Making the Rugby World

This book explores the expansion of rugby from its imperial and amateur upper-class white male core into other contexts throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The development of rugby in the racially divided communities of the setter empire and how this was viewed are explored initially. Then the editors turn to four case studies of rugby's expansion beyond the bounds of the British Empire (France, Italy, Japan and the USA). The role of women in rugby is examined and the subsequent development of women's rugby as one of the fastest growing sports for women in Europe, North America and Australasia in the 1980s and 1990s. The final section analyses the impact of commercialisation, professionalisation and media on rugby and the impact on the historic rugby culture linked to an ethos of amateurism.

Gherardo Bonini is Archivist at the Historical Archives of European Communities in Florence, Italy Douglas Booth is a senior lecturer in sport and leisure studies in the School of Physical Education at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand Alison Carle completed a first class honours degree in Human Movement Studies at the University of Queensland. She is now studying at the University of Memphis in Tennessee Timothy J.L. Chandler is an Associate Professor in the School of Exercise, Leisure and Sport at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, and Visiting Lecturer in the School of Physical Education, Sport and Leisure at De Montfort University, Bedford in the United Kingdom P. David Howe is Lecturer in the anthropology of sport in the School of Sport at Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education Brett Hutchins is a doctoral student in the Department of Human Movement Studies at the University of Queensland Richard Light has recently completed a PhD at the University of Queensland Malcolm MacLean is a doctoral student in the Department of Human Movement Studies at the University of Queensland John Nauright is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Human Movement Studies at the University of Queensland Murray G. Phillips is a Senior Lecturer in the socio-cultural aspects of sport in the Department of Physical Education, Exercise and Sport at the University of South Australia in Adelaide Thierry Terret is a Professor at the University of Lyon 1 in France