ABSTRACT
In compiling and editing this set of essays, we have tried to do four things. First we have sought to add to historical analysis of gender in sport by concentrating on rugby football which, historically, has been viewed as one of the most masculine and manly sports - particularly in the British Isles and the settler empire. In selecting this (and the other three themes) we have inevitably chosen not to address other issues and questions that are also important. For example, in relation to the issue of gender, we have not asked questions relating to women's rugby such as 'What does women playing this highly masculine team game mean?' Our silence on this should not be taken to mean that we see women's rugby as unimportant or that we have concluded that women's rugby is purely a novelty. The same should be said of our selectivity in terms of culture and country. We certainly do not dismiss rugby in France, Argentina, Canada, the Pacific Islands, Romania or elsewhere as unimportant, any more than our selection of men's rugby is dismissive of the women's game. Indeed most of these contexts are examined in our companion volume The Rugby World. In many of the countries we analyse here, women's rugby is a very recent phenomenon, largely because of male resistance against women playing such a 'manly' game. In New Zealand and Australia, for example, women's rugby clubs are generally tied to male unions and clubs. Women's teams are generally coached by males and tend to have their schedules set around the men's in order to ensure access to facilities. This fact suggests the continued marginalization of women and promotes continued male hegemony. We have chosen to look at this and other associated questions through the lenses of nationalism, sexuality, homophobia and even homoeroticism. Thus in addressing the marginalization issue, David Andrews suggests that in Wales, where rugby is a huge part of the national identity and culture, women have indeed been marginalized in the past because of the patriarchal ideologies at work within the nation. We suggest that if men and women are viewed relationally rather than opposition ally, then it is possible to draw some conclusions about women from many of these discussions of men's rugby. This does not mean that analysis of women's rugby is unnecessary; indeed it is time for major work to be done in this area.
