Here in New Zealand, I often reflect on October 2010. You may recall that
month; the fall colors were black and orange and the season was flush with
fearful beards and late-inning “torture.” During those pennant-winning weeks,
the cauldron of Giants baseball fever hovered between bubble and froth and our
community had cohesion of purpose unlike I’d seen before.
So why is it that half-a-world away (where virtually no one knows the
difference between a slider and a curveball) I’m consistently reminded of the
2010 World Champs? Well, it’s because the fervour of fall ’10 is replicated
daily in New Zealand but for a much different sport: rugby.
New Zealand has been a rugby nation since shortly after its incorporation
into the Crown territories in the early19th century. The British,
you see, were intent on avoiding the opulent mentality that plagued prior
empires, and so chose a formidable and stoic sport to promote throughout their
colonies. I don’t know how successful this tactic was elsewhere, but in New Zealand
the game – and its paradigm – took root.. According to Dr. Robin McConnell, in his profile Inside the All Blacks, rugby
“shapes New Zealand social history and everyday life.”
Case in point -- it’s been five months since the New Zealand national team won the Rugby World Cup
on home turf, yet the All Blacks remain ubiquitous. Flags, some homemade, fly
from car antennas and balconies, babies don All Black onesies, and bottles of
the nation’s top selling beer (Steinlager) declare “All Blacks…25 Years of Unconditional
Support.” Looking for front-page news? Any snippet about a present or former All Blacks player will do. Did you
know that the legendary Michael Jones is helping to bring a Carl’s Jr.
franchise to New Zealand?
The All Blacks are a national team and rugby a national sport in New
Zealand – and we really have nothing comparable in the U.S., especially in
terms of unity of loyalty. Given size and diversity differences between the two
countries, this may not seem a fair comparison but it nonetheless raises the
question of whether this shared passion for, and culture of, rugby pervades
Kiwi life beyond the pitch? And in particular, does it help make Kiwis happier
and healthier?
If you ask my wife, rugby is defined as a sport played by short men
wearing too short shorts around gigantic thighs. But to others, it is defined
by discipline, masculinity and stoicism. It is the type of sport in which a
player (true story) might insist on playing most of a
match with one testicle hanging torn from his scrotum. Stories like this are
common and lead one to believe that the stoicism of Kiwis is unparalleled – an
observation that finds some support in medical studies on pain tolerance. It
could be that rugby plays a role in the Kiwi approach to death and dying [which
is?]– one that, anecdotally at least, is more accepting than that of many other
countries. Additionally, the national morale may be boosted by shared
enthusiasm over rugby, which, in turn, can benefit the collective welfare. Indeed if you were to ask psychologist
Jonathan Haidt, author of The Righteous
Mind, Kiwi rugby culture might represent a classic case of sacredness of
the group - “People who worship the same idol can trust one another, work as a
team and prevail over less cohesive groups.”
But some argue that any such benefits
are greatly overwhelmed by rugby’s culture of rowdiness, drunkenness and
intolerance. In fact, just as there are Kiwis who live for rugby, there are
those who detest it. One blogger, in
a piece entitled “NZ Rugby Morally Bereft,” writes that rugby “promotes machocism, alcoholism, violence, sexism
and colonialism. Rugby has also created a crippling crisis in our health
sector.” There is certainly truth to the first statement – the only rugby match
I’ve ever attended hosted a highly intoxicated crowd, and I won’t even attempt
to describe the experience of visiting a stadium urinal. But while injuries are common, I
can’t believe that they are a crippling crisis. Rugby may have a higher injury
rate than many other sports, and concussions (especially under-reported
concussions) are of particular concern, but
the rates of devastating injuries such as spinal cord injury are actually not
that high. A review of nationwide injury claims related to rugby from 1999-2007
reports an average of 743 a year, most of them limb and soft-tissue injuries,
with a rather (given the nature of health expenses) modest yearly cost of $5.3
million.
One of the few academics that has closely studied and written
about the cultural and societal effects of Kiwi rugby is Brendan Hokowhitu, an associate dean at
University of Otago. He shares a rather bleak assessment of the health effects
of the sport. “I
wouldn't say there is anything historically at least positive about New Zealand
rugby culture and health,” he wrote. “Rugby was very much part of the
establishment and was as such quite oppressive of women and alterity [cultural freedom] in
general.”
So the All Blacks culture does have a black
side. But, to reiterate, the cohesiveness of the culture certainly has positive
effects regarding national identity and group mentality. New Zealanders
consistently score highly in international surveys of happiness and a
nationwide social survey of 8,000 Kiwis found very high levels of people
feeling like they “belong to New Zealand.” Another survey, of about 6,000,
conducted by psychologist Marc Wilson of Victoria University of Wellington,
found that Kiwi respondents with stronger identification to rugby reported
being happier, more optimistic and having higher self-esteem. The beneficial
effects of happiness on health are both obvious and well documented, and should
not be underestimated. I wonder if the rugby in rugby culture could be replaced
with a group activity with fewer downsides? Could a less dangerous and less
rambunctious diversion replace rugby? Golf is popular here – so perhaps the All
Greens might substitute. When it comes to group identity, however, such a
change is much easier to talk about than to make. It’s a bit like asking a
Giants fan to take up an L.A. Dodger habit.
