We take a look at the lead-up to the NRL and AFL grand finals, the big day, and the aftermath through the eyes of social media.
Tags: australian-football-league, nrl, australia First posted October 03, 2011 10:37:35
Showing posts with label Social. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
A Social History of English Rugby Union
From the myth of William Webb Ellis to the glory of the 2003 World Cup win, this book explores the social history of rugby union in England.
Ever since Tom Brown’s Schooldays the sport has seen itself as the guardian of traditional English middle-class values. In this fascinating new history, leading rugby historian Tony Collins demonstrates how these values have shaped the English game, from the public schools to mass spectator sport, from strict amateurism to global professionalism.
Based on unprecedented access to the official archives of the Rugby Football Union, and drawing on an impressive array of sources from club minutes to personal memoirs and contemporary literature, the book explores in vivid detail the key events, personalities and players that have made English rugby.
From an era of rapid growth at the end of the nineteenth century, through the terrible losses suffered during the First World War and the subsequent ‘rush to rugby’ in the public and grammar schools, and into the periods of disorientation and commercialisation in the 1960s through to the present day, the story of English rugby union is also the story of the making of modern England.
Like all the very best writers on sport, Tony Collins uses sport as a prism through which to better understand both culture and society. A ground-breaking work of both social history and sport history, A Social History of English Rugby Union tells a fascinating story of sporting endeavour, masculine identity, imperial ideology, social consciousness and the nature of Englishness.
Price: $51.95
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Rugby League in Twentieth Century Britain: A Social and Cultural History
Called ‘the greatest game of all’ by its supporters but often overlooked by the cultural mainstream, no sport is more identified with England’s northern working class than rugby league.
This book traces the story of the sport from the Northern Union of the 1900s to the formation of the Super League in the 1990s, through war, depression, boom and deindustrialisation, into a new economic and social age.
Using a range of previously unexplored archival sources, this extremely readable and deeply researched book considers the impact of two world wars, the significance of the game’s expansion to Australasia and the momentous decision to take rugby league to Wembley. It investigates the history of rugby union’s long-running war against league, and the sport’s troubled relationship with the national media.
Most importantly, this book sheds new light on issues of social class and working-class masculinity, regional identity and the profound impact of the decline of Britain’s traditional industries. For all those interested in the history of sport and working-class culture, this is essential reading.
Price: $54.95
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