Our wicked foreign game : why has association football (Soccer) not became the main code of football in Australia?

This essay examines the role of soccer in Australian popular life, emphasizing the game's position of secondary importance to rugby or Australian Rules in different regions. It draws on international comparisons with the USA or white British colonies to argue that in a uniquely multicultural country like Australia with established sporting traditions, domestic experience of the game could shape the past, present and future of soccer in the country. Given the cultural diversity of the state, it should work towards a strategic competitive advantage for the popularization of soccer in contemporary Australia

The strength of strong ties : how women become supporters of Australian Rules Football

Two glaring omissions in the research on sports fans are on women fans and on how people become fans. In this paper we begin to address both of these issues by examining how women become fans of Australian rules football (AFL). From data generated in single-person and focus group interviews with women AFL supporters conducted in Victoria and NSW, we use their accounts to map-out four ways in which they became fans. We show that at the heart of each of these paths to fandom are the close ties that the women formed in their social networks – either as children through their kin, or later in life through others that entered their networks. Women become fans, we argue, because of the strong social ties that they have with people who are existing fans.

Leveraging fan's global football allegiances to build domestic league support

Purpose – It is not uncommon for sports fans to follow multiple sports teams across different sports and even several teams across different leagues of the same sport. Whereas this might be considered a competitive situation, the purpose of this paper is to examine how interest in overseas football (soccer) leagues played a symbiotic role in the successful development of an Australian national soccer league.

Design/methodology/approach – Results of survey data are presented from two clubs in Australia’s newly formed A-League. Three surveys were conducted over a two year period with over 3,700 season ticket holders. Specific attention is paid to fans’ previous interest and exposure to football, which is then related to attitudes and behaviour associated with the new clubs.

Findings – Interest in overseas clubs and leagues is found to be a major antecedent of interest in the Australian league. Those who follow teams in overseas leagues are more likely to be heavy consumers of the new local league than those who follow local leagues or had no prior experience. They also exhibit stronger attitudinal and behavioural loyalty, such as higher attendance and renewal rates of season tickets.

Practical implications – Recognising fan interest in multiple teams/leagues as positive involves a shift in management thinking away from a competitive to a collaborative stance. In this case, rapid adoption of new teams is encouraged by capitalising on strong interest in overseas leagues. This requires careful structuring and branding of the competition that mimicks familiar foreign leagues, while minimising unfavourable comparisons in areas like quality of play.

Originality/value – This study capitalises on the rare opportunity to examine foundation teams in a new national league. The findings highlight the importance and value of taking a ‘‘global’’ perspective to the marketing of sports, and of carefully leveraging the interest in other elite competitions to build interest in new leagues.

Descriptive epidemiology of Australian football injuries presenting to sports medicine clinics

Sports injury prevention has been the focus of a number of recent public health initiatives due to the acknowledgement that sports injuries are a significant public health problem in Australia Whilst Australian football is one of the most popular participation sports in the country, only very limited data is available about football injuries The majority of sports injury data available for this sport is from hospital emergency departments and elite-level injury surveillance Overall there is a paucity of data from treatment settings other than hospitals In particular, there is a lack of information about the injuries sustained by community-level, junior and recreational Australian football participants. One good potential source of football injury data is sports medicine clinics. Analysis of injury presentations to sports medicine clinics was undertaken to provide a detailed description of the epidemiology of Australian football injuries that present to this treatment setting and to determine the implications for injury prevention in this sport. In addition, the data from sports medicine clinics was compared with existing sources of Australian football injury data to determine how representative sports medicine clinic data is of other football injury data sources and to provide recommendations for future injury surveillance n Australian football. The results contained in this thesis show that Australian football is the sport most associated with injury presentation at sports medicine clinics. The majority of injured Australian football players presenting to sports medicine clinics are community-level or junior participants which suggests that sports medicine clinics are a good source of information on the injuries sustained by sub-elite football participants. Competition is the most common context in which Australian football players presenting to sports medicine clinics are injured. The major causes of injuries to Australian football players are being struck by another player, collisions and overuse. Injuries to Australian football players predominantly involve the lower limb. Adult players, players who stopped participating immediately after noticing their injury and players with overuse injuries are the most likely to sustain a more severe injury (i.e. more than four weeks before a full return to football participation and a moderate/significant amount of treatment expected). The least experienced players (five or less years of participation) are more likely to require a significant amount of treatment than the more experienced players. The prevention of lower limb injuries, injuries caused by body contact and injuries caused by overuse should be a priority for injury prevention research in Australian football due to the predominance of these injury types in the pattern of Australian football injuries Additionally, adult players, as a group, should be a focus of injury prevention activities in Australian football due to the association between age and injury severity. Overall, the pattern of Australian football injuries presenting to sports medicine clinics appears to be different than reported by club-based and hospital emergency department injury surveillance activities. However, detailed comparison of sports medicine clinic Australian football data with other sources of Australian football injury data is difficult due to the variable methods of collecting and reporting injury information used by hospital emergency department and club-based injury surveillance activities. The development of a standardised method for collecting and reporting injury data in Australian football is strongly recommended to overcome the existing limitations of data collection in this sport. In summary, sports medicine clinics provide a rich source of Australian football injury data, especially from the community and junior levels of participation. The inclusion of sports medicine clinic data provides a broader epidemiological picture of Australian football injuries. This broader understanding of the pattern of Australian football injuries provides a better basis for the development of injury prevention measures in this sport.

Profiling the sport consumption attitudes and behaviours of fantasy football players

Most sporting codes encourage participation in Fantasy Sport (FS), despite few making direct revenue from it. There is a lack of empirical evidence whether this is good practice, for although FS can increase involvement and education, it may also compete with other forms of sport consumption for consumers limited resources. This study begins to address whether FS competes with or  complements sport consumption by comparing FS players with nonplayers. Data was collected from surveys (n=182) of AFL fans, with findings indicating FS players had higher tested measures of attitudes (e.g., team identification, commitment) and behaviours (e.g., game attendance, television viewing) related  to the sport. What remains to be determined is causality, and suggestions on how to examine this are given.

Women as consumers of a male domain : Australian Rules Football and its female fans

Looked at from a global perspective, sports are mostly male preserves. Those played by women seldom attract a large spectatorship and the numerous at-ground viewers of men’s play mostly are men. An exception is Australian Rules Football (AFL), a male sport that since the 19th century has drawn a considerable female following, with women accounting for about half of the ‘live’ crowds. From single-person and focus group interviews conducted with female AFL fans, we examine how women voice their support for a sport characterised by hyper-masculinity in players’ on-field and off-field behaviours, in the organisation and control of the sport, and in the ‘natural’ authority credited to men’s voices in commentary and interpretation of it. Given their marginalisation in AFL and in sports generally, what do women fans gain from their avid support of AFL and how does this influence the construction of their identities as women? We examine these issues from a perspective supporting the idea of multiple, fragmented identities.

The future of football is female : a case of fan-tastic imaginings?

Consistent with FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s proclamation that the future of football is female, the Australian Football League (AFL) has instituted a range of initiatives in an attempt to present a ‘female friendly’ face and garner women’s support for the national game. Given the large number of women who follow the AFL, especially in comparison to other football codes nationally, it’s worth considering the motivations behind the AFL’s tactics. To what extent does what the AFL think women want correlate with women supporters’ experiences and realities of being a football fan? This paper presents findings from semi-structured and focus group interviews with female AFL fans to gauge their perceptions of being an Australian rules football supporter and its impact on their lived experiences and sense of self. The responses of women supporters are critically assessed in order to contemplate how women negotiate gender identity through their support of a male dominated sport. As well as offering insights into the role gender plays in leisure pursuits such as sport spectatorship, this paper considers how femininity and masculinity might be contested and/or remade through the practice of following football in the Australian context. By demonstrating the range and diversity of women’s experiences, this research has the capacity to generate alternative imaginings of fanship and sporting community beyond gender stereotypes.

Eleven seasons : a creative writing journey through modern Australian football

This thesis offers a novel, 'Eleven seasons', that traces the physical and emotional journey of a young male footballer through the mid-1980s and mid-1990s. It also offers a comparative review of creative writing about Australian football, and a critical analysis of the book's creative gestation from idea to completed text.

Comparative study of preferred coaching behaviours in Australian football, netball and basketball

Investigated the preferred coaching behaviours of 317 athletes from three distinct Australian sporting contexts (single-gender male, single-gender female, dual gender) and discussed the significance of the findings in relation to the Multidimensional Model of Leadership. The athletes preferred positive feedback, training and instruction and democratic behaviour.