Is rugby an upper class sport?

[SoupIsGoodFood]

I play for a rugby team in America, and its mostly working class kids. But I was watching this thing o rugby on tv and some guy who was interviewed said it was a sport for the elite in England or some shit. So is it really like the upper class sport in England?

[Pogue]

I've been in many arguments and it really is. Its played mainly by grammar schools and especially public schools and it has a large middle to upper class following. I don't think anyone really denies this, it simply is not working class in its traidtion, unlike football.

[Hoggy_RS]

Rugby is played by all classes in Ireland. In munster(specifically Limerick) rugby is primarily a working class game.

[SoupIsGoodFood]

Same with America, but I'm wondering about England specifically.

[Killfacer]

It is predominatly played, particularly at a young age, in private schools. Alot of young posh kids do get into it but in fairness i'd like someone to tell me how Phill Vickery is upper class.

The support is pretty mixed, with people both middle and upper class watching. Really though, football is the main sport.

[*Red*Alert]

Rugby is played by all classes in Ireland. In munster(specifically Limerick) rugby is primarily a working class game.
In Leinster it seems to be a primarily Upper Class game played by public school toffs and Trotskyists (:D). I've often considered it as I've been told I've got the "build for it", but I can't stomach the elitist attitude of many of those involved in it.

[bellyscratch]

I think Rugby Union is mainly a middle class support, but does have a growing working class following around Britain, I've been playing it since I was about 6 years old and only ever played the 'posh kids' once I played it for school when we played the privates schools. But everyone seems to forget the other code of Rugby League which is overwhelmingly working class orientated.

[AlMack]

Union is very middle class in England, less so in Wales
League seems to be a very working class sport all over, its because they (working class area's teams) split from Union in 1895 because Union wouldnt agree to pay players for time off work. Only the elite could afford to remain completely amateur. Thats why in england rugby league is traditionally big in ex-coal mining towns. There is a lot of snobbery directed at it from the ex-private school media types as well so us league fans tend to have a chip on our shoulder

[Pogue]

yeh league is safe but my experience is mainly of union and all the middle class twats it brings along with it

[RHIZOMES]

Hell no, not in NZ.

Every class in NZ plays rugby.

The Workers Party got a fuckton of sign-ups to register as a political party and a fuckton of sign-ups for the Unite Union $15 minimum wage campaign because we went to mostly working-class attended rugby tournaments

[F9]

Dont put classes on sports..:confused:If you judge peoples class, or if they are reactionary or something, from the sport they like to play or see, then sorry, the problem is yours.Sports are fun, are exercise, and every people sees all sports differently.I never had the chance to play rugby, but hell yeah i would if i could..I even tried to play golf some times:lol:
Anw, all the sports nowadays have fallen in capitalism, and are getting deeper and deeper, so we only havve to fight against it..

Fuserg9:star:

[Pirate turtle the 11th]

Football is played by middle class folk and watched by working class folk

The reverse is true for rugby

Anyone who says otherwise is probably Pouge and a lier.

[ComradeOm]

Rugby is played by all classes in Ireland. In munster(specifically Limerick) rugby is primarily a working class game.Be careful not to overstate that though. The bulk of Munster's Irish contingent is (or at least was a few years ago) drawn from Cork private schools. Similarly that Red Army that can afford to constantly travel across Europe cannot include many of minimum wage

That said, Munster rugby is certainly more plebeian than in Dublin or Ulster. But even there its really started to break out of its traditional strongholds in the last decade or so. I think Irish rugby is well on its way to becoming, like the GAA or soccer in the early 90s, a sport that transcends class divisions

[AlMack]

Dont put classes on sports..:confused:If you judge peoples class, or if they are reactionary or something, from the sport they like to play or see, then sorry, the problem is yours.Sports are fun, are exercise, and every people sees all sports differently.I never had the chance to play rugby, but hell yeah i would if i could..I even tried to play golf some times:lol:
Anw, all the sports nowadays have fallen in capitalism, and are getting deeper and deeper, so we only havve to fight against it..

Fuserg9:star:

nah man you wouldnt understand if you dont live ina rugby league area, League vs Union arguments always descend into some class war shit cos it represents so much more than sport, round my way anyhow

[ComradeOm]

nah man you wouldnt understand if you dont live ina rugby league area, League vs Union arguments always descend into some class war shit cos it represents so much more than sport, round my way anyhowNah, its probably because there's no on-field reason to defend League ;)

[Invincible Summer]

Dont put classes on sports..:confused:If you judge peoples class, or if they are reactionary or something, from the sport they like to play or see, then sorry, the problem is yours.Sports are fun, are exercise, and every people sees all sports differently.I never had the chance to play rugby, but hell yeah i would if i could..I even tried to play golf some times:lol:
Anw, all the sports nowadays have fallen in capitalism, and are getting deeper and deeper, so we only havve to fight against it..

Fuserg9:star:


The thing is that the difference with golf is, is that only wealthier people can afford to play it on a regular basis. With rugby, football (both American and European), etc, you just need a ball and some buddies to play with.

With golf, you need to devastate some natural landscape to build your fucking huge course and then pay ridiculous fees for the privilege of using what is essentially open, sculpted greenspace, as well as being able to afford clubs and shoes and balls and all that shit.

Fuck golf - it's one of the most bourgeois sports there is... I think polo is the winner though.

[Trystan]

I've been in many arguments and it really is. Its played mainly by grammar schools and especially public schools and it has a large middle to upper class following. I don't think anyone really denies this, it simply is not working class in its traidtion, unlike football.

That depends on where you are. In Wales it is most definitely a working-class sport. Wales V. England games used to be a little like class war, I think, with the mostly upper-class English players and mostly working-class Welsh players. Quite a few Welsh players have been miners, but that has changed since the game went professional . . . But rugby was and still is the most popular sport, especially is ex-mining towns (less so in Swansea and Cardiff).

[StalinFanboy]

Football is honestly where it's at. And not shitty American football.


Worst thing to come out of the US is American football.

[bellyscratch]

nah man you wouldnt understand if you dont live ina rugby league area, League vs Union arguments always descend into some class war shit cos it represents so much more than sport, round my way anyhow

I got sick of all the union vs league arguments when I lived down in Bradford. I always loved watching both, but prefered playing union. That might be to do with I started playing union from an earlier age and on the few times i played league seriously i just could never get into it as much. I would love to play both of them again, but just don't have the time :(

[JohannGE]

Yea let's keep class out of sport ;)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Elephant_polo.jpg/250px-Elephant_polo.jpg


Back to the rugby...

Talk of class division in rugby brings back memories of the film This Sporting Life.

"Exploitation by self-important middle-class characters is one of the common elements of "This Sporting Life". In Anderson's film sport is portrayed as a false salvation for the working class. The rugby scenes are filmed with vitality and energy as though they are outside the general malaise of urban life. Nonetheless, rugby is seen as just another way in which the working classes are manipulated and abused, a common theme in the realist films of the era."

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0057578/

Perhaps rather dated now but still a powerfull film with some of the best coverage of any sporting action in cinema, imo. First 8 mins here and the rest available from usual sources:-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ckb15MUOiks

[IAmLeviathan]

in the south (union) primarily yes, in the north (league) no (go to Wigan and tell them Rugby's an upper class sport).

But yknow.... who gives a shit. The sport itself is neither isnt it? the people that play it might be one or the other.

Isnt there a Compton Cricket Club in LA?

[AlMack]

haha yes there is, lot sof caribbean ex-pats there tho