Unions, Leagues and Franchises: The Social Organisation of Rugby Union in New Zealand

Abstract

The thesis analyses the amateur game of rugby union by focussing upon the struggles for control between national and local unions and players. Using historical material and interviews with administrators, current players in the New Zealand national team, the All Blacks, and Canterbury, a local provincial union, I show how the game of rugby union consolidated as the national game. I follow these actors through the shift to a global professional game sponsored by television networks and show how the local advantages in the New Zealand game come to be reconfigured in this context.