ABSTRACT
Failure to endorse rugby as 'the' sport was taken as traitorous, opening one up to class, race and gender (misogynistic) insults. By contrast, people who played the game, even if they were not of the home region or class, became available for social inclusion. In 1904 a visiting Cape Town team, the South Africa College team (SACS), were treated warmly, even when they defeated most of Natal's top teams. The 'sturdy visitors' were complimented on their 'dashing and clever' play.47 Similarly, those who increasingly came to watch the game were also considered to be associating themselves with a particular project. The NRU secretary announced his pleasure at the 'large and fashionable crowds who now fill the Grand Stand and surround the main oval at Lords on the occasion of an Inter Town match' .48
