From one stage to another: French rugby caught between local and global cultures

Casual spectators and die-hard fans’ reactions to their team defeat: A look at the role of territorial identification in elite French rugby

“…About ten years after the professionalism process started in the French rugby union context, the traditional link between followers and their local rugby team is under question as teams seem unable to preserve the local identity anymore (Augustin, 1999;Chaix, 2004). Using a SIA framework (Haslam, 2004), the purpose of the present exploratory research was to compare the relationships between two foci of identification and three iden tity management strategies.…”

“…Each confrontation provides the symbolic support of a local identity and exacerbates cleavages between cities, particularly in 'local derbies' when team from neighboring towns or villages clash (Chaix, 2004). Put in another way, the rugby team, such as other specific symbols of a local culture like food, historical monuments, dances and songs to name a few, is traditionally an 'elliptical' expression of the community and plays an active part in the preservation of a local territorial identification (Augustin, 1999). As a consequence, a defeat of the local team could represent a threat to the territorial identity of the followers.…”

“…This kind of fans may think that teams and owners have broken the link with their fan base and the true nature of rugby. Thus, about ten years after that the professionalism process started in the French rugby union context, some authors argue that the traditional link between followers and their local rugby team is under question as professional teams are not anymore able to preserve the local identity (see e.g., Augustin, 1999;Chaix, 2004).…”

“…More precisely, using a SIA perspective, and based on studies on the influence of the professionalism process in rugby (Augustin, 1999;Bonnet, 2007;Chaix, 2004) and on the ELM framework (Parker & Fink, 2008;Petty et al, 1983), we believe that casual spectators could see their local rugby team as being particularly prototypical of the territorial identity (i.e., the superordinate category) and thus should use the traditional source of identification (i.e., team identification) to react to their team defeat, replicating North-American results on this topic (Bernache-Assollant, 2010; Wann, 2006). For die-hard fans, we argue that, because they possess strong and stable attitudes about their team not easily modifiable, based on their extensive experience and knowledge about it (e.g., in terms of team composition), they could claim a lower prototypicality for their local team.…”

“…Game reactions, therefore, provide a way to express a support to this territorial identity (Bernache-Assollant, Lacassagne, & Braddock II, 2007). In this specific sport context, the decision taken in August 1995 to call into question the amateurism principles of rugby union by accepting professionalism disturbed the different stakeholders involved in the game (Augustin, 1999). Indeed, this new sport structure has considerably increased players' mobility.…”