“We help ourselves out. That’s a team. That’s how we roll”: Turn-taking and the co-construction of radio rugby union commentary

Abstract

This study is of the commentaries provided by two different radio sports commentary teams of the same two international rugby football test matches. The matches were played between the British and Irish Lions and the New Zealand All Blacks. The commentary teams were a British team and a New Zealand team. The commentaries are analysed for how the members of the team co-construct the commentary by having both institutionalised roles and exercising these roles in institutionalised tasks. The results of this analysis show that there is considerable variation in the way in which the members of each  commentary team exercise their roles and contribute to creating a coherent commentary. This variability depends on who is performing each role and how their practice interrelates with that of the others in their team.