View source for Tug of war at the 1908 Summer Olympics

{{Short description|Tug of war at the Olympics}}
{{Infobox Olympic event
|event = Men's tug of war
|games = 1908 Summer
|image = 
|caption = 
|venue = [[White City Stadium]]
|dates = July 17–18, 1908
|competitors = 40
|nations = 3
|longnames = yes
|gold = [[City of London Police]]
|goldNOC = GBR
|silver = [[Liverpool City Police]]
|silverNOC = GBR
|bronze = [[Metropolitan Police]] "K" Division
|bronzeNOC = GBR
|prev = [[Tug of war at the 1904 Summer Olympics|1904]]
|next = [[Tug of war at the 1912 Summer Olympics|1912]]
}}
{{TugOfWarAt1908SummerOlympics}}

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.<ref name=OR32>Official Report, p. 32.</ref> 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.

==Medal table==

{| class=wikitable
! Position || Country 
|align=center bgcolor=gold| '''Gold''' 
|align=center bgcolor=silver| '''Silver''' 
|align=center bgcolor=cc9966| '''Bronze''' 
! Total
|- align=center
| 1 ||align=left| {{flagIOC|GBR|1908 Summer}} || 1 || 1 || 1 || 3

|- bgcolor=lightgray
| || || || || ||

|- align=center
|rowspan=2| — ||align=left| {{flagIOC|SWE|1908 Summer}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0
|- align=center
|align=left| {{flagIOC|USA|1908 Summer}} || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0
|}

==Medal summary==

{| class=wikitable
|align=center bgcolor=gold| '''Gold'''
|align=center bgcolor=silver| '''Silver'''
|align=center bgcolor=cc9966| '''Bronze'''
|-
| {{flagIOCmedalist|[[City of London Police]]|GBR|1908 Summer}}
| {{flagIOCmedalist|[[Liverpool City Police|Liverpool Police]]|GBR|1908 Summer}}
| {{flagIOCmedalist|[[Metropolitan Police]] [[Police division#United Kingdom|"K" Division]]|GBR|1908 Summer}}
|}

==Team rosters==
===Great Britain===
====City of London Police====

* [[Edward Barrett (Irish sportsman)|Edward Barrett]]
* [[Frederick Goodfellow]]
* [[Frederick Humphreys (athlete)|Frederick Humphreys]]
* [[William Hirons]]
* [[Albert Ireton]]
* [[Frederick Merriman (athlete)|Frederick Merriman]]
* [[Edwin Mills (athlete)|Edwin Mills]]
* [[John James Shepherd]]

====Liverpool Police====

* [[Charles Foden]] ''(captain)''
* [[James Clarke (athlete)|James Clarke]]
* [[Thomas Butler (athlete)|Thomas Butler]]
* [[William Greggan]]
* [[Alexander Kidd]]
* [[Daniel McDonald Lowey]]
* [[Patrick Philbin (athlete)|Patrick Philbin]]
* [[George Smith (athlete)|George Smith]]
* [[Thomas Swindlehurst]]

====Metropolitan Police "K" Division====

* [[Walter Chaffe]]
* [[Joseph Dowler]]
* [[Ernest Ebbage]]
* [[Thomas Homewood]]
* [[Alexander Munro (athlete)|Alexander Munro]]
* [[William Slade (athlete)|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 (hammer thrower)|John Flanagan]]
* [[Bill Horr]]
* [[Matt McGrath]]
* [[Ralph Rose]]
* [[Lee Talbott]]

==Results==
===Quarterfinals===
The [[Germany at the 1908 Summer Olympics|German]] and [[Greece at the 1908 Summer Olympics|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.<ref name=Cook91>Cook, p. 91</ref><ref name=US2>[http://www.cityoflondon.police.uk/CityPolice/About/history/olympicgold.htm City of London Police]</ref>

{| class=wikitable
!colspan=2| Winners || Score ||colspan=2| Losers
|-
| [[Liverpool City Police|Liverpool Police]] || {{flagIOC|GBR|1908 Summer}} ||align=center| 2-0 (forfeit) || United States of America || {{flagIOC|USA|1908 Summer}}
|-
| Sweden || {{flagIOC|SWE|1908 Summer}} ||align=center| — ||align=center colspan=2| ''Bye''
|-
| [[City of London Police]] || {{flagIOC|GBR|1908 Summer}} ||align=center| — ||align=center colspan=2| ''Bye''
|-
| [[Metropolitan Police]] "K" Division || {{flagIOC|GBR|1908 Summer}} ||align=center| — ||align=center colspan=2| ''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.<ref name=Cook91/>

{| class=wikitable
!colspan=2| Winners || Score ||colspan=2| Losers
|-
| Liverpool Police || {{flagIOC|GBR|1908 Summer}} ||align=center| 2-0 || Sweden || {{flagIOC|SWE|1908 Summer}}
|-
| City of London Police || {{flagIOC|GBR|1908 Summer}} ||align=center| 2-0 || Metropolitan Police "K" Division || {{flagIOC|GBR|1908 Summer}}
|}

===Final===

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

{| class=wikitable
!colspan=2| Winners || Score ||colspan=2| Losers
|-
|bgcolor=gold| City of London Police ||bgcolor=gold| {{flagIOC|GBR|1908 Summer}} ||align=center| 2-0 ||bgcolor=silver| Liverpool Police ||bgcolor=silver| {{flagIOC|GBR|1908 Summer}}
|}

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

{| class=wikitable
!colspan=2| Winners || Score ||colspan=2| Losers
|-
|bgcolor=cc9966| Metropolitan Police "K" (Stepney) Division ||bgcolor=cc9966| {{flagIOC|GBR|1908 Summer}} ||align=center| walkover || Sweden || {{flagIOC|SWE|1908 Summer}}
|}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
* {{cite book |last=Cook |first=Theodore Andrea |year=1908 |title=The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report |publisher=British Olympic Association |location=London}}
* {{cite web |last=De Wael |first=Herman |year=2001 |url=http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/tow1908.html |title=Tug-of-War 1908 |work=Herman's Full Olympians |accessdate=27 May 2006 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050226114210/http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/tow1908.html |archivedate=26 February 2005}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130119151452/http://databaseolympics.com/games/gamessport.htm?g=5&sp=TUG Rosters]

==External links==
* {{SR/Olympics sport at games|sport=Tug-Of-War|archive=20160305232335}}

{{EventsAt1908SummerOlympics}}
{{Tug of war at the Summer Olympics}}

[[Category:Tug of war at the 1908 Summer Olympics| ]]
[[Category:Events at the 1908 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Tug of war at the Summer Olympics|1908]]
[[Category:1908 in tug of war]]
[[Category:History of the Metropolitan Police]]
[[Category:History of the City of London Police]]