Interview Excerpt

This dialogue comes from a conversation I had with one of my teammates, "Elizabeth", about the "Drink Up" culture. I think it brings up some interesting questions about not only the rugby subculture but the sports team community as well.
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M: Do you think there’s any sort of unifying characteristic about the girls on the rugby team specifically? Or..

E: Everyone’s really open, and liberal, and, just really fun and cool and accepting of like all different types of people, because, like, everyone’s different, I don’t think there’s one characteristic except that everyone is different. Fun..caring…like family!

M: When was the first time that you socialed with another team?

E: I think it was the first game[East Valley]..?

M:I don’t remember..

E:..I think it was after my first B-side game. It was like we went to someone’s backyard and drank beverages, sang songs, shared verses.

M: What’s your favorite part about a social?

E: I like singing. I think that’s my favorite part. Just like singing and like, hearing the creativity of everyone and like, I don’t know. It’s always cool when someone comes up with a new verse that I’ve never heard before that’s really intelligent, but also really insulting at the same time. It shows off their intelligence and cleverness. I’m always like, “whoa, how’d they do that?” I’m always just really impressed at like how people think of lines. Even if they didn’t do it [on the spot], if they did do it ahead of time, it’s..how much of a vocabulary I didn’t know before.
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E: I just think they’re fun..I don’t think they’re that empowering..well, maybe. Maybe the people feel empowered because it’s okay to say whatever you want at a social. Like, however inappropriate in life, I mean like, in a daily..situation.

M: Do you think the social atmosphere had anything to do with how bold people are in their verse making?

E: What?

M: Socials are open, and people are sometimes drunk, and they’re just like, drinking and having fun. Does that make people more daring in the way they address someone or make fun of someone else?

E: I think so. I definitely think so. Because when you’re drunk you have less inhibitions…when people are drunk they don’t care as much.. But I mean, I think that even if people didn’t drink, it’s after you gain that trust that we could probably just have a normal social..

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M: Can you explain a little about like, the music. Like I notice sometimes that some of the tunes to the songs come from, like, songs that we knew when we were little.

E: Really? Oh, like Do-Re-Mi?

M: Yeah.

E: I think that just makes it easier for everyone to participate. Because if it was something really difficult, if it were hard to sing it would be hard for everyone to pick up and to contribute. So for it to be a really easy tune just makes it easier.

M: And now when we make songs we do the same thing in which we choose like a pop song or another familiar song to make it easier. Have you ever written a rugby song?

E: Yeah, a rookie song, and one for the seniors..

M: What kinds of things are important when writing a rugby song?

E: I don’t know. I’m not really good at it, but I guess there are a lot of different approaches. Like, some people like to start out with thinking of a person to like target, and then thinking of something to target and then just throwing out words that rhyme..

M: How do you come up with verses?

E: You just think of someone and think of their name or different versions of their names and think of things that rhyme with it and make fun of them. And usually it’s sexual..

M: I wonder why that is..

E: Well it’s more fun that way. Like, you don’t get to say stuff like that in normal conversation. I guess it is empowerment. You don’t have to be proper. It’s fun to be “bad” sometimes..