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Racism In Australian Football League

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Racism in Australian Football League

Matt O’Malley

(Question) Evaluate the place of racism in the AFL and its ongoing impact?

Thesis statement

Racism is buried into Australian culture and is ever present in the Australian football league (AFL) it has not only impacted and changed the game yet also changed the culture and attitudes towards players and racism as a whole in Australian society towards indigenous Australians and other minorities.

Introduction

Racism in sport and the greater society has a dark past in Australian history and racism has and will be in the foreseeable future be cemented in sport and till current date racism is ever present in many Australian sporting codes, and because of this it has not only changed the way …show more content…

That we leave unanswered, although Australian sport remains one of the only avenues for indigenous athletes to speak out about their hardships and experiences.

Australia as a nation itself has had a sad history of universal discrimination towards those of a minority. The discrimination is embedded with a national legislation up to the 1970s when the racial discrimination act was established and was embodied by the white Australia policy.

My main focus point into the link between racism and sport is through key events and players that made a significant change or difference. A well-known indigenous sportsman by the name of Adam Goodes is a good figure to look to as he has had a successful career in AFL for his rare talent and his strong views on aboriginal issues around …show more content…

It is when players refuse to accept such abuse and take a stand against it that the issue becomes emphasised and the players are critisied.

In all this we look to politics at the time and the correlation between the too, AFL became the first major Australian sporting code to outlaw, yes ban on field racial sledging in 1955 which made national headline. Although there is still to this day and the foreseeable future continues to have shameful incidents of racial abuse by fans towards aboriginal AFL players. The booing and abuse received suggests that the abuse may have become so widespread across all codes that it is out of hand.

As I previously touched on in 1993 AFL player Nicky Winmar stood infront of opposition spectators who had been hurling racist abuse at him. In this moment, he lifted his jersey and pointed to his dark skin, shouting “I’m black and I’m proud to be black”

Up to that point in time aboriginal AFL players had endured racial abuse on the field from spectators and other players widespread. Winmars and many alike stand to capture an iconic moment in history that symbolised for them the start of a new

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