Browsing by Author "Louw, Maria Magretha Wilhelmina"

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    Reconstructing performance narratives of three historically significant Springbok women rugby players between 2002 and 2016
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2022-04) Louw, Maria Magretha Wilhelmina; Cleophas, Francois Johannes; Kraak, Wilbur; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dept. of Sport Science.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Early ball games can be viewed as a point of reference in understanding the history of rugby. From the Greeks that played Episkyros, a ball game, where the ball was caught with their hands, to the Romans playing a ball game named Harpastum during the fifth century BCE, to the modern-day professional game of rugby, the game has always been brutal and not for the faint- hearted. Consequently, the game developed a broadly defined masculine character. Not surprisingly, the recording and writing of women’s rugby history progressed in the shadow of a male dominant narrative. Hence, the current study aimed to reconstruct performance narratives of three historically significant Springbok women’s rugby players between 2002 and 2016. These players were selected according to the following criteria: they all played Springbok rugby between 2002 and 2016; they played either fifteens, sevens or both codes at international level; each won the player-of-the-year award and/or captained the Springbok team and they participated in at least one World Cup tournament. To be included in the study, the participants had to meet three of these five criteria. The first player, Ingrid Botha, was found to be significant for the study, because she represented South Africa at national level from 2003 to 2008. She captained the 2006 South African Women Rugby World Cup team in two games at that tournament, against England and Ireland. Botha was also awarded the ‘British Airways Women's Rugby Achiever of the Year’ in 2005. The next player I presented was Yolanda Meiring. Her rugby career spanned from 2002 to 2016. She was a South African international player in both the fifteens and sevens games between 2004 and 2013. Meiring played in four World Cups, two Women’s Sevens Rugby World Cups (2009 and 2013) and two fifteens Women’s Rugby World Cups in 2006 and 2010. She was recognised for her achievements by being awarded the Meiring Peyer Women’s Achiever of the Year in 2012. The third player was Lorinda Brown. She played rugby between 2000 and 2017, and as an international player between 2003 and 2016 in both the fifteens and sevens versions of the game. Playing in two fifteens Women’s Rugby World Cups in 2010 and 2014-, and two- Women’s Sevens Rugby World Cups in 2009 and 2013, she captained the Springboks for the first time during the 2010 Women’s Rugby World Cup against Australia, and the Springbok sevens team in 2014 against England. All three players played in one or more World Cup tournaments, won Springbok Player of the Year, two of the three played both fifteens and sevens rugby, two of the players captained the Springboks at least once.