Editorial

Thinking Rugby through Research and Scientific Writing

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5380/ra.v17i2.100931

Abstract

Scientific production on rugby is still incipient when compared to other sports. This represents a major opportunity: to contribute with new voices, perspectives, and methods. Scientific writing involves systematizing observations, formulating relevant questions, reviewing the literature, building solid arguments, and sustaining a critical perspective. It is also a political practice: deciding what to investigate, how to do it, and under which ethical, aesthetic, and political horizons.

For this reason, this special issue of the ALESDE Journal, entitled “Researching Rugby: Practices, Knowledge, and Logics in Dispute”, gathers ten articles that approach this sport from different perspectives. Its publication invites us to think of rugby not as a closed object, but as a dynamic field of knowledge in which experiences, debates, and contemporary challenges intersect. Below, the ten articles are briefly introduced.

Author Biographies

Juan Casajús, Universidad Nacional de La Plata

Professor (Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educacion) 

Eduardo Lautaro Galak, CONICET/UNLP-IdIHCS - UNIPE

Profesor en Educación Física, Magíster en Educación Corporal y Doctor en Ciencias Sociales por la Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP, Argentina), con post-doctorado en Educaçao, Conhecimento e Integraçao Social por la Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG-Brasil).

References

Anderson, E., & McGuire, R. (2010). Inclusive masculinity theory and the gendered politics of men's rugby. Journal of Gender Studies, 19(3), 249–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2010.494341

Bourdieu, P. (1993). The Field of Cultural Production: Essays on Art and Literature . Ed. Randal Johnson. Columbia University Press.

Branz, J. B. (2015). Ser macho y jugar al rugby: Estudio sobre masculinidades y sociabilidad entre hombres de sectores dominantes de la ciudad de La Plata. Masculinities & Social Change, 4(3), 298–320. https://doi.org/10.17583/mcs.2015.1613

Da-Silva, C., Casajús, J., Sainz, F. y Lazo, V. (2021). Impacto del Mixed Ability Rugby en el equipo Tarucas (Chile). En Actas, 14º Congreso de Educación Física y Ciencias. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación. https://www.memoria.fahce.unlp.edu.ar/trab_eventos/ev.14754/ev.14754.pdf

Dine, P. (2001). French Rugby Football: A Cultural History. Bloomsbury Academic.

Elías, N. (1996). “La génesis del deporte como problema sociológico”, en: Deporte y ocio en el proceso de la civilización, N. Elías y E. Dunning, México, Fondo de Cultura Económica.

Fallon, M. A., & Jome, L. M. (2007). An exploration of gender-role expectations and conflict among women rugby players. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31(3), 311–321. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-6402.2007.00374.x

Fuentes, S. (2022). Cuerpos de elite: Educación, masculinidad y moral en el rugby argentino. FLACSO Argentina. https://www.flacso.org.ar/publicaciones/cuerpos-de-elite/

Jarvie, G. (2017). Sport, Culture and Society: An Introduction. Routledge.

Light, R. L. (2013). “Theorizing Teaching in Sport Pedagogy” en R. L. Light & D. Kirk (Eds.), Research Methods in Physical Education and Youth Sport (pp. 70-91). Routledge.

Pringle, R. (2004). A social history of the articulations between rugby union and masculinities within Aotearoa/New Zealand. New Zealand Sociology, 19(1), 102–128. https://research.monash.edu/en/publications/a-social-history-of-the-articulations-between-rugby-union-and-mas

Sola Grancha, J. (1992). Histora del rugby. Apunts, Educación física, (29) 6-11.

Published

2025-12-15

How to Cite

Casajús, J., & Galak, E. L. (2025). Editorial: Thinking Rugby through Research and Scientific Writing. The Journal of the Latin American Socio-Cultural Studies of Sport (ALESDE), 17(2), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.5380/ra.v17i2.100931