The Rugby World in the Professional Era

Twenty years of professionalism has seen rugby union undergo dramatic transformations, from changes to everyday training cultures to the growth of the Rugby World Cup into one of the largest global sporting events.Rugby Union and Professionalism is the first book to examine the effect that professionalism has had across a number of different aspects of the game and the wider socio-cultural significance of these changes through case studies from across the globe.

Drawing on contributions from scholars from across the rugby-playing world, the book explores the role of rugby’s professionalisation through a number of social-scientific lenses, including:

• labour migration
• race and indigenous populations
• the globalisation of the game
• mega-event management
• male sexualities
• media representations of rugby - from broadcasting matches to rugby in museums and on stage and screen

Offering insights into under-researched areas of the sport, such as the growth of Rugby Sevens into an Olympic sport and rugby in the United States, and providing the most up-to-date recent history of the sport available,Rugby Union and Professionalism is essential reading for anyone with an academic interest in rugby, and any student or scholar with interests in sports history, sports sociology or the economics of professional sport.