{"id":912,"date":"2015-09-30T11:22:51","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T10:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=912"},"modified":"2015-09-30T11:22:51","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T10:22:51","slug":"rugby-world-cup-backs-research-about-family-influence-in-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/arts-social-sciences\/psychology\/rugby-world-cup-backs-research-about-family-influence-in-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"Siblings in the scrum: long history of brothers makes rugby a family affair"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s well known that family plays a key role<\/a> in a child\u2019s initial socialisation into sport and his or her continued participation. This family involvement is certainly evident on a Sunday morning at my local rugby club where siblings of both genders and all ages participate in a range of activities. Add to this the fact that as many of the mums and dads are former players who now help with coaching and refereeing, with a few grandparents thrown in as well, there can often be three generations of the same family involved.<\/p>\n

The level of family involvement in the 2015 Rugby World Cup appears to confirm research that<\/a> family influences a players\u2019 introduction and experience of the sport in a variety of ways \u2013 from taking up the game to sibling rivalry driving performance. Being an England fan I was already aware of the two sets of brothers in the England squad \u2013 Billy and Mako Vunipola and the brothers Ben and Tom Youngs (whose father Nick was a former England scrum-half).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Tom and Ben Youngs, whose father also played rugby for England.<\/span>
\nSteve Parsons\/PA Archive\/PA Images<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Then there is Scotland and the Gray brothers, Jonny and Richie<\/a>. Interestingly it was Jonny<\/a>, the younger sibling, who first took up rugby, sparking Richie to then follow suit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Scotland\u2019s siblings Jonny and Richie Gray.<\/span>
\nJeff Holmes \/ PA Archive\/PA Images<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Ireland squad features brothers Dave and Rob Kearney<\/a>. Rob has said that his passion for rugby was strongly influenced by his father<\/a>\u2019s love of the sport though he also acknowledged the important role of mothers in today\u2019s game<\/a> \u2013 if his mum didn\u2019t want him playing the game he wouldn\u2019t be doing it.<\/p>\n

What all these sets of brothers have in common is their closeness and the bond between them, as well as a healthy element of sibling rivalry. Dave Kearney explains this relationship<\/a>: \u201cIf there\u2019s someone with you it\u2019s easier. It\u2019s competitive too. You\u2019re working hard against each other and trying to get the best out of each other. It was good having someone you can work with and push on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Owen and Ben Franks are the latest in the line of 43 sets of brothers who have played for the All Blacks over the years.<\/span>
\nReuters\/Nigel Marple<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

New Zealand has a long history of brotherly participation with 43 sets of brothers<\/a> having played for the All Blacks at different times. However for those brothers lining up alongside each other this figure drops to nine. This year Ben and Owen Franks make up the fraternal component of the 2015 squad. Once again it was their father<\/a> who was instrumental in their rugby career, training the duo from a young age. Like the Kearney brothers, sibling competition also plays a key part and Owen revealed<\/a> that: \u201cBen would try to bait me into fighting him because I was so much weaker and smaller but as I got older I could start to compete a little bit more.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Springboks brothers Bismark and Jannie du Plessis.<\/span>
\nREUTERS\/Howard Burditt<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Canada also join the brotherly club with the inclusion of Phil and Jamie MacKenzie<\/a> as do the Springboks featuring Jannie Du Plessis and Bismarck Du Plessis<\/a>. The Du Plessis brothers have spoken openly about their strong relationship and bond and even made their Springboks debut<\/a> together in the same game. Their closeness is magnified by their working, living and playing together and their unified goal<\/a> of playing in a World Cup final watched by their father.<\/p>\n

Potential record breakers<\/h2>\n

At the top of the list is Samoa, which is fielding three brothers: George, Tusi and Ken Pisi, in the same squad. If all three appear on the pitch at the same time they will create Rugby World Cup history<\/a>. George explained his feelings of brotherly love: \u201cWhen Ken was small, Tusi and I used him for tackling practice \u2026 Later, whenever we were on opposite sides in a game, I had this extra-special feeling of just wanting to smash him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

Samoa is fielding three brothers in this year\u2019s World Cup: Tusiata, Ken and George Pisi.<\/span>
\nReuters\/Paul Childs<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Samoa are no strangers to family ties and the Tuilagi brothers Henry, Freddie, Anitelea and Sanele have all played internationally for Samoa<\/a> and brother Manu<\/a> played for England. Brother Alesana Tuilagi, a winger in the Samoan 2015 squad would therefore also contribute to the history books if he makes his Rugby World Cup debut.<\/p>\n

The family connections continue still beyond brothers, with other family links in the competition including Ireland\u2019s Luke Fitzgerald whose father Des played for Ireland, Welsh back Ross Moriarty who is following in the footsteps of his father and uncle who both played internationally for Wales, and the England player Owen Farrell whose father Andy, a former England player, is also part of the England coaching staff. Rugby, it seems, truly is a family affair.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Jessica Pinchbeck<\/a>, Lecturer in Sport and Fitness, The Open University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article was originally published on The Conversation<\/a>. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s well known that family plays a key role in a child\u2019s initial socialisation into sport and his or her continued participation. This family involvement is certainly evident on a Sunday morning at my local rugby club where siblings of both genders and all ages participate in a range of activities. Add to this the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":919,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[39,323,868,1944,2095],"class_list":["post-912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","tag-2015-rugby-world-cup","tag-brothers","tag-family","tag-rugby","tag-sport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}