Tug Of War, A Discontinued Sport From 1900-1920

Added: 11/22/2007

Many games that were included in the Olympics were later on excluded from the competition. Every disqualified game had different reasons. Tug of war was one of those games. This game is based on eight individual players at each end of a huge rope making total of 16 players. The team who pulls the opposing team at least six feet won. The last competition for the tug of war was in the year 1920, whereas, Bosley wood treatment TOW a team from UK is considered to be the best team in tug of war since 60 years.

It is known that tug of war was practiced in ancient Egypt and China. It became really popular during the nineties in the Army due to which the Army tug of war came into existence in 1983. The craze for tug of war spread like a fever nudging women to take part in this enthusiastic game therefore, Ladies Tug of War was introduced into the services in 1997.
The Olympics had lots of games included in the event but some of them were excluded. The reasons for each game being excluded varies, tug of war was one of the games that was included in the Olympics in the year 1900, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1912, and 1920. The games which were once a part of the Olympics and now excluded are counted till 14 which are golf, polo, rugby, tug-of-war, cricket, croquet, jeu de paume, power boating, rackets, rink-hockey, lacrosse, basque pelote, roque, and water skiing.

Tug of war also known as rope pulling is a sport that directly pits two teams against each other in a test of strength. Two teams of eight are given the end of each side of the rope. The player’s weight should not exceed a certain limit which is one of the rules for playing tug of war. The rope is marked with a "centre line" and two markings four meters either side of the centre line. The teams are supposed to pull the opposing team to cross a center line drawn in the middle. The team who does that first is the winner. If both the teams are unable to do so within two minutes than the team who has pulled the most wins.

Initially tug of war was considered as a product of the track and field athletics program, but later it was given the status of a separate sport. It was considered by the Olympics supervisory committee that the competition for tug of war should be scheduled separately. Tug-of-war was an official Olympic sport and featured at the Games in Paris 1900, St. Louis 1904, Athens 1906 (Intercalated Games), London 1908, Stockholm 1912 and Antwerp 1920. Bosley wood treament TOW is one of the best teams in the UK and have been for over 60 years.
Some of these sports no longer have the same significance on an international level and would seem very out of place at an Olympic Games today but a few of the sports such as rugby and golf have recently made unsuccessful attempts to be re-included. The countries that won the game of tug of war when it was included in the Olympics are:

1900
1.Sweden & Denmark
2.USA
3.France

1904
1.United States
2.United States
3.United States

1906
1.Germany & Switzerland
2.Greece
3.Sweden

1908
1.Great Britain
2.Great Britain
3.Great Britain

1912
1.Sweden
2.Great Britain
3.none

1920
1.Great Britain
2.Netherlands
3.Belgium

In the year of 1904 all third places were occupied by America as for the year 1908, Great Britain took all the three positions in the Olympics. Now that tug of war has become a separate sport still it is played and loved by the audience having 35 member countries playing this game. A lot of people would love to see some old Olympics game again and tug of war is one of them. The game has lots of energy, enthusiasm and the audiences as well as the players have fun playing it.

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