Prestige of the Nations: International ‘Rugger’

Abstract

The history of rugby union is heavily imbued with myths and values of nationhood, class, masculinity and amateurism. Although its rules have a common thread, the Unions of each nation across the British Isles developed their own distinct set of values and traditions, and the place of rugby in the symbolic function of uniting a nation has different dynamics in each nation. When broadcasting first became interested in rugby, these differences in view would have a significant influence on perceptions of television and beliefs about its impact on the game. In England, the fissure in the two rugby codes, union and league, which was principally, but not solely, about remuneration for play, had by the 1950s created two distinct cultures and rules of rugby playing, which was riven by class and regional differences between north and south. League was the professional game of working class men in the northern industrial regions of Lancashire and Yorkshire, whereas union was the strictly amateur game identified with the middle to upper-middle classes of the midlands and home counties, although it was played far more widely. In Wales, rugby union was a unifier of social classes, bringing communities together, particularly in the southern Welsh mining towns and villages. In Scotland, rugby union had prospered in two distinct ways: firstly, among the urban middle class in independent schools and universities; and secondly, in the farming communities of the Scottish Borders. Rugby union in Ireland, like Scotland, was a game that thrived in the universities, schools and rural communities. It also organised itself on a provincial basis, thereby enabling competition across the nation state divides of the North and the Republic. Throughout the post-war period, the four home unions, along with France, held a strong hegemony over the running of the sport internationally, and tropes of nationalism and national pride became heavily associated with the international teams. The political power of the home unions would not be undermined until the rise of professionalism, led by the southern hemisphere nations in the 1990s and taken up by a select group of clubs in England, who would insist on more control over the future of the sport.1