Rugby union arrived in south Wales in the late nineteenth century, as the industrial revolution transformed both the landscape of the region and its social composition. During this period, enormous numbers of people migrated to south Wales to work in the coal pits and steel mills that were driving the expansion of the British Empire, and a large proportion of these workers were drawn from south-west England, a region where rugby union was already the favoured sport rather than football (Johnes, 2000; Holt, 1989). Another significant factor, highlighted by Williams (1991), is the pivotal role played in the establishment of rugby union in Wales by some of the leading lights within the Welsh middle classes, who were drawn from industry, business, medicine and law. Additionally, the role of Welsh public schools and the very real influence of their ideology of ‘athletic exercise, the paradigm national recreation of Victorian England’ (ibid.) contributed to the fact that rugby union established itself more securely in south Wales than association football. Johnes (2000) also cites the importance of the role of public schools in the development of Welsh rugby, particularly given that they often provided Welsh schools with opportunities to compete against equivalent schools from south-west England. Thus, the changes in industrial Wales had significantly diversified the nature of the Welsh people, though in terms of the development of Welsh sporting cultures it is abundantly clear that the influence of English sporting culture was enormous. As a consequence, Andrews
(1999) argues that by the 1890s
a maturing, male-dominated, Welsh industrial middle class sought to create a united, harmonious and liveable present through the creation of a unifying Welsh identity which was relevant to the modern industrial experience (53).
For many commentators (Williams, 1991; Johnes, 2000; Andrews, 1999) the 1905 Welsh victory over the all-conquering New Zealand All Blacks touring team was the pivotal moment in the linking of Welsh national identity and rugby union. The All Blacks had won every one of their previous tour matches, beating all the other home nations (England, Ireland and Scotland), and in doing so, accumulating over 800 points on their journey, conceding just 27 (Williams, 1991). Victory over New Zealand38 was a momentous event that signalled not only Welsh prowess on the rugby field, but it also
cemented rugby as part of the distinct and confident national identity that was created within late Victorian and Edwardian Wales on the back of a period of economic buoyancy (Johnes, 2000: 97).
For Williams (1991), the enormous coverage that the victory received in the press and in broader Welsh life meant that this was the point that ‘stitched rugby football onto the national flag’ (79). Johnes (2000) additionally argues that in terms of linking Welshness and rugby union,
many of the other symbols of Welsh nationhood were limited in their appeal but rugby was more embracing and further reaching than Nonconformity, the Welsh language, the Liberal Party or any of the new national institutions it created (96).
As part of this process of linking Welshness and rugby union, Andrews (1999) argues that
in spite of the English origins of rugby and the presence of large numbers of gifted exponents of the game emanating from England, the Welsh populace – somewhat conveniently – lost their short-term memories as rugby rapidly became Welsh (54).
38 The margin of the Welsh victory was by three points to nil, though there was some controversy as
New Zealand had a try disallowed. Certain accounts of the cultural significance of the game to the Welsh, such as Williams (1991), choose not to mention this fact.
The ancient Tudor folk game of Cnappan, which resembled rugby union in some limited ways, was critical in this respect. The game, which had survived to a degree in the Welsh valleys due to their geographical isolation and remoteness (Holt, 1989), was thus regarded by many ‘as the direct forebear of Welsh rugby’ (Williams, 1999: 58). Its existence ‘conveniently endowed the later game with a plausible Welsh- British pedigree’ (Williams, 1991: 80). However, the British element is also important here, in that not only was the 1905 victory over New Zealand regarded as a triumph of Welshness, but also a case of the Welsh upholding the honour of Great Britain (Johnes, 2000). Both Andrews (1999) and Williams (1991) see evidence of the historic connections between Welsh and British identities within rugby union. Indeed, the most characteristic example of this for both was the change in the shirt colour of the Welsh national XV from black to scarlet, and also the adoption of the emblem that adorned the Welsh shirts:
the rejection of the leek and the subsequent adoption of the Prince of Wales’ three- plumed insignia as the motif worn on Welsh international jerseys, along with his motto
Ich Dien (I Serve), represented a move by the Welsh rugby administration to
demonstrate emphatically its loyalty to and place within the British imperial state formation (Andrews, 1999: 63).
Whilst for Andrews (1999) the rugby field had ‘long been a setting upon which Wales had sought to win some space from the smothering grasp of an overbearing England’ (54) the reality of the identity that the Welsh sought to achieve was one that ‘would contrast with and yet complement England’ (ibid.: 55). However, there was evidence that suggested that there was a more hard-edged element to Welsh rugby. Andrews (1991) perceives that the broad role of the middle classes in the development of rugby union in Wales resulted in a form of Cambrian Celticism:
the industrial middle class immersed the game into the masculine discourse of Cambrian Celticism, which explained national progress in terms of the supremacy of
the Celtic race (55).
The result of this was that ‘the Welsh construed the rugby field as a site of struggle upon which a battle of races – and hence nationalities – was symbolically re-enacted’ (ibid.: 56). Morgan (2005) considers however that the predominant ideology of Welsh rugby was somewhat different:
in general, nationalism within the Welsh rugby community was of an inclusive and cooperative nature, as exemplified by celebrations of diversity within the rugby crowd, and furthermore this nationalism was a signifier of identity within the British and imperial frameworks (453).
This is a view that certainly has parallels with a broadly civic view of the nation that often characterised Welsh rugby union. Johnes (2000) states that this inclusive approach was even reflected in the way that all the 1905 conquerors of New Zealand were regarded as heroes by the Welsh nation, even though it was well known that several of them were born in England. As shall be seen below, such a view was also evident in football.
Although it is clear that Welsh rugby union has historically provided possibilities for the development of both Welsh and British identities, there are nonetheless several factors that seek to ensure that there is little doubt as to the separate and distinctive nature of Welsh rugby. Firstly, there is the inclusive nature of the game in Wales in contrast with England and to a lesser degree, Scotland. In England and Scotland class was the main factor in rugby union, but in Wales the situation was different, or at least it was believed to be so:
as a unifying, inclusive cultural force it [rugby union] outstripped politics and religion, drawing together coal-heavers and coal-owners in a common passion for the national side (Holt, 1989: 250).
As a result, the English, middle class dominated rugby establishment compares ‘unfavourably with the more populist image of rugby in Wales’ (Johnes, 2002: 113).
Secondly, in contrast again to rugby union in England that remained steadfastly amateur until the mid-1990s, rugby union in Wales remained amateur in principle only. Although never going as far as the Northern Union in England with its broken- time payments, the Welsh Rugby Football Union (WRFU) preferred to pay an often overgenerous form of ‘reasonable expenses’ with which the respective English and Scottish rugby officials were less than happy with (ibid.). Again, this showed the distinctiveness of Welsh rugby and also the independence of the WRFU. The final aspect that has demonstrated the distinctiveness of Welsh rugby has been its anti- Englishness. Whilst a form of anti-Englishness has always been a feature of the relationship between Welsh rugby and England at various points in history, it was most notable in the 1930s depression era and also during the 1980s during Margaret Thatcher’s reign as British Prime Minister. It is important though not to apply cultural significations further across history than is appropriate (Andrews, 1991, 1999). Although, beating England was always significant, for Johnes (2005), a degree of anti-Englishness became more evident from the 1960s, when a more political and assertive Welsh nationalism was starting to emerge. In terms of rugby union, the Welsh saw themselves on a par with England, and thus, ‘the England national XV takes on the persona of the arrogant neighbour who must and can be cut down to size’ (Johnes, 2005: 113). However, as has been mentioned on numerous occasions, one should be cautious about relating sporting nationalist sentiment directly to political sentiment.
As has been seen, rugby union has had a fundamental role in the way that certain groups of Welsh people define themselves, but also significantly in the way that they are defined by others beyond the borders of Wales (Holt, 1989). However, whether
rugby union should be seen as the unchallenged representative of Wales and of its identity is debatable. Certainly for Johnes (2005), rugby union has served an important purpose for Welsh identity in that it has sought to camouflage the reality of Welsh diversity:
rugby internationals … have mobilized Wales’s collective identities and passions. They gloss over the different meanings that the people of Wales attach to their nationality, enabling them to assert their Welshness in the face of internal division and the political, social and cultural shadow of England (109).
Making a point also made by Andrews (1999), Evans, Davies and Bass (1999) take a more openly hostile stance with regard to the dominance of rugby union in the cultural life of Wales, particularly regarding the effective marginalisation of women, a result of the hegemonic masculinity inherent in the game:
it [rugby union] certainly also reduced and occluded other cultural forms of significance and interest in the lives of many people, positioning them marginally, so that their interests and the voices they represent were either silenced or had continually to struggle to survive, making it difficult to capture glimpses of the many other physical forms that have historically found expression in the routine lives of the people of Wales, that are as much a part of the cultural fabric of Wales as rugby, but because of the privileging of ‘the game’ have had to struggle or have died (Evans et al, 1999: 140).
Furthermore, regionalism was also a factor, in that sporting culture is broadly split between the preferences of north Wales (football) and south Wales (rugby union). According to Johnes (2005) though, ‘the simplistic notion of a north-south split in the devotions to rugby and football is a basic but vivid indicator of a divided nation’ (120). The fact that the south Wales football teams, Swansea City and Cardiff City, are the most popular and the most successful teams in the whole nation is indicative of this. So, it is now to the game of football in Wales that we turn.