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The aim of this thesis is to explore the influences and contributions of Māori to the establishment and development of the sport of rugby league in New Zealand. The overarching question of this thesis is how have Māori influenced and contributed to the development of rugby league in New Zealand? This thesis examines the international social history of rugby league from the origins of rugby league as a sport following the split in rugby union in England through to the contemporary status of Māori within the game as an elite sport in New Zealand and overseas. By examining Māori involvement in rugby league it is my intention to place Māori at the centre of the explanation for the establishment and development, past and present, of the sport in New Zealand, and also globally. While there have been some previous accounts of the affiliation between Māori and rugby league (Coffey and Wood, 2008; Greenwood, 2008; Falcous, 2007) this thesis compiles accounts from disparate sources in order to outline the history of Māori involvement and achievement in the development stages of rugby league. Key areas of focus for this thesis include the early Māori tours of 1908 and 1909, the development of the New Zealand Māori Rugby League as an independent entity separate from the New Zealand Rugby League and the contemporary influences of Māori on rugby league. This thesis will show that the early Māori tours were crucial to the development of Australian, New Zealand and, to an extent, British rugby league. It will also provide insight in to the inclusive nature of rugby league through the inclusion of Māori initiatives such as the development of a Māori Rugby League. The final section of this thesis will draw on the contemporary influence that Māori have on the sport through an examination of player migration and how Māori have emerged as a ‘donor culture’ providing high numbers of elite athletes to the world’s premier rugby league competitions. It can be argued that the mobility of Māori, in the form of touring teams and migrant players, has sustained the sport internationally while paradoxically, and simultaneously, depleting the game domestically. In this account Māori emerge, not as an appendix in a history of the game but rather as a crucial donor culture for the establishment and continued success of rugby league.

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This programme of research contributed to the understanding of the process of fitness training adherence of elite netball players. It was designed to quantify fitness training adherence using a valid method of measurement, identify fitness training facilitators and barriers, examine the utility of social cognitive theories in predicting and explaining fitness training adherence and assess the efficacy of a theory-based intervention aimed at improving training adherence. In Chapter 2.1, the strong correlations between the diary measures and a 3-week recall measures for aerobic and strength training frequency (r = .64 and .70, p < .01, respectively) provided support for the construct validity of the diary method. Adherence was moderate for both aerobic (71 + 27%, M ± SD) and strength training (65 + 30%). Moreover, only 1 player (4%) managed to fully adhere to the recommended programme. Chapter 2.2 examined the utility of the Theory of Planned Behaviour and Social Cognitive Theory in predicting aerobic training adherence. Neither of the theories significantly predicted adherence behaviour. However, within both of the theories, past training behaviour accounted for a significant unique portion of the variance in training adherence. In Chapter 2.3 a cross-case analysis of semi-structured interview data revealed that the key facilitators and barriers of fitness training behaviour could be usefully viewed within the framework of the revised Theory of Planned Behaviour. Chapter 2.4 examined the utility of Social Cognitive Theory, the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the revised Theory of Planned Behaviour in predicting fitness training adherence. The revised Theory of Planned Behaviour proved to be the best predictor of training adherence, accounting for 80% (77% adjusted) of the variance. Social Cognitive Theory and the Theory of Planned Behaviour accounted for 500/0 (41 % adjusted) and 21 % (11 % adjusted) of the variance in training adherence, respectively. Chapter 2.5 investigated the efficacy of an intervention, based on the predictions of the revised Theory of Planned Behaviour, designed to improve training adherence. Large effect sizes (0.93 - 3.80) for improvements in adherence between baseline and post-intervention were found for 13 players (760/0). A follow-up assessment over 7- weeks showed that players' training adherence remained improved.

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The thesis represents the analysis of a specific international sector, namely tourism and hotels, using perspectives drawn from international political economy (IPE). The major purpose is to illustrate the application of the emerging conceptual framework of IPE to demonstrate the value of this new approach in understanding international relationships. The central argument is that the conventional approaches of the discipline of international relations (IR) are too limited to account for change in social action at the international level and that the approach offered by new developments in IPE offers a more productive method of analysis and leads to more satisfactory explanation. A key issue in IR theory is the degree to which the conventional perspectives of the discipline are able to capture the full range of variables that influence outcomes in the international system. The new IPE attempts to resolve this issue through the concept of a set of power structures that broaden the scope of analysis beyond the restrictions imposed by traditional approaches in IR. International relationships are categorised through the structures of security, production, finance and knowledge, thus expanding the range of enquiry across a much more comprehensive spectrum of variables. A related issue is the relationship between politics and economics, which is conceptualised in the new IPE through the unifying concept of power, whether it is derived from wealth or the ability to coerce. Central to the new approach is an examination of sources of power within the structures, the use to which it is put and the outcomes that the use of power generates, within and between the structures. The empirical work was designed to demonstrate the strength of this approach through the analysis of a specific sector of the global political economy. The choice of a sector as the unit of analysis permits an examination of all key actors and relationships operating within the four structures. The case of the international hotel and tourism industry in Thailand illustrates the value of this approach by demonstrating the multicausal nature of observed outcomes and by revealing the source and relationship of multiple causal factors. The analysis thus brings out the roles played both by states and by the private sector and the way in which changes in the global financial system and, particularly, technology have generated change within the sector in varying ways and at varying times. The historical approach thus also brings out the dynamic nature of international relations as the changes within Thailand's tourism sector are described and explained through the analysis offered by the new IPE.

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