Tenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present early data from an ethnographic study conducted within the grass-roots rugby league culture. My own lived experience of being involved in grass-roots rugby league has led me to question some of the touchline behaviour within this sport and I aim to seek to understand how these behaviours contribute to the social identity of the rugby league community and the effect touchline behaviours have on the participants. I intend to tell the social story of this culture and to interpret this narrative through the use of different theoretical lenses. The position of the researcher as a “rugby mum” within the field will be used as a basis on which to intertwine reflexive and auto ethnographic narrative to enhance the social story through sensory and aesthetic description and narrative (Warren, 2012). With the establishment and embedding of initiatives aimed at increasing mental health awareness and acceptability of help seeking amongst professional players and adults within the sport (Cooper et al 2015), it is timely to investigate whether the culture exists at more primary levels to encourage and facilitate open dialogue and expression of feelings. In a sport dominated by men which arguably seeks to construct and maintain masculine identity as “hard men” resistant to being “soft” it is worthy of exploring whether this is a shared doctrine that is perpetuated and demonstrated on the touchline (Spracklen, 1996).