ABSTRACT
This paper examines the contested terrain of sport mega-events and focuses on some recent examples from Rugby World Cup (RWC) 2011, hosted by New Zealand, a small nation of 4.3 million people. Overall, the analysis illustrates how one particular sporting event offers insights into the role of sport as part of a wider set of relations of globalization, politics, economics and cultural identity. This paper is divided into three main parts: (1) the social and cultural significance of sport mega-events as strategic sites of cultural analysis; (2) the politics and economics of the bid to host RWC 2011 and (3) the multidimensional nature of the contested terrain of RWC 2011 with respect to space, bodies and commodities. This paper concludes by contrasting the political rhetoric associated with sport mega-events with the lived realities and experience of citizens.
