Classism in the UK

[Inverted]

5 minutes ago, Spike said:

Fairy didn't speak of the players but the fans. Besides private or public education isn't always indicative of 'social class', many of the private school kids I knew of were simply from wealthy agrarian families (cockies where I'm from) or simply bogans/chavs. 

And my original point was about rugby generally, not just the fans. In any case players are generally drawn from the fanbase. 

And of course there are some non-middle class private school kids. Just as there are some working class rugby people. Nobody is dealing in absolutes here.

My first post which got some knickers in such a twist said "largely". 

Rugby and private school are largely middle class.

[Fairy In Boots]

14 hours ago, Inverted said:

My ramblings about sport show my prejudices? So I'm prejudiced against the working class and the middle class? I must be, since I was critical about the anti-middle-class vein in football too. 

I've never heard of any study into class and sporting support. Your solution is that I go to a rugby match and make a judgement on nothing more than what I see and overhear from a couple dozen people immediately around me?  How exactly is that better than basing my opinion on the rugby fans that I've met and spoke to? 

There's no objective way of knowing the class structure of rugby support. Ive come to my opinion based on the next best thing: time spent around rugby fans, watching rugby players on tv, reading coverage on rugby and football, and seeing the different ways that the behavior of rugby and football fans is covered. 

In any case, a decent chunk of working class people at Twickenham and a decent chunk of middle-class people in Wembley doesn't immediately get rid of the cultural connotations around the different sports. 

Edit:

Ofsted 2014kzzttdtttddtd

Top league footballers: 94% state educated.

Top league RU players: 39% sta z ate educated. 

Yup, no class divide at all. You're free to make it clear that you're not a fan of mine, but I honestly have no hard feelings. 

You said Rugby was largely the sport of upper-class meat heads.

There's a perfectly good explanation as to why more players are from none state schools and that's because the state by & large don't play it, Likewise cricket with the destruction of school playing fields and lack of coaching and emphasis on sports at school level. 

Amateur rugby which is still the second tier really is far more differently cultured with large working class and growing minority involvement. You're probably not taking into account we're only really a generation into professionalism with Union. The working class of the north splintered off with professionalism and league, the propaganda from both sides of the split has helped spread the perception that union is all posh boys down south. At the top end of it the premiership, there's high numbers due to that being the only production line. It's starting to broaden out with the academy system of the top clubs Jack Nowell & co at Exeter are a great example of this. At grass roots level it's far more mixed and far more tolerant than football in my experience. 

Maybe it's different in Scotland but down here it's just becoming a bit tedious hearing classist bull shit at every opportunity regarding rugby union. League strikes me as the more hostile to different classes & gentrification. After all which code has more ethnic & gender representation? 

It's also worth noting that current RFU president World Cup winner Jason Leonard (state school) has initiated various schemes to grow Rugby in state schools & among ethnic & female populations as it's an area of vast potential not being tapped into by the RFU. 

[Danny]

Union is definitely played in State schools all around the south quite heavily from years 7-9. My school was always involved with Rugby tournaments and we were a "football school".