Advertisement

Managing Racism on the Field in Australian Junior Sport

Chapter
First Online:

Abstract

Junior sport is a popular activity for children under the age of 18. However there have been few analyses of the extent that racism is experienced in junior sport, or how sports clubs manage it. Farquharson, Spaaij, Gorman, Jeanes, Lusher and Magee investigate how junior sports clubs in Victoria, Australia manage experiences of racism during matches. Through an in-depth analysis of interviews with over one hundred players, parents, coaches and volunteers across nine junior sports clubs, they argue that structural and cultural factors result in the maintenance of an on-field sporting culture where racism is essentially tolerated, even when lip service is given to its inappropriateness. Both the official and the informal processes for managing racial abuse reinforce the marginalisation of non-White players while reinforcing the normativity of Whiteness in Australian sport.

Keywords

Junior Sports Racial Abuse Racial Vilification Legitimate Tactic Basketball Club 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Notes

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Linkage Project Grant LP130100366 in partnership with VicHealth, The Centre for Multicultural Youth and The Australian Football League (AFL).

References

  1. Ahmed, Sara. 2012. On Being Included: Racism and Diversity in Institutional Life. Durham: Duke University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Anderson, Eric. 2013. i9 and the Transformation of Youth Sport. Journal of Sport & Social Issues 37 (1): 97–111.  https://doi.org/10.1177/0193723512455925.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Associated Press. 2008. MLB Gets Best Grade for Diversity in Hiring; Number of Blacks on Field Drops. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3347739. Accessed 26 Aug 2010.
  4. Australian Football League. 2013. National Vilification & Discrimination Policy. Melbourne: Australian Football League.Google Scholar
  5. Australian Sports Commission. 2010. Australian Sport – The Pathway to Success. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
  6. ———. 2016. AusPlay: Participation Data for the Sport Sector. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
  7. Azzarito, Laura, and Lewis Jr. Harrison. 2008. “White Men Can’t Jump”: Race, Gender and Natural Athleticism. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 43: 347–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  8. Back, Les, Tim Crabbe, and John Solomos. 2001. The Changing Face of Football: Racism, Identity and Multiculture in the English Game. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
  9. Burdsey, Daniel. 2012. Race, Ethnicity and Football: Persisting Debates and Emergent Issues. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Burdsey, Daniel, and Sean Gorman. 2015. When Adam Met Rio: Conversations on Racism, Anti-racism and Multiculturalism in the Australian Football League and English Premier League. Sport in Society 18 (5): 577–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Carrington, Ben, and Ian McDonald. 2001. Whose Game Is It Anyway? Racism in Local League Cricket. In “Race”, Sport and British Society, ed. Ben Carrington and Ian McDonald, 49–69. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
  12. Cazaly, Ciannon. 2012. A Year in the Life of the Australian Football Leagues Vilification Policies. Sporting Traditions 29 (1): 37–57.Google Scholar
  13. Colic-Peisker, Val, and Karen Farquharson. 2011. Introduction: A New Era in Australian Multiculturalism? The Need for Critical Interrogation. Journal of Intercultural Studies 32 (6): 579–586.  https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2011.618104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  14. Delgado, Richard, and Jean Stefancic. 2013. Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
  15. ———. 2017. Critical Race Theory: An introduction. New York: NYU Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Dobbin, Frank, Daniel Schrage, and Alexandra Kalev. 2015. Rage Against the Iron Cage. American Sociological Review 80 (5): 1014–1044.  https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122415596416.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Dubrow, Joshua Kjerulf, and Jimi Adams. 2012. Hoop Inequalities: Race, Class and Family Structure Background and the Odds of Playing in the National Basketball Association. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 47 (1): 43–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Dunn, Kevin, and Jacqueline K. Nelson. 2011. Challenging the Public Denial of Racism for a Deeper Multiculturalism. Journal of Intercultural Studies 32 (6): 587–602.  https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2011.618105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Eime, R., J. Harvey, M. Charity, M. Casey, J. van Uffelen, and W. Payne. 2015. The Contribution of Sport Participation to Overall Health Enhancing Physical Activity Levels in Australia: A Population-Based Study. BMC Public Health 15: 806.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Farquharson, Karen, and Timothy Marjoribanks. 2006. Representing Australia. Race, the Media and Cricket. Journal of Sociology 42 (1): 41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Gardiner, Greg. 1997. Racial Abuse and Football: The Australian Football League’s Racial Vilification Rule in Review. Sporting Traditions 14: 3–26.Google Scholar
  22. ———. 2003. “Black” Bodies – “White” Codes: Indigenous Footballers, Racism and the Australian Football League’s Racial and Religious Vilification Code. In Sport and Postcolonialism, ed. John Bale and Mike Cronin, 29–43. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
  23. Gorman, Sean. 2011. Legends: The AFL Indigenous Team of the Century. Acton: Aboriginal Studies Press.Google Scholar
  24. Gorman, Sean, Dean Lusher, and Keir Reeves. 2016a. The Biggest Game in Town: An Analysis of the AFL’s Vilification Policy. Vol. 19, Sport in Society, Special Issue.Google Scholar
  25. ———. 2016b. Understanding the Importance and Context of Vilification. Sport in Society 19 (4): 483–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Haebich, Anna. 1992. For their Own Good: Aborigines and Government in the South West of Western Australia 1900–1940. Nedlands: UWA Press.Google Scholar
  27. ———. 2000. Broken Circles. Fremantle: Fremantle Press.Google Scholar
  28. ———. 2008. Spinning the Dream: Assimilation in Australia 1950–1970. North Fremantle: Fremantle Press.Google Scholar
  29. Hallinan, Chris, and Barry Judd. 2009. Race Relations, Indigenous Australia and the Social Impact of Professional Football. Sport in Society 12 (9): 1220–1235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Hawkins, Billy. 2013. The New Plantation: Black Athletes, College Sports, and Predominantly White NCAA Institutions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Hoberman, John Milton. 1997. Darwin’s Athletes: How Sport Has Damaged Black America and Preserved the Myth of Race. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.Google Scholar
  32. Hylton, Kevin. 2008a. ‘Race’ and Sport: Critical Race Theory. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  33. ———. 2008b. Race and Sport. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. ———. 2010. How a Turn to Critical Race Theory Can Contribute to Our Understanding of ‘Race’, Racism and Anti-racism in Sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 45 (3): 335–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Jones, Gavin W. 2003. White Australia, National Identity and Population Change. In Legacies of White Australia: Race, Culture and Nation, ed. Laksiri Jayasuriya, David Walker, and Jan Gothard. Crawley: University of Western Australia Press.Google Scholar
  36. Klugman, Matthew, and Gary Osmond. 2013. Black and Proud: The Story of an Iconic AFL Photo. Sydney: University New South Wales Press.Google Scholar
  37. London, H.I. 1970. Non-White Immigration and the “White Australia” Policy. Sydney: Sydney University Press.Google Scholar
  38. Long, Jonathan. 2000. No Racism Here? A Preliminary Examination of Sporting Innocence. Managing Leisure 5: 121–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  39. Loy, John W., and Joseph F. Elvogue. 1970. Racial Segregation in American Sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 5 (5): 5–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Marjoribanks, Timothy, and Karen Farquharson. 2012. Sport and Society in the Global Age. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Markus, Andrew. 2003. Of Continuities and Discontinuities: Reflections on a Century of Australian Immigration Control. In Legacies of White Australia: Race, Culture and Nation, ed. Laksiri Jayasuriya, David Walker, and Jan Gothard. Crawley: University of Western Australia Press.Google Scholar
  42. ———. 2014. Mapping Social Cohesion: The Scanlon Foundation Surveys 2014. Melbourne: Monash University.Google Scholar
  43. Martin, Jean I. 1978. The Migrant Presence: Australian Responses 1947–1977. Sydney: George Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
  44. Massao, Prisca Bruno, and Kari Fasting. 2010. Race and Racism: Experiences of Black Norwegian Athletes. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 45 (2): 147–162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Moreton-Robinson, Aileen. 2004. Whiteness, Epistemology and Indigenous Representation. In Whitening Race, ed. Robinson Aileen Moreton. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.Google Scholar
  46. Omi, Michael, and Howard Winant. 2015. Racial Formation in the United States. 3rd ed. London/New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
  47. Spaaij, Ramón, Karen Farquharson, and Timothy Marjoribanks. 2015. Sport and Social Inequalities. Sociology Compass 9 (5): 400–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  48. Spaaij, Ramón, Karen Farquharson, Sean Gorman, Ruth Jeanes, Dean Lusher, Carmel Guerra, Shelley White, and Erin Ablett. 2018. Participation Versus Performance: Managing (Dis)ability, Gender and Cultural Diversity in Junior Sport. Final report. Melbourne: Centre for Multicultural Youth.Google Scholar
  49. Teicher, Julian, Chandra Shah, and Gerard Griffin. 2000. Australian Immigration: The Triumph of Economics Over Prejudice? Melbourne: Monash University – Acer Centre for the Economics of Education and Training.Google Scholar
  50. Vasta, Ellie. 2006. Migration and Migration Research in Australia. In International Migration and the Social Sciences: Confronting National Experiences in Australia, France and Germany, ed. E. Vasta and V. Vuddamalay. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Waller, Vivienne, Karen Farquharson, and Deborah Dempsey. 2016. Qualitative Social Research: Contemporary Methods for the Digital Age. London: Sage.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of ArtsThe University of MelbourneParkvilleAustralia
  2. 2.Institute for Health and SportVictoria UniversityFootscrayAustralia
  3. 3.Department of SociologyUniversity of AmsterdamAmsterdamThe Netherlands
  4. 4.Independent ScholarEast FremantleAustralia
  5. 5.Faculty of EducationMonash University Peninsula CampusFrankstonAustralia
  6. 6.Social Innovation Research InstituteSwinburne University of TechnologyHawthornAustralia
  7. 7.Independent ScholarCrib PointAustralia

Personalised recommendations

Cite chapter

Download book

Cite chapter

Buy options