The lack of age representation in the governance of rugby union in England
White, Adam J. and Robinson, Stefan and Bullingham, Rachael and Anderson, Eric and Pollack, Alison and Scoats, Ryan (2019) The lack of age representation in the governance of rugby union in England. Sociology of Sport Journal, 36 (4). pp. 300-310. ISSN 0741-1235
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Abstract
Diversity and representation in sport governing bodies has become an issue for both public discussion and academic debate in recent times. Previous work has primarily centered on gender inequalities within the forever changing masculine terrain of sport. However, no work has yet examined the representation and participation of young people in the decision-making structures of sporting bodies. This paper holds up England’s Rugby Union for organizational analysis, using the notion of homologous reproduction as a heuristic framework. In doing so, it explores the reproduction of this governing body for the systematic exclusion of young people in decision-making processes over the last few decades. This framework is then twined with Article 11 of the United Nation’s Convention for the Rights of the Child, to make the case that the RFU desires homologous reproduction in order to avoid dealing with what youth are currently concerned with –head injuries. Given such a high proportion of rugby’s participants being under twenty-five years of age, we conclude the lack of young people within the decision-making process represents a form of willful discrimination.
| Item Type: | Article | ||||||
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| Subjects: | CAH15 - social sciences > CAH15-01 - sociology, social policy and anthropology > CAH15-01-02 - sociology CAH22 - education and teaching > CAH22-01 - education and teaching > CAH22-01-01 - education |
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| Divisions: | Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences > Dept. Criminology and Sociology | ||||||
| Depositing User: | Ryan Scoats | ||||||
| Date Deposited: | 04 Apr 2019 10:01 | ||||||
| Last Modified: | 03 Mar 2022 15:54 | ||||||
| URI: | https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/7332 |
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