Rivalry in Sport: Understanding Fan

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Rivalry in Sport
Understanding Fan
Behavior and
Organizations

Cody T. Havard
Rivalry in Sport
 Cody T. Havard

Rivalry in Sport
Understanding Fan Behavior and Organizations
Cody T. Havard
Bureau of Sport and Leisure Commerce
Kemmons Wilson School
The University of Memphis
Memphis, TN, USA

ISBN 978-3-030-47454-6 ISBN 978-3-030-47455-3 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47455-3

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2020
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc.
in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such
names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for
general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and informa-
tion in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither
the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with
respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been
made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps
and institutional affiliations.

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To my family, Kristin, Harrison, Lincoln, and Begley. Keep working,
dreaming, and singing. Never lose your imagination!
 Preface

Sport holds a special place in society, and competition and rivalry are
important facets of sport. In my research on rivalry, I have been fortu-
nate enough to observe fan behavior through interviews and quanti-
tative investigation. Through these ventures, I have made five primary
observations.
First, fan and group behavior is a fascinating area of inquiry, as Daniel
Wann, Ph.D., once told me, if 100 people were asked why they consume
sport, you would get 100 different answers. The study of fandom and
rivalry has been an interesting and worthwhile area of investigation for
me, and I hope to share my passion with others and encourage others to
inquire in this area through this book.
Second, the investigation into rivalry and what it means to fans and
group members is relatively new, with most of the work in the area
being published over the last decade. This means that more researchers
are needed to investigate and better understand the phenomenon. This
book was written to try and help researchers, academics, and practitioners
wanting to engage in this line of inquiry.
Third, it is important that valid and reliable measures are presented
to assist those researching and investigating rivalry and its influence on
sport fans and group members. This book discusses several instruments
that have been used to measure fandom and rivalry.
Fourth, scientific investigation is a never-ending pursuit, and the search
for information and answers is many times more enjoyable than containing

vii
viii PREFACE

answers. In the pursuit of knowledge, researchers should build on the

work of others in a constant attempt to advance understanding in an area
of inquiry. This book is written in this spirit and hopes to further engage
people with the subject area and encourage readers to ask questions and
seek answers.
Fifth and finally, in our society, gaining a better understanding of rivalry
and group behavior helps shape knowledge about the human condi-
tion. It is the hope that through more information, we as a society can
better understand each other and be able to engage in more positive
relationships and actions toward others.
These five observations have shaped much of my research into the
rivalry phenomenon, which started with college sport and has advanced
to include professional and international sport, the responsible promotion
of rivalry and competition, teaching readers about rivalry and appropriate
group member behavior, and rivalry in and out of the sport setting. This
book is written in the spirit of sharing information and encouraging others
to build on previous work so that we all can better understand how people
interact with others in an attempt to improve our society. May the work
presented in this book be used as either a launching point, rest area, or
stepping stone by others in seeking answers to our pressing questions.
I hope you enjoy and thank you for playing along!

Memphis, USA Cody T. Havard, Ph.D.

 Acknowledgments

There are many people that I would like to thank for their help on this and
other projects and for their collaboration and support in my career and
life. I would like to start with my chapter co-authors and collaborators in
this text, Timothy Ryan, Michael Hutchinson, Sklyar Workman, Megan
Lomenick, Bethany Holland, and Yash Padhye. The help of these individ-
uals has greatly enhanced the project. My colleagues at the University of
Memphis who did not contribute to this book, namely Brennan Berg and
Rhema Fuller, have always been a sounding board for ideas, discussions,
and collaboration. I would also like to thank Radesh Palakurthi, Dean of
the Kemmons Wilson School at the University of Memphis for being a
constant source of support and always being open to hearing my latest
ideas.
I would like to thank colleagues Daniel Wann, Rick Grieve, Julie
Partridge, and Ryan Zapolac for always lending their expertise in areas of
fandom studies, their experiences in the academy, and their friendship. I
would like to thank Dianna Gray and Linda Sharp for guiding me through
my doctoral studies and providing support throughout my career. Thank
you! Taking a class from Megan Babkes-Stellino as a doctoral student was
instrumental in shaping my view of how the research I conduct impacts a
larger audience, and how sport influences society on a larger level. Guid-
ance from David Stotlar helped my research and career along the way,
and for that I thank you. I want to thank colleagues Lamar Reams, Terry

ix
x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Eddy, Brendan Dwyer, and Stephen Shapiro for their support and collab-
oration. I also want to thank Yuhei Inoue for his help on and guidance
throughout my career.
Family is a constant source of enjoyment and adventure for me, and
I want to sincerely thank my mother Adella Havard, my sister Amy
Havard and her family Dimitri (Meech), Edie, Simon, and Lola Vigushin,
and Edith “Granny” Lambeth (posthumously), Clara “Mimi” Havard
(posthumously), and Tommy Havard (posthumously). Finally, I want to
thank my rock and foundation, my wife Kristin, our two boys Harrison
and Lincoln, and our brave companion Begely for keeping my days fun,
busy, and always fulfilling. Thank you and I love you all!
Thank you all for your support, collaboration, and inspiration!

Cody T. Havard, Ph.D.

 Contents

1 Introduction 1
Cody T. Havard
Chapters and Topics 3
How to Use This Book 4
Students 4
Researchers 5
Practitioners 6
References 6

2 What is Rivalry and Where We Go From Here 9

Cody T. Havard
Fandom and Fan Rivalry 12
Definitions, Antecedents, and Characteristics of Rivalry 13
Consequences of Rivalry 15
Reactions to Rival Misfortune 15
Fan Deviance and Violence 18
Summary of Current Knowledge 20
Organizational Role in Rivalry 21
References 24

xi
xii CONTENTS

3 Place Matters: Rivalry, Rival Perceptions,

and the Influence of Exposure and Proximity 37
Cody T. Havard, Timothy D. Ryan,
and Michael Hutchinson
Background 38
Sport Rivalry Fan Perception Scale 40
The Current Studies 41
Study 1 42
Method 42
Results 43
Discussion of Study 1 44
Study 2 45
Method 45
The Schools 45
Results 46
Discussion of Study 2 48
General Discussion 49
Implications and Future Research 50
References 51

4 Consumer Reactions to Rival Failure: Examining Glory

Out of Reflected Failure 57
Cody T. Havard, Timothy D. Ryan, and Yash Padhye
Review of Literature 60
Rivalry 60
Sport Rivalry 61
Perceptions of Rival Teams in Sport 62
Determinants and Consequences of Glory Out of Reflected
Failure 63
Method 65
Data Collection and Participants 65
Measures 66
Likelihood of GORFing 67
Rival Team Perceptions 67
Behavioral Intentions Toward the Favorite Team 68
Team Identification 68
Analysis and Results 69
 CONTENTS xiii

Testing of Measurement Model 69

Testing of Measurement Invariance 69
Testing of Structural Model 73
Discussion 75
Implications 78
Limitations and Future Research 80
References 81

5 The Future of Rivalry Research and Promotion: A Call

to Action 91
Cody T. Havard
Potential Avenues for Practitioners and Researchers 92
Messaging to Multiple Fan Identities 93
Promoting Similarities Between Fan Bases 94
Developing and Promoting New Rivalries 95
Engage Youth in Responsible Fan Treatment 97
Additional Areas for Further Inquiry 97
Conclusion 98
References 99

6 Sport Rivalry Man Curriculum: A Superhero

and Teaching Rivalry and Group Behavior 103
Cody T. Havard, Skylar S. Workman, Megan E. Lomenick,
and Bethany S. Holland
Sport Rivalry Man 104
Adventures with Sport Rivalry Man Stories 105
Sport Rivalry Man Curriculum 106
Using the Curriculum 108
Future of the Curriculum 108
Purpose, Goals, and Outcomes of the Curriculum 109
Purpose 109
Goals 110
Outcomes 110
Conclusion 111
References 111
xiv CONTENTS

7 Conclusion 115
Cody T. Havard
Measures 116
Resources for Information 117
Future Directions of Research on Rivalry 117
References 119

Index 121
 List of Contributors

Cody T. Havard Bureau of Sport and Leisure Commerce, Kemmons

Wilson School, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA
Bethany S. Holland Bureau of Sport and Leisure Commerce, Kemmons
Wilson School, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA
Michael Hutchinson Bureau of Sport and Leisure Commerce,
Kemmons Wilson School, The University of Memphis, Memphis,
TN, USA
Megan E. Lomenick Department of Athletics, The University of
Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA
Yash Padhye Bureau of Sport and Leisure Commerce, Kemmons Wilson
School, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA
Timothy D. Ryan Bureau of Sport and Leisure Commerce, Kemmons
Wilson School, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA
Skylar S. Workman Germantown Municipal School District, German-
town, TN, USA

xv
 Abbreviations

AVE Average Variance Extracted

BIRGing Basking In Reflected Glory
CFA Confirmatory Factor Analysis
CI Confidence Intervals
GAM General Aggression Model
GORFing Glory Out of Reflected Failure
MANCOVA Multivariate Analysis of Covariance
MLR Maximum Likelihood Estimation with Robust Standard Errors
MTurk Amazon Mechanical Turk
OAP Out-group Academic Prestige
OIC Out-group Indirect Competition
OP Out-group Prestige
OS Out-group Sportsmanship
Pac 12 Pacific 12 Conference
SIT Social Identity Theory
SLT Social Learning Theory
SoS Sense of Satisfaction
SRFPS Sport Rivalry Fan Perception Scale
SSIS Sport Spectator Identification Scale
TII Team Identification Index
U.S. United States
VDT Voodoo Doll Task
WAC Western Athletic Conference

xvii
 List of Tables

Table 2.1 Definitions/Descriptions of rivalry, rival groups, and rival

competitions 14
Table 2.2 Positive and negative consequences of rivalry on
individuals and organizations 16
Table 2.3 Fan deviance/violence examples around rivalry or
high-profile games 19
Table 2.4 Organizational messaging that potentially promotes Fan
deviance and violence 23
Table 3.1 Descriptive statistics for scales used in study 1 43
Table 3.2 SRFPS subscales by fans that visited and not visited rival
city other than for sport 44
Table 3.3 Descriptive statistics for scales used in study 2 47
Table 3.4 SRFPS subscales for Colorado, Colorado State, and
Wyoming comparison 47
Table 4.1 Standardized factor loadings, construct reliability
coefficients, and average variance extracted for the
measurement model 70
Table 4.2 Descriptive statistics and correlations 72
Table 4.3 Standardized results of the direct paths in the structural
model 74
Table 4.4 Bootstrap test of the indirect results 75

xix
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Cody T. Havard

Abstract This chapter introduces readers to the content and format of

the text. It previews the chapters of the book and discusses how various
readers can best utilize information in the book. For example, the chapter
discusses the chapters and topics that students, researchers, and practi-
tioners can use to inform their views and understanding of rivalry. Further,
the chapter seeks to peak interest in the study of rivalry and group
behavior in readers and welcomes readers to the wonderful journey of
investigating and better understanding group behavior.

Keywords Rivalry · Sport fans · Research · Social Identity Theory ·

Group behavior

Sport in our society takes on many important roles. For people choosing
to play, it enables people to participate in physically active competitions,
even elevating a select few to heights which benefit them financially.
Further, sport practitioners frequently like to communicate the many
positive outcomes associated with sport participation, such as learning to
face adversity, play within a team setting (even for some playing sports

© The Author(s) 2020 1

C. T. Havard, Rivalry in Sport,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47455-3_1
2 C. T. HAVARD

such as tennis and golf), and learn important lessons about preparation
and critical thinking (Coakley, 2009).1
For people that consume sport, sport fans, following a sport and team,
present both positive and negative outcomes. For example, following a
team can help people socialize and acclimate to their environments (Wann
& Robinson, 2002). Additionally, identifying with a sport team can alle-
viate feelings of loneliness or depression (Branscombe & Wann, 1991).
Placing oneself into an identified group based on what that member-
ship communicates about an individual is known as social identity theory
(Tajfel, 1978). Typically, individuals chose to associate with groups in
which they currently or desire to share characteristics. For example, in
sport, if someone sees themselves as hardworking, they may choose a
team that exemplifies a blue collar ethic such as the Pittsburgh Steelers
or Nebraska Cornhuskers (Aden, 2008).
Sport is also a consumer product that many people in society enjoy.
Sport is consumed through attendance, participation, watching on tele-
vision or the Internet, reading content, and wearing and purchasing
merchandise of favorite teams, leagues, and sports. An important part
of the consumer product that is sport is the competition between players
and fans (Kilduff, Elfenbein, & Staw, 2010), and how such competition
impacts fans. For instance, the competition between players and teams
allows supporters of those entities to vicariously compare with others.
This comparison is the crux of rivalry within the sport context. As such,
rivalry influences many aspects of sport and the consumer product known
as spectator sport. This book focuses on the rivalry phenomenon in the
sport setting and offers readers with key findings and tools to help further
understand how the simple identification with a sport team influences the
disparate way groups and individual perceive and treat others. The rest of
the introductory chapter provides brief descriptions of the chapters and
topics covered throughout the rest of the book. Further, this introduc-
tion also informs readers of issues such as the various stakeholders that
could utilize the information in this text along with the best ways to use
this text.

1 Conversely, some academics have argued that sport may not present the types of
positive outcomes, or to the degree advertised by practitioners (Merkel, 2013).
 1 INTRODUCTION 3

Chapters and Topics

Chapter 2 introduces readers to the rivalry phenomenon by providing
an in-depth literature review of the subject, from within and outside
of the sport setting. Additionally, the chapter discusses the role of
the sport organization in properly and responsibly promoting rivalry
in a way that increases fan and consumer engagement while trying to
avoid also increasing animosity, deviance, and potential violence among
team supporters. The chapter also provides examples of responsible and
irresponsible promotion of rivalry among teams. Chapter 3 introduces
readers to the Sport Rivalry Fan Perception Scale (SRFPS: Havard, Gray,
Gould, Sharp, & Schaffer, 2013), an instrument that measures how fans
perceive rival teams and supporters. The chapter also illustrates how
the instrument is used to measure fan perceptions of rival teams in
different situations. Specifically, the chapter investigates contact hypoth-
esis by comparing rival perceptions between fans that have visited the
city or university where a rival team plays for reasons other than a sport
competition with fans that have not visited for reasons other than sport
competition. From there, the chapter then transitions into an investiga-
tion of how relative proximity influences rival perceptions by examining
fans of the Colorado Buffaloes, Colorado State Rams, and Wyoming
Cowboys, three teams that all compete in collegiate football in the United
States and are located reasonably close to each other.
Chapter 4 introduces Glory Out of Reflected Failure (GORFing), a
term that explains how some fans cheer and celebrate when a rival team
loses to someone other than their favorite team (Havard, 2014). The indi-
rect failure of a rival group is something that can make in-group members
feel better about their group, and thereby, better about themselves. The
chapter discusses a modified instrument to measure GORFing and exam-
ines how the phenomenon influences fan consumption of favorite team
merchandise. Chapter 5 presents a call to action for practitioners and
researchers on future ways to promote and investigate rivalry. It is imper-
ative that both practitioners and researchers gain more understanding of
the rivalry phenomenon and seek ways to decrease the occurrences of
derogations and overly negative interactions between competing group
members.
Chapter 6 introduces readers to Sport Rivalry Man and the Sport
Rivalry Man Curriculum. The curriculum was created in an effort to
teach the public about the rivalry phenomenon and was developed
4 C. T. HAVARD

with the primary focus that education leads to increased understanding

and positive influence on behavior. At this time, five lessons in the
curriculum package have been produced using standards set by the
American School Counselor Association (ASCA). Specifically, lessons
currently address issues important to young readers such as online and
school bullying, kindness/acceptance, decision making, and teamwork.
Chapter 7 provides a conclusion to the materials discussed in the book
and provides researchers and practitioners with additional streams of
research and inquiry.

How to Use This Book

This text is presented in a way so that it adds support to researchers,
practitioners, and students within and outside of the sport setting. This
section discusses the key audiences for this book and how to best utilize
the text. Chapters within this text are written in a fashion that one could
read the text from beginning to end and see the story of how rivalry
influences fan and group member behavior. In this approach, people
reading the text first learn about what rivalry is and how organizations
should be responsible for the healthy promotion of rivalry, before being
introduced to concepts that help explain how rivalry influences fans and
group members, before reading a call to action regarding the future
study of the phenomenon, and learn about a creative way to teach group
member behavior to audiences. This text is also written so that chapters
can represent stand-alone chapters or studies, with each entry containing
background literature, discussion, and future study recommendations. In
that regard, readers can utilize individual chapters based on their interests
and needs. For each group discussed below, readers would of course find
interest and helpful information throughout the text, but additional ideas
for reading the text are also presented.

Students
The text provides students in fields such as sport management,
psychology, sociology, marketing, general management, and education
with information about what causes group members to view others
differently. The book really tells a story that should help students in
various areas better understand how rivalry is formed, and how it influ-
ences group member perceptions and behaviors. For example, a student
 1 INTRODUCTION 5

enrolled in a sport management, marketing, or general management class

can read Chapters 2 and 5 for an overview of important information
valuable to someone wanting to deliver consumer goods and services
as they focus on the proper and responsible way to promote competi-
tion while trying to decrease out-group animosity. Additionally, students
enrolled in psychology and sociology would likewise find Chapters 2 and
5 useful, along with Chapter 6 and potentially Chapter 3. Students in
education classes would potentially find Chapters 2, 5, and 6 helpful
in understanding group member behavior, and ways to help decrease
negativity and teach appropriate group interaction. Students interested
in research methods, in all areas, would find Chapters 3 and 4 helpful
in explaining how the scientific method has been used to examine rivalry
and group member behavior, along with Chapter 2 for background on
the phenomenon, and Chapters 5 and 7 for future avenues of research.

Researchers
People working in academia or researching within organizations are best
to read the book as a reference piece meant to assist in the investigation
of fan behavior and rivalry in and out of the sport settings. For example,
the two rivalry scales discussed in the book (Sport Rivalry Fan Percep-
tion Scale and Glory Out of Reflected Failure) have been used in both
sport and non-sport settings. Researchers and academics will find most
chapters in the book as useful references in their research. In particular,
Chapter 2 provides a review of rivalry and group behavior, which can help
researchers when gathering preliminary information for investigations.
Chapters 3 and 4 provide blueprints for using two scales developed and
validated to measure rivalry and group behavior. Specifically, Chapter 3
illustrates how the Sport Rivalry Fan Perception Scale can be used to
investigate how people view an out-group and out-group members,
and Chapter 4 uses the Glory Out of Reflected Failure to measure fan
behavior and reactions to rival’s indirect failure. Chapters 5 and 7 provide
additional avenues for future study that may help researchers identify
questions that should be addressed to better understand fan and group
behavior.
6 C. T. HAVARD

Practitioners
Like students, practitioners can utilize the book as a way to learn about
how competition influences consumers and how to better offer prod-
ucts and services to customers. In particular, Chapters 2 and 5 provide
important insight into promoting rivalry and competition in a healthy
manner to increase consumer engagement while working to decrease
out-group negativity. Further, Chapters 6 and 7 provide practitioners
with a curriculum to teach positive group member behavior (Chapter 6)
and future directions of rivalry (Chapter 7). In particular, practitioners
working with youth could utilize the Sport Rivalry Man Curriculum
from Chapter 6, along with Chapters 2 and 5 to better understand
group member behavior. Practitioners with a vested interest in under-
standing how rivalry is measured would find Chapters 3 and 4 particularly
interesting and helpful.
This book was written to help stakeholders better understand rivalry
and how it can influence fan and group member behavior. Because the
chapters are written about specific topics investigations, readers can use
individual chapters or the whole text to help form questions, design inves-
tigations, and present answers. One final word of introduction, this book
is written in the spirit of research and understanding being ever evolving,
and research building upon previous findings like stones of a wall or bricks
of a house, presenting fascinating results and fostering interesting ideas
and discussion along the way.
Thank you for taking this journey with me, and enjoy the ride!
Cody T. Havard, Ph.D.

References
Aden, R. C. (2008). Huskerville: A story of Nebraska football, fans, and the power
of place. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company Inc.
Branscombe, N. R., & Wann, D. L. (1991). The positive social and self concept
consequences of sports team identification. Journal of Sport and Social Issues,
15. https://doi.org/10.1177/019372359101500202.
Coakley, J. J. (2009). Sports in society: Issues and controversies. New York:
McGraw Hill.
Havard, C. T. (2014). Glory out of Reflected Failure: The examination of how
rivalry affects sport fans. Sport Management Review, 17, 243–253. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2013.09.002.
 1 INTRODUCTION 7

Havard, C. T., Gray, D. P., Gould, J., Sharp, L. A., & Schaffer, J. J. (2013).
Development and validation of the Sport Rivalry Fan Perception Scale
(SRFPS). Journal of Sport Behavior, 36, 45–65.
Kilduff, G. J., Elfenbein, H. A., & Staw, B. M. (2010). The psychology of rivalry:
A relationally dependent analysis of competition. Academy of Management
Journal, 53, 943–969. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMJ.2010.54533171.
Merkel, D. L. (2013). Youth sport: Positive and negative impact on young
athletes. Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine, 4, 151–160. https://doi.
org/10.2147/OAJSM.S33556.
Tajfel, H. (1978). Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social
psychology of intergroup relations. London: Academic Press Inc.
Wann, D. L., & Robinson, T. N. (2002). The relationship between sport
team identification and integration into and perceptions of a university.
International Sports Journal, 6, 36–44.
 CHAPTER 2

What is Rivalry and Where We Go From Here

Cody T. Havard

Abstract Of the many ways, sport can positively impact individuals and
society as a whole, it also possesses the ability to separate people into
groups, with an unfortunate side effect being in-group bias and out-group
derogation. This chapter provides an overview of the rivalry phenomenon
and discusses an organization’s role in responsibly promoting rivalry.
Sport managers and researchers have to collectively engage in open
dialogue to find solutions to some of the negative consequences of rivalry.
If sport truly is a catalyst for bringing people from diverse backgrounds
together, managers and researchers must look at practices and work
toward providing solutions that can not only help the sport product, but
ultimately provide a positive influence on society as a whole.

Keywords Rivalry · Fan behavior · In-group bias · Out-group

derogation · Responsible promotion

At this time in society, supporters of competing groups, whether that be

political parties, religious ideology, racial makeup, and others, seem to be
separating from each other at a rapid rate.1 When, as a group member,

1 Recent findings in television viewership and politics suggest that people are possibly
less divided on major issues (Blakely et al., 2019). However, in the age of social media,
and with personalities on social media drawing distinct lines between groups and ideology,
one may not see this in their everyday lives.

© The Author(s) 2020 9

C. T. Havard, Rivalry in Sport,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47455-3_2
10 C. T. HAVARD

one can consume similar viewpoints and consume differing perspectives

with the primary goal of attacking the source, most people choose not to
engage in respectable discourse with someone outside of their perceived
group (Leetaru, 2018). Further, with the increasing popularity of using
online social media and non-face-to-face communication, people don’t
have to interact with those they disagree with, and instead can only
engage with people who share their characteristics or ideology (Nelson,
2014). As this behavior continues, it becomes increasingly difficult to
bring people of diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and ideologies together. To
this end, managers like to promote sport as a medium that can bring
people together. Therefore, this perspective discusses the issue of sport
fans and rivalry, and its potential impact on the sport setting and society.
Sport can do many things for individuals, such as provide feelings of
belonging to a group (Festinger, 1954; Wann, 2006a, 2006b), feelings of
vicarious achievement through a team’s victory (Bandura, 1977), ability
to meet others (Wann, Brame, Clarkson, Brooks, & Waddill, 2008), and
opportunities to share characteristics with other group members (Tajfel,
1981). In that, sport possesses the capacity to bring people together,
which is a popular sentiment used in popular media and in the public
sector. However, sport also has the capacity to highlight differences
between groups, real or perceived, which is usually the case between teams
that identify as rivals. Because sport brings head-to-head competition, it
places two groups of opposing sides in face-to-face comparison.
Rivalry is synonymous with sport, and more attention has been paid
to the phenomenon in the past decade. Rivalry is different from mere
competition in that the participants (e.g., players, coaches, fans) place
higher importance on the relationship and treat outcomes as part of a
narrative that includes past and future competitions (Converse & Rein-
hard, 2016). Because rivalry is a popular phenomenon in sport, managers
have used it to promote the sport product.2 Additionally, rivalry carries
many positive consequences that have been, and should be, used by
managers to promote the sport product.3 However, much like in poli-
tics where two candidates and their supporters compete head to head can
lead to group members interacting with each other in negative ways, sport

2 Rivalry positively influences fan consumption (Havard, Shapiro, & Ridinger, 2016;
Mahony & Moorman, 1999; Sanford & Scott, 2016; Wann et al., 2016).
3 Rivalry increases feelings of uniqueness (Berendt & Uhrich, 2016; Berendt, Uhrich,
& Thompson, 2018) and group cohesion (Delia, 2015; Smith & Schwartz, 2003).
 2 WHAT IS RIVALRY AND WHERE WE GO FROM HERE 11

unfortunately has the ability to produce the same outcomes. These group
differences are most prominently on display in sport when teams identi-
fied as rivals are competing as the symbiotic competitive nature of rival
and competing teams does not always spill over to fans.4 If sport is in fact
an avenue to bring people together, we must analyze and better under-
stand when rivalry rises to a level that could, and sometimes does, result
in deviance and fan aggression.
This chapter serves three purposes. First, an overview of the current
knowledge on the rivalry phenomenon is presented, including a discus-
sion of what constitutes a rival and a rival competition, so that researchers
and managers can better understand fan rivalry and behavior between
group members. This understanding is important because it can drive
future study and also help managers plan for contests between rival
teams and fan groups. Second, a discussion of an organization’s role
in developing and promoting rivalry, including examples of responsible
and irresponsible promotion of rivalry by sport organizations. The aim of
this discussion is to provide readers with guidance regarding how rivalry
competitions, and the rivalry phenomenon, should be promoted in an
effort to gain the positive consequences of rivalry while working to avoid
some of the negative outcomes such as fan deviance and violence. Finally,
this perspective serves as a call to action for researchers and practitioners
regarding future avenues to better understand rivalry among fans. This is
important as researchers and practitioners have to work together to better
understand and promote rivalry in sport.
At this time, a note of clarification regarding the use of managers,
researchers, and practitioners is offered. Managers are used to describe all
working in the sport field, regardless of profession, whereas researchers
and practitioners are used to distinguish between those in academia and
in the front office. If sport, as many claim, is a catalyst for bringing diverse
individuals and groups together, then managers must take a constructive
and critical look inward and examine where our field can improve. In
that, we must identify the problem and discuss ways to address the issue
through both research and practice. One such area is the way that rivalry
is used to promote the sport product, as doing so in an irresponsible
manner can work to negate much of the positive outcomes sport claims
to provide society.

4 Teams that compete during games also have to work together toward a common goal
of attaining success for the league (Mullin, Hardy, & Sutton, 2014).
12 C. T. HAVARD

Fandom and Fan Rivalry

A sport fan can be described as someone who feels she/he has a person-
ally important connection to a sports team (Wann, Melnick, Russell, &
Pease, 2001). Individuals identify with sport teams for numerous reasons
(Wann, 1995) and typically do so in hope that the team will in some
way reflect positively on herself/himself (Tajfel, 1974; Tajfel & Turner,
1979).5 To this end, fans can adopt and celebrate the characteristics of a
chosen group (Ashmore, Deaux, & McLaughlin-Volpe, 2004; Crocker
& Luhtanen, 1990), which in turn can positively impact an individu-
al’s socio-psychological well-being (Branscombe & Wann, 1991; Wann,
2006b; Wann et al., 2008). Further, an individual’s affinity for a team
fluctuates throughout their life cycle based on personality traits and signif-
icant events (Brown-Devlin, Devlin, & Vaughn, 2017; Devlin & Brown,
2017; Funk, 2008; Toma, 2003),6 which makes fan engagement all the
more important for sport organizations and managers.
The innate human characteristic to believe one is successful (Bandura,
1977; Crocker & Park, 2004; Deci, 1975) not only leads individuals to
seek positive attributes of the self that can be used to compare to others
(Madrigal, 1995; Turner, 1975), it also influences individuals to highlight
successes and failures based on group affiliation (Tajfel, 1978). In short,
when members of rival groups interact (Sherif, 1966), they tend to display
bias toward the in-group and derogation toward the out-group (Rubin &
Hewstone, 1998; Tajfel, 1978). While it is true that comparison between
two groups can be healthy, it is also the case that out-group negativity can
turn into aggression and deviant behavior if not properly controlled (Lee,
1985; Sherif, Harvey, White, Hood, & Sherif, 1961),7 leading for calls of
responsible promotion of rivalry competitions and relationships (Dalakas
& Melancon, 2012; Havard, Gray, Gould, Sharp, & Schaffer, 2013; King,
2014).

5 For example, someone who sees themselves as a hard worker may want to identify
with teams sharing that blue-collar or hardworking mentality (Aden, 2008; Kohan, 2017).
6 Proximity to a team, ties to an alma mater, family structure, change in financial
resources can all influence identification and consumption of a team.
7 For example, a healthy comparison among rival fans would be family members ribbing
each other about their preferred teams. Unhealthy behavior would be the family members
becoming upset and displaying negativity toward each other based on the teams they
follow.
 2 WHAT IS RIVALRY AND WHERE WE GO FROM HERE 13

Definitions, Antecedents, and Characteristics of Rivalry

The rivalry phenomenon has commonly been discussed within social
identity theory (SIT), or the belief that membership in a group tells some-
thing about someone on a private and public level (Tajfel, 1981). SIT
helps explain the associative tendencies people display based on perceived
success and failure of a team (Cialdini et al., 1976; Snyder & Fromkin,
1980; Snyder, Lassegard, & Ford, 1986) in an attempt to protect image
and self-esteem (Madrigal, 1995; Vohs & Heatherton, 2001). Further,
because fans that share a strong bond with a team have a more diffi-
cult time after a team’s loss (Wann & Branscombe, 1990), they may try
to find ways to derogate an opponent (Cialidni & Richardson, 1980)
or focus on attributes in which their team is superior to a competitor
(Bernache-Assollant, Chantal, Bouchet, & Kada, 2018).
In sport, when the phenomenon of rivalry is addressed, many different
definitions have been used (Table 2.1). Further, there are also several
tested characteristics and antecedents of rivalry that have been offered
such as competition, proximity, parity, competition for personnel, cultural
similarities and differences, and perceived fairness (Kilduff, Elfenbein,
& Staw, 2010; Tyler & Cobbs, 2015). It is sometimes difficult to tell
between a competition and a rivalry competition, in which these charac-
teristics, antecedents, and definitions can be used to help clarify. Within
social psychology, rival competitions are discussed as those competitions
that are embedded in group members’ psyches (Converse & Reinhard,
2016; Kilduff et al., 2010). Further, three key qualities of rivalry are
their subjective nature, dependence on shared history, and that they carry
consequences for those engaged, either directly or vicariously with the
competition. These qualities thus separate a rival game from others. In
short, teams that are rivals share a competitive history in which members
of both groups see the relationship being influenced by previous games
while looking at how current outcomes will impact the legacy of their
favorite teams along with the rivalry.
It is also important to note that fans play a large role in deciding who
to identify as a rival. In fact, in most studies on the subject, fans identify
teams they see as biggest rival rather than report on one a priori. Because
individuals feel an inherent need to identify a rival (Havard & Eddy,
2013), they often identify multiple teams in which to compare (Wann
14 C. T. HAVARD

Table 2.1 Definitions/Descriptions of rivalry, rival groups, and rival

competitions

Source Consequence of Rivalry

Kilduff et al. (2010, p. 945) A subjective competitive relationship that an

Havard, Gray et al. (2013, p. 51)
Tyler & Cobbs (2015, p. 230)
Converse & Reinhard (2016, p. 193)
actor has with another actor that entails
increased psychological stakes of
competition for the focal actor, independent
of the objective characteristics of the
situation
A fluctuating adversarial relationship,
existing between two teams, players, fans, or
groups of fans, gaining significance through
on-field competition, on-field or off-field
incidences, proximity, demographic makeup,
and/or historical occurrence(s)
A rival group is a “highly salient out-group
that poses an acute threat to the identity of
the in-group or to the in-group members’
ability to make positive comparisons
between their group and the out-group”
A rival competition is “one in which the
images of self and other are represented in
the context of competition (e.g., associate
with memories of past competitions), and in
which the expected pattern of future
interaction is therefore competitive”

et al., 2016),8 and report differing perceptions of those teams (Havard &
Reams, 2018; Tyler & Cobbs, 2017).9 For instance, examples of teams
identifying, and being identified by multiple rivals, and perceptions and
strengths of those rivals are available on sites such as www.SportRivalry.
com and www.KnowRivalry.com.10

8 It is common for fans to identify multiple rival teams: one to which they aspire, one
in which they share competitive balance, and one to which they favorably compare.
9 Degree of animosity toward rival teams can be influenced by variables such as confer-
ence/league affiliation (Cobbs, Sparks, & Tyler, 2017; Havard & Reams, 2016; Havard,
Wann, & Ryan, 2013, 2017) and contest outcomes (Havard, Reams, Gray, 2013; Leach
& Spears, 2009).
10 www.KnowRivalry.com features information about the most heated fan rivalries in
college athletics and lists of teams that identify and are identified as rivals most frequently
using the Sport Rivalry Fan Perception Scale (SRFPS: Havard, Gray et al., 2013). www.
KnowRivalry.com contains data on rival relationships that are updated regularly for college
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
do than what I have been doing.”
“Studying, growing accomplished, falling in love, and marrying,”
replied the earl, laughing. “What would you have been doing more?”
“As it happens, sir, all this proves an excellent preparation for my
present business. But I did not know that it would; and I was
perpetually asking myself,—moreover, Letitia was perpetually asking
me,—the end and aim of my employments.”
“That was the secret, I dare say,” said the earl, “of your difficulty in
winning her. Eh, Letitia?”
“Indeed it was,” replied Letitia, blushing. “God knows what difficulty
I found in making it a difficulty; but I dared not at once give up the
calling which nature had sanctified to me, without providing for my
race being served in an equal proportion in some other way. If there
be one note sooner than another to which conscience awakes in
these times, it is to the cry of unserved humanity; and mine, having
been once thus awakened, could not be lulled asleep again; and
even your son could not soothe it till he began to promise that we
should labour together for all, as well as for each other.”
“So you married to be useful;—for no other reason on earth, my
dear?”
“No, no, no. I was useful before. I married ... for the same reason
as your son. But this reason did not make me forget my
responsibilities; that is all.”
“Ah, my dear: you do not know,—highly as you rate your art,—
what you have deprived society of by shutting yourself up here. Why,
—I saw that sot, colonel Bibber, turned into a patriot for full three
hours under your influence; and poor little lord H. that we were
speaking of just now, grew almost magnanimous for the same space
of time. These, and hundreds more, owe to you, my dear, the greater
part of whatever virtue has visited them for the last five years.”
“If so,” said lord F——, “what was the effect on better people?”
“The effect that the fine arts are ordained to produce,” said Letitia.
“They have much to answer for who defame them,—who perceive
nothing in them besides colours, and sounds, and motion,—who put
a kaleidoscope and Raphael’s Transfiguration on a level, and
recognize nothing more in a symphony of Mozart than in an Eolian
harp, and see no matter of choice between a merry Andrew and
Kean in Hamlet. They who perceive not that the fine arts are the
fittest embodiments of truth and beauty are unconscious of the
vastness of the department in which they would have man remain
unserved. Such would wonder or laugh at my view of my profession,
and discredit my hesitating to leave it for lord F——.”
“You were satisfied that you held a commission to serve man, by
means of the fine arts; you were right, my dear, as is proved by your
having made the colonel a patriot, and the little lord a hero.”
“That it was only for three hours at a time,” said Letitia, “was not
my fault, but that of the arrangements by which means and ends are
sometimes separated as far asunder as if the world would be perilled
by their coming together. In this, we might wisely copy from man in
his state of nature. Indian savages have their songs and dances
immediately before their battles; and, as long as prayers imply
devotion, they are everywhere used in senates as a prelude to the
business of the nation. But we go straight from an oratorio to dinner,
from a tragedy to sleep, from the Elgin marbles to shopping in
Regent-street; while, on the other hand, if a great national question
has to be debated, a mighty national achievement to be wrought, the
last thing its conductors would think of would be to spiritualise the
passions, and elevate the emotions, and animate the faculties by the
most appropriate means which Providence has given for that end.—I
know that this union can be only partially effected yet. I know that the
passage of the Reform Bill would have been but little helped by any
such appliances as we can at present exhibit; but it will be different
hereafter, when men have learned the true office of the fine arts, and
the ultimate objects of political reforms. Then, hundreds of years
hence, it may be,—if a new question of national renovation should
be brought forward, the senate to whom it is committed may lay hold,
with one accord, on whatever prior observance may best soothe
down their animosities, and banish their petty self-regards, and
establish their minds in that state of lofty tranquillity which alone
beseems the master-spirits of an empire.”
“In those days,” said lord F——, “there will be an end of the
absurdity of admitting the ennobling influence of the fine arts, and at
the same time holding its professors in contempt.”
 “Is it, even now, anything more than a nominal contempt?” asked
Letitia. “Do not people mix up the profession and the vices of its
professors together, and then talk of contempt?”
“But those very vices are caused by the treatment of the
profession.”
“True; like all other professional vices,—like all the peculiar failings
of certain classes,—like the avarice of Jews, the romancing of
travellers, the spiritual pride of sectaries, the vanity of authors. When
prejudices are so far surmounted as that no class shall be regarded
with factitious deference or contempt, there will be an end of all
occasion to reproach painters, musicians and actors with their
tendency to self-indulgence, at the same time that proverbs and by-
words against Jews, methodists, travellers, and poets, will fall into
oblivion.”
“In those days,” said lord F——, “perhaps our peerage may
honour itself by taking up the profession of the fine arts. The time is
coming when no class of society may be idle; and if the aristocracy
plumes itself upon its refinement, this seems to be the pursuit most
congenial to its constitution.”
“If you preach your doctrine,—that all must work,—to those of your
own condition,” said the earl, “they will ask you where you got the
notion,—whether you are intimidated by the clamours of the lower
classes.”
“Not intimidated by their clamours, but moved by their condition, I
would tell them, sir; and that I derive my notion from the nature of
man and of society, and not from the dictation of any class whatever.
It is enough to melt a heart of stone to read and hear of such
distresses as have come to my knowledge since I entered office; but
I am convinced that many of the sufferers look in the wrong direction
for the causes.”
“Yet there must be much cause for complaint,” said Letitia, “when
our institutions lead to such an opposition of interests as there now is
between different ranks. They should surely work together....”
“The present opposition of interests, my dear, arises from a
scarcity of the prime necessaries of life. If there were food enough
for our people, their occupations and interests, be they as various as
the minds that adopt them, would assist and promote each other
from end to end of society. If there be a scarcity of food, men will
snatch from one another’s mouths, be they huddled together in our
manufacturing cities, or duly distributed in a Moravian settlement.
Where there is plenty, there will be a harmony,—where there is want,
there will be an opposition of interests; and it is folly to assign co-
operation and competition as the remedy and cause of distress.”
“Nay; but can it be right that starving thousands should bid their
labour against one another for bread? Can it be right that whole
families should, at this moment, be crouching down supperless in
their litter of straw, while we.... O, I am ashamed of our luxuries!...
our mirrors, and harps, and lamps,—and my very dress. I am
ashamed of them all.”
“If we gave them all away this moment, my dear, they would not be
food; and if exchanged for bread, they would only take food from the
mouths of some who want it, to give to those who cannot want it
more. Believe me, the inequality of condition we are complaining of
is rather checked than promoted by competition. Competition
equalizes the profits of industry, and increases instead of lessening
its productiveness.”
“Whence, then, comes all this misery? all this tremendous
inequality?”
“The misery arises from a deficiency of food....”
“Well; whence this deficiency of food?”
“From the tendency of eaters to increase faster than the supply of
food.”
“But if we can raise more food by co-operation than without it....”
“Even supposing we could,—unless co-operation also checked the
increase of numbers, it could prove no more than a temporary
alleviation of our grievances. In my opinion, it would, if it included
equality of condition, leave us in a worse state than it found us, in as
far as it would relax the springs of enterprise and industry, and, in
time, bring the community down into a deplorable state of sameness;
it would, if persevered in, make us into a nation of half-naked potatoe
eaters, and water-drinkers.”
The earl inquired whether anything had been heard lately of the
co-operative society formed in the neighbourhood of Weston.
 “O yes!” replied lord F——. “They are enjoying the benefits of
competition to the utmost. They ascribe their prosperity to their co-
operation; but they are, in fact, a large partnership in competition
with smaller ones. They do not see how their relative position would
be altered by their absorbing all their competitors into their firm, with
no check to their numbers, while nature has imposed perpetual
checks upon the growth of their capital.”
“But cannot numbers be checked,—cannot the checks upon the
growth of capital be evaded, while we have such a wide world to
move about in?”
“Certainly, my dear: but there is no need of equality of condition to
help us to do this. Competition is more likely than co-operation to
induce prudence and foresight; and it will quicken our activity in
carrying our surplus numbers to distant fertile lands, or in bringing
the produce of distant fertile lands among our own people, instead of
tempting us to waste more and more of our capital continually in
turning up inferior lands at home, as the co-operatives would have
us do.”
“But were not you telling me that your rent-roll becomes more
valuable as time passes? Are not landholders’ incomes increasing
perpetually under the present system?”
“They are; but this is the consequence, not of competition, but of
the varying qualities of the land, the tillage of every new grade of
which tends to lower profits and raise rents. No plan for the
distribution of home produce can affect the law by which the returns
to capital are perpetually diminished.”
“But what will be the end of it under the present system?”
“There are two extremes to which the systems of equality and
inequality of distribution respectively tend, in as far as they involve
restriction upon food by using only the produce of our own lands.
Under the equality system, there would be an ultimate scramble for
potatoes, or a worse diet still, if there were such a thing. Under our
present system, the whole produce must in time be in the hands of
the land-owners and tax-takers. Of course, we must change our
system; not, however, by discouraging competition, or abolishing
private property, but by removing all artificial restrictions upon food,
and by regulating our numbers according to our resources. The way
to bring down landlords’ rents, and to increase the profits of
cultivators, is to procure food from some better source than our own
inferior lands; and this I will prove to you by figures, the next time my
steward brings me the accounts of my farms.”
“O, that Moravian village!” exclaimed Letitia. “How often I think of
the day we spent there! There was comfort, there was abundance,
there was mutual assistance and agreement.”
“Are you quite sure, Letitia, that there was nothing in the situation
and peculiarities of the place which called off your attention from the
principle on which the society was constituted? Remember the
sunset, that evening; the golden light on the green hill side, above
the rows of Moravian dwellings. Remember your admiration of the
internal regulations,—of the women’s uniform, of the music in their
church, of the simplicity of their way of life. Remember that all this
has nothing to do with their principle of association.”
“You must no more set the accomplishments of the Moravians to
the account of community of goods, than the absurdities of the
Shakers,” observed the earl. “That some sing beautifully, and others
dance ridiculously, has nothing to do with the distribution of their
wealth.”
“No more than the ordinances of the Harmonites,” continued lord F
——. “Mr. Owen’s followers very properly refuse to be mixed up with
Moravians, Shakers, and Harmonites. Superstition has no part in
their system, either under the form of ritual observance or celibacy.
Yet they are apt to incorporate extraneous matters with their system,
which serve as allurements to a greater extent, I doubt not, than they
intend. They owe more converts than they suppose to their promises
of mansions, pleasure-grounds, coffee, alabaster lamps, and so on.
My wonder is that more are not enticed by descriptions like these,
accompanied with promises of ease, and leisure, and many other
things to be obtained in a short time, which the poor man now sees
little chance of his children’s children ever enjoying.”
“There might be alabaster lamps and damask furniture in every
house under the present system,” observed the earl, “if food enough
could be got to keep the production of capital going at its natural
rate; aye, and ease and leisure too, if our numbers were kept within
bounds. It is not so very long since shoes and stockings were worn
only in courts; and that they are now worn by peasants proves that
our capital has grown under a system of competition. That multitudes
have little ease and no leisure is the fault of over-population, which
would be rather aggravated than lessened under a system whose
very essence it is to cast each man’s burdens upon all. No man need
scruple to have twenty of his children gracing the dinner-table of a
co-operative establishment, till he should find, too late, that not all
the savings caused by extensive association can compensate for the
falling off in the produce of inferior lands, and for the new impulse
given to population. His sons and his sons’ sons must add more and
more labour to the common stock; must give up, first, damask and
alabaster, then broadcloth and glass; then descend to sackcloth and
wooden trenchers, then to tatters, potatoes and water, and then....”
“Then would ensue a scramble; if anything should be left,
competition would come into play again; society would rise by its
means, and might possibly attain once more to a state in which they
might speculate on the universality of damask and alabaster.”
“Well!” exclaimed Letitia, “I shall ask to look at your steward’s
accounts, and to have an explanation of them; for I do not at all like
our present position. We must reach the extreme, you say, of having
our whole produce in the hands of land-owners and tax-takers,
unless we change our system.”
“Yes, my dear: but by change of system, I do not mean convulsion.
All might be set on a safe footing by timely care, the removal of
restrictions, the diffusion of intelligence. There is nothing in all this,
threatening to public dignity or private safety. There is nothing to
lessen the security of property, or to endanger the rights of any
class; but quite the contrary: for property is never so secure as when
it most abounds; and rights are never so well respected as in the
absence of temptation to infringe upon them.”
“By change, then, you mean progression, without fear of
subversion.”
“Just so; the progression of society from an advanced into a higher
state. What is there in such progression that is not as beautiful in
theory as it is found to be necessary in practice?”
From this hour, the progression of society, of which Letitia had
long dreamed, on which she had often speculated, began to assume
distinctness in her mind, and to form a large part of her conversation
when she happened to be with those to whom she could speak most
of what was most in her thoughts. Whenever she heard of misery
and crime on a large scale, she satisfied herself that the national
demand of progression had not yet been sufficiently attended to.
When she heard that her lord’s rents ought to be more, but were,
from the difficulty of collecting them, less than formerly, she sighed
for the time when an unrestricted provision of food (unrestricted by
state-laws) should check the rise of rents. Whenever she sat down
by her husband’s side to hear curious tales of the doings of large
speculators or eminent merchants, or of the sufferings of large
classes of agricultural or manufacturing labourers, she learned
something that made her wonder and lament, that, while the natural
laws of production and distribution work out evenly their balance of
results, the tendency of legislation thus far seems to be to clog and
thwart them, and delay the progression in intelligence and comfort
which must arise out of their unobstructed operation. She saw that, if
the universal interest of society was allowed to be the moving spring
of the social economy, all would be served; and that if many yet
remain unserved, it is on account of other movements being made to
interfere with it—the petty springs of narrow and mistaken interests;
so that partial protection brings on general hardship, and arbitrary
stimulus, a condition of general suffering.
Before going down to Weston, Letitia had become prepared to
make her way with the steward, the co-operating workmen in the
village, and all who could throw light on the past and present state of
property in the place. Many a conversation and calculation had she
also gone through with Thérèse on the subject of shop-keeping in
Paris; and all that Maria told of Waldie’s business went to the same
account of information. It made poor Maria smile sometimes in the
midst of a fit of anxiety to find that her children’s babble savoured of
political economy, when they had been spending a morning with their
aunt. They were more ready then than at other times to wonder why
they had dolls in the nursery, and picture-books in the parlour, and a
shell-grotto in the garden, when many other little children had no
playthings; and why poor Ned who swept the crossing was so much
more ragged than their errand boy, when Ned worked the hardest of
the two, and was often out in the cold and the rain besides. Almost
babies as they were, they could sometimes find out very sage little
reasons for these things, when put on the right scent by aunt Letitia
or her pupil Thérèse.
 Chapter IV.

MORE NOVELTY.

At length came September, with its utter dulness in town, and its
busy brightness in the country. No parliament, no ministry, no court,
with whose proceedings to diversify the daily papers; but instead, a
reporting of the progress of certain noble lords and patriotic
gentlemen from one country seat to another, with accurate
calculations of the quantity of game bagged by each. Now were
expresses hurrying to and fro in search of the runaway men in
power. Now were ancient ladies proudly leaning on the arms of sons,
who were happy in being allowed breathing time to watch the
autumn sunsets from the terraces of their stately castles. Now were
the young heirs of rank and wealth initiated by playful papas into the
mysteries of riding and sham shooting. Many a little lord was now
mounted on his pony to adventure forth as far as the park gates,
while mamma and sisters waved their handkerchiefs from afar, and
careful grooms waited to lead him back safe. Many such a little
rogue carried his mimic fowling-piece into the stubble, and learned
not to wink or flinch when papa brought down a bird, or coaxed the
gamekeeper to lend him a brace or two to carry when they should
come in sight of home and the girls. Many a tenant now put himself
in the way of a greeting from his landlord, resting on a stile, or pacing
his way slowly through a field. Many a state secret, that the public
would fain have known, was dismissed for some such freak as
snatching at a high hazel twig, or leaping a gate. Many a fair family
group of riders was seen threading green lanes, or cantering over
downs, or appearing and disappearing in the clumpy drives of a
park,—graceful boys, and high-born girls, leading their father in
search of some new beauty which it turns out he discovered in like
manner, when he was a pleasure-loving youth instead of a
statesman. Now, in the golden noon, was the boat seen to unfurl its
snowy sail, and glide in rivalship of grace with the swans which
diverged on either hand to let the vessel have its way without
disturbing their serenity. He who has guided, or may guide, the helm
of the state, now condescends to steer a less majestic bark on a
calmer element; and instead of the prayers, threats and blessings of
an empire, bends his ear to the prattle of his little ones, or to the
rustling of a startled deer, bounding from the thicket as the vessel
nears the shore. Not now too busy to observe whether rain or
sunshine be without, the recreated statesman finds in either case
equal pleasure and repose. His lady’s nursery and boudoir, his sons’
classics, his daughters’ music, his library, his billiard table, and withal
some peculiar and long relinquished pet pursuit, give him as much
pleasure on a rainy day, as the flower-garden, the fish-pond and
poultry-yard when the sky is blue overhead. He sighs over his past
toils, reminds his spouse of their wedding sojourn at Chamouni, and
at intervals quotes Virgil to the lad behind his chair, and whispers
Pope to the little lady netting at his elbow. Statesmanship should
have pleasures worthy of its toils; and so thought Letitia when her
husband first mutely pointed out to her the woods of Weston.
Sweet was the leisure of the first afternoon, which gave promise of
what should be done at future intervals of leisure;—intervals not
likely to be too frequent to retain their charm. His lordship had
brought his business and its apparatus with him; but for this day all
was laid aside. Within half an hour after alighting from the carriage,
and while dinner was being served up, my lord and lady were in the
rosery, observing on what must have been its beauty a few weeks
before, and the one pointing out and the other following with eager
eyes the tracts among the hanging woods which had to be explored,
the points of view which must be visited, one at sunrise, one in the
glowing noon, another in the still evening. As soon as dinner was
over, they were out again, that Letitia might see the ruins of the old
abbey before the sunlight should have departed. Her heart melted
within her when she saw the long shadows of the lofty arch extended
on the velvet turf, motionless except when a bird took wing from
among the ivy, and set its boughs dancing. The rooks sailed in
circles above the stately ruin, and the thrush piped from the
evergreen covert which shut in the retired nook in which it stood. The
sun-dial also marked the silent lapse of time, although there was
usually none to lay the lesson to heart.
“This is the place, love,” said lord F——.
“And you would have had me come without you,” said Letitia, after
a long pause.
“We have some weeks yet, to be sure, to enjoy it. This is the last
spot that looks desolate as winter comes on. No leafless trees, no
strewn blossoms! The wall-flowers there on the pinnacle flourish late;
and all is green and bright till the snow falls.”
“And after, surely,” said Letitia. “I should like to see icicles
glistening on these arches, springing grey from the sheeted snow. I
should like to see the ivy sprays bending under their white burden, or
shaking it off in a shower of sparkles at the breeze’s bidding. O let us
come here at Christmas!”
“If we do, you may chance to see another sight. You will see tracks
of small feet in the snow, and catch some little girl, in her red cloak,
stealing from the Wishing-Well.”
“The Wishing-Well! O where?”
“It springs from under an old stump behind this wall. Have you any
wishes?”
“I will make some for the superstition’s sake.”
And immediately Letitia might be seen unbonneted, kneeling on
the consecrated stone, and drinking the draught her husband had
filled for her. Thus was she seen, as presently appeared. A voice
reached them from one side, praying that her ladyship’s wishes
might come to pass, be they what they might, as they must be for
good and no harm to the people under her. Letitia sprang up,
laughing, and her husband replaced her hat, calling to the well-
wisher to show himself. He did so, not in the shape of a hardy
labourer, with his farming or gardening tools on his shoulder; nor yet
of a picturesque old man bending beneath his faggot. Such might
better have beseemed the place: but this was a middle-aged,
shrewd-looking little man, whom one would have guessed to be
town-bred. He came forward, saying that he had a message for her
ladyship from his wife;—my lord knew his wife.
 “Not I,” said his lordship. “I did not know you had a wife.”
“May be not, my lord; but you know the woman. She that keeps
the grocery shop, as you turn the corner in the village, your lordship
remembers.”
“What! Nanny Sweet? So you have taken her to wife since I saw
you last.”
“Yes, my lord. She has a very good business, or had before the
equality folks set up a store against us. I don’t like equality, not I. But
my wife sends word, my lady....”
“You do not like equality!” interrupted Letitia. “If there was equality,
you know, you would not need to mind who set up a store, and what
came of your wife’s grocery business.—And do not you like this
place too,—these woods, and the deer, and the lake?”
White lauded the grandeur and beauty of Weston.
“Well; this place would be as much yours as ours if there was
equality. You might fish on the lake, and shoot in the preserves,
and....”
“And lie down to sleep in the sun here beside the well,” continued
lord F——; “and all without asking anybody’s leave.”
“I thank you kindly, my lord; but I like sleeping in my bed, if I sleep
at all, unless it be dozing over my pipe, while Jack is reading the
news at the Duke’s Head. The only time I went fishing, I fell into the
water; so you’ll not soon find me in a boat again. My wife and I like a
chicken now and then, on Sundays; so a share of your poultry-yard
would be welcome perhaps; and, as for the deer and game, I leave it
to other folks to get out of their warm beds for the sake of it. It would
not answer to me to be laid by with the rheumatism for such a cause,
you see.”
“But there would be no poaching if there was equality,” said Letitia,
laughing. “Cannot game be shot in the daytime?”
“By none but gentlemen, my lady, as I have always heard.
However, the equality folks have no more game, as far as I know,
than other people. The most they pretend to is to have plenty of
butcher’s meat.—What I pretend to, and Nanny too, is to get our
bread honestly; and so, my lady, she bade me tell you that she has
laid in a new stock, hearing your ladyship was coming, and has lost
already by its being September instead of June. Light ginghams for
morning wear....”
“I thought your wife was a grocer.”
“Grocer and draper, my lady. If your ladyship should find the
mornings chilly, as they will be soon, perhaps you would look at her
stuffs;—a very pretty variety of browns, as you will see, my lady. And
her tea and sugar is of the best; and as for her snuffs....”
“O, I must make acquaintance with her snuffs, of course. Have you
a pinch about you?”
“And what is your occupation now, White?” inquired lord F——.
“The last thing I had to do, my lord, was lining your lordship’s pew
at church, and covering the hassocks.”
“And what did your priest say to that?”
“Lord, sir, I cleared scores with the priest long ago; ever since I
was employed to white-wash the Baptist chapel.”
“Were you once a Catholic?” inquired Letitia.
“Yes, my lady. There was carving work to do at Sir William’s
chapel, and I got a good long job.”
“And were a Catholic while it lasted, and a Baptist after white-
washing the meeting-house?”
“To be sure, my lady; I took a part in the week-day meetings after
that.”
“Till you were employed to line my pew; and now, I dare say, you
are a very good churchman?”
“I hope to be so, my lord. Your lordship may laugh, but I know what
manners is. I wouldn’t be so unhandsome as to take work at one
place, and attend at another.”
“So your interest has nothing at all to do with it, White; only
manners. But I wonder now what you think your religion is worth, if
you can change and change again as you have done?”
“Why, my lord, I think religion is a very good thing, as long as it
does not come in one’s way: but one must make sacrifices to duty,
as all the clergy tell us; and is it not my duty to get my living the best
way I can?”
“Well, White; tell your wife I will step down to see her stock, some
day soon. I do not at present take snuff; but whenever I do, I will be
her customer.”
 Thérèse and her mistress kept one another waiting this night. The
housekeeper, who was much amused with Thérèse’s broken English
and unbroken simplicity, invited her out to a turn in the shrubberies
when tea was sent in, and she was sure of not being wanted for an
hour or two. When they came in again, they found that their master
and mistress had once more wandered forth, tempted by the rising of
the clear full moon behind the woods. After sitting nearly an hour in
the dressing-room, Thérèse put faith in the housekeeper’s prophecy
that her master would stay abroad till after midnight, like a child as
he always was, or one that lived on air, the first few days after his
coming down from town. Thérèse looked out and longed for another
ramble. The dressing-room lamp shed a pearly light through the
room; but a golden planet hung over the opposite beechen grove: a
small bright fire burned in the grate; but it was less cheering than the
bracing evening air: the time-piece ticked drowsily amidst the
silence; but it was less soothing than the coming and going of the
night-breeze among the elms in the green walk. Thérèse could not
resist. Once more she ran out, promising herself that she would be
back in ten minutes,—long before her mistress should be ready for
her. In an hour, startled by the striking of the village clock, she
returned, and found Letitia, half undressed, still gazing from the
window.
“Ah, madam!” cried Thérèse, terrified; “I am very, very wrong....”
As she hastened, with trembling hands, to throw off her cloak, and
arrange the toilet-table, appealing the while to the moon and other
temptations, Letitia, under a sudden impulse, ran and kissed the
astonished Thérèse, crying, “O Thérèse, how happy we shall be
here!” Thérèse returned the kiss again and again before she stopped
to consider what she was about. As soon as Letitia could repress her
inclination to laugh, she observed that they seemed all to have set
aside common rules to-day, and to have their heads turned alike by
coming into the country. After this, Thérèse would be in waiting at the
proper hour, and she herself....
“And you, madam ...” said Thérèse, half-smiling. “You will not
make me forget that there is one in this country who loves me as
some love me at home; but this will redouble my respect, madam.”
 “I hope it will, Thérèse; for I need to be reminded now and then.... I
was not always lady F——, you know; and a moon-light night makes
me forget these things sometimes. We are all equal in reality, except
when ignorance, and all that comes of ignorance, separates us from
one another; so there may be friendship,—there is friendship
between you and me, Thérèse.”
“The knowledge which you have given me, madam, will make this
friendship my secret treasure. No one will know it who cannot also
be your friend.—But many ladies put confidence in their maids, and
tell them such things as I have never heard from you. Mrs. Philips....”
“Mrs. Philips, I suspect, Thérèse, had much more to tell than she
ever was told; at least, her secrets were of a kind that will never be
known to come from me. Your confessor shall never have to warn
you against me,—unless, indeed, it be my heresy. I would not spoil
you, my dear; and that is the reason why I keep you so much with
me. It would be hard if I did not love you and let you love me. Now
go to bed; and when the sun shines, instead of the moon, we must
forget all the wild things we have done this first day.”
“I shall never be fit to be a countess,” was her confession to lord F
——; “I kissed my maid last night.”
“What, Philips!”
“O no, no. That would be idiotcy. Philips is at Brighton, you know,
where lady Frances spoils her by a more pernicious familiarity than
mine with Thérèse. But really this girl wins one’s heart as if she had
been born one’s younger sister.”
“I dare say she is some countess, or countess’s daughter in
disguise; or so some romantic ladies might fancy.”
“Ladies who think that nobility is only hereditary. There is disguised
nobility in Thérèse; but her patent is sealed with an impress which
there are few to recognize, and it is deposited where not many
trouble themselves to look for it.”
“Side by side with yours, love. Happily, your nobility of that better
kind needs be disguised no more than the lesser which you have
acquired. This was the chief satisfaction I had in giving you the
lesser.”
“We will look among the equality folks, as White calls them, for
specimens of natural nobility. According to their theory, such always
assumes its rank among them, does it not?”
“This is one of the professed objects of their system; but it is not
fair to look for its fulfilment in such small societies as they have yet
been able to form. Master minds are thinly sown.”
“There needs not equality of outward condition,” observed Letitia,
“to make the best minds master minds. Those who, by virtue of a
patent of mental nobility, have held sway over the national mind,
have been of all ranks.”
“And will so continue to be; for, as long as men are unlike one
another, there will be a distinction of ranks, though the distinction
may be maintained by a better principle than heritage. Rank and
wealth will, I trust, be in time distributed according to natural laws;
but degrees of rank and wealth there will always be; and the
advocates of a system of equality would greatly promote their cause
by a frank recognition of this truth. While all evidence from which a
judgment can be formed is before them, and they come to a
conclusion in direct opposition to the evidence, I cannot, however
much I may respect them on some accounts, think them wise and
safe guides of the people. The necessity of inequality of condition
may be established thus.”
“But first tell me whether their favourite principle of co-operation
necessarily involves equality of condition.”
“They would tell you ‘yes.’ I say ‘no.’ They hold that competition is
both the cause and effect of inequality of condition; whereas certain
advocates of co-operation in another country hold, (and I think
wisely,) that their principle stands a better chance where a gradation
of rank and property is allowed. I so far agree with these last as to
believe the time to be discernible when co-operation, in a certain
sense, shall prevail,—meaning thereby, when all interests shall be
harmonized instead of opposed; but that this includes equality of
condition, I cannot allow, since varieties of character seem to me to
forbid such equality.”
“There must be an inequality of physical and mental powers, at all
events.”
“Surely; and therefore an inequality in the produce of individual
labour. No one labours, or ever will labour, without a view to the
fruits; and those fruits, however appropriated, are property. If a giant
produces ten times as much as a dwarf, and each is allowed the
same middle portion of the fruits, for his maintenance and
enjoyment, is it to be supposed that the giant will trouble himself
henceforth to produce more than the dwarf?”
“He will be more likely to seize some of the dwarf’s portion.”
“Certainly; and hence it is clear that the only security of society lies
in awarding to all their rights, and enforcing upon all their duties; and
what are rights but a man’s exclusive power over his own produce?
What are his duties but allowing to others the possession of their
produce?”
“You do not think then that the giant and the dwarf would be alike
contented with having everything they could want or wish for
administered to them in return for a certain portion of their labour.
You do not look forward to the lion dandling the kid.”
“I should be afraid the lion would be dandling the kid when he
ought to be out in quest of food. If there was no inducement to giants
to produce more than dwarfs, there would soon be little to administer
to anybody. The consumption of giants would soon have to be
provided for by the labour of a community of dwarfs.”
“The giants would foresee this, and then....”
“Instead of working harder for no recompense, they would
withdraw,—the mightiest first, and then the next strongest, and so
on, till the weakest of the dwarfs would be left to shift for themselves
as they best might.”
“And then would come the days of potatoes and wooden
trenchers, of which you were speaking one day.—But this is
supposing men to have the same passions and desires that they
have now; whereas they are to be educated into a better state.”
“With all my heart: but the utmost that education can do is to
extend man’s views, to exalt his aims, to strengthen and vivify his
powers,—not to change his nature. His nature involves inequality of
powers; and this decree of Providence can never be set aside, or its
operation neutralized by any decree of man that the fruits of those
powers shall be equally divided.”
“Certainly not; for such a decree of man involves injustice. If the
giant feels it to be unjust that he must give to others the fruits of his
labour, the dwarf may also complain that he enjoys no more than the
giant, though he works ten times as hard.”
“The dwarf’s complaint would thus be against Providence, and the
giant’s against man; but both show that equality is an arbitrary state,
good neither for each nor for all. Nothing but compulsion would
retain the giant in it long; and thus it is clear that, where there is
liberty, there cannot be equality.”
“What becomes of the old cry of Liberty and Equality?”
“It relates, I imagine, to an equality of rights. It means an open field
and fair play to every one. This kind of equality I am doing all I can in
my office to procure, by doing away with the protection to some
which imposes burdens upon others. By the same principle I am
bound to oppose that arbitrary equality which enriches the weak with
the fruits of the strongman’s labours.”
“But there is no force used. All who bind themselves to equality do
it voluntarily.”
“Certainly. The only applicable force is force of argument, and the
opposition I bring is an opposition of reasons. If these should not
prevail, a little experience will soon finish the business. I am only
sorry that any should be dazzled with a delusive prospect of ease
and luxury, when their efforts should be guided in another direction
for the relief of their grievous burdens. At a time when every one
should be bent on regulating the labour market, providing for the
utmost permanent growth of capital, and lessening the burdens of
taxation, we cannot spare any from these grand objects to be urging
on the increase of capital at the expense of a much greater increase
of population, and amusing themselves with visions of what can
never be achieved by the means they propose. Man must and will be
better served as the world grows older; but it will be by giving the
eternal laws of society fair play, and not by attempting to subvert
them. I shall be surprised if you hear anything from our neighbours in
the village which will not bear the construction I have put upon the
system as laid down by its originators.”
“Suppose I make myself popular among them at once by telling
them my tale of last night.”
“There is no need, my dear. I trust they do us the justice to believe
that our affections graduate according to a truer scale than that of
hereditary rank.”
“You have shown that they do by marrying me.”
“All people show it in the most important circumstances of their
lives,—in their attachments. Alas for man, if the movements within
must correspond with the outward state! Whom then would kings
love?”
“And (what is more important) how should the poverty-stricken
look up through the ranks above him, and say, with hope in his eye
and assurance in his voice, ‘I am a brother?’ How else should the
stirring thought be kept alive in him that his rights will not be for ever
overlaid, his claims not be for ever incompatible with those of his
brethren? Natural affinities are ever acting, even now, in opposition
to circumstance. They will in time direct us to the due control of
circumstance. Meanwhile, let no class imagine that any other class
denies the existence of these affinities, or resists their workings.—I
will go and see how they are acting in the village.—Shall I bring you
some of Mrs. White’s snuff?”
“Why, thank you, I am not aware of any affinity between a rappee
canister and my nostrils. But the old sexton is a snuff-taker. Call
upon him by all means, and show him that you understand his
likings. He will gratify some of yours, if you find him in a talkative
mood.”