liverpool Police	Great Britain

Bronze medal match

The Swedish team did not appear for the bronze medal match.

Winners		Score	Losers
Metropolitan Police "K" (Stepney) Division	Great Britain	walkover	Sweden	Sweden

Notes

1. Official Report, p. 32.
2. Cook, p. 91
3. City of London Police

Sources

• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association.
• De Wael, Herman (2001). "Tug-of-War 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. Archived from the original on 26 February 2005. Retrieved 27 May 2006.
• Rosters

External links

• Tug-Of-War at the 1908 Summer Olympics at SR/Olympics (archived)