Skinfold tests were once a staple of AFL fitness assessments, but are now banned for junior athletes. Is this a sign footballers have ‘gone soft’, or is there good reason for it?
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Articles on AFLW
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While overt sexualisation of women in sports is now rarer, sports media needs a more diverse range of voices to help fight misogyny.
For decades, some sports have fostered a win-at-all-costs culture, with concussion often an afterthought. But there are signs that attitude is changing.
Tasmania is set to become the AFL’s 19th team and the league is likely to expand again at some point, which begs the question: where should the 20th club be based?
From what sports you can watch with an old aerial, to what apps you’ll see when you switch on a new smart TV – sports lovers can expect big changes ahead.
The AFL’s newest team, the Tasmania Devils, launched on Monday night, drawing on its rich football history in a blaze of myrtle green, primrose yellow and rose red.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a devastating form of dementia, which causes a decline in brain functioning and increased risk of mental illness.
Diversity is vital for developing the AFL, but the league needs to consider the structural and cultural barriers to attracting this diverse talent in the first place.
The cost of a Tasmanian team joining the AFL can be justified on economic and social grounds.
The AFL is searching for a new CEO amid ongoing reports of systemic racism, a lack of meaningful support for the AFLW and insufficient action on head injuries.
This systematic devaluing of those most invested in the AFLW isn’t new. It’s time to ask if the AFL is up to the task of running AFLW.
Jacinda Barclay, an AFLW player who died last year, has had her brain donated to concussion research. In general, women are understudied regards to their long-term brain health.
Consciousness-raising is a laudable goal for the AFL, but on race and gender issues, it needs to lead to clear actions, not just words.
We might think of sporting statues commemorating great players. But three new statues are showing us they can commemorate great cultural moments, too.
The AFLW has come a long way in a short time. But amid calls for even faster expansion, more games and a longer season, it pays to remember that in footy you shouldn’t go too hard, too early.
Online trolling is a workplace health and safety issue. The AFL must expose and sanction those responsible – anything less would not only be morally debatable, but also legally questionable.
It is now time for fans and administrators to put their money where their mouths are and support women’s sport in meaningful ways.
The league’s new policy for transgender footballers is contradictory and places an unfair burden on athletes to track testosterone levels and performance results over a two-year period.
Despite participation rates in women’s sport growing exponentially in recent years, the number of women in coaching positions has remained frustratingly stagnant.
Elite female athletes are leaving their chosen sport to pursue a career in AFLW. But what skills do they possess that allow them to be successful footballers with limited AFL experience?
Top contributors
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Research Fellow, Institute for Health & Sport, member of the Community, Identity and Displacement Research Network, and Co-convenor of the Olympic Research Network, Victoria University
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Industry Professor and Chief Economist, University of Technology Sydney
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Senior Lecturer, School of Business, Western Sydney University
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Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University
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Research Fellow, UQ School of Human Movement and Nutrition Sciences, The University of Queensland
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Senior Lecturer and Associate, Monash Centre for Commercial Law and Regulatory Studies, Monash University
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Head Of Department in Department of Sport & Event Management, Bournemouth University
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Senior Lecturer, First Year College, Victoria University
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Associate Professor of Sociology, Deakin University
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Senior Clinical Psychologist, The Cairnmillar Institute
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Associate Professor Sport Management and Sport Integrity Lead, University of Canberra
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Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University
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Masters of Sport Law Student, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Gender, Work and Organization, Macquarie University
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Professor of History and Professor of Public Engagement, La Trobe University
