Rugby Match Ethnography

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For the participation observation assignment, I chose to study the social interactions and behaviors at one of my rugby matches. The main idea of this ethnography is to understand and compare the norms of the players, coaches, and onlookers at a college women’s rugby match. How does the conduct of the teams change before, during, and after a game is played? The main focus of this ethnography is on the players, sportsmanship and respect have important roles in the culture of the game. For the purpose of this assignment I will refer to the game and the area that was studied as The Pitch, since that is a common name of the field.
The Pitch is a large field in the city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin where main rugby games and tournaments have been held, …show more content…

For the next eighty minutes it was very difficult to carry out observations on account that I was participating in the entire eighty minutes of the match. From what I could observe through field time was that, while the tackles and scums (a method of restarting play that involves the forward players, packed close with heads down and shoving against the opposing team) looked hostile and violent there were strict rules of how to tackle and grab players in order to avoid …show more content…

It is an untold rule of the game that the home team hosts the away team for lunch or dinner. The home team, Oshkosh in this case, purchased and had around twenty pizzas delivered to the field. During this time both team both teams mingled, laughing and sharing game time stories. The feel of the field at that time was very light, friendly, and welcoming. By the time that my team and I left, the Oshkosh team had thanked us for the game and for coming down, we had thanked them for the game and had even talked about arranging another in a few weeks.
From my observations I was able to see that the culture before the game starts is respectful and a bit tense with excitement. Each team letting their opponent have the space warm up and prepare. During the game the behavior changes to that of more competitive and hostile. Each side prepared to compete with the other in a long and tenuous game. In the post game time, the behavior changes once again to that of respect and camaraderie. Each team respectful of the other for their game skills and for taking the time to

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