Explain Why Sport Holds Such a Revered Position in Australian Culture

Explain Why Sport Holds Such a Revered Position in Australian Culture

  • Submitted By: mikie
  • Date Submitted: 08/12/2008 11:23 PM
  • Category: Miscellaneous
  • Words: 1860
  • Page: 8
  • Views: 2

Sport is the preferred pastime for many Australians and is a central figure in Australian pop culture. Australians have a passion for participating in, have an appetite for watching sport and crave the competition of sport. Although Australia cannot challenge the world superpowers politically it takes great pride in competing against them in sport. To understand why sport holds this high position in Australian culture we have to look at four main points, which are all factors that lead to sport holding such a high position in Australian culture; the role that the migrants played in bringing sport to Australia including the early settlers, the role of the media in bringing sport to the greater public and creating a wider audience for sport, the success that Australia has had in sport which raises the popularity of sport and finally the role that the Olympic Games has played in whetting the appetite for sport in Australia.

Before we can look at the main reasons why sport holds such a revered position in Australian culture we have to look at the historical background of sport in Australia and how it has evolved. Early forms of sport, such as cricket, horse racing and boxing and gambling on these sports was brought out by the British convicts in the late 18th century (Vamplew, 1999). Convicts and settlers worked very hard and sport or gambling provided an outlet (Adair & Vamplew 1997). These early settlers used sport as an escape from the drudgery of their everyday lives. These first settlers still felt that England was their home but the next generation of white Australians saw their colonies s home (Bloomfield, 2003).

This lead to a great rivalry with the “Mother Country” and later beating Britain was seen to be a sign of colonial independence (Vamplew, 1994). This early success in sport meant that Australia gained respect socially (Stoddart, 1986). This also led to Australia gaining self confidence and Australians gaining pride in their nation (Bloomfield,...

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