Rugby

From outside Wales, too, it is the rugby that commonly defines the nation - with the sport providing both widespread interests and one of the few positive associations of outsiders' perceptions of Wales. | Citizens commonly identify with their nation in the context of major sporting events: imagining the nation is easier when there is a national team playing another nation (Hobsbawm, 1990). | Rugby in Wales is a particularly strong example of this phenomenon, being perhaps the main thing that unites people in Wales. | In many ways, rugby in Wales defines what Wales is and what people in Wales share.