Suchergebnisse

This research investigates issues of cultural diversity and inclusiveness in women's netball in Australia using the rhetoric of exclusion. Women and girls from culturally diverse backgrounds spoke of reinforced difference and cultural assimilation in their netball experiences. Women born in other English-speaking countries recalled feelings of inclusion and limited cultural dissonance and indicated that netball helped them feel as part of their new community and gain social capital via participation. Although experiences of explicit exclusion or racial discrimination were virtually nonreported, some women felt a strong sense of cultural conformity to Anglo-centric expectations of behavior. The women's stories and experiences suggest that women from culturally diverse backgrounds have found few opportunities to express their cultural distinctiveness through mainstream Australian sports such as netball. The conclusion reached after this examination is that the rhetoric of exclusion is pervasive in Australian netball and unlikely to change in the near future.

The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games were the last Olympic Games held before 9/11. Even though the 2000 Games were held prior to this landmark terrorist incident, Australia implemented a range of increased security processes to safeguard the Games. As such, the Sydney Games provide a compelling case study to examine how Olympic security measures were implemented before and during the Games and how some of these have remained as an Olympic legacy in the post-9/11 era. At the time, the arguments for stringent protection ranged from the need for safety of persons to safeguarding the Australian image or 'brand'. Many of the measures introduced were low key, for example the introduction of specifically formulated legislation which significantly broadened police powers, and these have remained as a tangible Games legacy. The escalation of concerns for safety beyond the Australian context and the extrapolation of these onto the global stage are an intangible legacy.

This article investigates the sociocultural motivations of the Pasifika diaspora in Australian sport in the context of rugby league football. In 2011, some 36 percent of National Rugby League ( nrl ) playing contracts were signed by players of Pasifika descent (). There has been an accompanying rise of Pasifika influence in the game: this is apparent on the field with the high profile of star Pasifika players and off the field with the intensification of welfare and education programs intended to accommodate Pasifika athletes in the National Rugby League. The purpose of this article is to critically analyze kinship networks, religious influences, and the sociocultural expectations placed on Pasifika footballers by various stakeholders and to evaluate how these factors either motivate these athletes to play in the National Rugby League or discourage them from doing so. The article explores what these experiences reveal about the nature of Pasifika communities in an Australian context. The material presented draws on the principal author's original research on Australian rugby league and the experience of athletes of Pasifika descent, as well as his direct experience as a former sports education administrator and as the inaugural Pacific Islander coaching and development officer for the New South Wales Rugby League.