The role of character in talent identification and development in New Zealand rugby union

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to gain understanding of how character is understood in the New Zealand Rugby (NZR) ecology and how the Player Development Manager (PDM) in one Provincial Union (PU) negotiates, constructs and operationalizes interpretations of character within talent identification and development practices. The study design was informed by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems model of development and the methodology was case study. The participant in the study was the PDM who worked for one provincial rugby union and NZR. Data was gained using; interviews, document analysis and observations. An iterative strategy was employed when adopting the deductive and inductive analysis. The study found that across the NZR ecology there was no universal definition of character, or set of criteria used to assess players’ character. Within the NZR macrosystem there were formal policies that explicitly identified character as a value to be assessed. Yet, implicit understandings and assessment of character also existed. The PDM working in a microsystem constructed his understanding and assessment of character based on his experiences working with, and for, NZR (macrosystem) and the PU (exosystem) respectively, as well as drawing on his personal value set. The findings of this study are significant not only for rugby, in New Zealand and elsewhere, but they are relevant and topical for any selector, recruitment agent or coach who implicitly and explicitly (de)selects participants based on character.