"What happens on tour, stays on tour" is a phrase or saying agreed to by persons who get together and travel either domestically or overseas for sporting tours. In essence, the phrase means that all exploits during the tour must be kept strictly confidential, never to be discussed with anyone outside the group. In more recent years, the phrase has also been applied to persons attending music gigs, going on business trips and fishing holidays. The term is commonly used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and the United States and is also known as "what goes on tour stays on tour",Brown, Mathew; Guthrie, Patrick and Growden, Greg (2007, p. 303)
''Rugby for Dummies''
Published by For Dummies. . . "what happens on the road stays on the road", and among members of the United States military, speaking of

temporary duty assignment Temporary duty travel (TDY), also known as temporary additional duty (TAD), is a designation reflecting a United States Armed Forces service member's—or civilian Department of Defense employee's—travel or other assignment at a location other t ...

, "what happens TDY stays TDY".Bankston, Bobby
Diamond Talk: What happens at Osan doesn’t stay at Osan
(2008)

Background

The phrase has been described by Samantha Brett, a writer for ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', as an "unspoken male pact that for centuries can never be broken". In essence, if you were there you may discuss the events, but if you were not there, you get nothing. In contrast, '' Rugby for Dummies'' describes the phrase as meaning that particularly funny, embarrassing, or debauched moments are for consumption only by the tourists themselves and not casual listeners back home. It is believed that the phrase originated in 1970 during an overseas

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

trip, and quickly cascaded into many other sporting codes such as

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and football.Syed, Matthew (26 June 2008)
Why does what happens on tour stay on tour?

Times Online ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

. Retrieved 19 August 2009. The phrase has subsequently evolved into a "

code of honour Code of Honour (Chinese: 正义武馆) is a Malaysian-Singaporean television drama series and the fifth production by MediaCorp Studios Malaysia Sdn Bhd. It stars Elvin Ng , Rui En, Andie Chen , Paige Chua , Zheng Geping , Chris Tong & Tiffany ...

" amongst those males participating in the trip or tour. Many groups or teams travelling interstate or overseas have adopted the phrase, that mainly relates to sexual conquests and

binge drinking Binge drinking, or heavy episodic drinking, is drinking alcoholic beverages with an intention of becoming intoxicated by heavy consumption of alcohol over a short period of time, but definitions ( see below) vary considerably. Binge drinking ...

. However, the phrase can also relate to other forms of unacceptable behaviour and

etiquette Etiquette () is the set of norms of personal behaviour in polite society, usually occurring in the form of an ethical code of the expected and accepted social behaviours that accord with the conventions and norms observed and practised by a ...

. It has been stated that there are two rules embedded in the code. Firstly, it must be a group of males in team environment, travelling away from home, where they are unconstrained from the usual forms of acceptable behaviour. The second rule is that all exploits must be kept strictly confidential, never to be discussed with anyone outside the group, particularly wives and girlfriends (also known as WAGs).Brett, Samantha (2006)
What happens on tour, stays on tour

. Retrieved 15 August 2009 The phrase however, is not restricted to males. Australian Hockeyroo player Sarah Taylor when asked what her most memorable thing to ever happen whilst away on tour responded, "What goes on tour stays on tour". Anna Coogan, a writer for the ''

Evening Herald ''The Herald'' is a nationwide mid-market tabloid newspaper headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and published by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. It is published Monday–Saturday. The newspaper was known as the ''Ev ...

'' in Ireland, stated that the code of honour also applied to women as much as men.

"What happens on the road..."

In the United States, the term has close connotations among touring musicians and their road crews and is expressed as "what happens on the road, stays on the road". American singer

Mike Doughty Michael Ross Doughty ( ; born June 10, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and author. He founded the band Soul Coughing in 1992, and as of '' The Heart Watches While the Brain Burns'' (2016), has released 18 studio albums, live albums, and ...

listed the concept as number four of his "Rules of the Road", and the reason he wasn't going to tell stories of debauchery, drug abuse, and sexual exploits.Kaufman, Gil
''Mike Doughty's Rules of the Road''
VH1 News, 26 October 2005. Retrieved 24 August 2009. Other musicians who have expressed the term include

Jimmy Gnecco James Francis Gnecco III (born September 30, 1973) is an American singer, songwriter and multi instrumentalist who makes music both under his name and the moniker Ours. Gnecco is known for his multi-octave vocal range and singing style, often de ...

Andrew Schwab Andrew Schwab is the lead singer for the band Project 86. He is also a graphic designer, calligrapher, author, and hosts Pioneers Podcast: Finding Your Creative Voice. Project 86 In 1996, Schwab formed Project 86 with, Matt Hernandez, Ethan Luc ...

, and Jes Steinegar of

Coalesce Coalesce may refer to: *Coalesce (band), a metalcore band from Kansas City, Missouri, active from 1994 to 1999, 2005– **Coalesce discography, a list of Coalesce's albums and songs *COALESCE, an SQL function *Null coalescing operator, a binary op ...

. Author Trev Wilkins wrote in his gigging and touring guide that the concept "is a kind of unwritten rule",Wilkins, Trev
''Access All Areas: A Real World Guide to Gigging and Touring'', p. 35.
Focal Press, 2007. . Retrieved 24 August 2009. and that the professional gigger should never "destroy the trust" of coworkers by telling tales of their "crazy and out-of-character" activities. Wilkins emphasized that it was easy to ruin not only another's career but one's own, when the trust of gigging companions disappears.

"What happens in Vegas..."

American heavy-metal musician

Tommy Lee Thomas Lee Bass (born October 3, 1962) is an American musician and founding member of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. As well as being the band's long-term drummer, Lee founded rap metal band Methods of Mayhem and has pursued solo musical ...

wrote in 2005 that the phrase "what happens on the road stays on the road" was "an old saying that's been said many ways" and he expressed his view that its origin lay in rock concert touring by writing "

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

stole that shit from us...". Lee, Tommy; Anthony Bozza
''Tommyland'', p. 103.
Simon and Schuster, 2005. . Retrieved 24 August 2009. Lee was referring to the catch phrase " what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas", which was in common circulation before

Billy Crystal William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...

used it to close the

76th Academy Awards The 76th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2003 and took place on February 29, 2004, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 ...

show in 2004 and was spoken variously by people such as

Laura Bush Laura Lane Welch Bush (''née'' Welch; born November 4, 1946) is an American teacher, librarian, memoirist and author who was First Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. Bush previously served as First Lady of Texas from 1995 to 2000. ...

and

Ben Affleck Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educationa ...

on television broadcasts.''USA Today'', Advertising & Marketing. Michael McCarthy
"Vegas goes back to its naughty roots"
11 April 2005. Retrieved 24 August 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:What Happens On Tour, Stays On Tour Casual sex English phrases Drinking culture 1970s neologisms

Background

"What happens on the road..."

"What happens in Vegas..."

See also

References