1 Could the research objectives have been achieved in any other way?

Mike Everett, managing director of MORI UK, is a rugby fan. He describes Jonny Wilkinson, the golden boy of English rugby as ‘better than Beckham. He can really kick a ball’, and waxes lyrical about the enlightening joys of the game. One suspects that when MORI won the contract for a major piece of research from the Rugby Football Union Everett was over the moon. ‘Having a passion is helpful,’
he says. ‘As long as you realise that you’ve got to be fair, and that you need to keep an eye on every angle.’
Researching sport is difficult as it can be many faceted. There is a world of difference from a football kickaround in the park to the multimillion pound wheeling and dealing of Old Trafford or, in the case of rugby, from the crowds of Twickenham belting out Swing Low, Sweet Chariot to scrumming down in a field on a rainy Saturday afternoon. However, soon the RFU hopes these two ends of the rugby spectrum will collide.