Aboriginal Rules: The Black History of Australian Football

Abstract

This paper is interested in the significance of Australian football to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia. In particular, this paper is interested in the cultural power of football and how it has foregrounded the struggle and highlighted the contribution that Indigenous people have made to the national football code of Australia. This paper also discusses key moments in Indigenous football history in Australia. It questions further that a greater understanding of this contribution needs to be more fully explored from a national perspective in order to appreciate Indigenous peoples' contribution to the sport not just in elite competitions but also at a community and grass roots level.

“So we tell them”: articulating strong Black masculinities in an urban Indigenous community

“…The following exchange is also instructive: The footballer clearly has a prominent place, but as has been established in other contexts (Tonts & Atherley, 2010), what is central here is that the football match offers a site for the community to come together. Yet, as Gorman, Judd and colleagues point out, "the social and cultural life of many Indigenous Australian communities is much discussed but surprisingly under-researched" (Gorman et al, 2015(Gorman et al, , p. 1949). There is scope for scholarship that takes seriously and addresses the young Indigenous man (and the rest of the community) on the sidelines of an urban sports field, who is unable to cast himself in the footballer role, but is still interpolated in relation to the football outing as a member of the Inala community.…”

Indigenous player inclusion in the Australian Football League

“…The results identify that all clubs and the AFL have a strong community emphasis (see Table 1). It has been established in a historical context that the AFL and clubs are at the forefront for reconciliation for Indigenous participation (Gorman et al, 2015;Judd and Butcher, 2016). All organizations are active with programs across the community.…”

“…Indigenous participation in the AFL was often associated with racial abuse and on-field sledging. However, in 1993, the United Nations Year of Indigenous People, the AFL actively recognized and initiated redress towards reconciliation for Indigenous players (Gorman et al, 2015;Judd and Butcher, 2016;Philpot, 2016) While the AFL is certainly attempting to develop its persona within the Indigenous space, it has certainly not been without its detractors in its pursuit of this. Hallinan and Judd (2009) highlighted how the AFL sees its role as being beyond simply a code of football, and that it has attempted to be an agent of social change.…”

Fair Go? Indigenous Rugby League Players and the Racial Exclusion of the Australian National Anthem

“…However, this does not mean that racial discrimination is absenton or off-the-field, past or present (Cleland et al, 2019;Gorman et al, 2016). Indeed, it is important to emphasize that the widespread adulation afforded to Aboriginal sportsmen and women has, on well-known Second, there has been antagonism towards Indigenous athletes who have stood up against racism.…”