Eighty minute patriots? National identity and sport in modern Wales

Public and private: national identities in a Scottish Borders community*

“…Third, rugby has a tradition of public performances and displays of team solidarity, masculine identity and national identity (Philips 1986; Wheatley 1990; Long et al 1997; Johnes 2000). It seemed reasonable to suppose that, given the nature of Bordertown's public identity, performances of national identity might be part of a rugby club's repertoire.…”

“…The year 1905 saw the adoption of rugby as a specific symbol of national pride and community when Wales became the only home nation team to beat the touring New Zealand team, at this time the best team in the world (Johnes 2000: 95). This gave all of the people in Wales a symbol to relate to where other symbols of Welshness such as the language and religion failed (Johnes 2000: 96). The success of the national sports team is a way of measuring the success and prestige of the nation which produced it (Cronin 1999: 51).…”

“…This type of strategy is really only successful for individuals who, like Kieran, have the option of choosing a national identity. Otherwise, people are more likely to ignore the sport than take it up (Johnes 2000: 95).…”

‘Beer and Britannia’: public‐house culture and the construction of nineteenth‐century British‐Welsh industrial identity

“…Thus successful manipulation and exploitation of the workforce in Wales required the promotion of a coherent ‘British‐Welsh’ cultural identity. As Johnes (: 95) has stated, ‘the new Welsh nationalism of the late Victorian and Edwardian periods was not generally separatist in character. Instead it was more concerned with achieving recognition within a British context.’…”

“…However, industrialisation emerged in the 1750s and by 1830 iron and coal production from south Wales became vitally important, particularly in terms of British imperial ambition. During the Napoleonic conflict, Aberdare, Merthyr and Rhymney iron was used for Nelson's cannonballs and Wellington's artillery; later in the nineteenth century, Welsh ‘steam coal’ fuelled the increasingly mechanised Royal Navy (Addis ; Jeavons ; Johnes ). Because it was the Royal Navy that facilitated the freedom of movement that was central to British imperial trade and control, industrial Wales came to assume paramount importance to the men who governed the great imperial adventure (Davies ; Holmes ).…”