tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/australian-sport-10675/articlesAustralian sport – The Conversation2023-12-13T00:13:06Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2192192023-12-13T00:13:06Z2023-12-13T00:13:06ZThe new national plan for sport has no measurable targets - exactly how politicians like it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564724/original/file-20231211-19-tgfhmf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C32%2C5446%2C3054&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/large-group-people-cross-country-running-1634219926">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The federal minister for sport, Anika Wells, recently launched a <a href="https://consultations.health.gov.au/office-for-sport/national-sport-plan/">discussion paper</a> for a new National Plan for Sport, which will be the fourth such plan produced since 2001. </p>
<p>These plans typically have two main goals: to promote success in elite sport, particularly internationally, and to increase grassroots participation in sport by Australian children and adults. </p>
<p>They’re important policy documents because, ideally, they should play a major role in deciding federal sports funding across the country.</p>
<p>But historically, the plans have failed to get more adults into community sport. So how does this one stack up? And will it be any different?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/which-sports-are-best-for-health-and-long-life-67636">Which sports are best for health and long life?</a>
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<h2>A history of plans with mixed results</h2>
<p>Since 2001, governments of the day have released four national plans. All of them have tried to get more people aged 15 and over into sport, but they’ve expressed that aim differently:</p>
<p>In the <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22library%2Fpartypol%2F4QPA6%22;src1=sm1">2001 plan</a> under the Coalition government, the second goal was to “significantly increase the number of people participating in sport right across Australia”.</p>
<p>A decade later, the Labor government adopted <a href="https://parksleisure.com.au/parc-library/569-national-sport-and-active-recreation-policy-framework/">a new plan</a>. Its first objective was to “increase participation in sport and active recreation”.</p>
<p>The Coalition government released the <a href="https://www.sportaus.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/677894/Sport_2030_-_National_Sport_Plan_-_2018.pdf">Sport 2030</a> plan in 2018, wanting “more Australians, more active, more often”. This time there was a target: increase participation by 15% by 2030.</p>
<p>Which brings us to the most recent <a href="https://consultations.health.gov.au/office-for-sport/national-sport-plan/">discussion paper</a> from the current government. It aims to “maximise access and rates of participation and other involvement in sport and physical activity”. </p>
<p>The Australian Sports Commission, the government’s main sports promotion agency, has also published <a href="http://www.ausport.gov.au/playwell">Australia’s Sports Participation Strategy</a>, which speaks of fostering “greater engagement and participation in sport across the nation”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-kids-want-to-drop-out-of-sport-and-how-should-parents-respond-195115">What makes kids want to drop out of sport, and how should parents respond?</a>
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<h2>Stagnant sporting numbers</h2>
<p>While all sound noble in their goals, the plans so far have failed to increase participation.</p>
<p>This is demonstrated in the diagram, which uses data from the Australian Sports Commission’s <a href="http://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/research/ausplay">annual surveys</a> of up to 20,000 adults.</p>
<p><iframe id="lHl6r" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/lHl6r/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>It indicates the proportion of the adult population engaging in sport and physical activity with varying frequency (from three or more times a week to none at all) over the periods 2003–10 and 2016–23 (there were no comparable surveys in 2011-15).</p>
<p>The results for the two periods cannot be directly compared due to differing survey methodologies. However, the trends within each period were similar: no increase in participation. </p>
<p>The question arises: will the outcomes of the new plan be any different? The answer: probably not. </p>
<h2>Policy documents lacking in data</h2>
<p>There are many reasons why it’s likely this plan won’t fare much better than previous attempts.</p>
<p>First, planning documents produced by ministers and the sports commission typically fail to admit to the central problem: 20 years (and more) of policy effort have failed to move the dial on grassroots sport participation in Australia. </p>
<p>The data showing this does not appear anywhere in the current published planning documents. In fact, despite the commitment to increasing sport participation, neither of the two documents presents any data on current or past adult sport participation rates.</p>
<p>Second, it is not clear what exactly the plan will set out to do. For example, in the diagram, there is a persistent 10–15% of the population who engage in no sport or physical recreation activity at all. Is the aim to reduce the size of this group? The documents don’t say. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/many-australian-kids-abused-in-sport-wont-ever-speak-up-its-time-we-break-the-silence-215884">Many Australian kids abused in sport won't ever speak up. It's time we break the silence</a>
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<p>On the other hand, the group that participates less than once a week could be targeted to increase the frequency of participation, thus gaining more health benefits. </p>
<p>The emphasis in the documents, however, is on inclusivity, which implies the problem lies with groups being excluded on grounds of such characteristics as ethnicity, disability or gender. </p>
<p>This focus is of course commendable on grounds of equity. However, this policy stance has been in place in sport plans since 2001 but, according to the sports commission’s own survey evidence, overall participation hasn’t budged. </p>
<p>In the case of disability and ethnicity, the various groups’ participation rates have barely changed. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564732/original/file-20231211-15-h7394r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A female soccer team celebrating a goal" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564732/original/file-20231211-15-h7394r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/564732/original/file-20231211-15-h7394r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564732/original/file-20231211-15-h7394r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564732/original/file-20231211-15-h7394r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564732/original/file-20231211-15-h7394r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564732/original/file-20231211-15-h7394r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/564732/original/file-20231211-15-h7394r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Results from five out of seven recent surveys shows female participation in sport has outstripped male participation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/win-celebrate-excited-women-soccer-team-2191542415">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Gender is an exception, with five of the seven surveys since 2016 seeing higher female participation rates than men. However, neither the continuing problems with disability and ethnicity nor the apparent success story in regard to gender is discussed in the current planning documents. </p>
<p>Finally, it is possible governments don’t take sport policy seriously, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on the sector by the federal government each year. After all, it’s millions, not billions. </p>
<p>With policies expressed only in general terms and no attempt to measure specific policy outcomes, there is no obligation to assess the collective effects of grants programs on sport participation. </p>
<p>The more cynical among us may think, then, that grants can be allocated to maximise political, rather than sporting benefits. Such allegations have been levelled before, particularly during the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/may/19/the-sports-rorts-saga-sport-rort-grants-stench-that-clung-to-the-coalition">sports rorts</a> saga.</p>
<p>As long as the policies remain imprecise and unmeasurable, only the government and the sports commission get to decide whether they’re working. They might well have a different definition of success to the rest of us.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219219/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anthony Veal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The government has released a discussion paper for the latest national sport strategy. Will this one be more effective than previous attempts? Probably not.Anthony Veal, Adjunct Professor, Business School, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1927202022-10-26T19:03:59Z2022-10-26T19:03:59ZOut of bounds: how much does greenwashing cost fossil-fuel sponsors of Australian sport?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/491539/original/file-20221025-19-7q31vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C4871%2C3215&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>High-profile Australian athletes and supporters across sports such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/oct/18/pat-cummins-says-he-will-not-appear-in-any-more-ads-for-cricket-australia-energy-company-sponsor">cricket</a>, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-18/pressure-building-for-diamonds-netball-australia-gina-rinehart/101545110">netball</a> and <a href="https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/fremantle-dockers-urged-to-cut-ties-with-major-sponsor-woodside/news-story/bbfd9a4f32018525427430d6958ae3f8">Australian Rules football</a> have recently called for their sports to reconsider their partnerships with fossil fuel or mining companies. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.acf.org.au/out-of-bounds">report</a>, released today, is the first research to quantify the number and value of fossil-fuel sponsorships in Australian sport. It reveals coal, gas and oil companies spend A$14 million to A$18 million each year sponsoring 14 high-profile leagues and sports in Australia. </p>
<p>We identified 51 such partnerships. The major fossil-fuel sponsors of sport include companies such as Santos, Alinta, BHP and Woodside.</p>
<p>The money these sponsors spend on sport is at least partly an investment in “greenwashing” their images. Fossil fuel corporations are major sources of the emissions that drive climate change, but through sports sponsorship they leverage the positive image of sport and fan loyalty associated with teams. </p>
<p>The association of these sponsors’ names and logos with popular sports and athletes can <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315619514-24/sustainability-greenwashing-light-green-approach-sport-environmentalism-jay-johnson-adam-ehsan-ali">sanitise the image</a> of fossil fuel companies. When sports embrace high-polluting brands, they help normalise those companies’ contributions to the climate crisis.</p>
<p>But many Australian sport organisations are starting to take action to reduce their carbon footprint. They are also leveraging their media profiles to promote environmentally positive behaviours. As they do so, coal, oil and gas sponsorships and partnerships are coming under increasing public scrutiny. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-athletes-just-shut-up-and-play-ball-no-society-is-changing-and-sport-sponsorship-must-too-192959">Should athletes just shut up and play ball? No – society is changing and sport sponsorship must too</a>
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<h2>Why does this matter for sport?</h2>
<p>Sport is part of the Australian cultural identity. Millions of Australians watch and play sport. Hundreds of thousands volunteer every week to do the work needed to bring community sport to life. </p>
<p>Sport is integral to the social fabric of communities. It provides <a href="https://www.sportaus.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/974948/KPMG_Value_of_Community_Sport_Infrastructure_final.pdf">well-documented</a> mental and physical health benefits as well as social benefits for participants. Sport also contributes around <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Game-Set-Match-Calling-Time-on-Climate-Inaction-Climate-Council-Sports-Report-1.pdf">$50 billion a year</a> to the Australian economy.</p>
<p>However, climate change is both an <a href="https://www.climatecouncil.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Game-Set-Match-Calling-Time-on-Climate-Inaction-Climate-Council-Sports-Report-1.pdf">immediate and future threat to sport in Australia</a>.</p>
<p>Increasing heat as a result of climate change is a problem for sport. The viability of iconic sporting events such as cricket’s MCG Boxing Day Test and the Australian Open tennis could be threatened by heatwaves reaching highs of 50°C by 2040. Extreme heat poses a risk for community sport too. </p>
<p>Higher temperatures are also driving longer and more intense bushfire seasons, exposing athletes and spectators to dangerous air pollution.</p>
<p>In this context, accepting sponsorship from coal, gas and oil corporations creates reputational risks for Australian sport. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-climate-crisis-how-do-we-treat-businesses-that-profit-from-carbon-pollution-188810">In a climate crisis, how do we treat businesses that profit from carbon pollution?</a>
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<h2>Which sports are favoured?</h2>
<p>Our report, <a href="https://www.acf.org.au/outofbounds">Out of bounds: coal, gas and oil sponsorship of Australian sports</a>, was prepared by Swinburne University of Technology’s Sport Innovation Research Group for the Australian Conservation Foundation. We identified 51 partnerships (3.5% of all partnerships) between 14 top-tier sporting organisations and coal, gas and oil companies. We found oil and gas companies tend to sponsor Australian Rules football, rugby union and rugby league, while fossil-fuel energy retailers favour partnerships with cricket, soccer and netball. </p>
<p>While not a small level of investment, we suggest these 14 sports could, over time, replace the $14 million to $18 million they receive each year. </p>
<p>The benefits that associating with sport provides to these corporations would be much more difficult for them to replace. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sportswashing-how-mining-and-energy-companies-sponsor-your-favourite-sports-to-help-clean-up-their-image-173589">Sportswashing: how mining and energy companies sponsor your favourite sports to help clean up their image</a>
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<h2>What can sports do?</h2>
<p>There is a solution to this challenge for the Australian sport industry. Sport organisations have a history of having to move away from corporate sponsors due to growing public concern about their impact on individual and community health and wellbeing. Tobacco, alcohol and gambling are just some industries that have <a href="https://www.clearinghouseforsport.gov.au/kb/tobacco-sponsorship-and-advertising-in-sport#tobacco_sponsorship_and_advertising_in_sport">faced regulation to control their involvement with sport</a> as a promotional platform. </p>
<p>Cricket Australia has already announced it is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/oct/18/pat-cummins-says-he-will-not-appear-in-any-more-ads-for-cricket-australia-energy-company-sponsor">parting ways with Alinta Energy</a> when its nearly <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/cummins-raised-objection-to-cricket-australia-s-alinta-deal-20221017-p5bqei.html">$40 million, five-year sponsorship deal ends</a> in 2023.</p>
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<p>The road away from coal, oil and gas company sponsorship of sport, as well as wider environmental approaches, can be either direct or indirect. Directly, organisations or brands can end or reject coal, oil and gas sponsorship. They can also actively advocate or illustrate sports’ role in a more sustainable future. </p>
<p>Indirectly, sports organisations may “signal an intent” by signing a climate-related agreement or join an environmental association as an institutional member. For some sport organisations these commitments appear at odds with their sponsorship partnerships with oil, coal and gas companies.</p>
<p>Global and national concern about the impacts of climate change on human health and the environment is growing. Sports fans are increasingly likely to question sponsorship arrangements with corporations that extract or sell coal, gas and oil. </p>
<p>Sporting competitions and clubs should actively work to avoid such reputational risks. They need to recognise the influence their brand has on society, especially as it relates to the climate crisis that’s also threatening the viability of sport.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192720/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Emma Sherry consults to many Australian sport and non-profit organisations. She receives funding from the Australian Conservation Foundation. She is affiliated with Sport Inclusion Australia and the Australian Sport Innovation Centre of Excellence. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brian P. McCullough receives funding from external governmental agencies and sport organizations to conduct research on sport and the natural environment. He is affiliated with the Center for Sport Management Research and Education, Laboratory for Sustainability in Sport, and the Sport Ecology Group.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Olivia Bramley does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sponsorship from fossil-fuel companies is worth millions to Australian sport. But growing opposition from the public and athletes themselves may force sports to rethink these deals.Emma Sherry, Professor and Co-director, Sport Innovation Research Group, Swinburne University of TechnologyBrian P. McCullough, Associate Professor of Sport Management and Director, Center for Sport Management and Education and the Laboratory for Sustainability in Sport, Texas A&M UniversityOlivia Bramley, PhD Candidate, Sport Innovation Research Group, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1884302022-08-10T20:11:15Z2022-08-10T20:11:15ZMore than 80% of people we asked said they’ve experienced violence in junior sport – and women and gender-diverse people cop it most<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478451/original/file-20220810-26-v3dilp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C2713%2C2034&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lars Bo Nielsen/Unsplash</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every week millions of Australian children play community sport. Participating in community sport can improve children’s mental, physical and social wellbeing, but only if the sport environment is <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23945179/">physically and emotionally safe</a>.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08862605221114155">new research</a> shows community sport spaces aren’t safe for everyone. We found 82% of 886 survey respondents said they experienced violence while playing community sport as a child in Australia.</p>
<p>Our study was one of the first in Australia to include the experiences of non-gender-binary individuals. We found gender-diverse people reported particularly high rates of violence while playing sport as children. Some 81% reported experiencing psychological violence from a coach, compared to 55% and 50% for women and men respectively.</p>
<p>Women also had high rates compared to men of psychological (82% vs 74%) and sexual (40% vs 33%) violence.</p>
<p>So how can we change this? </p>
<h2>Violence in community sport</h2>
<p>In recent years, cases of violence against children in elite sport in Australia have garnered national media attention. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-21/swimming-australia-response-misogynistic-culture-report/100772476">Swimming</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-04-20/wais-gymnast-abuse-final-report-lands/101001344">gymnastics</a> are perhaps the most visible examples of the widespread nature of violence against children in sport, but they aren’t alone.</p>
<p>The media often focus on single sports and the abuse experienced by elite athletes, which can lead to a false sense of security in other sports and in sport at the community level.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whether-teams-win-or-lose-sporting-events-lead-to-spikes-in-violence-against-women-and-children-99686">Whether teams win or lose, sporting events lead to spikes in violence against women and children</a>
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<p>The short- and long-term <a href="https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/final-report">consequences of violence</a> are profound and include anxiety, depression, mistrust, impaired relationship dynamics and more. </p>
<p>Understanding how often children experience violence playing sport is critical to monitoring this violence and keeping children safe.</p>
<h2>What we studied</h2>
<p>Our team at Victoria University completed the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08862605221114155">largest study to date</a> in Australia exploring how often children experience violence in community sport.</p>
<p>We surveyed 886 Australian adults who had played organised community sport when they were younger than 18, asking them about their experiences of violence in sport. Specifically, they were asked about unsanctioned violence, that is, violence occurring outside the specified rules of the game. This could have occurred in diverse environments such as on the field, in the locker rooms, or during travel for sport.</p>
<p>It’s important to note that because the study didn’t use a nationally representative sample, the data can’t be extrapolated out to represent the whole of community sport in Australia.</p>
<p>Respondents were mostly women (63%), but came from all states and territories in Australia and had participated in 68 different sports. Around 18% of respondents were between 18 and 25 years old, which highlights how recent some of the reported experiences are. </p>
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<img alt="Coach yelling at his players through a megaphone" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478469/original/file-20220810-4746-9clt4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478469/original/file-20220810-4746-9clt4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478469/original/file-20220810-4746-9clt4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478469/original/file-20220810-4746-9clt4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478469/original/file-20220810-4746-9clt4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478469/original/file-20220810-4746-9clt4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478469/original/file-20220810-4746-9clt4s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">81% of gender-diverse people said they experienced violence from a sports coach when they were kids.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Psychological, physical, sexual</h2>
<p>We found 82% of respondents experienced violence while participating in sport as children in Australia.</p>
<p>Psychological violence was the most frequent form (76% of respondents), but rates of physical violence (66%) and sexual violence (38%) were also high.</p>
<p>The survey also distinguished between different types of perpetrators – peers, coaches and parents. Our respondents reported high rates of psychological violence by peers (68%), and high rates (>50%) of physical and psychological violence perpetrated by a coach.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-long-history-of-gender-violence-in-australia-and-why-it-matters-today-119927">The long history of gender violence in Australia, and why it matters today</a>
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<p>We found non-gender-binary people experienced higher rates of several types of violence than both women and men combined. Peer-perpetrated sexual harassment was particularly high for these individuals (59%), as was peer physical violence (53%).</p>
<p>Women experienced more psychological and sexual violence, whereas men experienced more physical violence by their peers when playing sport as a child.</p>
<p>While our sample wasn’t representative of the Australian population, our findings echo international research findings. A <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0193723520973571">Canadian study from 2020</a>, which used the same survey in 14-17 year olds, also found high rates of psychological (79%), physical (40%) and sexual violence (28%).</p>
<h2>How we can change things</h2>
<p>These data can be quite confronting, especially for those of us (ourselves included) who are so passionate about sport.</p>
<p>The aim of this article and study isn’t to demonise sport. Instead, it’s to acknowledge we need to understand the depth and breadth of violence against children in sport, in order to make sport safer.</p>
<p>In the long-term, a national study with a representative sample is needed to establish how often violence against children in community sport occurs. It’s the only way to measure whether our policies and practices are preventing violence against children in sport. Such studies take time, expertise and funding, but they are achievable with the right support.</p>
<p>National <a href="https://www.sportintegrity.gov.au/what-we-do/national-integrity-framework">frameworks</a> <a href="https://www.childsafestandards.org.au/">and policies</a> are essential to ensuring sporting clubs are complying with safeguarding standards.</p>
<p>However, national policies and campaigns take time to have impact at the grassroots level. This is complicated by a context where many community sport clubs are surviving on the capacity of very few, <a href="https://www.sportaus.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/1017443/Sport-Australia-The-Future-of-Sport-Volunteering-Insights-Report-2021.pdf">burnt-out volunteers</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-sport-can-tackle-violence-against-women-and-girls-107886">How sport can tackle violence against women and girls</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A top-down approach to behaviour change isn’t our only option. There’s an opportunity to start creating change with and within community sport. This can help identify the most effective strategies for preventing violence against children in community sport. </p>
<p>Community sport can and should be a welcoming, inclusive and safe environment. We can only achieve this through a whole-of-community effort.</p>
<p>Awareness that violence in community sport exists is a first step. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>If this article has raised issues for you or if you’re concerned about someone you know, call Lifeline on 13 11 14, Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, or Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188430/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We found 81% of gender-diverse people reported experiencing violence from a coach.Mary Woessner, Lecturer in Clinical Exercise and Research Fellow, Institute for Health and Sport (iHeS), Victoria University, Victoria UniversityAurélie Pankowiak, Research Fellow, Institute for Health and Sport, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1394712020-06-11T02:55:24Z2020-06-11T02:55:24ZFooty crowds: what the AFL and NRL need to turn sport into show business<p>This week the deputy premier of New South Wales, home to most teams in Australia’s National Rugby League, suggested getting football fans back in the stands might be an issue of fundamental rights.</p>
<p>If 20,000 people could rally in support of Black Lives Matter in central Sydney, John Barilaro <a href="https://www.espn.com.au/nrl/story/_/id/29289371/nsw-deputy-premier-pushing-40000-nrl-crowd">reportedly said</a>, the NRL could handle similar in a stadium: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>So as far as I’m concerned the evidence is clear that we can open up these restrictions.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This narrative should not obscure the more obvious story here: of elite sport as entertainment business.</p>
<p>The accounts of the National Rugby League and the bigger Australian Football League are representative of professional sports leagues around the world. Most of the riches now rest on the audience watching at home. They don’t need fans in the stands for ticket sales. They do need them to make their sports great television.</p>
<p>In the case of the NRL, game receipts accounted for less than 10% of its revenue in 2019. The AFL, with crowd sizes slightly more than double the NRL, may make 15% – not much more in the greater scheme of things. </p>
<p>For both leagues more than 70% of revenue flows from broadcast rights and corporate sponsors. </p>
<p>The business model is simple: attract a broadcast audience, sell that audience to advertisers. So the critical metric is viewing numbers. </p>
<p>But what viewers want is excitement and a sense of occasion. These are hard to evoke without a crowd.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-does-crowd-noise-matter-139662">Why does crowd noise matter?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Empty experiences</h2>
<p>The AFL and NRL both played rounds in front of empty stands prior to suspending their seasons in late March. The unaugmented viewing experience was deemed unsatisfactory, as Nine’s NRL head, Simon Fordham, explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The players are out there giving 110%. The commentators are reacting to what they are seeing and also delivering emotional, powerful calls. But the crowd is there just to mesh those two things together.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Both Nine and Fox Sport <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/fake-yeews-the-story-behind-the-nrl-s-new-faux-crowd-noise-20200529-p54xsc.html">added canned crowd noises</a> to NRL games when the season resumed a fortnight ago. Viewer reactions were mixed. </p>
<p>The first match of the round, a Thursday night clash between the Parramatta Eels and Brisbane Broncos, was the most watched <a href="https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/05/29/1.3-million-reasons-to-smile-nrl-return-most-watched-since-2014/">regular season NRL game since 2014</a>. Channel Nine scored more than 951,000 viewers, and Fox Sports 355,000. </p>
<p>A week later, however, Brisbane’s match against the Sydney Roosters scored Channel Nine just 619,000 viewers, and Fox Sports 216,000. </p>
<p>The AFL has agreed to its broadcast partners, Channel Seven and Foxtel, also using <a href="https://7news.com.au/sport/afl/channel-7-releases-footage-of-afl-game-with-artificial-crowd-noise-c-1002712?utm_campaign=share-icons&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&tid=1589792028676">canned crowd noises</a>. With the AFL season resuming this week, we’ll get to judge its success. </p>
<h2>Direct and indirect values</h2>
<p>The NRL’s annual report shows game receipts were less than 10% of its 2019 revenue of almost <a href="https://www.nrl.com/siteassets/2020/nrl_annualreport_2019_hr.pdf">A$556 million</a>. Broadcast revenue – from Channel Nine and Fox Sports – was about A$324 million, more than 60%. “Sponsorships and wagering” (revenue from poker machines in league clubs) made another 16%. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341054/original/file-20200611-114080-12g1l92.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341054/original/file-20200611-114080-12g1l92.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341054/original/file-20200611-114080-12g1l92.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341054/original/file-20200611-114080-12g1l92.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341054/original/file-20200611-114080-12g1l92.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341054/original/file-20200611-114080-12g1l92.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341054/original/file-20200611-114080-12g1l92.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341054/original/file-20200611-114080-12g1l92.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>The AFL’s annual report does not state game receipt revenue. This is rolled into a wider figure for “commercial operations”, which includes sponsorship and wagering.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341055/original/file-20200611-114118-1f1t4am.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341055/original/file-20200611-114118-1f1t4am.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341055/original/file-20200611-114118-1f1t4am.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341055/original/file-20200611-114118-1f1t4am.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341055/original/file-20200611-114118-1f1t4am.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341055/original/file-20200611-114118-1f1t4am.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341055/original/file-20200611-114118-1f1t4am.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341055/original/file-20200611-114118-1f1t4am.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<p>But the AFL report does detail crowd numbers. We can use those to make a ballpark estimate of game revenue based on what we know about the NRL’s receipts and crowd sizes. </p>
<p>An average of 35,105 people attended the 198 games of the AFL’s 2019 premiership season. The NRL annual report does not specify attendance numbers, but most other sources suggest average match attendances of 15,000 to 16,000 at its 201 games in 2019.</p>
<p>This is an admittedly rough calculation because there are many possible variables. But assuming most things being equal, the AFL’s game receipts for more than double the NRL’s numbers would be worth about A$115 million – 14.5% of its total revenue of <a href="https://resources.afl.com.au/afl/document/2020/03/18/925fd047-a9b6-4f7d-8046-138a56ba36f4/2019-AFL-Annual-Report.pdf">A$794 million</a>.</p>
<p>Which is not insignificant. On the other hand, there’s more than A$500 million flowing from television audiences.</p>
<h2>Broadcast pressure</h2>
<p>So the number to focus on over the coming weeks to judge the health of both codes will be the average number TV viewers per game. For the NRL, that figure <a href="http://www.footyindustry.com/?p=4923">was 459,000</a> in 2019. For the AFL, it was a little more than <a href="http://www.footyindustry.com/?p=7730">1 million</a>. </p>
<p>Both leagues are already under pressure to <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/we-want-a-new-deal-channel-nine-tells-nrl-it-won-t-make-its-next-payment-20200326-p54ecv.html">renegotiate current deals</a> with their broadcast partners, who have cancelled <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/seven-foxtel-withhold-afl-payment-but-new-contract-nears-20200529-p54xjy.html">quarterly payments</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-spit-to-scrums-how-can-sports-players-minimise-their-coronavirus-risk-139034">From spit to scrums. How can sports players minimise their coronavirus risk?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>They’ll do what they can to make their product a ratings winner. Expect more experiments with crowd augmentation, and for a harder push to bring back real fans if those experiments fail to mesh.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139471/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abdel K. Halabi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The business model of the AFL and NRL is simple: attract a television audience, sell that audience to advertisers. To do that they need crowds.Abdel K. Halabi, Senior Lecturer in Accounting , Federation University AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1107052019-01-31T06:33:23Z2019-01-31T06:33:23ZWhy Australians are falling in love with American football, and what it means for local leagues<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256535/original/file-20190131-109820-1htij06.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is on the cusp of becoming the player with the most Super Bowl wins in NFL history. Tens of millions of viewers around the the world will be watching.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Larry W. Smith/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When the New England Patriots face the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl on Sunday night (US eastern time), they will be cheered on by about 75,000 fans in the stadium, <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/super-bowl-53-preview-rams-patriots-cbs-record-audience/">more than 100 million television viewers</a> across the United States, and an estimated 50 million more around the world.</p>
<p>An increasing number of Australians will be tuning into the United States’ biggest annual sporting event, too.</p>
<p>Why many will be taking time off work on Monday morning to watch tells us a lot about what is happening to sport in the 21st century, as a commoditised product in a globalised media entertainment complex.</p>
<p>That American football is even popular with Americans can often be a mystery to foreigners. It’s easy, for instance, for a diehard Australian Football League fan to dismiss it as helmeted hoopla. </p>
<p>Take game time. In the typical Aussie Rules game, lasting about 2.5 hours, there is about 80 minutes of play. The typical NFL game, by comparison, takes <a href="http://www.espn.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/249052/hey-look-the-nfls-average-game-time-has-dropped">three hours</a> but has less than <a href="https://qz.com/150577/an-average-nfl-game-more-than-100-commercials-and-just-11-minutes-of-play/">12 minutes of actual play</a>. </p>
<p>What fills the time? For one thing, advertising. During this year’s Super Bowl you can expect to watch about 50 minutes of pure commercial breaks, with 30-second slots costing advertisers <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/217134/total-advertisement-revenue-of-super-bowls/">more than US$5 million</a>.</p>
<p>So what makes American football increasingly attractive to people who have grown up playing and watching Aussie Rules, Rugby League, Rugby Union or the world game? Why is the number of Australians tuning into the Super Bowl expected to exceed the <a href="https://mediaweek.com.au/super-bowl-tv-ratings-usa-australia/">390,000 who watched</a> last year?</p>
<h2>Marketing power</h2>
<p>Some will simply enjoy the Super Bowl as a spectacular event. For others it is part of increasing engagement with both the NFL and other overseas sports.</p>
<p>A huge range of sports are being marketed to Australians through both global and local media channels. </p>
<p>Successfully marketing a “culturally alien” sport to a new audience is not simple. The division in Australia between the Aussie Rules and Rugby League states shows that carving out a niche can be a long and hard process. Nonetheless there are some critical characteristics for success. </p>
<p>First, the sport “product” requires high visibility and awareness. </p>
<p>Second, the sport “content” needs to be accessible, and leverage a range of connection points to engage media audiences, and socialise or connect networks of fans. Much of sports’ value is about sharing experiences with friends, colleagues and family. So high-profile, accessible and entertaining content is a valuable marketing tool. </p>
<p>The NFL scores high on both.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256558/original/file-20190131-109820-1aqazb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256558/original/file-20190131-109820-1aqazb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256558/original/file-20190131-109820-1aqazb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256558/original/file-20190131-109820-1aqazb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256558/original/file-20190131-109820-1aqazb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=365&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256558/original/file-20190131-109820-1aqazb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256558/original/file-20190131-109820-1aqazb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256558/original/file-20190131-109820-1aqazb8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=459&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Star and stripe power: singer Pink sings the national anthem prior to Super Bowl LII in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Craig Lassig/EPA</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Most Australians know the game due to the familiarity of American culture through films and television. And now the NFL is widely broadcast in Australia. You can watch live games and replay packages on television channels, on the NFL’s own streaming platform or on <a href="https://www.recode.net/2018/4/26/17287060/nfl-amazon-streaming-thursday-night-games-new-deal-2018-2019-prime-twitch">social media and e-commerce sites</a>. </p>
<p>The content is virtually 24/7, with the NFL at the top of the mega-sport league in supplying round-the-clock content. </p>
<p>This starts with live games themselves. The NFL first grasped the ratings logic of spreading out games for prime-time television audiences in the 1960s. The modern-day outcome is that an Australian fan can watch games from Friday to Tuesday from September through January.</p>
<p>Then there’s the highlights repackaging. Though there’s less than 15 minutes of actual action during an NFL game, that time is made up of <a href="https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/plays-per-game">55-70 plays</a> per team, each lasting an average of <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704281204575002852055561406">four seconds</a>. What happens in a four-second play, however, can be dissected and analysed for far longer. </p>
<p>It might involve profiling the speed, power or athleticism of a particular player. Or doing a detailed breakdown of both the offensive strategy and the defensive response. There is also a growing market for analytics and statistics, given the growth of sports betting. </p>
<p>On all these fronts the NFL provides “engagement points”.</p>
<p>Acute levels of analysis fuel other content. Included here are panel shows, podcasts, reality shows and documentaries that profile and build awareness of athletes and teams from high school to professional levels. Much of this content is now available in Australia.</p>
<p>In short, the NFL leverages high visibility and a well-developed content strategy to engage fans in a variety of ways on and beyond game days; and it has more money to do it better than anyone else.</p>
<h2>Threat to local leagues</h2>
<p>So should Australia’s existing sporting businesses be concerned about NFL?</p>
<p>For our most popular codes, like Aussie Rules and Rugby League, that answer is no. </p>
<p>Indeed, any sport that is already popular enough to have coverage on free-to-air television is unlikely to see interest in NFL impact its ratings or bottom line.</p>
<p>But for the sports at a lower level of popularity and revenue, without considerable free-to-air coverage or a strong digital footprint, the NFL juggernaut definitely presents a threat. </p>
<p>Of course, it is quite common for sports fans to <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/doi/abs/10.1123/jsm.2017-0318">follow different sports</a>, including <a href="https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/13555851011013164">local and global leagues</a>. But even the most dedicated sports fans have finite time, and so must prioritise their preferences.</p>
<p>In the British market the NFL has outlined a explicit strategic goal to <a href="http://mandmglobal.com/super-bowl-li-is-now-the-moment-international-audiences-embrace-the-nfls-showpiece-event/">be a second, third or fourth preference option</a> among sports fans. To this extent, as consumers prioritise the watching and following of new (global) sports, this pushes other sports down the preference list, impacting their popularity and revenue potential.</p>
<p>In Australia, a much smaller market where the top end of the sports preference list is already crowded, that potentially makes the NFL a real game-changer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/110705/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Karg conducts research for and receives funding from Australian national sport organisations and professional sport leagues and teams including those from the Australian Football League, Big Bash League, A-League and National Rugby League competitions. He is the President of the Sport Management Association of Australia and New Zealand (SMAANZ).
</span></em></p>Foreign interest in American football tells us a lot about what is happening to sport in the 21st century.Adam Karg, Senior research fellow, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1056612018-12-06T18:57:39Z2018-12-06T18:57:39ZFriday essay: love hurts – on a life of sports fandom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249148/original/file-20181206-186055-5wvpjy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Lleyton Hewitt in 2004. No one who has ever watched Lleyton play one of his epic matches comes out a hater. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">DEAN LEWINS/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you grow up with no books in the house except maybe the full Readers Digest set of Catherine Cooksons and Bert Ryan’s Guide to Fishing you worship other heroes. The great battles in life are not going down in drama theatres, they’re not happening in-between the dusty covers of old books, they’re happening every weekend on sporting fields. I know this because my dad and everyone else in my suburb is into sport, and really, I have no choice. The other thing is – I like it. </p>
<p>This is the 1980s and the passion that flares in the smoke-filled lounge rooms of suburban houses and public bars is addictive. The ribbing and the rivalries funny, even if they do sometimes edge toward the dark side. The passion is the same whether the action is broadcast from big ticket fields or live on scratchy little league ovals. In fact, the passion is actually worse when it’s occurring on the two lane driveway in my front yard – my dad presiding over cricket matches with improvised rules. Six and out, wheelie bin for wickets and when the ball cannot be retrieved even by the dog – definitely out.</p>
<p>Life moments are one-day matches between the West Indies and Australia going down to the wire, 16 runs off seven balls, everyone sunburnt and screaming at the TV. Cut to the underdog thrill of watching Wally Lewis get right up into Mark Geyer’s face in a tense State of Origin decider or the excitement I feel racing out of bed at dawn to witness an unlikely Australian victory in the America’s Cup even though I’ve never been on a yacht in my life – a bright blue day when I learn that drinking beer out of a yard glass is a national and political skill and not just something that happens at BBQs.</p>
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<p>Sport is a dominant thread in Australia’s cultural DNA. But it’s also divisive. I didn’t realise how much until I started hanging out in underground art scenes and falling asleep under tables in my university tutorials. Not liking sport was something that could set you apart. Sport was the enemy. I wasn’t sure why you had to choose sides. For people who were heavily into pointing out the problematics of binaries on a day to day basis I was pretty surprised they couldn’t see when they were making one. </p>
<p>Most of the artists I knew were always looking for excuses why art couldn’t seem to compete with sport. Publishers chatted to me in mild tones about rugby union over lunch but when I got too excited about sport and my working class roots started showing they tended to change the subject.</p>
<p>That’s why I wasn’t so surprised when around the turn of the new millennium no one except me seemed to like Lleyton Hewitt. Lleyton was a fighter. He wasn’t so different in spirit from many of the Aussie cricket players I’d watched. Or NRL stars. He had that same take no prisoners attitude my dad worshipped and had instilled in me but by the time Lleyton erupted onto the world stage no one was really listening. </p>
<p>When you play tennis there’s no team and no 20 metres of paddock to protect you. Still. I didn’t understand why telling a few inept lines people to go back to the satellites was so harsh, especially when I’d heard worse. By then my dad was gone. His ashes splayed out in sad ceremony over Manly Beach and I watched Lleyton win his first ATP tournament in Adelaide alone. When I watched Lleyton play I admired his skill and his attitude but he fired something else in me. I believed I could win. Achieve things. Make things happen because deep down I doubted if I really could.</p>
<h2>Crazy five-hour slogs</h2>
<p>By 1999 I’d graduated honours, I’d enrolled in a PhD. I was still poor and hungry but kicking goals and one golden summer day in November my mates and I car pooled it down to the polling booth at Main Beach to vote in the referendum on the republic, slightly stoned, taking great pleasure in freaking out the royalists in their “no” t-shirts. We went home and partied but by six-o-clock the bad news became clear. Australia had voted no. When it came to winning in the political arena, we were getting used to disappointment.</p>
<p>I watched Lleyton’s US Open victory in 2001 alone. The match started at 3am Australian time and ended at 9.15am when a big serving Pete Sampras was summarily dispatched. At 8.15am I rang my boss and said I’m not coming in until he wins. He said who? I said Lleyton Hewitt and then I hung up. I nearly lost my job that day but my boss let it go. I wanted him to fire me. A Gold Coast businessman riding on the coat tails of a Howard government-sponsored sell out of welfare – I spent most of the day taking resumes off people the company rolled through the database tubes like stale bread rolls. </p>
<p>At around 9.15am Lleyton went for a dig down the line and Sampras lost and said he wished he had legs like him and I got on the bus and wondered why there weren’t people screaming in the streets – I’d seen streamers hanging off Yatala pies when Paddy Rafter made the final at Wimbledon but he was a Queenslander and better looking and said “sorry mate” when he fluffed a serve. He also sweated so much he cramped up and lost. People loved Paddy and people didn’t love Lleyton. So I went in to work.</p>
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<p>The Australian sports media doesn’t have a great history of supporting individual sports stars. We’re a team sport country, a pack mentality country. There are exceptions. Greg Norman. Pat Rafter. Craig Lowndes. Men with Teflon reputations who can sell anything: housing developments, hotel chains, car insurance, underpants. A preference that stands in for the defining modus operandi of the country. The swell of the crowd. It’s just too easy to run things down especially when you have someone very damn good in your midst. The media was ferocious. Even when Lleyton won they found a way to spin it negatively.</p>
<p>By 2004, I was living in a share house with a bunch of people working the kind of university teaching hours a week that are pretty much illegal now rolling in cash until the semesters ended and then we weren’t. And Mark Latham was priming us to believe in a revolution we thought we wanted. Articulating a distaste for the status quo that felt right and probably real at the time and something we fell for. Maybe the power structure did have a flair. I even wrote him a letter when he lost. I’m glad now, of course, that I never sent it. That’s the thing about political heroes. They come and go. Latham was like a Tamagotchi – something you feel embarrassed about coveting when it’s over. Lleyton, I never gave up on.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249146/original/file-20181206-186052-1lg492p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249146/original/file-20181206-186052-1lg492p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249146/original/file-20181206-186052-1lg492p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249146/original/file-20181206-186052-1lg492p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=728&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249146/original/file-20181206-186052-1lg492p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249146/original/file-20181206-186052-1lg492p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249146/original/file-20181206-186052-1lg492p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=914&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Leighton Hewitt training in 2004.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Darshan Kumar/AAP</span></span>
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<p>No one who has ever watched Lleyton play one of his epic matches comes out a hater and I mean the whole thing – not just the chainsaws and his trademarked “C’mon’s” in bite-sized highlights. I mean those crazy five hour slogs where you end up doing three weeks’ worth of ironing because you can’t sit still, drinking a bottle of port or whatever’s congealing in the cupboard because the match has gone so long there’s no shops open, going down on your knees in despair when he misses a pull shot, running around the house like you’re on ice swearing you’ll never say a bad word about Nalbandian again as long as the true gods, wherever they are, shine down on the guy in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvbaBVvU5VI">Rusty branded</a> shoes.</p>
<h2>The Darth Vader</h2>
<p>That all changed in 2016 when Lleyton walked up the tunnel at Rod Laver arena for the last time, his blonde-locked kids in tow, looking star struck and sad in front of the cameras, their dad stoic and dignified saying only, “Let’s go find mummy.”</p>
<p>If Lleyton was the Vegemite of Australian men’s tennis then Nick Kyrgios is its Darth Vader. The most talented Jedi in the universe, whose greatest battle seems to be playing out in his head. Skulking onto court headphones in, he silences arenas, punters waiting with baited breath to see what the show is going to consist of next – more intense dark or that brilliant, untouchable light? </p>
<p>Whatever he gives, the Australian media makes him pay for it – selecting three second bites from three hour games where he might have let his composure slip. The armchair judgement spooling out in a bad case of déjà vu. Lleyton cared too much, Kyrgios doesn’t care enough. The new Aussie tennis player everyone loves to hate even when he’s got the kind of serve that can slice up a court like a light saber. But to say Nick doesn’t care is a misreading. Like Tomic, one gets the sense that he is very, very conscious of how he appears. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249144/original/file-20181206-186076-1kijrm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249144/original/file-20181206-186076-1kijrm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/249144/original/file-20181206-186076-1kijrm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249144/original/file-20181206-186076-1kijrm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249144/original/file-20181206-186076-1kijrm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=315&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249144/original/file-20181206-186076-1kijrm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249144/original/file-20181206-186076-1kijrm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/249144/original/file-20181206-186076-1kijrm2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=395&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Nick Kyrgios playing in London earlier this year: the most talented Jedi in the universe.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Neil Hall/AAP</span></span>
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<p>Both of them playing at times like they don’t want to be there because looking like you couldn’t care less is cool. The kind of guys that might expend a lot of energy to get you alone but once you’re there they spend the whole time looking at their phones. Because you don’t want to appear as if you’re really invested. The difference between them and Lleyton is generational. It’s an attitude I recognise sometimes in my students. When Kyrgios can’t zone, he tunnels into his head.</p>
<p>World rankings of Aussie tennis players shift regularly. Many of our current players have slid in and out of the Top 20 but Australia has not had a world number one since Hewitt. So I wait for the Davis Cup team to grow up under Lleyton’s tutelage and get fired up watching our women tennis players, the bouncy tenaciousness of Daria Gavrilova and the steely determination of Ash Barty – knowing the future of Aussie tennis is bright even if it’s perhaps too hard to call because Top 20 in the world is an incredible achievement by any standard but it ain’t number one – and I’ll keep relishing those moments Lleyton comes back out of retirement to strut his stuff on the doubles court, thankful he’s still got it – the power to exhilarate and light up the winner inside me.</p>
<p>The way I feel about all of this can probably be exemplified by the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtH68PJIQLE">film clip for the Grimes song Oblivion</a>. Grimes knows she’s playing on that gap between what is real and what gets played out. Oiled up dudes in white towels doing weights in slow motion in dressing rooms while she’s smooching around in an Amish dress or slam dancing jocks at a frat party – she’s not above the fray, she’s in it. When I watch her I am that girl with the boom box at the footy, maybe less cool but with the same smirk, dancing in the spare seats.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105661/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sally Breen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Sport is a dominant thread in Australia’s cultural DNA. But it’s also divisive.Sally Breen, Senior Lecturer in Writing and Publishing, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/948222018-04-18T20:24:07Z2018-04-18T20:24:07ZIsrael Folau’s comments remind us homophobia and transphobia are ever present in Australian sport<p>Homophobia and transphobia are becoming a regular fixture in the Australian sporting calendar. Last year, <a href="https://theconversation.com/note-to-margaret-court-the-bible-isnt-meant-to-be-read-that-literally-78665">Margaret Court served up anti-LGBT+ comments</a>, while the AFL came under fire for its <a href="https://theconversation.com/by-excluding-hannah-mouncey-the-afls-inclusion-policy-has-failed-a-key-test-85900">treatment</a> of the first transgender player in the AFLW.</p>
<p>Now rugby union star Israel Folau has joined in, saying on Instagram that gay people <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/israel-folau-sparks-controversy-by-saying-god-s-plan-for-gay-people-is-hell-20180404-p4z7rd.html">will go to hell</a> unless they repent their sins. His teammate Curtis Rona has spoken out in support of Israel’s <a href="https://www.rugby.com.au/news/2018/04/12/rona-folau-support">views</a>. Folau further expanded on his comments this week, penning an <a href="https://www.playersvoice.com.au/israel-folau-im-a-sinner-too/#c6Lv15Xgi5pIeZPO.97">opinion piece</a> where he quotes from the Bible and states “it was never my intention to hurt anyone with the Instagram comment”.</p>
<p>This seems to be part of a broader trend in sport. Last month, the <a href="http://www.news.com.au/sport/commonwealth-games/games-ticking-time-bomb-explodes-as-rival-nation-protests-transgender-weightlifters-presence/news-story/4b2a53fbd236bc63ef1e45d91de5acd6?from=rss-basic">chief executive</a> of the Australian Weightlifting Federation called on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Commonwealth Games Federation to change their policies and ban NZ transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard from competing. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/note-to-margaret-court-the-bible-isnt-meant-to-be-read-that-literally-78665">Note to Margaret Court: the Bible isn't meant to be read that literally</a>
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<p>Some significant advancements have been made in gaining equality for LGBT+ athletes. <a href="https://www.outsports.com/2018/4/3/17177076/2018-commonwealth-games-lgbt-athletes">Visibility of LGBT+ athletes</a> has increased at the elite level and the IOC changed its policy on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jan/25/ioc-rules-transgender-athletes-can-take-part-in-olympics-without-surgery">transgender athletes in 2016</a>. However, there is still much work to be done.</p>
<h2>Sport is not always a safe space</h2>
<p><a href="http://vuir.vu.edu.au/8609/">Research</a> over the past decade has identified that homophobia, biphobia and transphobia are prevalent in Australian sport. A <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1012690216654296">study</a> I conducted with colleagues looked at diversity in community sports clubs and found that a more strategic approach to inclusion initiatives was needed.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.acon.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/PSI_Report_Digital.pdf">review and comparison</a> of the frequency of homophobia across different countries from 2009-2016 shows that, on average, 73.3% of participants (across five key studies in the UK and Australia) reported witnessing or experiencing homophobia in sport. For Australia specifically, the figure was 85% – the highest percentage of the countries studied.</p>
<p>Recent research for a forthcoming report into a major sporting code, led by myself and colleagues, produced similar findings. We found that almost 50% of non-LGBT+ and almost 75% of LGBT+ respondents had witnessed homophobia in their sport at some time or another.</p>
<p>Homophobia in particular does not only impact lesbian, gay and bisexual people. If a person’s sexuality is questioned, or an individual has friends or close family members who are LGBT+, it can still be a distressing experience. The <a href="http://www.outonthefields.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Out-on-the-Fields-Final-Report.pdf">Out in the Fields</a> report showed that nearly one in three heterosexual men had been targeted by homophobia.</p>
<h2>Ignoring homophobic comments won’t help</h2>
<p>After meeting with him to discuss his social media use, Rugby Australia has decided <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/rugby-union/israel-folau-says-he-is-prepared-to-walk-away-from-rugby-union/news-story/9fed464861b62d5446bdda1cedac8d38">not to sanction</a> Folau for his comments.</p>
<p>By contrast, only three years ago Waratahs player Jacques Potgieter was <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/nsw-waratahs-forward-jacques-potgieter-fined-20000-for-homophobic-slurs-against-act-brumbies-20150323-1m5wau.html">fined</a> A$20,000 for a homophobic slur during a match. A month ago, a <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/43664063">British rugby player</a> was handed a four-match ban, also for using a homophobic slur. </p>
<p>Simply ignoring Folau’s comments is problematic. For many LGBT+ young people negotiating their sexuality or gender identity, especially in <a href="https://www.glhv.org.au/sites/default/files/Growing_Up_Queer2014.pdf">rural areas</a>, they cannot readily just switch off or ignore the comments. In 2010, Australian research <a href="http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/22294/1/Equal%20Play%20Final%20Report.pdf">found</a> that in sport and physical education, homophobic bullying, specifically verbal abuse, was closely associated with poor mental health and well-being in LGBT+ young people.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-sport-hasnt-made-much-progress-on-lgbti-rights-since-the-sochi-olympics-91091">Why sport hasn't made much progress on LGBTI+ rights since the Sochi Olympics</a>
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<p>Many teenage boys and young men may look up to sporting stars like Folau. This is concerning when <a href="http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/811282/">evidence</a> from across the globe and in <a href="http://epublications.bond.edu.au/hss_pubs/503/">Australia</a> shows <a href="https://www.beyondblue.org.au/media/media-releases/media-releases/major-campaign-aims-to-stamp-out-discrimination-against-lgbti-people">teenage boys</a> and young men are most likely to discriminate against the LGBT+ community. </p>
<p>Sporting codes in Australia have an ethical and moral duty to provide safe environments for every Australian. They also must take appropriate action when their employees and players breach codes of conducts and policies.</p>
<h2>How inclusive is Australian sport?</h2>
<p>The extent of Australian sport’s commitment to LGBT+ inclusion was revealed last year in the inaugural <a href="https://www.acon.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/PSI_Report_Digital.pdf">Pride in Sport Index awards</a>. Each sporting organisation submits an application on its organisational practices around LGBTI** inclusion, and this is then marked out of 100. Among the ten organisations that submitted applications (eight of which were national sporting organisations), scores ranged from three to 36 out of 100. </p>
<p>The Pride in Sport Index launched off the back of the <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/sport/rugby-union/sydney-convicts-win-rugbys-bingham-cup-20140831-10aoj7.html">2014 Bingham Cup</a>. While the major sporting codes involved – including the NRL and AFL – agreed to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-10/major-codes-commit-to-stamping-out-homophobia-in-sport/6458468">help end homophobia in sport</a>, evidence of any real commitment to tackling homophobia falls short. </p>
<p>Interestingly, the AFL had the top Pride in Sport Index score of 36. Although the AFL has supported some <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/sexuality/agenda/article/2018/02/07/opinion-pride-comes-responsibility-waving-rainbow-flag-wont-erase-past">Pride Rounds</a>, its handling of the Hannah Mouncey case showed a lack of respect towards the trans and gender diverse community. It is good to see sports commit to LGBT+ inclusion, but actually implementing these commitments is a whole other ball game. </p>
<h2>Change is in the air</h2>
<p>While there is clearly a problem with LGBTI+ inclusion in the higher ranks of the Australian sport system, and <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1012690216654296">my research</a> found some room for improvement around diversity at community sports clubs more broadly, there is in fact good work going on at the grassroots level. Cultural change is happening around the inclusion of LGBT+ athletes, driven by local sporting diversity champions, grassroots organisations, health providers, and community sports clubs. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214642/original/file-20180413-577-b4bl4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214642/original/file-20180413-577-b4bl4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214642/original/file-20180413-577-b4bl4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214642/original/file-20180413-577-b4bl4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214642/original/file-20180413-577-b4bl4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214642/original/file-20180413-577-b4bl4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214642/original/file-20180413-577-b4bl4i.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Openly gay athlete Matthew Mitcham has been a regular at the Gold Coast Pride House.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Q News Magazine</span></span>
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<p>The Gold Coast <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/apr/12/cheering-on-their-own-team-how-the-gold-coast-has-welcomed-lgbti-athletes">Pride House</a> at the Commonwealth Games was a beacon of inclusion, and Jason Ball is taking his <a href="https://pridecup.org.au/about-pride-cup/">Pride Cup</a> and grassroots football initiative across Australia after a successful crowd-funding campaign.</p>
<p>The purple Bombers, Essendon Football Club’s LGBT+ supporters group, have expanded their <a href="http://www.essendonfc.com.au/news/2017-12-19/purple-bombers-memberships">membership base and opportunities</a>. <a href="http://www.cricketvictoria.com.au/cricket-victoria-paving-way-sport-lgbti-inclusion/">Cricket Victoria</a> recently launched the Proud Cricket program, aimed at engaging the LGBT+ community.</p>
<p>However, if national sporting organisations are really committed to LGBT+ inclusion, they might want to start engaging their local champions instead of their national champions.</p>
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<p><em>I use the umbrella acronym of LGBT+ to include all identities associated with sexual orientation and gender identity. However, this piece specifically concerns LGBT+ and I encourage organisations to engage with Intersex Human Rights Australia for issues concerning athletes with intersex variations.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94822/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Storr consults for Proud 2 Play. He received funding from Vic Health and Cricket Victoria. </span></em></p>Wallaby and Waratahs player Israel Folau’s recent comments about gay people are just one example of the homophobia in Australian sport. Recent research suggests the problem is widespread.Ryan Storr, Lecturer in Sport Development, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/640512016-08-22T20:15:16Z2016-08-22T20:15:16ZWinning Edge fails to deliver, so what now for Australia’s Olympic hopes?<p>Rio 2016 is over and questions are being asked about why the Australian team didn’t perform any better. Making things worse is the fact that this worsening performance comes despite a new sports funding strategy that was supposed to boost the national medal tally. </p>
<p>Following a disappointing performance by the national team at the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Australian Sport Commission implemented a new funding strategy called <a href="http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/australias_winning_edge">Australia’s Winning Edge</a>. This approach projected a top-five finish on the medal table in the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. </p>
<p>Winning Edge prioritises funding toward sports that have the greatest chance of success or those that can demonstrate a capability to deliver results. These <a href="http://www.ausport.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/508465/High_performance_investment_principles.pdf">high-performance investment principles</a> outline how the Australian Sports Commission makes funding decisions. The bottom line is that sports must contribute to Winning Edge targets in order to receive long-term investment. </p>
<p>Prior to Winning Edge, the national sport strategy took a “whole of sport” approach. Funding was allocated to sports with large participation numbers and clear athlete pathways into elite programs. Unlike Winning Edge, it wasn’t primarily based on international performance results. </p>
<h2>2016 Olympic postmortem</h2>
<p>Popular and successful sports such as swimming, cycling and rowing received significant funding in the lead-up to the Rio Games. In turn, they were expected to produce Olympic medals. But it didn’t work that way. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/olympics-2016/swimming-australias-hierarchy-must-step-down-says-former-australian-head-coach-bill-sweetenham/news-story/583ea8488610617cacf7cb60c83614f6">Swimming</a>, for instance, received A$38 million in taxpayer funding. But performances in the pool were well below expectations. Australia’s swimming team was expected to win as many as <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-15/rio-2016-rowland-swimmers-performed-under-great-pressure/7733920">eight gold medals</a> at Rio; it won three. </p>
<p>Winning Edge seems to have added to the already high levels of boosterism already prevalent in Australian sport. Before the Games, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-07/asc-chairman-admits-winning-edge-rollout-not-handled-perfectly/7483412">the country was projected to win</a> 14 or 16 gold medals.</p>
<p>These projections were based on athlete performances and world rankings in 2015; in <a href="http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/olympics-2016/australias-34member-team-for-rio-olympic-games-announced/news-story/5063072960df04b541df8d17c69fc991">swimming alone</a>, Australia had 25 top-three world rankings in the lead-up events to the Rio Games. </p>
<p>Yet Australia finished tenth on the medal table at Rio, with eight gold medals and a <a href="http://rio2016.olympics.com.au/">total medal haul of 29</a>. The national medal tally at the London 2012 Games was 35 (including eight gold) but that was so disappointing it became the catalyst for <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-31/ais-director-matt-favier-hits-back-at-winning-edge-criticism-rio/7464628">implementing Winning Edge</a>. </p>
<p>The Australian Sports Commission plans to review funding based on performances in Rio later this year. While most will retain a <a href="http://ausport.gov.au/ais/australias_winning_edge/investment_announcement/2014-15">baseline funding amount</a>, it’ll be interesting to see what cuts are made to sports that “underperformed”. </p>
<p><iframe id="tc-infographic-216" class="tc-infographic" height="400px" src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/infographics/216/88135eba23794be9e8691e55e88af0f96335e050/site/index.html" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p><em>Note: The weighted medal cost is determined by weighting the medals won (where a bronze medal has a value of one, silver a value of two and gold a value of three), then dividing the total amount spent by the total weighted value of the medals.</em></p>
<h2>Works for others</h2>
<p>Australia’s Winning Edge strategy was <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/federal-government-to-review-australian-institute-of-sport-operations-five-months-out-from-rio-olympics-20160221-gmzn37.html">modelled</a> on UK Sport’s “<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/10206810/UK-Sport-remains-defiant-over-No-Compromise-position-as-funding-row-rumbles-on-with-threat-of-formal-challenge.html">no compromise</a>” funding approach, which was implemented to drive success at the London 2012 Olympic Games. </p>
<p>But the UK Sport model – described as “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/15/brutal-but-effective-why-team-gb-is-winning-so-many-olympic-medals">brutal but effective</a>” – has been a success; Great Britain had its best-ever result at Rio 2016, coming second after the United States. </p>
<p>Like Winning Edge, UK Sport’s funding investment model targeted successful sports and reduced funding or even axed unsuccessful programs such as basketball, wrestling, table tennis and volleyball. But why hasn’t targeted funding been as successful in Australia? </p>
<p>Compared with most nations above Australia on the medal table, sports funding here is much lower. Great Britain spent up to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-19/rio-2016-australian-medal-tally-not-what-we-expected-john-coates/7766738">A$1.3 billion</a> in the four years leading up to the Rio Games; Australia invested around A$800 million in the same period. </p>
<p>Great Britain funds the majority of its high-performance sport programs through its <a href="https://www.rio2016.com/en/news/team-gb-on-brink-of-historic-record-at-rio-2016-as-lottery-funding-pays-dividends-in-olympic-models">national lottery system</a>. Not only does this give it access to greater sums of money, it removes the sort of pressure placed on athletes – and their funders – when there’s <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/olympics/rio-2016/olympics-australia/australian-olympic-committee-boss-john-coates-hits-out-at-sports-commission-after-poor-rio-results-20160818-gqw5n3.html">an expectation of return</a> on taxpayer dollars.</p>
<p>It seems clear now that relying on “proven” sports to fulfil Australia’s Olympic targets may not be the best strategy. By excluding less obvious sports, Winning Edge has reduced the number of events Australia had an opportunity to medal in at Rio 2016. </p>
<p>Australia’s biggest medal haul was at the <a href="http://corporate.olympics.com.au/games/sydney-2000">Sydney 2000 Games</a> (58), where the nation was represented in 20 sports. In Rio, only 12 sports contributed to the final medal haul. And the Rio tally includes unexpected medals from shooting, archery and modern pentathlon - sports not targeted under Winning Edge. </p>
<p>It’s these surprise medals from smaller sports that may better embody the Olympic spirit and unite the nation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64051/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Gowthorp does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia finished tenth on the medal table in the Rio 2016 Games, well below what the nation’s latest funding strategy had led people to expect.Lisa Gowthorp, Assistant Professor of Sport Management, Bond UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/511132015-11-24T03:52:57Z2015-11-24T03:52:57ZAustralia’s Olympics medal haul has been in decline: can we do better at Rio?<p>Ever since Sydney played host to the Olympics in 2000, Australia’s medal count at the summer games has been in steady decline. But with less than a year to go before <a href="http://www.rio2016.com/en">Rio de Janeiro</a> in Brazil plays host to the 2016 Olympics, there is some hope of a reversal in Australia’s fortunes.</p>
<p>To the rest of the world with an interest in Olympic sport, Australia with its almost <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Web+Pages/Population+Clock?opendocument">24 million population</a> and a gross domestic product <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html#as">ranked 20th</a> on the planet, consistently punches above its sporting weight.</p>
<p>While in absolute terms Australia is a successful sporting freak, as the graph below shows, Sydney appears to have been something of a watershed that evolved into a perceived mini-crisis in 2012.</p>
<iframe src="https://charts.datawrapper.de/MiJoF/index.html" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>In the build up to Sydney, Australia showed a steady growth of producing top 8 performing athletes and teams who won more than their fair share of medals. This peaked at 135 top 8s and 58 medals to secure <a href="http://en.espn.co.uk/espn/sport/story/142367.html">4th place</a> on the Sydney tally. </p>
<p>All previous hosts win fewer medals in the post-home Olympic Games, and Australia was no exception. But Australia did distinguish itself by winning one more gold in Athens than in Sydney (17 v 16) to hold onto <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics_2004/medals_table/default.stm">4th place</a>.</p>
<p>In both 2008 and 2012, Australia produced fewer finalists and fewer medallists than the recent heady heights. Australia slipped to <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/2012/medals/countries">10th place</a> in 2012 with the finally tally down <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/2012/medals/historical-medals-beijing-2008/countries">from 14 gold in Beijing</a> in 2008 to just 7 in London. All this while seeing Great Britain climb to third place with 29 gold medals and New Zealand being identified as a rising star in Olympic sport.</p>
<h2>Australia’s fall from grace</h2>
<p>Since 2000 Australia has experienced what is known as a three edition-losing streak, whereby its medals’ count has fallen in three consecutive Olympic Games. These are rare occurrences in Olympic sport and tend to be triggers for soul searching and action.</p>
<p>Australia’s current <a href="http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/australias_winning_edge">Winning Edge</a> strategy, championed by the Australian Institute of Sport, is probably the most overt expression of change and innovation in Australia available.</p>
<p>So what are the causes of Australia’s apparent demise and how might we expect Australia to perform in 2016 in the Rio games?</p>
<p>After the global party that is the Olympic Games, host nations often take their eye off the ball and tend to experience a post hosting hangover. This is often accompanied by a freeze or reduction in funding, which in this case hoisted Australia on its own petard of “<a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/news-events/media-releases/spliss-more-money-in-equals-more-medals-out">more money in equals more medals out</a>”.</p>
<p>The discussion during the <a href="http://www.elitesportconference.com/">World Congress on Elite Sport Policy</a> in Melbourne over the past two days is that there are new nations that decide they want to do well in the Olympic Games and replicate the systems and investment that served nations such as Australia so well.</p>
<p>Look no further than the UK recruiting of Australian <a href="http://www.billsweetenham.com/">Bill Sweetenham</a> to help win Britain’s <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics_2004/3102801.stm">first World Championship women’s swimming gold</a> medal since the 1960s.</p>
<p>In the end there is a zero sum game where nations raise the ante in order to be more successful, and the already successful nations see their competitive advantage eroded. Australia has done nothing wrong other than failing to commit itself to the global sporting arms race of continuous improvement with little or no regard to cost.</p>
<p>When you have had your moment in the spotlight, other issues become the priority, such as the increasing prevalence of obesity and inactivity. It was not Australia’s fault that China wrote a blank cheque to <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/2012/medals/historical-medals-beijing-2008/countries">top the table in Beijing 2008</a>, or that the UK government committed to fund a level of investment that would see it <a href="http://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/19232685">finish 3rd place</a> in the medals table.</p>
<h2>Turning the medal table for Australian in Rio</h2>
<p>But there comes a point when decline is such that enough is enough and nations decide to wade back into the water to assert their authority. This is precisely what Australia has done since 2012.</p>
<p>So how do we assess Australia’s chances for Rio 2016? For the last two Olympic Games, Sheffield Hallam University has <a href="https://www.shu.ac.uk/research/sirc/our-expertise/elite-sport/medal-forecasts">made forecasts</a> of how the host nation will perform.</p>
<p>For 2008, the model suggested that China would win 46 gold medals and for 2012 it gave an answer of 27 for Team GB. On both occasions when these forecasts were published, respected experts described one of us (Simon Shibli) as mad because these forecasts were thought to be wildly optimistic.</p>
<p>Clearly not mad enough because both estimates were below the actual scores of 51 gold medals for China in 2008 and 29 gold medals for Great Britain in 2012.</p>
<p>Applying the model, founded on the research performed in the Sport Policy Factors Leading to International Sporting Success (<a href="http://www.spliss.net/">SPLISS</a>) project and based on population, wealth, political system, host nation status, prior performance and winning streaks, we estimate that Australia will achieve 7th place in the medals table at Rio next year. Australia should win 11 gold medals and 40 medals in total.</p>
<p>Australia will continue to do well in its traditional sports such as swimming, cycling, rowing and cycling. We expect to see Great Britain’s recent dominance in track cycling reduced and for Australia to be a beneficiary.</p>
<p>With the newly introduced sports for Rio, the rugby sevens give Australia a chance in both the men and the women’s teams and world number two golfer Jason Day has a decent opportunity to win a medal in the golf.</p>
<p>Whatever the final outcome in Rio, Australia will achieve more than its natural resources of population and wealth would otherwise predict. Success in Olympic sport is not about the resources you have at your disposal but rather the way in which they are harnessed and applied to delivering competitive athletes.</p>
<p>The Australian system has been the envy of the world since the 1980s and has not become bad overnight. In this regard the old saying “form is temporary but class is permanent” seems pretty apt.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51113/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Shibli has received funding from UK Sport, sportscotland, Sport Wales, and Sport Northern Ireland for contract research linked to performance analysis in elite sport. He also receives support in kind from Infostrada Sports via access to the Podium Performance database.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hans Westerbeek receives funding from the Australian Sports Commission. Through Victoria University he is affiliated with the Australian Sports Commission in a strategic partnership. </span></em></p>Australia has struggled to win Olympic medals after the success in Sydney in 2000. But there’s hope that may change as we head towards the Rio games in 2016.Simon Shibli, Professor of Sport Management, Sheffield Hallam UniversityHans Westerbeek, Dean, College of Sport and Exercise Science and Institute of Sport, Exercise, Active Living, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/296542014-07-30T20:06:08Z2014-07-30T20:06:08ZNail it or fail it – how student athletes juggle sport and study<p>Australia sent <a href="http://www.commonwealthgames.org.au/page/81/glasgow-2014-team">417 athletes</a> to the 2014 Glasgow <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/glasgow-2014">Commonwealth Games</a> – its largest ever contingent – and based on our 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympic Games competitors, around 40% are university students.</p>
<p>Life as a student athlete is challenging and striking a healthy balance is not always easy to get right. In the worst case scenario, this may mean failing at university, sport or both. So how do they do manage the demands of sport, study and life?</p>
<p>Luckily, Australia’s tertiary system is generally very supportive of athletes, with most universities involved in the Elite Athlete Friendly University (<a href="http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/athlete_career_and_education/university_network">EAFU</a>) network, an initiative of the Australian Sports Commission. Assistance may come in the form of program planning and timetabling, extensions on assessments, deferred exams, alternate exam sittings and mentoring.</p>
<p>Such support is critical for student athletes dealing with the pressures of tertiary study while also training up to 30 hours a week.</p>
<p>For some, the university schedule may take up to 15-30 hours a week, a figure that only increases when you factor in the “rule of thumb” that, for every hour spent at university, there is an extra hour or two of additional study, revision and assignment work.</p>
<h2>And the secret is …</h2>
<p>Study demands don’t leave a lot of time for anything else so it’s understandable why few athletes take on a full-time study load.</p>
<p>From personal observation and as manager of the Griffith Sports College, it is common for elite athletes to enrol in two courses (or subjects) per semester, although this can vary as sporting commitments – thus priorities – change from semester to semester.</p>
<p>Of course, there are always exceptions: namely those extremely talented athletes who happily enrol in three Honours subjects, achieve high distinctions in them all and then go out and smash personal bests and enjoy the view from the top of the victory dais.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Cam McEvoy, currently studying a Bachelor of Science with Advanced Honours, at the Australian Championships this year.</span></figcaption>
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<p>For the most part, the sport-study balance is guided by decisions based on an athlete’s individual priorities – and the results are revealing.</p>
<p>While most student athletes are highly motivated and place great importance on planning for life after sport, the small number that do fail or drop out indicate those who have placed less stock in such a strategy. </p>
<p>There also appears to be quite an interesting correlation between elite athletes and academic success that implies that the top level athletes, perhaps university sports scholarship holders, obtain a higher grade point average (GPA) than the university average. </p>
<p>Research at Griffith University suggests that athletes in the Griffith Sports College have an average GPA of 4.6 and an athlete on scholarship, 5.1. This is compared to the university average of 4.0.</p>
<h2>Don’t forget the balance</h2>
<p>Balance is vital for an athlete, but especially so for the student athlete. This includes enjoying a healthy social life with family and friends and making time for recovery – from both study and sport – even if that just means a good night’s sleep.</p>
<p>In my time as an elite athlete, I always strove to maintain a balanced life. While I gave everything to rowing and achieved wonderful success, I was never ruled by it.</p>
<p>Early on I had my own university studies to create that necessary balance. Then came a career (yes, athletes can work), marriage and children. Many of my friendships were with people who were not elite athletes.</p>
<p>While I always gave my all when training or competing, once the work was done I was able to leave it at the boatshed or behind the gymnasium doors and return home to where I had a life outside of my sport (and three little children to jump all over me if I needed a not so gentle reminder).</p>
<p>I attribute the longevity and success of my sporting career – comprising four Olympic Games and culminating in a gold medal in Beijing in 2008 – to my balance in life. It’s a message I deliver regularly to young athletes just beginning their sporting journey. </p>
<p>Time management is not merely a key to an athlete’s success; it contributes plenty to an athlete’s enjoyment of their sport and, in turn, their life outside of sport.</p>
<p>With it, and with the support of coaches, family, friends, sports associations, institutes, academics – and universities – an athlete’s life can become rewarding, fun and long-lived.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29654/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Duncan Free does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia sent 417 athletes to the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games – its largest ever contingent – and based on our 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympic Games competitors, around 40% are university students…Duncan Free, Manager of the Griffith Sports College, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/293332014-07-21T20:26:57Z2014-07-21T20:26:57ZFewer medals, but Glasgow 2014 will still be a gold rush for Australia<p>Some <a href="http://www.commonwealthgames.org.au/uploads/news/1/24/ppAM0OzG6s80q.pdf">71 nations</a> will participate in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/glasgow-2014">2014 Commonwealth Games</a>, starting on Wednesday in Glasgow – so what are Australia’s chances?</p>
<p>Many countries – <a href="http://www.commonwealthgames.org.au/page/81/glasgow-2014-team">including Australia</a> – are sending their largest ever Commonwealth Games teams. There will be an estimated 6,500 athletes and officials in Glasgow, 600 of them Australian (including <a href="http://www.commonwealthgames.org.au/page/24/latest-news">417 athletes</a>). </p>
<p>Earlier this year, the <a href="http://www.ausport.gov.au/">Australian Sports Commission</a> published its Commonwealth Games <a href="http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/australias_winning_edge/sports_tally_2014/2014_benchmark_event_targets">medal targets</a>, and its estimate of a maximum of 152 medals for Australia is substantially below the tally for the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games of 178 medals (74 gold, 55 silver and 49 bronze).</p>
<p>This reflects a decrease in the amount of medal events as well as the better performance of other Commonwealth countries. </p>
<p>Australia has been the leading medal-winning nation at the past six Commonwealth Games, so let’s have a look at who we might see on the podium this time round.</p>
<h2>Swimming: July 24 – 29</h2>
<p>The swimming events start on Thursday, and Australia has <a href="http://www.swimming.org.au/article.php?group_id=28481">a 59-strong team</a> at these Games.</p>
<p><a href="http://results.glasgow2014.com/athlete/swimming/1030620/alicia_coutts.html">Alicia Coutts</a> won <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alicia_Coutts">five gold medals</a> in Delhi in 2010 is competing in four events in Glasgow: Women’s 50m Butterfly, Women’s 100m Butterfly, Women’s 200m Individual Medley and Women’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay.</p>
<p>With her in the team are three world champions: <a href="http://results.glasgow2014.com/athlete/swimming/1030619/cate_campbell.html">Cate Campbell</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Sprenger">Christian Sprenger</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Magnussen">James Magnussen</a>. Overall, the Sports Commission estimates that the swim team will win a total of 55 medals, one-third of Australia’s medals at the Games.</p>
<h2>Athletics: July 27 – August 2</h2>
<p><a href="http://results.glasgow2014.com/athlete/athletics/1029979/sally_pearson.html">Sally Pearson</a> is one of the 55 female athletes in the 102-strong Australian athletics’ team. </p>
<p>She and three teammates – <a href="http://results.glasgow2014.com/athlete/athletics/1029958/kim_mickle.html">Kim Mickle</a>, <a href="http://results.glasgow2014.com/athlete/athletics/1029997/dani_samuels.html">Dani Samuels</a> and <a href="http://results.glasgow2014.com/athlete/athletics/1029884/alana_boyd.html">Alana Boyd</a> – are expected to contribute to an estimated high of 20 medals in athletics at the Games. </p>
<h2>Hockey: July 24 – August 3</h2>
<p>The Australian hockey teams go into the Games with a strong record of gold medal success. The men’s team has won gold at all four Commonwealth Games in which hockey has been included. The women’s team has won the gold medal on three occasions. (The exception was in Manchester in 2002 when India defeated England.) </p>
<p>The men’s team, the <a href="http://www.hockey.org.au/National-Teams/Kookaburras-men">Kookaburras</a>, is the top ranked hockey team in the world, and the women’s team, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-15/hockeyroos-lose-to-the-netherlands-in-world-cup-final/5524486">the Hockeyroos</a>, won the silver medal at the World Cup in the Netherlands last month.</p>
<h2>Netball: July 24 – August 3</h2>
<p>Australia and New Zealand have two Commonwealth netball gold medals each, and have played each other in all four finals. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.theroar.com.au/2010/10/15/aust-nz-netball-sports-greatest-rivalry/">2010 Final</a> was an epic match and New Zealand won that game, 66-64, in double-overtime. </p>
<p>The margin between both teams in all four finals has been very small, and the Glasgow Games promise another close encounter in what is effectively the World Championships of the sport.</p>
<h2>Rugby Sevens: July 26 – 27</h2>
<p>Rugby Sevens first appeared in the Commonwealth Games in 1998. There has been substantial investment in this form of rugby union now it’s included in the Olympics from 2016. </p>
<p>Some 16 nations will compete for the Commonwealth title this year, but New Zealand has won the gold medal each time. Australia has been drawn in a qualifying group that includes England, Sri Lanka and Uganda.</p>
<h2>Cycling: July 24 – August 3</h2>
<p>There are 41 athletes competing for Australia in cycling. <a href="http://results.glasgow2014.com/athlete/cycling_track/1037971/anna_meares.html">Anna Meares</a> will be contesting the Sprint and 500-metre Time Trial. </p>
<p>The men’s road team named before the Games includes cyclists competing in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/tour-de-france">Tour de France</a>: Simon Clarke, Mark Renshaw and Luke Durbridge. The road time trials take place four days after the end of the Tour.</p>
<p>Australia has medal hopes in all of the remaining sports in the Games, but for many athletes it will be an opportunity to experience a multi-sport event for the first time. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/29333/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Keith Lyons does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some 71 nations will participate in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, starting on Wednesday in Glasgow – so what are Australia’s chances? Many countries – including Australia – are sending their largest ever…Keith Lyons, Adjunct Professor of Sport Studies, UC-RISE, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/276932014-06-25T05:28:07Z2014-06-25T05:28:07ZDespite World Cup losses, Australia has a bright football future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52145/original/v6rs8ydx-1403663358.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia is heading in the right direction football-wise if our results at the World Cup are anything to go by.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Fernando Bizerra Jr</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For those well-versed in football and Australian sport, the Australian national team’s early exit from the World Cup should come as no surprise. The three losses – to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-14/socceroos-v-chile-live-world-cup-blog/5523774">Chile</a>, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-19/netherlands-beat-socceroos-australia-world-cup-2014/5534468">the Netherlands</a> and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-06-24/spain-beats-australia-in-final-world-cup-game/5545212">Spain</a> – can be mostly explained by football’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-may-be-the-world-cup-but-how-global-is-the-world-game-27330">global nature</a>.</p>
<p>While Australians boast about the country’s prowess in swimming, netball, rugby league, rugby union and Australian Rules football, these sports do not have the international reach and diverse competition of association football. Australia cracked in Brazil because of the competitive nature of the sport. Australians need to realise there is a different magnitude to the prestige associated with being a World Cup winner in football, compared to that associated with world championships in swimming or hockey.</p>
<p>We did, however, learn much from Australia’s overall performance in Brazil. First, the team played outstanding football in patches against Chile and the Netherlands, especially in the first half against the Dutch. Even during its 34-year absence from the World Cup, Australia always played with a never-say-die attitude and overachieved against higher-credentialed opponents. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52162/original/5hmg2gjz-1403669640.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52162/original/5hmg2gjz-1403669640.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52162/original/5hmg2gjz-1403669640.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52162/original/5hmg2gjz-1403669640.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52162/original/5hmg2gjz-1403669640.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=951&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52162/original/5hmg2gjz-1403669640.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1195&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52162/original/5hmg2gjz-1403669640.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1195&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52162/original/5hmg2gjz-1403669640.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1195&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australia coach Ange Postecoglou gave the national team a much-needed re-invigoration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Armando Babani</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Australia coach Ange Postecoglou could have been tempted to “park the bus” (football-speak for tight marking and defending) in front of the opposition’s goal, and limit the heaviness of the losses. He chose instead to go for results and play positive, attacking football. The national football team regained the respect of the Australian public, which had been wavering in the wake of <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/socceroos-thrashed-60-by-france-in-international-friendly-nightmare-20131012-2velr.html">poor results</a> and a <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/socceroos-coach-holger-osieck-sacked-after-friday-night-bleus-20131012-2veor.html">coach sacking</a> last year.</p>
<p>Postecoglou also axed most of the remnants of the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/socceroos-golden-generation-fall-one-by-one-to-the-sniper-20140328-zqnd8.html">“golden generation”</a>, such as Lucas Neill, Mark Schwarzer and Harry Kewell, and regenerated the team <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/ange-refills-socceroos-fuel-tank-with-youth-20140604-39jb6.html">with youth</a>. Since his appointment, Postecoglou has made it clear that there would be no-one would be entitled to a place in the squad on past glories alone. </p>
<p>Before Postecoglou, Australian coaches failed to re-energise and reinvigorate the team after the success of the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The coaches were not keen enough to exclude the golden generation despite some of the players having lost their hunger. This was reflected in their performances, and as a result, Australia didn’t dominate against weaker teams such as Jordan, Iraq or Qatar in qualifying for Brazil.</p>
<p>Australia is heading in the right direction football-wise, and there is little doubt that the national team will play in the Asian Cup final, which Australia will host next year. Young players such as Matthew Leckie (arguably Australia’s best performer across the three games), Oliver Bozanic and Ben Halloran will lead the charge to make Australia the dominant football nation in Asia.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52171/original/gwwh3mw9-1403670499.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52171/original/gwwh3mw9-1403670499.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/52171/original/gwwh3mw9-1403670499.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52171/original/gwwh3mw9-1403670499.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52171/original/gwwh3mw9-1403670499.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=757&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52171/original/gwwh3mw9-1403670499.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52171/original/gwwh3mw9-1403670499.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/52171/original/gwwh3mw9-1403670499.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=952&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Matthew Leckie emerged as a future star of Australian football at the World Cup.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Mohamed Messara</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While the performances were encouraging, critics of the Australian team and the sport in general will argue that the <a href="http://www.espnfc.us/fifa-world-cup/4/table">results</a> speak for themselves. Australia played three, lost three, conceded nine and scored three. In fact, Australia has played six games in 2014 and lost all but one (a draw against South Africa).</p>
<p>However, it would be foolish to be troubled. Football is here to stay in Australia, and there is reason to be hopeful about what the future will bring. The A-League is a now legitimate national competition, even though it sits behind Australian Rules football and rugby league in commercialised sport. </p>
<p>While football has always enjoyed very high levels of <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/1301.0%7E2012%7EMain%20Features%7ESports%20and%20physical%20recreation%7E116">youth participation</a>, its growth in the grassroots level is almost complete. Today, at the grass-roots level, football is the dominant sport in diverse communities including former rugby heartlands in western Sydney. </p>
<p>Even elite private schools, such as Newington College in Sydney, now have more football than rugby union teams. At the University of Sydney, the firsts’ football team is coached by former national coach Raul Blanco and there are more 40 teams in competition. Football is now the preferred sport in various girls’ private schools.</p>
<p>If Australia can avoid the unhelpful trend of <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=soccer&id=9286402">hothousing</a> young players, the talent pool will continue to grow.</p>
<p>Mainstream Australia may now finally realise what the rest of the world understood more than 90 years ago when the World Cup was first held. There are many social and educational benefits that are worthy of pursuing through playing and supporting football – but internationally, the competition is stiff.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27693/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Steve Georgakis does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>For those well-versed in football and Australian sport, the Australian national team’s early exit from the World Cup should come as no surprise. The three losses – to Chile, the Netherlands and Spain…Steve Georgakis, Senior Lecturer of Pedagogy and Sports Studies, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/275082014-06-11T20:32:52Z2014-06-11T20:32:52ZQualifying is never easy: Australia’s World Cup history<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50547/original/4cz3hyjf-1402289871.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australia first qualified for the World Cup in 1974, when a group of part-timers under captain Peter Wilson (far right) went to West Germany.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anton Cernak</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia will soon begin its fourth football World Cup finals campaign – the third successive tournament it has qualified for – with group stage matches against Chile, the Netherlands and Spain.</p>
<p>While some more recent Australian football fans might now view qualification for the World Cup as something we can take for granted, Australia’s earlier adventures in attempting to gain access to the pinnacle of the world game prove it wasn’t always thus.</p>
<p>Australia began trying to qualify for the World Cup soon after its FIFA membership was restored in 1963. Australia had been suspended because local clubs were signing up overseas players such as Leo Baumgartner and Sjel de Bruyckere, claiming they were just migrants who had arrived here and only wanted a game of football. Their European clubs were not receiving transfer fees and complained to FIFA, which suspended Australia. </p>
<p>Australia’s first attempt to get to the World Cup – the 1966 tournament in England – was very disappointing. The Australian team prepared in Cairns with a match against Ingham, while their opponent, North Korea, had about 35 competitive games before the two-match play-off in Phnom Penh. Australia lost both encounters comprehensively, then played a series of matches in Asia to help defray the trip’s costs.</p>
<p>Later, Australia learned to play warm-up games before the main event, not afterwards.</p>
<p>In 1967, in the middle of the Vietnam War with prime minister Harold Holt under pressure at home, it was decided that Australia should play in the Independence Day tournament in Saigon. The idea was to help demonstrate the superiority of democracy and boost morale among service personnel and the domestic population. </p>
<p>A young team led by Johnny Warren and coached by “Uncle” Joe Vlasits found itself interacting with Australian troops who would then go off to fight while they played and beat New Zealand, South Vietnam, Singapore and Malaysia en route to the final against South Korea. The Australians threatened not to take part after being informed that there was no space in the stadium for the Australian military personnel who had been a huge support to the players on and off the field.</p>
<p>As it turned out, the service personnel were allowed in and the rest of the crowd supported Australia rather than the Koreans, much to the Australians’ surprise. South Korea scored in the first minute, but the Australians responded brilliantly. Billy Vojtek produced a wonderful solo goal after 36 minutes and Atti Abonyi and Warren added the others in a 3-2 win to register Australia’s first international tournament victory. </p>
<p>The camaraderie in the face of adversity was an important element in the mindset that eventually helped Australia qualify for the World Cup in West Germany in 1974.</p>
<p>Led by Rale Rasic, a bunch of part-time players, some of whom had to give up their employment to take part, qualified by beating South Korea in another play-off, this time in Hong Kong. Everyone remembers Jimmy Mackay’s fierce shot that won the decisive game, but fewer remember Jimmy Fraser’s performances in goal that helped get Australia to that point.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V5gXNmn1pLI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Highlights from Australia’s 1974 World Cup qualification campaign.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the finals, Australia lost to East and West Germany and drew with Chile. Chile, coincidentally, will be Australia’s first opponent in the 2014 tournament, and another draw would be an excellent result. That match against Chile in 1974 was marked by the appearance of Harry Williams as a substitute late in the game, the first recognised Indigenous player to represent Australia at a FIFA World Cup.</p>
<p>In 2005, after a wait of more than three decades, Australia qualified for another World Cup in a now-united Germany. People asked me before the tournament: “Will we qualify for Germany?” I would reply: “We always qualify for the World Cup in Germany.”</p>
<p>After the excruciatingly narrow <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmnBPrdO0_k">loss to Iran</a> at the MCG in 1997 on the away goals rule, getting to Germany depended once again on a series of brilliant saves by goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who has recently retired from international football, and a penalty kick by John Aloisi to defeat Uruguay. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rhM1t0XyB08?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A penalty shootout sent Australia to the 2006 World Cup.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The nation united behind the team. It is estimated that some 60,000 Australians followed them to Germany, the largest outward movement of population since World War Two. Many did not have tickets but enjoyed the tournament in the fan fests in all of the World Cup cities. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50556/original/wwmqh2g8-1402309336.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/50556/original/wwmqh2g8-1402309336.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50556/original/wwmqh2g8-1402309336.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50556/original/wwmqh2g8-1402309336.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50556/original/wwmqh2g8-1402309336.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50556/original/wwmqh2g8-1402309336.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/50556/original/wwmqh2g8-1402309336.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An estimated 60,000 Australians followed the national team to Germany in 2006.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roy Hay</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At home, thousands got up in the middle of the night to watch Australia on big screens in cities across the country. Australia beat Japan with three very late goals, lost to Brazil, but then drew with Croatia to qualify for the knockout stages. Only a late penalty to the eventual winner, Italy, brought the campaign to an end. </p>
<p>Australia has since qualified for South Africa in 2010 – where it went out in the group stages after a win, loss and draw – and the tournament in Brazil is now about to start. Bring it on.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Roy Hay and Bill Murray’s new book, <a href="http://www.hardiegrant.com.au/books/books/book?isbn=9781742707648">A History of Football in Australia</a>, is published by Hardie Grant.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27508/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Roy Hay received funding from the Australian Research Council in 2000.
Roy Hay is a member of Football Federation Australia's Panel of Historians.</span></em></p>Australia will soon begin its fourth football World Cup finals campaign – the third successive tournament it has qualified for – with group stage matches against Chile, the Netherlands and Spain. While…Roy Hay, Honorary Fellow, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/272212014-05-29T01:51:23Z2014-05-29T01:51:23ZAre we doing enough to promote integrity in sport?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49585/original/x9ksqjsm-1401237741.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australian sport has been in a so-called 'crisis' since 2013, but what is the best way address it?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/drugs-crime-and-ball-games-how-aussie-sport-got-crooked-12084">“crisis” in Australian sport</a> in 2013 prompted calls for change to rebuild integrity and public trust. But while beefing up policing and instituting harsher penalties seems to be a natural reaction to the “crisis”, this strategy might miss the mark. </p>
<p>Integrity management is more than a policing matter or mere brand protection. It is ultimately about fostering safe and inclusive sporting environments for all involved, and catering for a plurality of values that include – but are not limited to – the pursuit of sporting excellence. </p>
<p>In response to the crisis, the then-Labor government introduced the <a href="http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=s902">Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Amendment Bill 2013</a> to expand ASADA’s policing powers. The former government also <a href="http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/national-integrity-of-sport-unit">established</a> a National Integrity in Sport unit to help control doping and match-fixing. Professional sporting organisations such as the AFL <a href="http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-02-02/afl-bolsters-integrity-unti">are appointing</a> more “integrity officers”.</p>
<p>Moves are underway to <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/essendon-doctors-to-have-final-say-under-new-protocols-to-avoid-repeat-of-supplement-scandal/story-fni5f6kv-1226826560092">re-instate the authority</a> of medical doctors in high-performance management teams. Australia’s peak body for sport scientists, Exercise and Sport Science Australia, <a href="http://www.essa.org.au/for-media/essa-in-the-media/?cpid=17244">has recognised</a> that the industry requires further regulation.</p>
<h2>Problems with current anti-doping strategy</h2>
<p>A hard-line anti-doping strategy tends to focus on individual athletes (and not the <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/sport/making-young-australians-good-sports-through-fair-play-20140527-zrpoo.html">culture of high performance</a> and doping), threatens sport doctor-patient privilege and drives the problem underground.</p>
<p>Within a medical or workplace safety framework, however, doping is a health and education issue that requires a long-term strategy to minimise harm to athletes. And yet, there is little anti-doping research tackling the question of how proven policies and prevention tools from harm minimisation could be brought to bear on the drugs and doping problem in sport. </p>
<p>Elite sport in Australia is big business. It would be fair to say that the high-performance, <a href="http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/essendons-new-slogan-whatever-it-takes-doesnt-sit-well-as-shadow-hangs-over-club/story-e6frf9jf-1226571128665">“whatever it takes”</a> ethos dominates, and it has filtered down to the community sport level. In this way, it is possible to link doping to the systemic pressure on athletes, support personnel and sporting clubs to consistently surpass peak performance. </p>
<p>These are social, historical and cultural factors of direct relevance to the issue of doping in sport. However, these are not well understood or addressed in current anti-doping policy. </p>
<p>Similarly, media representations of winning and sporting heroes can influence how those at the grassroots understand and experience what sport is about. Australia’s swimming team was <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/mistakes-will-make-me-stronger-says-james-magnussen/story-e6frg7mf-1226500143277">vilified by the media</a> (and the public) after the London Olympics. Is the message that Olympians <a href="http://theconversation.com/gold-standard-are-we-obsessed-with-olympic-victory-8763">have to apologise</a> for not winning gold medals the one we want to give our kids?</p>
<p>These are key examples of an over-emphasis on winning that needs to be addressed. Let’s remember, too, that sport integrity is more than just about doping and match-fixing. Notwithstanding the efforts of many dedicated and well-meaning parents, coaches and other volunteer officials at the local level, sport can be a hostile place. Violence and intimidation, including <a href="http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/flinders-university-study-on-ugly-parents-syndrome-impact-on-falling-sport-interest/story-fnet08ui-1226611196240">“ugly parent syndrome”</a>, can affect players, umpires and spectators. </p>
<p>Sexist, homophobic and racial slurs are still often reduced to “gamesmanship” – mere strategies to unsettle opponents or taunt umpires – rather than recognised as the demeaning, hurtful and discriminatory behaviours that they are.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49609/original/5yvjb2wf-1401249643.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49609/original/5yvjb2wf-1401249643.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49609/original/5yvjb2wf-1401249643.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49609/original/5yvjb2wf-1401249643.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49609/original/5yvjb2wf-1401249643.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49609/original/5yvjb2wf-1401249643.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49609/original/5yvjb2wf-1401249643.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sport integrity is more than just about doping and match-fixing – and it exists beyond the professional level.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Cultural change</h2>
<p>Changing sport culture from winning to healthy participation, skill development and other values is challenging, but not impossible. Coaches at suburban AFL clubs could, for example, devise learning plans for each young player around skill development and challenge. A full forward could attempt two kicks for goal with their non-dominant leg – even if it meant missing the goal altogether.</p>
<p>There are other ongoing efforts to promote integrity and a range of values in sport. The <a href="http://www.ausport.gov.au/participating">Australian Sport Commission</a> and the <a href="http://www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au/index.php/our-projects-a-initiatives/fair-go-sport">Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission</a> work to provide the community with resources to deal with discrimination and promote inclusive and safe sport. </p>
<p>Organisations like the Australian Drug Foundation’s <a href="http://goodsports.com.au/">Good Sports Program</a> work with communities to create sustainable, family-friendly sport clubs that are less reliant on alcohol sales and more capable of redressing the drinking culture that comes to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/time-to-cut-the-ties-between-alcohol-and-sport-15337">associated with sport</a>. Further support is needed to extend the reach and improve the uptake and effectiveness of these programs.</p>
<p>While the “policing approach” has the momentum, the key challenge remains the promotion of the broader cultural shift that is needed to fulfil sport’s promise of delivering a variety of social goods. </p>
<p>Such culture change will not be brought on by simply more surveillance and punishment. Instead, it requires more education, leadership and stakeholder ownership across all levels of sport.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/27221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ramon Spaaij receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dennis Hemphill does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The “crisis” in Australian sport in 2013 prompted calls for change to rebuild integrity and public trust. But while beefing up policing and instituting harsher penalties seems to be a natural reaction…Dennis Hemphill, Associate Professor of Sport Ethics, Victoria UniversityRamon Spaaij, Associate Professor, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.