The Sporting Body and Stardom: Rugby, Nation, and Celebrity

From the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association

The Centre for the Study of Media and Culture in Small Nations

Invites you to a public seminar on:

Grav, Gav and Alfie: Rugby Union and Celebrity at the Centre of a Small Nation
Dr John Harris (Glasgow Caledonian University)

Wednesday, 1 May at 4-5pm
Zen Room (CB403), The ATRiuM, University of South Wales, Cardiff CF24 2FN

Abstract:
This presentation will look at the cultural politics of sporting celebrity and the role of rugby union within contemporary Wales. Rugby is, of course, the national sport and many of its leading players become revered figures whose exploits on the field of play are celebrated. Here within the Welsh and British media the individual sporting body is both extended to represent a nation and compressed to obscure social divisions. This paper will consider the ways in which media narratives are framed to (re)present discourses of the nation and will also discuss some of the tensions inherent in local/global relationships within the rapidly changing rugby landscape. Beyond this, it looks specifically at players who have moved outside of the relatively narrow confines of the sports pages and entered into the wider ‘celebrity’ sphere. Whilst it is those who have appeared in the fabled number ten jersey who have achieved a certain prominence within a national context, I will focus here on three players who have appeared in the centre position. For different reasons, Gareth Thomas and Gavin Henson have achieved a level of fame and recognition which far exceeds that normally afforded to rugby players within the wider British media. I also look at the case of Ray Gravell whose untimely passing in 2007 led to a period of national mourning and became an important site for considerations of what Welsh identity means. Key themes addressed in this presentation include the battle between tradition and change, the problems when athletes become ‘celebrities’, and the different types of Welshness (re)presented, celebrated and imagined through the sporting body.

Biography:
Dr John Harris is Reader in International Sport & Event Management within the Department of Business Management at Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland.

The seminar is open to all.  If you wish to join us for dinner with our guest speaker after the seminar, please RSVP: hjones6@glam.ac.uk