The Pacific Islander in Irish Rugby: From Exotic ‘Other’ to Global Professional Colleague
2014; Routledge; Volume: 31; Issue: 11 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/09523367.2014.903928
ISSN1743-9035
Autores Tópico(s)Irish and British Studies
ResumoAbstractThis paper explores historical and contemporary connections between Irish rugby and the Pacific Islands. Tracing these connections from the first tours to the British Isles by Fijian rugby teams in the 1960s through to the contemporary professional era, this paper seeks to elucidate the evolving perception of the Pasifika within Irish rugby. Ultimately, it is argued that key contextual shifts in global rugby and Irish society from the mid-1990s gave rise to a clear shift in the function and perception of the Pacific Islander rugby player in Europe, and specifically of Ireland. A figure who was once seen as the exotic ‘other’ became a sought-after commodity in the global rugby transfer market.Keywords:: Irish rugbyPacific Islanderathletic migrationglobalisation Notes 1. See CitationEnglish, Stand Up and Fight. 2. For critiques of each myth, see, for Munster, CitationO'Callaghan, Rugby in Munster, 228–37, and for New Zealand, CitationRyan, “Rural Myth and Urban Actuality,” 33–54. 3.CitationJackson and Hokowhitu, “Sport, Tribes and Technology,” 127. 4.Irish Independent, November 23, 2008 [online]. 5.Irish Times, February 16, 2008. 6.CitationDewey, “Pacific Islands Rugby,” 86. 7.CitationGrainger, Falcous, and Newman, “Postcolonial Anxieties,” 270–1. 8. By the mid-1980s, the number of priests amounted to a bare handful. See Irish Times, August 2, 1982. 9.CitationCentral Statistics Office, Census 2006.10.CitationCentral Statistics Office, Census 2011.11.Parliamentary Debates, Dáil Éireann, Written Answers, Vol. 669, No. 2 (December 2, 2008).12.Parliamentary Debates, Dáil Éireann, Written Answers, Vol. 680, No. 3 (April 22, 2009).13.Parliamentary Debates, Dáil Éireann, Written Answers (unrevised), (June 12, 2013).14. Retrieved from the website of the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs: http://www.dfa.ie/home/index.aspx?id = 5571 (accessed September 17, 2013).15. See, for example, CitationCollins, A Social History, 160–1.16.CitationTuck and Maguire, “Making Sense of Global Patriot Games.”17. This has been touched upon elsewhere. See CitationDewey, “Pacific Islands Rugby,” 9818.Irish Times, November 20, 1956, 2.19.Irish Times, January 15, 1958, 6.20.Irish Times, September 28, 1964, 3.21.Irish Times, September 4, 1973, 4.22. Ibid.23.Irish Press, September 13, 1973, 18.24.Irish Press, September 18, 1973, 19.25.Irish Press, June 10, 1976, 3.26.Irish Times, June 10, 1976, 14.27.Irish Times, October 15, 1985, 3.28.Irish Times, May 13, 1987, 6.29.Irish Press, May 30, 1987, 18.30.Irish Independent, October 7, 1988, 14.31.Irish Times, October 31, 1988, 2.32.Irish Times, November 12, 1996, 13.33.Irish Times, September 28, 1964, 3.34.CitationGrainger, “Rugby Island Style,” 49, 52.35.Irish Times, May 21, 1988, 4.36. For a full account, see CitationO'Callaghan, Rugby in Munster.37.CitationBartlett, Ireland, 537–45.38.CitationO'Callaghan, “The Red Thread of History,” 175–84.39. I borrow the term ‘commodified cultures’ from CitationMaguire, “‘Real Politic’ or ‘Ethically Based’,” 444.40. See, for example, CitationMaguire and Falcous, Sport and Migration.41.CitationMaguire, “‘Real Politic’ or ‘Ethically Based’,” 445.42.CitationElliott and Maguire, “Thinking Outside of the Box,” 482–7.43.Irish Times, February 3, 1992, 3.44. IRFU Official Report Citation2011.45.Connacht Tribune, December 19, 2008 [online].46.Irish Independent, December 3, 2010 [online].47.Connacht Tribune, October 16, 2009 [online].48.Irish Times, October 26, 2013 [online].49. See Elliot and Maguire, “Thinking Outside of the Box,” 491.50.Irish Independent, April 28, 2010 [online].51.Irish Times, January 12, 2008 [online].52.Irish Times, January 12, 2008 [online].53.Connacht Tribune, September 6, 2013 [online].54.Irish Independent, October 7, 2010 [online].55. Biographical details taken from http://stats.allblacks.com/asp/profile.asp?ABID = 480 (accessed October 20, 2013).56.Irish Independent, May 21, 2011 [online].57. Ibid.Additional informationNotes on contributorsLiam O'CallaghanLiam O'Callaghan is a lecturer in sport studies at Liverpool Hope University, UK. His main research interests are in the history of sport, particularly the social and cultural role of sport in Ireland and Britain. He has written several articles and a book on the history of rugby union in Ireland.
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