News & Photos
STHM Student Researches the Future of Rugby in Italy
Written by: Julie Achilles
While many college students spent their summer breaks working to pay rent and visiting friends, Gareth Jones, a junior in Temple University’s Sport and Recreation Management Program, spent his summer abroad on an unforgettable educational trip.
An avid player on Temple’s rugby team, Jones traveled to Italy to conduct a self-designed research project on marketing this minority sport.
“I actually never realized how many opportunities Temple offers its students to research and study,” said Jones, who took full advantage of Temple’s Undergraduate Research Incentive Fund to help finance his trip abroad.
Dr. Ira Shapiro, director for programs in Sport and Recreation Management at Temple’s School of Tourism and Hospitality Management (STHM), commended Jones’s initiative suggesting, “His proposal was selected because it involved cross-cultural study and international travel, which President Hart has been promoting.” Dr. Shapiro acted as Jones’s mentor throughout the project.
The basis of Jones’s project involved research on rugby as a developing sport in Italy, and how it is portrayed in the media. Jones specifically chose Italy as his research grounds because the sporting landscape is so similar to that of the United States.
According to Jones, soccer, alpine sports and even formula one racing are currently the foundation of the Italian sports culture, absorbing the most profits, and dominating TV ratings and print media. “As a relatively new sport to the country, rugby is struggling to establish itself in the minds of Italian sports fans, but in the last five or ten years it has started to show signs of growth and success,” said Jones.
While in Italy, Jones took pictures of billboards and posters, and bought magazines and newspapers to learn more about how rugby is recognized by the public eye. He noted TV commercials for rugby, and what type of sponsorship each one had.
“I thought it was necessary to immerse myself in the culture, in order to better understand the consumer’s perceptions of rugby, and how that was conveyed through various media outlets,” explained Jones.
He also observed online media by comparing the Italian Rugby Federation’s Web site with that of other rugby unions. “The online media seems to be taking a more professional approach to the sport, much like it does with soccer, which is definitely an encouraging sign,” he said.
To top off his research, Jones was able to interview Giorgio Menapace, the director of marketing at a local professional rugby club. Menapace explained that in the past 10 years, Italy has invested more money into its rugby programs, including youth level rugby, which is exposing kids to the sport at an earlier age.
However, many of Italy’s players have traditionally left to play for Europe’s best teams in France and the United Kingdom. In 2002, Italy vowed to change this by restructuring their highest-level leagues and creating the nation’s first professional league, the Super 10. “This gave prospective players a reason to continue playing and developing their talent in Italy, and so far the plan has been successful,” said Jones.
Recently, rugby has found increasing success in Italy on both the club and national levels. In 2000, Italy joined the Six Nations Rugby Championship, and won its opening game against Scotland. They have continued to increase their quality of play in the past eight years.
By analyzing his research, Jones concluded that the U.S. could capitalize on rugby if similar marketing strategies were executed domestically.
When Jones arrived back in the U.S., he submitted a report on his research to Duane Smith, the Assistant Vice Provost for Temple’s Undergraduate Studies. In the near future, he hopes to do a follow-up project to elaborate on his findings. “I would encourage every student to take advantage of all the amazing opportunities Temple offers to study and research outside of the curriculum and abroad.”
Agreeing with this idea, Dr. Shapiro commented, “It’s wonderful that STHM students are beginning to recognize the importance of conducting research early in their professional preparation.”
In addition, Jones has taken what he learned abroad and is implementing some of the same strategies into Temple’s own rugby program. “We have an extremely talented and dedicated group of players at this school, who have started to take a more professional approach, which has changed the perception that rugby is only a social sport,” he explained. “With continued structure and organization of our club, it will only get better.”