Rugby values queried but very rarely voiced

Richard Pringle

Kiwi males have their reservations about traditional rugby stereotypes - but admitting that to their mates on a Monday morning is still a big ask.

Research on men's attitudes to the national game has found some see its values as dated, like something out of the 1950s.

"But others said it wasn't a dated culture, it was more of an immature boys' culture. At the same time they said they couldn't talk [openly] about this," says researcher Richard Pringle. "They wouldn't go to work on Monday and make these comments, because they would feel unmanly to suggest they didn't like the rugby culture."

Dr Pringle, a Waikato University lecturer, wrote his PhD thesis on men's attitudes to rugby culture. This week it was recognised as thesis of the year by the Australian and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies.

Dr Pringle held 14 in-depth interviews with "normal" men of diverse backgrounds. Rugby had been influential in all their lives. Early in their youth, the game had reinforced ideas of what it meant to be manly, including a need to be tough, aggressive and unemotional. But as the men matured, they began to question such values.

"The idea that it's not manly to show emotion, that it's not manly to complain in pain ... some of these stereotypical ideas are now being more openly challenged," Dr Pringle told the Weekend Herald.

"Some of them [interview subjects] said the rugby cultural values seem to be dated and it was more like the 1950s attitudes, and they talked about that as something they didn't like." But it was still unwise for New Zealand men to suggest they weren't rugby fans, Dr Pringle said.

One of the subjects would not let his children watch the game, although he made sure to see weekend games himself. This was because he owned a business and part of his strategy was to be able to talk about games with colleagues, clients, and associates.

"But it's not real clear cut. Many of them were critical of some aspects of rugby, but then at the same time they would say they would get a tear in their eye when they saw the haka being done by the All Blacks."

Dr Pringle formed the idea for his thesis based on readings he had done about American sports and the role they played in the "constitution of dominant masculinities".

Overseas information had suggested New Zealand society should be concerned about the place of rugby in our culture, Dr Pringle said. "These heavy contact sports like ice hockey and American football helped produce a problematic form of masculinity.

"Problematic because they encouraged men to ignore pain, to be hyper-competitive, to drink a lot of alcohol, and for them to think of their bodies as a 'weapon' or object."

Participants were more likely to be involved in violence off the field and in rape and sexual assault cases.

Dominant forms of masculinity were also closely associated with sexism and homophobia in some men, Dr Pringle said. "The other issue was the link to men's health."

The concern was that men who possessed dominant forms of masculinity were shown to be four times more likely to commit suicide and suffered more from heart disease, alcoholism, and drug addiction.

They were also more likely to die in road deaths or be imprisoned.