Indigenous player inclusion in the Australian Football League

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to audit the efforts made around the support of Indigenous players within the Australian Football League (AFL). Design/Methodology/Approach: Content analysis of the publically available information on websites of organizations associated with the AFL was undertaken to identify the extent of programs and policies around Indigenous representation, inclusion, and development. Findings: The AFL, as an organization, has a high percentage of Indigenous players (employees) in comparison to the wider Australian workforce representation. Largely, Indigenous representation within the AFL is merit based, prioritized on an individual's ability to play football at an elite level. The website audit identified a number of inconsistencies in the public personas portrayed by the AFL and organizations aligned to it such as the AFL Players Association (AFLPA) and clubs. The findings raise a number of questions for future research. Research limitations/implications: The main limitation is that the website audit represents a very small insight into the current situation and does not provide a depth of analysis into the circumstances around Indigenous inclusion within the AFL. The audit also is very focused on one sporting organization which may or may not be representative of the sport industry. Originality/value: The research introduces a number of questions for future discovery.

Discrimination by avoidance: The underrepresentation of Indigenous Australians in leadership positions within the Australian Football League

“…It is therefore puzzling that there are so few Indigenous coaches and leaders. For instance, only 3 out of 150 coaches identify as Indigenous, alongside one board member in the 18 AFL clubs and one in an executive role (Atkinson and Lawson, 2020; Ferrer and Turner, 2017; Gaskin, 2019). Therefore, it is essential to examine whether sporting organisations aim to create a diverse and inclusive climate for all their employees, especially in their post-playing careers.…”

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

“…A very important example of this hybridity and dualism can be found in professional sport, where Indigenous athletes rose spectacularly to be household names in rugby union, rugby league and Australian Rules football during the late twentieth century. In both rugby league and Australian Rules they are now over-represented statistically by comparison to their total population across Australiawith around 10% of contracted players being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (Ferrer & Turner, 2017). 4 The involvement of First Nations' athletes in these codes is celebrated by a dedicated Indigenous Round of matches every season, and more recently by a special pre-season rugby league match featuring the 'Indigenous All Stars' against either the (non-Indigenous) 'NRL All Stars' or the (Indigenous New Zealand) 'Māori All Stars' (Philpott, 2017).…”