Sport - the great divide?
I wonder what the great, track-suited one, former Prime Minister John Howard, would have made of the Australian athletes' uniforms at Friday night's Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing. Green and gold, those tricky sartorial staples, were replaced by blue and silver. Was that:
a) UnAustralian.
b) Moving with the times (according to the designer, 'the new colour combination better represented modern Australia and represented the youthful spirit of our Australian team.')
Or c) Categorical proof that fashion and sport do not mix.
But I digress. At this high holy time, when so many Australians happily become members of a nationwide, sofa-based cheer squad, I'm going to set out what may seem, to outsiders at least, like a perversely counter-intuitive argument.
Here it is: that sport divides this country as much, if not more, than it unites it. It demarcates this vast and sports-loving land along geographical, social and even ethnic lines.
Let's start with rugby union. I often find myself re-telling the story of the businessman arriving in Melbourne who turned on his hotel television hoping to catch the Bledisloe Cup, the showdown between the Wallabies and the All Blacks. Instead of marvelling at the haka, he found himself watching 'Doe, ray, me,' with Julie Andrews as the pack leader, and a front row made up entirely of smiling young Austrians resplendent in leather lederhosen.
Earlier this month, thrillingly, I had a similar experience. Instead of showing the rugby from Auckland, Channel Seven in Melbourne broadcast Cool Runnings. We were treated to the hapless Jamaican bobsleigh team rather than the much-improved Wallabies, because rugby union is not seen as a ratings winner in Victoria.
Generally, rugby union is an elite sport, for which private schools provide the main nurseries of talent and where most of the top clubs are to found in the more well-heeled parts of town, like Manly, the Eastern Suburbs and Randwick. Topping the local table in Sydney right now is Sydney University, the country's oldest and arguably poshest university.
Rugby league, by contrast, is the sport of the New South Wales and Queensland proletariat - a largely blue-collar game whose fan-base is mainly blue-collar. Again, it can hardly be considered a national sport. Over 80% of its participants come from New South Wales and Queensland.
Or take Australian Rules Football, which last week celebrated its 150th anniversary. Tellingly, it was first known as Melbourne Rules, then became Victorian Rules and finally Australian Rules when it spread to the other colonies. Now, it has become the country's most-watched sport, and is busily planning to set up new teams in Sydney and Queensland. But for all its rampant expansionism, ten of its 16 professional teams are still to be found in Victoria.
Soccer is another case in point. Australia did not even have a national team until 1922, and even now it is widely viewed as a sport populated mainly by the country's European immigrants. Reflecting its multi-cultural base and make-up, the Socceroos continue to field a polyglot mix of players, with surnames like Petrovic, Sprianovic, Zadhovich, Troisi, Djite, Vargas, Sarkies and Valeria.
Admittedly, the lines are being blurred. Melbourne Storm is currently the holder of the rugby league premiership - although its average attendance remains at 11,711, which is pitiful in sports-mad Melbourne. Similarly, in both 2005 and 2005 the Aussie Rules grand final was contested between two expansion clubs, the Sydney Swans and the Perth-based West Coast Eagles. And if you illustrate graphically how the fan-bases of various winter sports intersected and overlapped, it would look a Venn diagram.
There is also, of course, a paradox - a rich one at that - because sport has long been viewed a springboard for Australian nationalism, whether it be the country's nation-binding joy at Donald Bradman sticking it to the Poms, or Australians doing disproportionately well at the Olympics.
It's also interesting that the country's swim team is a source of such fierce national pride - which perhaps augments John Pilger's oft-quoted remark about the beach being Australia's 'true democracy'. Perhaps the pool - or at least water - is, as well.
Cricket, the great summer game, is another exception.
Australian success at the Olympics will no doubt produce the usual bout of face-paint nationalism, and why not? One of the many things I love about this country is the affection reserved for the national sports teams representing it at the Olympics - whether it's the Olyroos, the Hockeyroos or the Greco-Roman-roos.
But don't be fooled by the make-up, for its camouflages a quite different reality: that Australia is also divided by its infectious love and appreciation of sport.
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~12~RS~)
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I grew up on a farm outside Burnie, Tasmania and we used to play cricket every day in our backyard during the summer. This involved neighbours etc. We made a footy field in our paddock ( aussie rules is huge in Tasmania and there should be a team ) We varied and also played soccer for our primary school ( a small, tiny school where we always played "soccer" at lunch-time and because of it went onto to win the STATE SCHOOLS COMP!!! for a school the size of 200 people in contrast to the big Hobart ones - this was a testiment to our area and love for sport. It also improved our focus in the classroom. I also played table tennis from a young age where me and my brother won the national schools championships in Adelaide year 2000. This is not an egocentric rant, but a showcase to the benefits of living in a country where sport is fundamental to growth. It helps the nation and it is why per capita we are the best sports people on this planet. ps bring back the green and gold
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Interesting you can write an article about Sport and Australia, without even mentioning the one true national sport by name.. Cricket!
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Everywhere except in NSW and Qsld it is Aussie Rules with league in those two states. Aside from little mention of cricket there was no mention of netball which is beleived to be in the top three in terms of particpation.
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Best way to encourage well-meaning parents of Asian background to allow their children to have a life beyond studying is via sport. Tongue-in-cheek, I earnestly discuss the need of professionals, especially doctors (!) to engage in small talk about sport with their patients. The parents then decide direct experience of sport may have a purpose in this country other than that of distracting their kids from their studies.
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being from Sydney
I love to watch all kinds of sport
NRL, Rugby, AFL , Cricket, Swimming, Athletics, Netball and Sailing (sydney to hobart) and the list goes on.
Most of the people I know enjoy watching a huge variety of sport.
It is a shame that Melbourne (Victoria)doesnt show the Rugby as It is such a fantastic game to watch and they also have such a great NRL team!
I think in years to come it would be great to see Victoria in the state of Origin.
Australian really do unite when it comes to the Olympics though and it is really great to see
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Summer sports unite. Winter divides.
That's right and proper.
During the cold months we are all freezing in our ill-suited homes, with ill suited clothes, drinking chilled beer and even chillier meat pies. A veritable breeding ground for divisive thoughts.
So, my astute British cultural commentator, I think you got it right when applied to 6 months of the year. The rest of the calendar is a time of peace love and unity when we all hate the poms and Indians more than each other (cricket) and want to drive a stake through the heart of any South American team that dares get in our way of soccer glory.
But seriously, with the possible exception of League versus Union (yes, I'm hoping for a One Nil result to League any time soon), the other sports largely ignore each other. Ignorance is good.
Maybe we Aussie's have found the Third Way of diplomacy. Add "ignore" to "destroy" or "co-exist" United Nations text book.
If only Palestine and Israel ignored each other.
Before all the nansy pansy's jump on me, yes I am being trite and frivolous. Some of my best friends...are Melbournians.
Nick, do you think that Association Football has divided or linked the United Kingdom?
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I'm an Australian living London (11 years). I find the British attitude to sport very refreshing indeed. Here it appears that there is a well developed approach that sees almost no rivalry between football codes especially between rugby and rugby league. In Australia this rivalry was highly destructive and would see open public spats between sports and especially the rugby codes.
In the UK they may not be as good as some Australians in certain sports but they also have a more balanced approach recognising the importance of sport but also that it should never take centre stage over other human pursuits as it does in Australia.
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Nick: I'd like to set the record straight on your quite unfair characterisation of sydney uni as 'posh' and by extension elitist, upper-class and so on. This idea has gained a remarkable amount of traction, but it's completely mythical. Usyd is fairly wealthy as a corporation, and it has old buildings, but its entry criteria are not exclusionary (or even particularly difficult to achieve in academic terms) and its student population is just as diverse and tolerant as any other group of young people in Australia. It's misleading to suggest that it's some sort of bastion of privilege.
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In Rugby League terms, Melbourne Storm, founded in 1998 as part of the then newly formed National Rugby League competition, took on Brisbane, Sydney's Manly and other NSW sides such as St. George Illawarra; comprehensively defeating Manly in last year's NRL Grand Final, and raising the questions: is Melbourne's Rugby League success sustainable and/or will it result in more Victorian Rugby League clubs, where Australian Rules is by far the dominant.
Cross-NSW-Vic-border expansion in Australian Rules has been flourishing from 1982 when the Sydney Swans, previously South Melbourne/the Swans, came into existence - "Swans" due to an unprecedented influx of West Australian players circa. 1930.
Furthermore, the Australian Rules Brisbane Lions were formed, in 1996, out a merger between the Brisbane Bears, formed in 1987, and Melbourne's Fitzroy Lions, who formed in 1883.
Still a long way to go to, say, the final five consisting of teams from five different states in either code, but significant inroads nonetheless.
Cricket's Sheffield Shield is still the main game where one sees NSW versus Victoria.
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Nick - as others have noted your analysis has a huge hole in it, that hole being cricket-sized. Cricket has no geographical or class limitations in Australia. It has in the past tended to emphasise Brits and northern Europeans among its players and most dedicated followers, but its TV figures indicate a much broader level of interest. The Twenty20 revolution is changing things however.
Some other observations: Australian Rules is not the Australian Football League, nor does vice versa apply; you've been sold a pup by the St Kilda road bigwigs. There are significant professional leagues in Adelaide, Perth and Tasmania (north and south). These, plus the smaller amateur leagues in Qld, NSW/Canberra and the Northern Territory, all play Aussie Rules. The former Melbourne league undertook aggressive expansion in the 80s and 90s, and has managed to convince many under 35s in Australia that it "runs" the game. Interstate games, once a clear proof that the game was not owned by Victorians, are now obsolete, as teams from SA and WA have entered what was once called the Victorian Football League and done well in what remains (as you say) a one city league with add-ons.
The successes of Brisbane and Sydney teams in the AFL you've noted.
However, the non-Victorian competitions survive and have even begun to win back fans disillusioned with the spin-laded, money-obsessed Melbourne league.
It's easy to overstate the non-angloceltic elements in football (the round ball game). certainly for forty-odd years after WW2 the -ich, -opoulos and Italian names filled the team sheets and the stands; but the sport TV revolution in the 1990s made the Socceroos better known, and they are now arguably the most supported national team after the cricketers.
Aussie Rules has proved far more attractive to aboriginal sportsmen than the rugbys. Or indeed cricket. Mark and Glen Ella in union are the standouts. In the Australian game, the page fills up with black legends of the game.
But to reiterate: cricket's the national sport, and it has been at least since we started to beat England!
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As a Brit living in Aus, it's great to see so many sports getting good TV coverage, support and participation - it's certainly better than wall to wall football back home where even in the off-season the main sports headline is often about some small rumour of a transfer between a Euro and English club.
This transfers well to International success for Aussie teams - mainly because the majority of domestic players seem to be Australians too.
It's also nice to see the excitement over the Olympics - and its justified given the success this country achieves. The only fly in the ointment is the TV coverage (mentioning no numbers7). We are on the whole presented with a pretty lop-sided view of the Olympics here (in between the endless sycophantic ad breaks). You might almost be fooled into thinking the country is doing even better than it is!
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
Dear MoMcCackie,
I reckon the Windies tour of 1980 (or 1981) seemed to really galvanise Australia's love of cricket. It was always there but the was definitely a lull after the war that i remember.
So, to an earlier point, in winter we are divided but with the sunshine comes harmony.
All agreed, say I.
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I love the colour of the uniforms,but the style and fabric is appalling. The 'designers' must have bought a job lot of ill dyed polyester, they are not even 'smart casual', just daggy.
Living in Adelaide it is great when the crows or port get into the grand final, the shopping mall is empty and I do my Christmas shopping!
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I have to agree with Kingfreddieharris. Whenever a rugby league player announces that he intends to join a union team, all sorts of ruckus is raised by the NRL about losing their players to union.
However, I should point out that many of the sports that have been spoken of here, as proud of them as we should be, are completely, male dominated. All the big sports in australia, Cricket, Union, League, AFL, soccer all of the big teams that get the most coverage are the men's teams. The ladies barely get a shoe in and for that I think that there IS a great divide in sport in australia. Netball is one of the biggest sports in australia, but it rarely gets mentioned and even then only as a small entry into the day's news
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Come on Australia, lighten up a bit! This is the best sporting news our nation has had since we won the Ashes in 2005. Look forward to seeing you all here in 2012 - our soap factories are already on overtime
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Per capita medals is what's important?
In that case I think Jamaica with 4 golds (population 2 million - 1/700,000 population) currently beats both the UK (1/4,600,000) and Australia (1/1,820,000).
Ok, so what about medals by GDP/capita? Well again Jamaica "wins it" with 1 gold per $1075 of GDP/C (UK: 1/$2871 and Aus: 1/$3123).
"But Jamaica's only got 4 golds", do I hear someone with a nasal twang whinging at the at the back? Well that would mean that absolute measures are important after all...
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Truangulum wrote that Nick got it wrong calling Sydney a "posh" university because by extension that means elitist etc. I have always seen posh as being an attitude. Surely it comes easier and appears more natural to the rich, but its something that an amazing number of middle class and poor do as well. And its not a bad thing.
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I'm trying to think of the best put down I can for all you Aussie sports fans. But in the end HA HA HA YOU LOSE WE WIN seems to sum up my joyous sentiments better than anything else.
Yes I am bitter about cricket.
But not about rugby :-)
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Sydney not posh? I graduated in Commerce at UNSW then Law at Sydney. No mention of my first degree in the program nor could I wear the UNSW hood. It was a while ago but Sydney has a habit of telling itself how marvellous it is.
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