A 1908 London Olympic Games gold prize winner's medal awarded for rugby to an unknown Australian player, in 15ct. gold by Vaughton of Birmingham, desi

A 1908 London Olympic Games gold prize winner's medal awarded for rugby to an unknown Australian player, in 15ct. gold by Vaughton of Birmingham, designed by Bertram Mackennal, the obverse with two maidens crowning a victorious athlete, the reverse with St George, patron Saint of England, slaying the dragon, the rim inscribed WINNER, RUGBY FOOTBALL The recipient of this medal is unknown. It was one of the touring Wallabies team to the UK in 1908-09 who provided the only opposition to Great Britain in the entry for the Olympic rugby competition. The Great Britain team was effectively the Cornwall county rugby team. For the record, the Australian team who beat Great Britain convincingly 32-3 comprised Phil Carmichael, Charles Russell, Daniel Carroll, John Hickey, Frank Smith, Christopher McKivatt, Arthur McCabe, Thomas Griffen, Jumbo Barnett, Patrick McCue, Sydney Middleton, Tom Richards, Malcolm McArthur, Charles McMurtie & Robert Craig. The match report in the Daily Telegraph read as follows: 'It will be remembered that less than a month ago there was a match played between Australia and Cornwall at Camborne and although the Australians also won on that occasion, the beaten side then played on the whole, a very good game. Yesterday the champion England county was practically at full strength, but from start to finish they were outplayed. The methods by which this victory was gained were even more creditable to the winners than the completeness of the victory itself and it is only fair to the Australians to speak of their play in terms of unqualified praise. The ground was very slippery and very heavy and as a result of several hours of continuous rain the ball was very greasy. The excellence of the play of the Australian backs therefore surprised the spectators. They gave a display of football which would have done credit to a Welsh international side, at its best. They scored eight tries and so good was the play leading up to each of them that it would be hard to say which was the best.' Rugby Union was contested at the Olympic Games of 1900, 1908, 1920 & 1924. In fact, the 1900 rugby final in Paris drew the biggest crowd for any event during the Games, 6,000 spectators witnessed the home team beat Great Britain 27-8 in the final. The difficulty was getting enough teams to enter for it to have any competitive meaning, in both 1908 and 1920 only two teams took part. After a period of 85 years in 2009, rugby was voted back into the Olympic programme and will commence again, albeit in its sevens format, at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.