Have your children watched a footy match recently? Well, if they watched AFL on TV they also consumed about 50.5 separate episodes of sports betting marketing, from TV and stadium ads, to footy jumpers…
The belief that rugby league is a ‘hard sport’ played by ‘hard men’ made by insiders does little to advance the image of the game.
AAP/Action Photographics
When his grandson was tragically killed while playing rugby league in April this year, former New South Wales and Australian halfback Tommy Raudonikis said:
Everyone needs to understand that this was…
North Melbourne’s Majak Daw, the AFL’s first Sudanese-born player, has been subjected to racial abuse from fans in his first few senior games.
AAP/Joe Castro
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
A young man playing for AFL club North Melbourne wows the majority of watchers with breathtaking football talent. But for a few observers, the colour…
Alcohol marketing is ubiquitous in AFL broadcasts as can be seen in this shot from a match on Saturday, May 4, 2013.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
The Australian Football League (AFL) and Cricket Australia have refused to sell advertising space to a Tasmanian man trying to raise awareness of the impact of junk food and alcohol advertising linked…
Gai Waterhouse and John Singleton in happier times: their acrimonious split and subsequent stewards' inquiry has typified the culture of Sydney.
AAP/Paul Miller
The Gai Waterhouse-John Singleton horse racing imbroglio has the feel of fiction. Its cast of characters could easily spring from the treatment for a new Underbelly series or the pages of a Peter Corris…
As the drugs scandal continues to plague Essendon, its ‘hardcore’ fans have stood by the club and embattled coach James Hird.
AAP/David Crosling
When the drugs in Australian sport investigation was announced in early February, much was made of the importance of protecting fans from the actions of wrongdoers. But here we are, three months into this…
Brendan Fevola was followed by controversy throughout his AFL career: would a ‘person formation’ focus in team sport culture have helped him?
AAP/Dave Hunt
The inventive English journalist Dave Hill (who is as comfortable writing about politics and culture as he is about sport) published a book, Out of His Skin, in 1989 dealing with – among other things…
The Western Sydney Wanderers have had a ‘fairytale’ debut season in the A-League – but does this say more about how the league is run than the team itself?
AAP/Dean Lewins
Western Sydney Wanderers’ inaugural A-League season is the feel-good sports story of the year. The team is undefeated in 13 matches, won the league (generally regarded as the “real” championship in soccer…
The Herald Sun has described fans of A-League soccer club Melbourne Victory as ‘soccer hooligans’, a label many fans feel is unfair.
AAP/Martin Philbey
In 2011, I attempted to warn then-Victorian Police Superintendent Rod Wilson and Australian soccer’s governing body, Football Federation Australia, from “amplifying the actions of a few unruly football…
Fans of English soccer club Brighton & Hove Albion have faced constant homophobic taunts over the years – and they’ve had enough.
rockjimford
It’s been an ugly week in English soccer. Up north, outrage of many persuasions flowed around Paolo Di Canio’s politics. Down south, supporters from Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion presented…
There may be “health risks” associated with GW501516, but what are they?
Hannibal/EPA
This article was updated on April 12, 2013, and includes responses from WADA and GSK.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has taken the unusual step of warning athletes about the health risks of the banned…
In the debate on the use of performance enhancing drugs in sport, what should we consider an unfair advantage?
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At the heart of growing concern about performance enhancing drugs in Australian sport is the very basic matter of sport as an even contest.
As Roy and H.G. used to put it, no one is particularly interested…
Sports journalists don’t always have the resources to break major crime stories.
AAP/Joe Castro
The cheating scandal that has ostensibly bewildered those in command of Australia’s elite sports could end up being the biggest story involving sport in history.
Yet sport journalists, like the officials…
Coach of Essendon James Hird talks with assistant coach Mark Thompson in 2011.
AAP/Martin Philbey
The Australian Crime Commission report released last week, Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport, claims Australian sport, especially at the professional level, has a serious drug use problem.
According…
Sports Minister Kate Lundy at the release of the ACC report into organised crime and sport in Australia.
AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Sport administrators, employers, policy makers, sponsors, parents and sport fans are understandably scratching their heads right now, as to the facts underpinning claims of corruption and crime in Australian…
Australian sport was supposed to be clean. What went wrong?
AAP/Lukas Coch
The Australian Crime Commission report, Organised Crime and Drugs in Sport, has come as a hammer blow to Australian sport. According to a review of cycling released only last month, Australia is supposed…
Are displays of emotion from sportspeople about convincing us that it’s not just about the money?
fox2mike/flickr
Any major sporting triumph without euphoric emotion or a serious opening of the floodgates would seem strange. Commentators tell us that tears show “passion”. Fans seem to demand them. It wasn’t always…
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga thinks women’s tennis is affected by their unstable emotions.
AAP/Joe Castro
Two interesting and intersecting events occurred at the Australian Open this week. First, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga questioned women’s ability to control their emotions while playing tennis at a press…
Questions have arisen over the cause of Victoria Azarenka’s extended break during her semi-final match.
AAP/Joe Castro
A controversial extended medical break taken by tennis world number one Victoria Azarenka after losing five match points in her match against Sloane Stephens has raised the issue of “choking” in sport…
Lleyton Hewitt went down in straight sets in the first round of the Australian Open last night.
AAP/Julian Smith
Any hopes that Lleyton Hewitt could revisit past glories in his 2013 Australian Open campaign were dashed last night when he lost in straight sets to Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic. It now seems impossible…
The right to watch the Boxing Day Test is enshrined in law.
Flickr/Richo in OZ
Is watching sport on television a right of cultural citizenship in Australia? Sport, we are regularly told, is integral to Australian culture. If you are interested in becoming a citizen, the current advisory…
Does Julia Gillard really love cricket? The law of sport and politics says she must.
AAP/Andrew Taylor
It was the last sitting day of the federal parliament for the year. Opposition leader Tony Abbott was suggesting that prime minister Julia Gillard was a criminal, who in turn was rehearsing her lines that…
The finger has been pointed at Collingwood player Dane Swan in the latest drugs in sports ‘scandal’.
AAP
Here we go again. Another high profile sportsperson has been implicated in the latest drugs in sport “scandal”.
This time the finger is being pointed at Collingwood Brownlow medallist Dane Swan. The same…
Australian cyclist Matthew White admitted to taking drugs during his time riding for Lance Armstrong’s US Postal Service cycling team.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
Federal Sports Minister Kate Lundy’s recent announcement of an independent review of Cycling Australia appears sensible given the local fall-out from the Armstrong case.
The minister sees this review…
“It’s time to remodel our drugs in sport controls in order to get a proper balance …”
www.YoVenice.com
Lance Armstrong is the flavour of the month when it comes to doping and anti-doping discussions at the moment, but closer to home there are some real and pertinent issues to debate.
Australian government…
Melbourne ruckman Mark Jamar pounces on a loose ball. The Demons stand accused of deliberately losing games to gain high draft picks.
AAP/Julian Smith
The Melbourne Demons AFL team stand accused of deliberately ensuring their team lost matches in order to secure talented players in the draft in a process known as “tanking”.
With the club facing a hearing…
Did Armstrong’s decision to dope come down to a simple cost-benefit analysis?
STR/EPA
Had Lance Armstrong nudged one of his Tour de France rivals over the edge of the Alpe d'Huez he would have likely received a less hostile response than he has in recent weeks for breaking a simple sports…
President Obama’s sporting prowess has helped his popularity among the wider American electorate.
EPA/Kevin Dietsch
For many Americans, it seems, politics is the ultimate sport, the true national pastime.
Like athletes, political candidates are written about and widely seen as heated rivals – for popularity, power…
Doping allegations were made against Matt White before he started working for Cycling Australia.
AAP
It has become clear over the past two weeks that Lance Armstrong ran the most well-managed and professional doping system ever seen in professional sport. So how did he get away with it for so long?
Questions…
Tommie Smith and John Carlos carry the coffin of Peter Norman, who died in 2006.
Sporting celebrities and stars have always featured centrally in the psyche of the Australian nation. Our athletes are portrayed as positive role models and many of their indiscretions and behaviours are…
Emotional intelligence is the order of the day, it seems, for trainee referees.
Colin Whelan/AAP Image
It was encouraging to read recently that promising young rugby league referees are being offered the opportunity and time to invest in the development of their mental skills prior to taking on the pressure…
The links between the military and disability sport are being cast anew.
Corporal Jamie Osborne, Department of Defence
In the past five or six years there has been a marked increase in the overt use of disability sport in the rehabilitation of soldiers injured in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – which, in a sense, is…
British Prime Minister David Cameron with a Paralympic athlete in London this year.
EPA/Andy Rain
People pretending to be disabled in order to compete in the Paralympics or Special Olympics is the fodder of many a bad-taste joke. There have even been movies such as The Ringer and an episode of South…
Mariia Pomazan was stripped of her gold medal following an Australian protest.
EPA/Gerry Penny
The final of the women’s discus (F35-36) at the London Paralympic Games on Sunday (AEST) raised a question that doesn’t normally comes up once a sporting contest is over:
“So, who won?”
Ukrainian F35…
Australian Paralympian Kurt Fearnley has unparalleled exposure as a Paralympic athlete.
AAP
When triple Paralympic gold mediallist Evan O'Hanlon steps up to the track for the 100m this week, you might notice something odd about his racing apparel. The 24-year-old, who is Australia’s fastest disabled…
Interim Australian Rugby League Commission Chief Executive Shane Mattiske (left) shakes the hand of Nine CEO David Gyngell after a five-year broadcasting deal was struck between the NRL, Fox Sports and Nine.
AAP
The new broadcasting deal struck this week by the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) represents an outstanding result as well as a lost opportunity.
The $1.025 billion that the Nine Network and…
Australia’s kayakers paddled their way to gold but don’t expect a huge increase in kayak sales in the next few months.
EPA/Robert Ghement
Did watching the Olympics inspire you to get out and play sport? Perhaps the gold-medal-winning effort of our men’s K4 kayaking team inspired you to take to the water. Or maybe Anna Meares' gold in the…
Australia’s Olympic Chief John Coates has started a debate about the role of sport in the school curriculum.
School sport image from www.shutterstock.com
Australia’s recent medal performance at the Olympic Games has caused Australia’s Olympic Chief John Coates some concern. Last week, he blamed at least part of the result on a lack of sport in the school…
Australian sport policy is based on the assumption that success at the Olympics will translate into greater participation rates among children.
rich115
Given the size of our population, Australia’s success at the past three Summer Olympic Games has been quite remarkable.
Across the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympic Games, the nation’s athletes have…
Former England captain John Terry was cleared of racially abusing Anton Ferdinand last Friday.
EPA/Facundo Arrizabalaga
As iconic sporting images go, there are few finer specimens than the picture of Brazilian genius Pele shaking hands with England captain Bobby Moore, after their teams battled to a 1-0 victory for Brazil…
Ceilings on physical ability are there – sometimes – to be broken.
EPA/Hannibal
We once thought no-one could run a mile in less than four minutes – and yet the current world record stands at three minutes, 43 seconds. So will records keep tumbling as people get fitter and technology…
What gets Aussies like Emma Snowsill over the line at the Olympics? And is it worth it?
EPA/Nic Bothma
We are now nearly two months away from the London Olympics opening, with the torch relay already underway. For Australian athletes the journey that began many years ago is nearing the end. Most of us will…
Should cannabis to be considered a “performance-enhancing” drug by the World Anti-Doping Agency?
pietroizzo
It has been widely reported that representatives from a group of Australian sporting codes – including athletics, cricket, rugby league and Australian Rules Football – met with the director-general of…
The Federal Court decision means Optus will not be able to broadcast AFL and NRL on its TV Now service.
AAP/Dan Peled
The significance of last Friday’s Federal Court decision to prevent Optus' “TV Now” service from broadcasting was made clear to me while waiting for a bus in Melbourne’s suburbs.
Earlier that day, I had…
Greater Western Sydney may be a new team, but Sydney and AFL have firm historical ties.
AAP Image/Paul Miller
The AFL season kicks off today and there’s a new team in town – Greater Western Sydney. Some don’t like it – the cynics claim Aussie Rules has no historical foothold in western Sydney.
I disagree.
While…
Melbourne footballer Liam Jurrah returns to Melbourne after being charged with attacking a man in Alice Springs.
AAP/David Crosling
Imagine if the indigenous people of this country didn’t play Australian football, the only truly unique sport this continent country has ever created.
As a percentage of the population, indigenous people…
One does not simply jump from a building … extensive preparation is essential.
Channel 7/Colby Swandale
By Eric Brymer, Queensland University of Technology
Late last week four men entered a restaurant on the 55th floor of the Rialto tower in Melbourne, had a couple of quiet drinks then leapt from the balcony.
Much of the commentary of this event described…
Tweet success and sweet success increasingly go hand in hand.
Scolirk
In the brave new world of contemporary sport-watching, the goalposts have moved. Watching the big game (once a simple matter of grabbing a beer and some chips and settling down in front of the television…
Workers building a stadium in Brazil for the 2014 World Cup. Questions linger about the process that saw Qatar granted the 2018 event.
AAP/Fernando Bizerra Jr
Rangers Football Club, the historically Protestant half of Glasgow’s “Old Firm” (the other half being the Catholic Celtic) has entered financial administration to prevent UK tax authorities installing…
Where should the NRL focus its attention this year?
AAP Image/Action Photographics, Charles Knight
Being a leap year, 2012 will see the staging of the Olympic Games, this time in London. For Australia’s domestic sporting competitions, this means vying for media coverage with other sports.
But the National…
The AFL is throwing everything is has at Greater Western Sydney.
AAP/Paul Millar
The 2012 AFL debut of the GWS Giants is the culmination of efforts by the powerful, cashed up body that administers Aussie Rules to make inroads into the rugby league-obsessed, poor and predominantly refugee…
Many sports fans appear to have more fun outside the stadium than in.
EPA/John G Mablango
The math involved is quite simple. Be it an Australian Open final, Melbourne’s race that stops a nation or the Superbowl, more people want to attend than can fit in the venue. Less simple, however, are…
Heavy hands might not always make light work in finals.
Vivek Prakash/ Reuters Pool
With the Australian Open into its final few days, we’re starting to see the best tennis players in the world come to the fore. And to be the best in the world, you need a well-rounded game, including…
Last year’s Australian Open women’s runner-up Li Na in action at the Sydney International this week.
Australia’s summer of tennis is a great opportunity to see the world’s best players up close, hitting hard and serving big. Many elite players hit first serves at over 200km/h with great precision and…
It takes more than a batting average to find the world’s best batsman.
Composite image: public domain/AAP Image/Tony McDonough
Who is the greatest test batsman of all time? In a follow up to a recent paper I created a media furore by suggesting that India’s Sachin Tendulkar had eclipsed Australian great Sir Donald Bradman in terms…
New Zealand is celebrating the All Blacks' victory over France in the Rugby World Cup.
Over the course of the tournament The Conversation has brought you stories about all aspects of the game.
And with…
The All Blacks' haka is culturally important for everyone in New Zealand.
AAP/AFP pool/Phil Water
RUGBY WORLD CUP – When New Zealand’s All Blacks take on France in the final tonight, they will be proud to perform a haka. They’ve taken some criticism for it in the past, but, as André Brett of the University…
Bryce Lawrence is one of the Rugby World Cup referees who has won few friends in the tournament.
AFP/Marty Melville
RUGBY WORLD CUP – The Wallabies may have the consolation of winning third place in tournament, but their progress has been far from controversial. The Rugby World Cup has been plagued by accusations of…
Wallabies player Drew Mitchell is taken from the field after an injury during Rugby World Cup match between Australia and Russia.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
RUGBY WORLD CUP – The Cup has already taken its toll on many players – finalists New Zealand have lost star player, Dan Carter and Australia goes into its battle for third place against Wales four men…
Marketing in the 2011 New Zealand Rugby World Cup will be different to previous years.
Flickr/Sandy Austin
RUGBY WORLD CUP – As the All Blacks and the Wallabies prepare for Sunday’s semi-final showdown, Deakin University’s Adam Karg discusses how to make money from the competition.
The Rugby World Cup has…
Will rugby union remain one of the big four football codes in Australia?
AAP/Paul Miller
RUGBY WORLD CUP – As New Zealand gets World Cup fever, James Cook University’s Chris Davies discusses where rugby union’s place in the Australian sporting landscape.
It’s on again – we’re now four weeks…
All Black Richie McCaw has been accused of routinely cheating in his approach to the game.
AAP
RUGBY WORLD CUP – The athleticism of the players has impressed in this tournament, but is there a whiff of unsportsmanlike behaviour in the air? Brian Stoddart of La Trobe University investigates.
A few…
Some AFL teams spend the off season at high altitude.
kangaroos.com.au
You might have heard about athletes and other sportspeople absconding to high-altitude locations for training.
Indeed altitude training has become the training-method-du-jour for sporting codes around…
New Zealand’s 28th Maori Battalion performing a Haka in Egypt in 1941.
AAP Image/Alexander Turnbull Library
RUGBY WORLD CUP – In the first of The Conversation’s series on the Rugby World Cup, Massey University’s Malcolm Mulholland argues for the continuation of a Maori only rugby team.
Around half of the All…
Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton (front row far right) in the 1994 NSW under 15 soccer team that won the Australian championships.
Roy Hay
By Ian Syson, Victoria University and Roy Hay, Deakin University
Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton’s recent signings for Australian clubs have, in the blink of an eye, skyrocketed interest levels in the coming A-League season.
Their return represents the closing of a…
The time trial is critical to Evans' chances in the 2011 Tour de France.
AFP/Pascal Pavani
Following the 18th stage of the 2011 Tour de France last night, the top six riders are within less than four minutes of one another: Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck, Frank Schleck, Ivan Basso, Damian Cunego…
Despite the success of the State of Origin, rugby league still lags behind the AFL in terms of popularity.
AAP
The move to establish an independent commission to run rugby league is a long overdue acknowledgement that strong corporate governance is essential in the small but intensely competitive Australian market…
Maria Sharapova has managed to move her appeal beyond sexiness.
AAP
BUSINESS OF SPORT: The marketing of women in sport in Australia in 2011 is simple: sex sells.
Don’t take my word for it though. Google the name of any female athlete and chances are the top search results…
AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou announces the league’s record TV rights deal.
AAP
The lucrative broadcast rights deal signed earlier this year by the AFL demonstrates the pulling power of “live” sport in a TV market which is increasingly becoming fragmented by more choice on more platforms…
Some sporting organisations have called for veto powers on “exotic” betting.
Joe Castro/AAPimage
GAMBLING IN AUSTRALIA – Australians spend about $20 billion every year gambling. This level of expenditure is, according to The Economist, the highest in the world on a per capita basis.
Some would argue…
A combination of revenue sharing and fixed salaries offers a good compromise for players and the AFL.
Flickr/lensfodder
To share or not to share – that is the question of moment in the AFL.
The AFL Players’ Association (AFLPA) appears determined that player payments should be a percentage of league revenue.
The AFL administration…
Olympic athletes – among others – will benefit from the new technology.
Tracey Nearmy/AAP Image
For Olympic swimmers, the blink of an eye can be the difference between first and forgotten. Everyone wants an edge, which is why elite athletes train relentlessly and why coaches push them hard. Alongside…
Major sporting bodies seem prone to allegations of corruption.
In recent days, newly re-elected FIFA president Sepp Blatter has attempted to counter persistent corruption allegations by attempting to assemble a “council of wisdom” to clean up the international sporting…
Majak Daw has been praised for his measured reaction to racist abuse.
www.kangaroos.com.au
This week the media in AFL states have been discussing racist comments made by members of crowds at Australian Rules games.
Sudanese-born North Melbourne rookie Majak Daw was racially abused while playing…
I was at a high-performance coaching conference in The Netherlands when FIFA President Sepp Blatter announced the soccer World Cup hosts of 2018 and 2022. I skipped a few keynote speeches to watch the…
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is a keen football fan but women lack representation on the governing bodies of most Australian sports.
AAP
Despite stunning progress on the sport field in the past 100 years, women’s representation off the field remains a serious challenge.
While there was not a singe female athlete at the first modern Olympic…
On the opening day of the Warrnambool jumps carnival in western Victoria this year, five-year-old horse Casa Boy died when he fell at his first hurdle.
Just one month later, Shine the Armour also died…
The AFL set-shot is as much about consistency as it is about the right technique.
AAP/Martin Philbey
When the AFL has a weekend of inaccurate goal-kicking, media attention invariably turns to why set-shot goal-kicking hasn’t improved while other areas of footy have.
As a footy fan, I have an interest…
Competition enables twins like Brad and Chris Scott to forge separate identities.
kangaroos.com.au
Competition between twins hit the headlines this week as, for the first time in AFL history, identical twins Brad and Chris Scott will coach different teams against each other on Saturday.
Both twins…
Calling indigenous footballers “magic” denies their hard work.
Flickr/witness1
Let me begin by asking a question. Why is it when we think of Indigenous footballers we do so in a way that sets them apart? To put it simply, why do many of us think that there is an inherent genetic…
Brisbane Lions' Jonathan Brown sustains a head injury against Fremantle.
AAP
The intense public interest in protective headgear following recent cases of high-profile AFL players sustaining concussion and other head or face injuries, is understandable.
Unfortunately we have limited…
Former AFL player Daniel Bell is seeking compensation for brain damage linked to multiple concussions.
AAP
What happens to the brain in a collision?
A blow to the head can cause any form of damage to the brain. On the serious side, it can cause a large haemorrhage and damage to a large amount of brain tissue…
