Customer Reviews (4)

Ruck Up With Great Book
"Rugby Rob" is a classic coming-of-age story. In his sixth year of college, Robert Groman finds himself in the awkward neutral zone between casual student and responsible adult. Through the game of rugby and his love for a captivating coed, he comes to grips with the reality that he is just a few steps from the real world. Robert Kanzig has a knack for telling a story. He weaves an intriguing storyline that captures the dynamics of the game of Rugby and of the human heart. Kanzig's prose is precise and to the point. He excels at creating natural and interesting character dialogue. This first person narrative works well as the highly credible inner monologue of a young man struggling with his view of himself, his future and his place in the world. Think of it as "Portrait of a Young Artist" for the Rugby set.

Love Divided
Rugby Rob is about a college student finding the hardships in having two loves.His frist true love is rugby and rugby creates who he really is in college.He also has the love of his heart, but doesn't know the first thing about what to do.He uses everything from pumpkins with Christmas candy to a warped sense of humor to try to win the heart of a very adorable coed.

Love divided
Rugby Rob is about a college finding the hardships in having two loves.His frist true love is rugby and rugby creates who he really is in college.He also has the love of his heart, but doesn't know the first thing about what to do.He uses everything from pumpkins with Christmas candy to a warped sense of humor to try to win the heart of a very adorable coed.

Rugby Rob Review
Rugby Rob is a good book about the college years of student who felt he didn't fit in.....until he found Rugby!Robert Kanzig's unique humor comes through throughout the entire book and is very interesting.Not knowing much about Rugby, I did learn about the game from the book.Besides Rugby, the story line did include a romantic interest.I enjoyed Kanzig's book and look forward to reading more of his novels.His wit in combination with his outlook on life is unique and entertaining! ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Book Description
This collection of essays charts the development of rugby football from its origins in the English public schools and ancient universities to its acceptance in the farthest reaches of the empire. As the authors show, central to an understanding of the place of rugby in all these settings is evidence demonstrating that the game was a form of both hegemonic masculinity and homosocial behaviour, as well as a means of promoting nationalism and social control.

A major aim of the editors has been to highlight the changes and continuities which the game of rugby and its traditions of manliness and masculinity have undergone due to the effects of both time and place. The book concludes with a discussion on the current state and future of rugby, particularly of the impact of the World Cup, professionalism and commercialism on this still 'gendered' sport. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

More Like "Rugby and the Emergence of British and Colonial Nationalism"
Prospective readers take heed:this is not a book about the glories of rugby union football.It's not about epic battles, soaring victories and crushing defeats, the heroes and the zeroes.This is not a book about sport; it is penetrating social science in the context of sport.This is a serious scholarly work, complete with compulsory academic-speak like "hegemony" and "pedagogy," even "bourgeoisie," and really deep academic-speak laden passages such as, "...the racial and patriarchal ideology of residual Celtic supremacy."If you're looking for a light diversion about playing rugby, this most certainly is not it.If you're a hunchbacked tight-five scrummie who's best when rucking and raking in the mud and the blood, this is not your kind of book.

But, if you're a rugby enthusiast and/or player with intellectual thinking a bit more expansive than the pitch and the pub, looking for a truly fascinating series of well researched and easy to follow studies of how your sport has influenced much larger social, societal, cultural, and national issues, then you'll most likely enjoy this.

Despite the title, this book isn't a gender studies examination of masculine identity within the context of Rugby Union Football (rugby).If you're anticipating a forced collection of touchy-feely work on masculine identity and other squishy gender issues in the context of rugby, this book will disappoint.There is one article which is mainly devoted to the book's inaccurate sub-title, Nauright's quasi-concluding article prior to the formal conclusion, in which he explores some aspects of gender identity and labeling.The rest of the book does take on issues of masculinity and its public perception and development in the context of rugby, but these discussions take place almost exclusively to set the stage for the much larger and arguably more interesting issues.Sure, there are passing references to the male culture of rugby, almost all of them negative, highlighting gender exclusivity, drinking, brawling, and what is portrayed unfairly as sexist ritual and institutional misogyny.Reading these passages, I wonder if any of the authors actually have ever played the sport.

The discussion of male identity takes place always in the context of how this was a precursor and then concurrent aspect of the building of larger national identity.There are many, eventually repetitive references to what would become an English vision of modern (read "Industrial Revolution") manliness:rural, strong, fit, and more than anything willing to engage in activities of explicit physical risk.The discussions of male-ness in this book center on an Industrial Revolution intelligentsia worried that factory work and the tyranny of technology would rob the English Man of his stamina, his connection to the land, of his vigor and his strength, his ability to withstand physical and spiritual hardship, and ultimately the Empire.The discussion is very much rural-vs.-urban, but is also economic and social, landed-vs.-dispossessed and gentry-vs.-peasant.Into this surprisingly strong and strident public discussion arrives rugby, a sport accessible at first to only some, and eventually to all, in which the ideals of English masculinity could be first regained, then strengthened, and then showcased, first domestically then internationally.

This leads to the real core of this book, which I found much more interesting than the predictable gender positions within rugby.It is the surprisingly influential and arguably pivotal role rugby played in the development and growth of national identity and then nationalism in England and Wales (by implication, Ireland and Scotland), and in the colonies of South Africa, New Zealand, and Australia.In a nutshell:rugby emerged as a class-restrictive sport, which rapidly became a location of class-transcending social mixing.As coalescing Industrial Revolution economic classes bonded over a common love, so was born mutual dependence, respect, and the basis for a larger understanding of common cause and purpose.So was born pride and societal/cultural definition, from which nationalism rapidly grew:". . . the `mateship' associated with rugby served to transcend class boundaries and weld men together under a canopy of common masculinity."

There are 12 articles across 244 pages.The articles are arranged in a basic chronological order, starting with the opener discussing rugby in British public schools in the 1830s on, up to the final chronological article on the role of rugby in South Africa in the latter half of the 20th century.

For someone looking for some great quotes on maleness and rugby, the unique attributes of the sport, this book is a trove:rugby as "...physical combat without (having to resort) to uncontrolled violence;" the rugby player as "warrior-philosopher;" rugby as a display of "healthy animalism," and; the rugby pitch as "...a testing ground-a place where manliness was learned, character developed and manhood discovered."There are hundreds more to choose from.

The scholarly citation is quite good throughout, with ample opportunities to examine sources and seek out additional reading.I think it was a poor editorial decision, however, to use chapter end notes rather than traditional footnotes, as the moving back and forth to the end of the chapter interrupted the flow of my reading.The book is scholarly, after all, let the footnotes fall where they should.There is a surprisingly comprehensive index, another solid aid for the researcher and student.

Bottom line:If you're looking for a straightforward history of rugby, tales of storied matches, ancient rivalries, and wins/losses, this book isn't for you.If you are a serious gender studies student or reader, this book will deliver somewhat on the book's subtitled promise of masculine identity examination, largely confirming all of the worst rugby stereotypes.But, if you're a sports-minded intellectual accustomed to serious academic writing and with the basic background in current political science, economics, history, and the world system, looking for something interesting that ties all of them together convincingly, then this book will be as revealing and pleasurably surprising for you as it was for me. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Funniest book in years
I read the original edition in the 1960's, and desperately want to find a copy.

It was one of the funniest books I ever read, but will appeal only to those who play, or are at least familiar with, rugby.

hilarious stories of those not able to be on the first side!
I laughed so hard reading this book!After reading his book you can tell if you are a rugger (play on the first side) or a coarse rugby player (play on the other sides).A must read for all rugby footballers ... Read more

Book Description