Sports Culture in New Zealand: Rugby

797 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Brief history of rugby

Sports Culture in New Zealand Perspective

Sport Culture rugby, in particular plays a major role in the creation of New Zealand’s national identity over the past 140 years. New Zealand is identifiable with its strong ties to Rugby on an international scale. Introduced as contact sport by European men it grew, Rugby Union Clubs began to emerge in cities and towns all over the nation. Sport culture allowed pakeha and Maori to unite, as previously the solidarity of New Zealand culture dwindled beneath the Maori Land Wars of the 19th century. Rugby football acts as an example of Pakeha and Maoris common ground in the Rugby field. The unification of society in a regular space and time Sport has solidified nations. But in recent years it has become an entity of Hegemonic masculinity, a home for alcoholism, violence and Beer drinking.

The origin of Rugby in New Zealand came with the arrival of European settlers and native Maori who soon came to distinguish with Rugby as a part of their culture. Modernly this makes to Rugby Union the most popular sport in New Zealand today. Our nation unofficially names rugby our national sport, our nations men are very competitive in this contact sport. There are many other popular sporting disciplines such as netball, cricket, rowing and more. Maori and pakeha became part of a unified nation after an ongoing history of conflict between native Maori and European settlers. Native Maori acceptance of these cultural forms makes rugby an anchoring device solidifying the nation and bringing cultural harmony to the once divided country. In the late twentieth and early twenty first century with the sport has become more than a simple game, it is now a forum for international recognition as a small and ...

... middle of paper ...

...nd commercialization. It is '’sport, gambling and alcohol’ (Thomson, R & Sim, J. pg. 121) that defeats notions of sport as high culture by the bourgeois class due to their front row attendance at major sporting events.

Pakeha and Maori culture merged into a World where sport plays a huge role in the development of national identity, which made Rugby a major pillar in upholding social cohesion in our newly founded and previously divided society. A tourism New Zealand website (100% Pure New Zealand) states that Rugby is an integral part of New Zealand’s national identity, and supposedly stirs pride in the hears of Kiwis around the World. Sporting culture has become a negative entity in the international public eye, because of alcoholism and hegemonic masculinity disrupting the harmony in the cultural recognition and depiction of sporting culture in New Zealand.

Show More
Related

  • Women and Sport in Girlfight, Billy Elliott and Dare to Compete

    808 Words  | 2 Pages

    When a woman or man joins a non-traditional sport for their gender or sex, it can have drastic social and cultural costs. These impact not just the individual but also the entire community. When a person challenges the gender roles of society, then they change the perceptions of what men or women are capable of doing, they further androgynize cultural norms, and they open up sports for others.

    Read More

  • Sports In The Gilded Age Essay

    1053 Words  | 3 Pages

    Social-class played an important role in sports. It dictated who could participate in what sports and to what level of participation. The terminal factor associated with social class was money. Money was the means to obtain the equipment necessary to partake in the sports. Without money, one couldn't perform organized sports. Furthermore, this issue was only limiting the already restricted minorities. Barriers between social-classes resulted in sports also being separated by social-class. The middle-class and upper-class took on sports such as football and boxing. They could afford the equipment for the organized sports. However, the lower-class didn't have much money, so they made do with what they had. One "sport" that was exclusively a lower-clas...

    Read More

  • The Impact of Sports in Native American Boarding Schools

    1670 Words  | 4 Pages

    The presence of activity and sport is found within cultures and societies all over the world, and throughout history. Activity in the form of sport can often be the purest form of expression for a society or individual. The sporting world is often thought to be a microcosm of the actual world with the problems and issues of society still being ever present in the sporting community. Since sport can be used as an expression of self, it is no wonder that sport is often a reflection of the society that it occupies. One such society that was deeply impacted by the role of sport is that of Native American boarding school students in the 1800’s and 1900’s. These students lived tough lives but just like how it had helped other cultural societies, sport was able to provide these students with basic needs of autonomy and pride.

    Read More

  • Comparing Rugby and Football

    613 Words  | 2 Pages

    In rugby, however, the primary rule is that you can only advance the ball by running

    Read More

  • Race And Ethnicity In Anthropology Essay

    1799 Words  | 4 Pages

    Butcher, M. (August 2003). “Who is Maori? Who is Pakeha?” In North &South Magazine. New Zealand.

    Read More

  • Gender Inequality Sociology

    1374 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the mid-19th century women did not play sport due to the idea that it was seen as too masculine and they needed to remain delicate and feminine, so it was exclusively for men (Else, 2012). However, in the late 19th and early 20th century, it became attractive for women to be out exercising and gaining a ‘healthy glow’, and many were gaining interest in the idea (Else, 2012). The majority of people did not approve of this though, and there was strong opposition when women tried sports such as rugby and cricket. Women engaging in sport such as these that were already strongly associated with men were seen as making themselves overly masculine and disrupting the stability between the male and female genders (Else,

    Read More

  • Racism and Discrimination in Sports

    2487 Words  | 5 Pages

    Dealing with the issue of sport and ethnology, three major factors come to mind; prejudice, racism, and discrimination. These factors span across gender, ethnic, racial, religious, and cultural groups. In the following paragraphs, I will discuss how these factors have played a part in the evolution of sport in our society. The first issue tackled in this paper will be racism in sports, followed by prejudice and discrimination.

    Read More

  • Rugby Should be a School Sport

    2090 Words  | 5 Pages

    Kanemasu, Yoko. "Rugby Is a Sport That Has given Fiji International Recognition. The Professionalisation of Rugby Has Led to a Growing Number of Elite Players Emigrating from Fiji." International Review for the Sociology of Sport. Dec2013, Vol. 48 Issue 6, P720-735. 16p (n.d.): n. pag. Web.

    Read More

  • Indigenous Religions of the World

    1539 Words  | 4 Pages

    "New Zealand Culture - Maori." New Zealand Travel and New Zealand Business. Tourism New Zealand, 2011. Web. 23 Apr. 2012. .

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between Sport and Identity

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sport and identity together have a unique relationship in which any regional or national place can use sport as a means to create a sense of identity. The relationship is complex and varied. Identity can be explained as understanding what or who a person or a thing is. Sport is capable of creating a feeling of nationhood and this is an important factor. It is important too for a nation to create a sense of identity but it is especially important for a regional area. For a small country to host a major sporting event is a significant achievement especially with having rivalry with bigger neighbouring countries. Nationalism can be expressed in a less aggressive manner through sport because there is a clear winner and loser; it is a clear cut way of asserting superiority of your notion over others. In this essay, one regional and one national example will be looked upon to see how they use sport to assert their sense of identity. Cricket in Yorkshire County Cricket Club will be used as a source of a regional example and rugby in South Africa will be used as a national example. We will look at the factors they used to inflict sport as a means to promote their identity and also if these identities are sustainable.

    Read More

  • The History of New Zealand

    518 Words  | 2 Pages

    The history of New Zealand begins between 800 A.D. and 1300 A.D., when the Māori people arrived from Polynesia to the mountainous island they called “Aotearoa.” The people “lived in tribal groups” fairly peacefully (Wilson). However, life began to change for the Māori people when they first came into contact with a European in 1642, when Dutch explorer Abel Tasman “discovered” the island. In 1769, “[James] Cook successfully circumnavigated and mapped the country” (History). These explorations marked the beginning of Europeanization for the young country of New Zealand. Whalers and traders soon arrived, and missionaries arrived in 1814. When the Māori met with Europeans, events followed a similar path to the colonization of America and the decimation of the native populations-- “contribution of guns…, along with European diseases, led to a steep decline in the [population of] Māori people.” (History). Consequentially, “their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights,” in...

    Read More

  • Advantages Of Commercialization In Sports

    1065 Words  | 3 Pages

    While in class, I didn’t quite agree with the idea that commercialization could completely corrupt sport with a more attuned understanding of the Corruption Thesis; I now understand how it could and where many critics of sports commercialization are coming

    Read More

  • Indigenous People And Tourism Essay

    1000 Words  | 2 Pages

    Both Australia and New Zealand have different values, laws, institutional frameworks and cultural traditions. Although it is important that all Indigenous traditions and values can be recognised.

    Read More

  • A Brief History of Rugby

    1490 Words  | 3 Pages

    With each passing civilization and the era it’s [its] people lived in, one can find a great deal about the times by examining an area that is not often thought of. That area is in regards to sports. The ancient Mayans had arenas, the Greeks helped initiate the Olympics, and the Romans had bloody matches between gladiators in the Colosseum. These sports and games often reveal to us what was occurring outside the playing field and arenas, into the political arenas and clashes between the classes. Examining the history of rugby throughout Europe, particularly in Great Britain, allows one the opportunity to see how the changes throughout society’s values, norms, and principles are mirrored by the evolution of the game of rugby from the mid-nineteenth century up to World War I.

    Read More

  • The New Zealand Education System

    1352 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...dge to those who do not know. This movement is not dissimilar to the flow of culture and customs from one generation to the next and has the potential to be replaced or lost. As Europeans enforced the propriety of Pākehā culture during colonial time, the loss of Māori culture occurred to a detrimental point, this mindset is still prevalent in present day society and New Zealand education. Our origins and the society that educational institutions serve has resulted in schools being inextricably and undeniably locked in the reproduction of Pākehā culture to the point in which the importance of Māori culture has been impaired. Steps are being taken to ensure that this is not a mentality that continues to frequent our state schools, with the long-term aspiration for a New Zealand education system that is not divided in its history, events and predominantly – its culture.

    Read More

More about Sports Culture in New Zealand: Rugby

Open Document