The Social Organisation of Rugby Union in New Zealand
i Unions, Leagues and Franchises: The Social Organisation of Rugby Union in New Zealand ________________________________________ A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology at the University of Canterbury By Camilla Obel _________________________________________ University of Canterbury 2001 ii Til min mor og Matthew i ABSTRACT The amateur game of rugby union is analysed by focussing upon the struggles for control between national and local unions and players. Using historical material and interviews with administrators, current players in the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, and Canterbury, a local provincial union, I show how the game of rugby union consolidated as the national game. I follow these actors through the shift to a global professional game sponsored by television networks and show how the local advantages in the New Zealand game come to be reconfigured in this context. In the first half of the thesis I argue that a contested and continuous process of indigenisation secured both the national popularity of the amateur game, against the threat of the rival code of professional rugby league, and maintained all-important competitive ties between the national team and Britain. Protection against threats from the rival code was secured by the centralised New Zealand Rugby Football Union (NZRFU) creating two national teams, the All Blacks (1905), composed of both ‘white’ and Maori players, and the New Zealand Maori team (1910) composed only of indigenous Maori players. Further, the establishment of a national challenge competition, the Ranfurly Shield (1902), and the formation of a national league, the National Provincial Championship (1976), secured local and national publics for the amateur game.
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