Football history off the field: Utilising archived accounting reports to challenge “myths” about the history of an Australian football club

Halabi, Abdel K.; Frost, Lionel; Lightbody, Margaret

doi:10.1177/1032373211424573

Cited by 12 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In considering the direction of future research, this study, in exploring professionalization, professionalism and amateurism in sport, is subject to limitations, as it focuses on only one region in New Zealand and one sport, rugby. It also draws on financial statements which, as noted by Halabi et al (2012), may not be appropriately transparent.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In such environments, spectators/fans also reinforce sport's embrace of commercialism, and drive to commercialization, through purchasing stadium memberships, season and match tickets, sport-and team-related merchandise (Andreff & Staudohar, 2000;Halabi, Frost, & Lightbody, 2012;Owen & Weatherston, 2004;Pinnuck & Potter, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These funding streams and fan-base not only provide a platform for, and facilitate, the professionalization of athlete and performance development systems through improved training facilities, medical services, and personal development guidance, but also underpin athletes' commitment to professionalism. Given this 'virtuous cycle', it is unsurprising that there is an increasing focus on sustainable commercial revenues, professional teams' financial viability, and the impact of on-field performance on finances (Andreff, 2007;Halabi et al, 2012;O'Brien & Slack, 2003;Owen & Weatherston, 2004;Pinnuck & Potter, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Professionalism versus amateurism in grass-roots sport: Associated funding needs

Cordery

Davies

2015

Accounting History

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Considerations of professionalization within sport are typically limited to the commercialization processes that generate the funding regimes and impact the expenditure patterns of professional sports teams. By contrast, using historical data, this paper analyses how professionalism and the professionalization of elite rugby has impacted the amateur game, in general, and challenged the core values of amateurism and the associated funding needed for the amateur/grass-roots game, in particular. It compares funding and expenditure patterns in amateur sports clubs for a particular sport-rugby football union, aka rugby. This paper utilizes a case study analysis of amateur clubs in the Wellington Rugby Football Union, a provincial union of the New Zealand Rugby Union. It finds that professionalism is exhibited in the amateur game both as a top-down phenomenon and a bottom-up phenomenon as new actors have entered the institutional field. The study also notes that whilst such changes were gradual, the costs of these changes are now outpacing clubs' ability to fund them.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Professionalism versus amateurism in grass-roots sport: Associated funding needs

Cordery

Davies

2015

Accounting History

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Digitization has expanded the research possibilities, particularly in historical social issues (Ayres, 2013). While much of the SR and reporting by organisations are today contained in annual reports, these are absent for the timeperiod of the current study (see Halabi et al, 2012). Instead, this paper focuses on the newspaper narratives of Annual General Meetings (AGMs) to obtain a yearly summary of the non-financial information and SR related activities.…”

Section: Insert Figure 1 Herementioning

confidence: 99%

Social responsibility by Australian football clubs in the 1890s

Halabi

2019

JMH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose This paper aims to examine the social responsibility (SR) by Australian football clubs during the late nineteenth century. While there has been some contemporary research linking SR with sporting clubs, there is a dearth of such studies in the historical context. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses a qualitative approach and in the absence of annual reports, relies on The Suburban newspaper narratives of club annual general meetings (AGMs). The National Library of Australia’s newspaper digitisation programme was used which is a unique archive in management research. Findings Even though it was well-known that football provided a social outlet for watching games, this paper found clubs also engaged in a number of SR-related activities that benefited many stakeholders and the surrounding communities. Originality/value Deficient in much of the history of Australian football is the SR that clubs displayed to their stakeholders. This paper lengthens the historical SR literature for sporting clubs, and provides rich and detailed evidence of SR. While Australian football club histories continue to highlight winning teams, premierships and major personalities, their SR contribution is also significant and extends to the foundation of the game.

show abstract

“…The direct payment of players from club funds is acknowledged in many histories of Australian Football, but the nature and extent of such practices have not been examined systematically. Halabi et al, (2012) examined the claim that clubs were directly remunerating players out of club funds prior to 1911, through a case study of Carlton's accounting reports.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Legitimizing amateur status using financial reports: Victorian Football League clubs, 1909–1912

et al. 2015

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

It is generally accepted by historians that in the early twentieth century, clubs in Australian Football's Victorian Football League (VFL) made payments to 'amateur' players prior to the legalization of professionalism and that such payments were not disclosed in club financial reports. Previously, financial reports have not been used to support or refute such claims. This paper presents findings from a detailed examination of the financial reports and other records of six of the 10 VFL clubs for the years surrounding the legalization of professional football in 1911 (1909-1912). Prior to 1911, most clubs engaged in fraudulent financial reporting practices by misrepresenting player payments as other forms of permitted expenditures, thus concealing prohibited remunerative payments to players within their financial reports. Using isomorphic influences to explain the reasons for this misrepresentation, we conclude that the financial reports were used to legitimate the majority of clubs as amateur organizations. Competing isomorphic pressures, particularly conflicting coercive factors related to the VFL's prohibition on player payments and normative pressures associated with increasing professionalism amongst players, contributed to clubs engaging in fraudulent financial reporting.

show abstract

Football history off the field: Utilising archived accounting reports to challenge “myths” about the history of an Australian football club

Cited by 12 publications

References 19 publications

Professionalism versus amateurism in grass-roots sport: Associated funding needs

Professionalism versus amateurism in grass-roots sport: Associated funding needs

Social responsibility by Australian football clubs in the 1890s

Legitimizing amateur status using financial reports: Victorian Football League clubs, 1909–1912

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About