The rise of organised sport coincided with Australia's development as a nation, playing a major role in developing Australian identities. As one of Australia's major cultural practices, participation, and success in international sport became an essential element in projecting Australia on the global stage. In the late twentieth century sport became one of nation's fastest growing industries. This course explores the history of Australian sport and the development of a body of law to underpin its place and function in Australian society. Topics include sport and Australian nationalism; the rise of organised sport in Australia; development of sports governance; the intersection of sport and the law in issues of race, gender, ethnicity and religion; the debate between amateurism and professionalism; Australian sport on the global stage; doping and the law, the court of Arbitration for sport; the impact of corporate interest in Australian sport.

Main Topics

Theme 1: The Development of Australian Sporting Culture
• The Study of Australian Sport, Approaches & Theories
• Colonial sport, the rise of Australian nationalism and the development of the club system
• From Suburban Parks to National Leagues — The Development of the Football Codes from 19th Century Suburbia to 21st Century National Competitions
• Sites of Australian Sport in the Twentieth Century: The Beach, The Track, The City, The Country and a place for Women?

Theme 2: Law, Sport and Australian Society
• The Development of the Australian Sport System and a Law of Sport
• Who Owns the Game? World Series Cricket of the 1970s to The Rugby Wars of the 1980s and 1990s and related media issues
• Sponsorship and Australian Sport
• Player Management Disputes and Sport Industrial Relations
• Discrimination: Race and Australian Sport
• The Media and Bringing the Sport into Disrepute
• The International Dimension: Selection, Doping and the Court of Arbitration for Sport
• Who Owns the Game revisited — Australia's dilemma: Sport for the Public Good or Sport as Financial Behemoth (New Media, Broadcast rights and the place of public policy)

More information can be found on the Course Outline Website.