Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs Rugby Union Men: Body Concerns Thesis How to cite: Darko, Natalie (2012). Rugby Union Men: Body Concerns. PhD thesis Loughborough University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2012 N. Darko https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/bitstream/2134/10081/2/Thesis-2012-Darko.pdf Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk Loughborough University Institutional Repository Rugby union men: body concerns This item was submitted to Loughborough University's Institutional Repository by the/an author. Additional Information: • A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulllment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University. Metadata Record: https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/10081 Publisher: c Natalie Darko Please cite the published version. This item was submitted to Loughborough’s Institutional Repository (https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/) by the author and is made available under the following Creative Commons Licence conditions. For the full text of this licence, please go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ Rugby Union Men: Body Concerns by Natalie Darko Doctoral Thesis Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of PhD Doctoral Thesis of Loughborough University (July 2012) Natalie Darko 1 Abstract Existing research shows that increasing numbers of young men are dissatisfied with the appearance of their bodies. Drummond (2002a; 2005; 2010) has found that men will use sport and health-related sports acts to conceal these concerns from others. Accordingly, men’s body dissatisfactions are documented less frequently because the practices drawn upon to conceal them are perceived as routine forms of masculine behaviour. Rugby union is one of the most popular sports played by young men in England. Historically, the male rugby player is culturally perceived as strong, tough and unemotionally articulate. Existing research draws attention to health issues, such as performance stress and injury that arise through participation in this sport. Research also shows that rugby union players are likely to experience concerns about gaining weight, yet these are disguised within the requirements of training for the sport. Although, there are studies that examine the constitution of masculinities, the experience of pain and injury and career transitions among rugby union players there are no studies, as yet, that examine how rugby union men experience body concerns and manage these experiences through their sport. The research discussed in this thesis examines how a group of rugby union men (25) aged 18-25, of varied racial identity, ethnic and social backgrounds, participating in an elite university rugby union 1st XV team, experience concerns about the appearance and performance of their bodies and the ways in which such concerns develop. It also examines if and how these men used the sport and health-related sports acts, to overcome their concerns and conceal them from others. A theoretical framework, which draws on the concepts of the three theorists: Connell (1995, 2008) Goffman (1959; 1961; 1979) and Bourdieu (1978; 1979; 1984), is developed. As part of this, a new concept has been created from Goffman’s dramaturgical approach: that of the intimate dimension. In this dimension intimate relationships occur. It is located away from the front region, (the public), and the back region (semi-public spaces) where less formal relationships occur. It includes the research interview, with a woman researcher, and some other women such as girlfriends, sisters or female friends and also one or two other rugby men with whom the rugby men demonstrated a close bond. Within this dimension the rugby men are more forthcoming about the personal elements of their rugby lives. The theoretical framework is used to examine these men’s concerns, how they are developed, experienced and managed. Recognising that cultural assumptions of a tough and less expressive masculinity assigned to this sport can potentially make it difficult for men to express these concerns, a combination of visual research methods and ethnography are used to examine these men’s body concerns and their management. This includes collaborative collection of photography and photo-elicitation interviews. The research shows that embodied experiences of discomfort, associated with pain, injury, concerns about height, being overweight or out of shape, and social experiences of exclusion led to the development of the rugby men’s body concerns. For these rugby men, their 2 rugby masculinities are influential to the management and concealment of their body concerns. They suppress and conceal their body concerns in the front and back regions of the sport and reveal them in more intimate dimensions. The rugby men’s relationships with each other, in the back regions of the sport, were the most influential to this identity, but more importantly, to the management and reinforcement of these concerns. This thesis contributes to filling the gap in existing academic research by examining body concerns and its management amongst rugby union men. It also extends existing research that has found men conceal their body concerns in sport, because it looks at how these men manage these concerns differently in different regions of their sport. Furthermore, a theoretical framework that combines interactionism and phenomenology is used to study sociologically men’s body concerns in these different contexts. The combination of visual methods and ethnography goes beyond some of the existing methods used in clinical and sociological research that have examined men's body concerns. They can be used to enhance understanding of clinical forms of body concern and other emotional concerns rugby union men and other sportsmen, of all ages, have about performance, pain and injury. The incorporation of visual methods is potentially widely applicable because they have increasing precedence in sportsmen’s lives to analyse performance and to represent them. Keywords; hegemonic rugby masculinity, body concern, men, rugby union, intimate dimensions, sport, visual research methods, significant others, ethnography, adeptness, aggression, pain and injury and sports media. 3 Contents Page Part A Chapter 1 Introduction 5 Chapter 2 A Framework for Analysing Rugby Men’s Body Concerns 20 Chapter 3 Situating Rugby Masculinities Historically 44 Chapter 4 Methodology 54 Part B Chapter 5 Sports Masculinities: examination of academic literature and sports media 88 Chapter 6 The Rugby Men’s Profiles 121 Preface to Part C 134 Part C Chapter 7 Adept Bodies 137 Chapter 8 Aggression 163 Chapter 9 Tough bodies: Management of Pain and Injury 189 Chapter 10 Conclusion 214 Bibliography 224 Appendices: Appendix One: Interview guide 265 Appendix Two: Sample Observation Guide 270 Appendix Three: Informed Consent Form/letter (Coach) 272 Appendix Four: Group and Interview Informed Consent Form (Rugby Men) 273 Appendix Five: Sample photo-set for photo-elicitation interview a. Interview Guide 275 b. Annual Fitness testing 280 4 Chapter One; Introduction 1:1 Background to the Research Since its beginnings in the late 19th Century, rugby union has been culturally characterised by its organisers, spectators and participants as a ‘real man’s game’ (Pringle, 2001; 2008; Collins, 2009). This connection between manliness and rugby union originated in the early development of the sport, as it was predominantly white upper-class men who participated in this sport in Britain and it centred on a hegemonic form of masculinity. The game was entrenched in the curriculum of boys’ public schools as a means of “instilling manliness” (Pringle, 2001: 426) and was used to prepare young men for war as they were taught to be athletic, robust, tough, determined, disciplined and less emotional (Collins, 2009). This is not to suggest that since this period women have not participated in the game; their involvement in the sport at a professional, semi-professional and amateur level has increased significantly since the 19th Century. However, as the level of contact, aggression (Kerr, 2005) and injuries (Brooks et al., 2005; Fuller et al., 2010) sustained in this sport is significantly higher than any other English field sport (Nicholl et al., 1995) rugby union is predominantly played by men. It is focused on a hegemonic form of masculinity and produces the character of hegemonic men (Carle and Nauright, 1999). Connell developed the concept of hegemonic masculinities in the 1980s. This concept focused on the exploration of male dominance over women and subordinate men (Demetriou, 2001). It was devised to reflect the continuance of power struggles between men and women. It was referred to “as the pattern of practice (i.e. things done, not just a set of role expectations or an identity) that allowed men’s dominance over women to continue” (Connell and Messerschmidt, 2005: 832). Carrigan et al., (1985:592) argue that hegemonic masculinity “refers to those groups of men who inhabit positions of power and wealth, and how they legitimatise and reproduce those social relationships that generate