Rugby World Cup 2011: sport mega-events and the contested terrain of space, bodies and commodities

Abstract

This paper examines the contested terrain of sport mega-events and focuses on some recent examples from Rugby World Cup (RWC) 2011, hosted by New Zealand, a small nation of 4.3 million people. Overall, the analysis illustrates how one particular sporting event offers insights into the role of sport as part of a wider set of relations of globalization, politics, economics and cultural identity. This paper is divided into three main parts: (1) the social and cultural significance of sport mega-events as strategic sites of cultural analysis; (2) the politics and economics of the bid to host RWC 2011 and (3) the multidimensional nature of the contested terrain of RWC 2011 with respect to space, bodies and commodities. This paper concludes by contrasting the political rhetoric associated with sport mega-events with the lived realities and experience of citizens.

Notes

^1.Roche, Mega-events and Modernity, 1; Horne, Four Knowns.

^2.Horne and Manzenreiter, ‘Introduction to the Sociology’, 2.

^3.Harvey, ‘Flexible Accumulation Through Urbanization’.

^4.Scherer, ‘Olympic Villages and Large-Scale Urban Development’.

^5.Kelsey, Reclaiming the Future.

^6.Hayes and Karamichas, Olympic Games, Mega-Events and Civil Societies, 2.

^7.Jackson, ‘Sport Mega Events Between the Global & The Local’.

^8.MacAloon, ‘Olympic Games and the Theory of Spectacle’, 274.

^9. ‘Rugby World Cup Bid Office Set Up’, April 1, 2005, http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/MultipageDocumentTOC41934.aspx

^10. Ibid.

^11. ‘New Zealand Launches Bid for Rugby World Cup 2011, (11 May, 2005), http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/MultipageDocumentTOC41935.aspx

^12. Ibid.

^13. Ibid.

^14. Ibid.

^15. New Zealand Rugby World Cup Bid Video, 18 November 2005.

^16. NZRU, ‘Rugby World Cup Tender Document, 2007’, http://www.nzru.co.nz/rwc_2011, 2011.

^17.Jackson, ‘2011 Rugby World Cup’.

^18.Jackson, Batty, and Scherer, ‘Transnational Sport Marketing’, 185–201.

^19.Jackson, ‘Reading New Zealand Within the New Global Order’; Scherer and Jackson, Globalization, Sport and Corporate Nationalism.

^20. P. Bills, ‘World Cup Warning: Loss Could Hit $55 m’, New Zealand Herald, May 18, 2010, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id = 1&objectid = 10645710

^21. M. Johnston, ‘New Govt Office Will ‘Milk’ 2011 Cup for Long-term Benefits’, New Zealand Herald, October 22, 2007, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id = 1&objectid = 10471315

^22.Chomsky, Necessary Illusions.

^23.Williams, Marxism and Literature.

^24. J. Higham, ‘RWC: An Opportunity Missed’, University of Otago Magazine, February 26–27, 2012.

^25.Sam and Jay Scherer, ‘Stand Up and Be Counted’.

^26. Ibid., 54.

^27.Porter, ‘Local Government Accountability’, Porter and Sam, ‘Playing the Shell Game’.

^28. C. Morris ‘Dunedin Stadium Posts $1.9 m Loss’, Otago Daily Times, May 9, 2012, http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/208611/dunedin-stadium-posts-19 m-loss

^29. Higham, ‘RWC: An Opportunity Missed’.

^30.Whitson, ‘Bringing the World to Canada’.

^31. ‘Rugby: NZ, Australia welcome new RWC deal’, Otago Daily Times, May 18, 2012, http://www.odt.co.nz/sport/rugby/209764/rugby-nz-aust-welcome-new-rwc-deal

^32. Whitson, ‘Bringing the World to Canada’, 1230.

^33. Ibid., 1216.

^34.Scherer, Batty, and Sam, ‘Sporting Sign Wars’.

^35. L. Nichols, ‘Strippers Warned Over ABs Outfits’, Dominion Post, September 30, 2011, http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5707585/Strippers-warned-over-ABs-outfits

^36. G. Ford, ‘IRB Blasts Joint TV Bid by NZ Broadcasters’, March 2, 2009, http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/1762130/IRB-blasts-joint-TV-bid-by-NZ-broadcasters; Scherer, Sam, and Jackson, ‘Millennium Blues’, 2012.

^37.Scherer and Sam, ‘Public Broadcasting, Sport and Cultural Citizenship’.

^38. A. Wade, ‘All Blacks Campaign: No Sex for Fans’, New Zealand Herald, August 17, 2011, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby-world-cup2011/news/article.cfm?c_id=522&objectid=10745584

^39. M. Dickison, ‘Big Money for Telecom Ad Gaffe’, New Zealand Herald, August 19, 2011, http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id = 1&objectid = 10746020

^40.Miller et al., Globalization and Sport.

^41. G. Robertson, ‘Born Here to Play There: RWC 2011 Squads Chocker with ‘Kiwis’’, TV3 News, September 6, 2011, http://www.3news.co.nz/Born-here-to-play-there-RWC-2011-squads-chocker-with-Kiwis/tabid/1534/articleID/224687

^42. There are a host of unequal power relations at play in the new international sporting labour market that discipline the movement of athletic bodies and privilege core sporting nations over peripheral ones (e.g. see Grainger, ‘From Immigrant to Overstayer’, 2006). Although beyond the scope of this paper, many of these issues, including the IRB's tournament schedule that granted lengthier breaks between matches to Tier 1 rugby nations, were on display during RWC 2011.

^43. J. Matheson, ‘Rugby Bosses Lure Sonny Bill’, Sunday News, March 29, 2009, http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/2299468/Rugby-bosses-lure-Sonny-Bill

^44.Scherer and Jackson, ‘Sports Advertising, Cultural Production’.

^45. TVOne Close Up Program, ‘Interview with Adidas Representatives David Huggett and Greg Kerr’, August 10, 2011. Host: Mark Sainsbury. Auckland: Television New Zealand.

^46.Whitson and Gruneau, ‘(Real) Integrated Circus’.

^47. ‘Tin Town’

^48. Scherer and Jackson. The Contested Terrain of the New Zealand All Blacks.