Play Hard and Play Fair: The State of Rugby Union on the 30th Anniversary of the 1987 Rugby World Cup Final

A seminar as part of the Sport Business Centre Seminar Series

Given by: Leslie Crang, Senate House Library, & Birkbeck Sport Management Student

Room B34
Main Building,
Birkbeck College
Torrington Square
London WC1E 7HX

Tuesday 27th June, 2017, at 6pm.

For directions click here.

Attendance at the event is free but you need to register on EVENTBRITE.

Synopsis

The 20th of June 2017 was the 30th anniversary of the first Rugby Union World Cup Final which saw New Zealand defeat France by 29-9. Since then Rugby Union has developed to become virtually unrecognisable from the sport it was on that day. Here are a few examples of why:

The previously completely amateur sports allow professionalism in 1995.
The Five Nations European tournament expands to a Six Nations tournament incorporating Italy in 2000.
The creation of the annual Tri-Nation tournament in the Southern Hemisphere, between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, which expands in 2012 with the addition of Argentina to become the Rugby Championship.
The reintroduction, in 1995, of South Africa into the Rugby World Cup after the fall of Apartheid.
The value of a try increasing from four points to five points.
The rising cost of media rights for televised Rugby Union games.
The introduction of strong national and international club competitions:
- The Aviva Premiership in England.
- The Guinness Pro12 tournament made up of teams from within Wales, Scotland, Italy and Ireland.
- The Top14 tournament in France.
- The two pan- European competitions – the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup.
- From 2017 club teams from New Zealand, S.Africa, Australia, Argentina and Japan will compete for the Super Rugby league.

In this presentation, Leslie Crang will examine the impact of the 1987 Rugby World Cup and the subsequent Rugby World Cups, briefly assessing the historical significance of the event and then assessing the influence of the media, the introduction of professionalism and sponsorship and the effects these may have had upon the development of the game, as well as examining what the future may hold for the game. Leslie will employ documentary and video material to underline how rugby union has evolved over the last 30 years both stylistically and financially.

The presentation will be of interest to anyone with an interest in rugby union per se, or in how rugby union (or sport in general) has developed in the last three decades in relation to the following key topics:

Uncertainty of Outcome
Governance
Media Rights
Sponsorship

In the tradition of the fanzine movement the presentation will be interactive and audience debate will be encouraged.

PRESENTATION ON PREZI

View the presentation on Prezi.

Biography

Leslie Crang is a student on the MSc Sport Management & the Business of Football at Birkbeck College, University of London. He works in the collection management section of Senate House Library, and has a personal and professional interest in the field of sport history. In June 2016 he curated a one-day academic symposium exploring how England’s triumph in the 1966 World Cup marked a turning point for the role of sport, and football in particular, in British cultural life.He is a lifelong Arsenal fan and has previously written on the historical aspect of Arsenal on the Online Gooner, 7amkickoff and Bergkamp Wonderland as well as writing on the Senate House Library blog.