Unholy Union: How Professionalism Transformed Rugby's Amateur Heart

by Mike Aylwin

No sport has undergone so traumatic a transformation as rugby since the turn of the century. The last of the major sports to be granted a licence to make or dispense money, rugby was propelled on a trajectory that has twisted its cumbersome frame to the very limits of integrity and continues to do so. The pressures exerted throughout, on infrastructure, economics, administrators and, most poignantly of all, the players themselves, have conjured the perpetual impression of a sport on the brink of explosion or implosion, a drama compelling and appalling to behold.

Unholy Union is a snapshot of the sport in the early 21st century, pulling apart how we have come to be where we are, while brazenly prescribing what needs to be done next. It is ambitious in its scope, drawing on rugby's long history from the same cradle as its bigger sister, association football, while tapping into the edgy, prescriptive zeitgeist of this raging age of social media. This book will be irreverent and provocative, asking uncomfortable questions of rugby, sport and life, but it will be imbued throughout with love for a game whose ancient spirit is that of the foot soldier, that of the cavalier. The task at hand is to preserve it in the face of the professional onslaught.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Umbar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second half was more enjoyable, but narratively weaker. Made me feel existential about the future of rugby. Hated to see Jonah Lomu described as “exotic”

[Alastair Savin · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was a child I absorbed my parents (particularly my dad's) opinion that rugby was better in the days before professionalism. His argument was that because the players were less interested in weightlifting the game was more about speed, and that more people could play as weight didn't matter as much. He used to bring up stories of 9 stone international wingers to back this up. Whilst I think his latter point does have (some) merit, this book really made it clear to me how much his opinion was severely coloured by nostalgia. In the 1970/80s there were almost as many scrums are there were rucks, lots of completely aimless kicking and random acts of violence that were completely unpunished. Hardly the game of elegance and speed that my dad used to reminisce about! This book shows through statistics how the professionalisation of the game has massively improved it as a spectacle.

However this book has made me aware of costs of professionalism which I hadn't considered. It explained how fragile the financial networks that prop up the game really are e.g why so many english clubs go bankrupt etc. Also how devastating the pull on smaller nations such as Scotland and New Zealand by the England and France because of the massive inequality in the amount of money these two countries can invest in the game compared to everyone else. The fact that in Scotland, the area's in which there is the greatest interested in the sport don't tally with the areas which have the people and infrastructure to maintain a professional team has been particularly tough.

The unfairness of the position the pacific islands have found themselves in is heartbreaking. Despite providing 20% of the worlds professional players (while only making up 0.04% of the worlds population) they don't get anything like the income from playing international matches as would in a fair world be their right. So many of their players are funnelled through clubs on the other side of the world from their homes, without any thought to their wellbeing.

Lastly one aspect of professionalism which I hadn't considered at all was the effect it's had on the amateur game. The increased seriousness which some players take their own game in the modern world added to weightlifting seems to have put off a lot people who just enjoy playing a more casual game. This has reduced player numbers and increasing the danger to the players that are left. Even if someone has no handling skills an 18stone player is an 18 stone player.

[Brian Schnack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant. For any rugby player, fan. It’s like you’re at the pub with your best mates, talking about the good old days…and the bad.

Hilarity. Frustration. Poetry. Questions. Answers. Passion.

“We watch in wonder a fish out of water, that twisting, seething scrum caught in the floodlights, as confused, ugly and beautiful as us all.”

[Michael Macdonald · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent assessment of a changing sport

Detailed analysis of the saga of professional rugby union highlighting the loss of soul and unsustainable economics of a complex and much loved sport. Intriguing argument about the vices of professionalism without strong commitment to growth to find it.

[Marcus Larsson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Najs för fe va mycke rugby grejer man fick veta
Själva handlingen av boken om hur man fixar rugby va lite hjärndött.

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were some interesting chapters in the book, particularly around the development of professional rugby in the UK, Ireland and France, but the last four chapters were a bit of a ramble and difficult to get through.
I enjoy the author’s writing in the Guardian but I feel too much of this book was a thesis on what is wrong with the sport, and would have benefited from interviews and different points of view.