PDHPE - Assessment task 4

Option 2: Sport and physical activity in Australian society

Anna Quillfeldt Yr 12

Essay Question:

Critically analyse the evolution of organised sport in Australia (from 1850 onwards
and its impact on Australian society as a whole. What are the relationships between
sport and physical activity and gender and sexuality?
_________________________________________

The evolution of organised sport and physical activity from the mid nineteenth
century has impacted the cultural and social aspects of Australian lifestyle. The
relationship between sport and gender or sexuality also impacted on the Australian
society.

During the second half of the nineteenth century, Australia underwent an increase in
population and therefore a vast improvement in the economy. This was due to the
effects of the discovery of gold which had taken place in that century. Along with
this, the nineteenth century brought technological advances which had an impact on
sport. For example transportation allowed people to play other sporting teams from
more distant areas including overseas countries, and the invention of the light bulb
allowed players to see and therefore play games at night. Factory machines made it
possible for sporting equipment to be mass produced, as did sewing machines for
costumes. This impacted Australian society as it made people more aware of sport,
and exposed sport further as a whole, which created the atmosphere of competition.
When Australia could compete internationally this created a sense of national pride
and patriotism. This pride for Australia lead to a new sport to be invented, Australian
Rules.
From 1850 and onwards a more contemporary approach to sport was pursued. Further
industrialisation and commercialisation helped to increase the levels of participation
in sport. It was here when the amateur status versus the professional status became
prominent. Australian society followed those amateur sportsmen over professionals as
they were of a higher class than professionals. Someone is considered of amateur
status if they are not paid or given a prize for their sport. A professional is paid for
their sport. They are considered lower class as they need the money whereas the
amateurs do not need to be paid. It was believed that a true sportsman would be an
amateur.

Australians became increasingly competitive around the turn of the centrury which
influenced the sporting stereotype of a masculine strong and courageous society.
Because of this sport was traditionally a male domain. This is that sport was played by
the men and observed by the women. Sports differentiated between which were
appropriate for men and which were appropriate for women. It was acceptable for
women to play tennis, however not rugby league. Women were far less likely to be
professional and there were few professional completions for women. Women would
receive less prize money, receive far less media coverage and advertising, they were
funded less by the government had less access to sporting facilities such as golf
courses and athletics fields. This has had an increasing impact on Australian society
as an increase in equality and feminism has become more prominent.

Sport was always considered more of a masculine pursuit. This is due to the fact that
it requires the players to be more physically fit and muscular which, physiologically,
males are, as do they have higher levels of the hormones testosterone and adrenaline,
which both play an important part in the competitive nature of sport. Traditionally a
family would have expectations of their sons to determine which sport they play. It
was expected that men should become violent which they can do if they are playing a
sport. Traditionally women were encouraged to participate in sports with minimal
exertion. They were told that women only had enough energy for regular daily
activities and for having and looking after children. This meant they did not have the
energy or physical stamina for sport. Doctors also discouraged female participation in
sport at the risk of damage to the female reproductive organs. Sport was made
difficult for women doe to the morality of fashion in this time period. Women had to
wear long dresses which restricted their movement and corsets which restricted
breathing and affected lung capacity.

Women began to significantly increase their participation in sport during the end of
the nineteenth century. Women’s cricket clubs had been founded, and participation of
females was acceptable in certain bowling clubs and other sports such as tennis and
bicycling. Women sport was also further accepted during the First World War. All
the men had been sent off to war; so many sporting competitions were cancelled. The
women created two mostly female dominant sports during the war, netball and vigoro,
both ball sports and containing features of what were previously masculine games.

During the great depression, sport was seen as a break from the harsh realities of life,
and an escape from civilisation. Sport remained very popular during the economic
crisis for this reason, organised sporting events, such as national cricket competitions
became a leading source of entertainment and leisure in Australian lifestyle. Australia
began to become more globally recognised through the achievement in international
sporting competitions, and even achievement in local competitions became more
exciting which lead to the competitive status becoming higher and much more of a
characteristic of a typical male Australian.

The effects of world war two on Australia both socially and economically lead to a
huge deterioration of sporting events and sporting interest. similarly to what occurred
in world war one, all the males who were eligible to play sport in Australia were
conscripted to war and were, as a result, unable participate in usual sporting activities.
Because this was a world wart many international competitions were cancelled. Also
the war resulted in a decline in the economy which meant that sporting events could
no longer be funded for. The women were left with the children and the house to look
after along with the worry and tension when questioning whether they were going to
loose their husbands. This mean that sport was not considered a priority or anyone
during this world war.
Shortly after the war, however, an increase in interest for sport arose, which
stimulated restarting sporting competitions for both professional players as well as
amateur players. This could be a carryover effect of the war, as sport is a continuation
of the competitive effects of war.

Australia also experienced thousands of migrants from countries all over the world
which introduced not only new sports but also a new competitive nature as the
national pride became an important characteristic of the Australian society. New
sports which were introduced when immigrants came to Australia include baseball
from America as well as martial arts, including karate and Tai Kwan Do from Japan
and tai chi from china. Soccer, which is also known as football was reintroduced
when European migrants came to Australia, as soccer is a very popular sport
throughout all of Europe and has a huge competitive base over there.

In addition to the introduction of new sporting contests the economy was growing
after the war as men began to work more and the Australian society was being re-
built. Because of this economical growth, a lot of money was invested in sport,
especially via means of advertising in sporting events and through building sporting
venues.

From 1049 up until the mid 1960s, Australia peaked in its sporting ability,
sportsmanship and general interest and passion for sport. This was known as both the
‘Menzies Era’ and also the ‘Golden era’ for Australian sport. This left an impact on
Australian society as the Australian people developed an identity of being strong
attractive sports stars, of which we are still recognised for this today. It was in this
era in which the Olympic Games were held in Australia.

In 1956, the Olympic Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria. This was the first
time in which they were held in southern hemisphere. This impacted Australian
society amazingly by reinforcing the competitive and fun nature that affected
everyone, as the Australians were able to watch, compete, gamble and cheer on their
teams. Prior to this, it was more difficult to attend the Olympic games if you were
living in Australia as the country is geographically very separate from the rest of the
world. When transport was either very slow or very expensive, athletes were less
likely to compete internationally. However by hosting the Olympic games in
Australia, it encouraged more Australian Olympians to compete.

During these Olympic Games 3184 people compete, only 371 were female. This is a
result of a lack of social acceptance which was still present in the 1950s, a
continuation from the morality of the previous era. There was, however a new even in
these games, the women’s butterfly event. This impacted on Australia, in particular
women, as they were become more socially accepted in sport. During this Olympic
games, Australia won 13 gold medals, and 35 overall, putting them in third place after
Russia and America. This is a huge improvement to the games before in Helsinki in
which Australia came 9th overall.

In 1972 the labour party came into power. The labour party invested a lot of money
into leisure and sport by improving sporting facilities and access throughout Australia.
This, however, had a negative impact on the way in which Australia approached sport,
as interest decreased in sport, and overall fitness levels of Australians decreased. To
solve this, the Victorian government underwent a campaign to improve the overall
health and fitness of Australians, and regain interest in sport. This campaign was
called ‘Life. Be in it.’ This campaign targeted both men and women, as well as
children. Along with this campaign were increases in government funding for sport
which allowed for the Australian Institute Of Sport in Canberra to be built. From here,
the success led to other branches in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane. This impacted on
the way in which society valued professionalism in sport. By now, professionalism
was respected even more than amateurism as the professionals trained harder and
were generally better at the sports than amateurs.

From the 1980s onward, further benefits in sport led to further interest, and corporate
sponsorship meant that more money was invested through advertising, which payed
for sporting players and kept sports competitions active. This advertising pays the
professional sports competitors, coaches and teams, and funds training and stadiums
which keeps sport active in Australia.

There is still an inequality between genders in sports today as a result of our past
morals, physical and physiological differences and effects of the media. The media
plays an important role in relation to the inequalities in terms of gender in sport. For
example, women still get far less coverage in newspapers and on the news in sporting
achievements and games, in comparison to men. Sponsorship has only recently been
used in women's sporting events, as a lack of media coverage mans that companies
will not get the same amount of advertising with women's events in relation to men’s,
resulting in less sponsorship for women’s teams.

The media portrays the idea of being masculine to play sports, and heterosexuality is
important in a sports personality. If a man is participating in a sport which the media
considers feminine, such as gymnastics or netball, that male may be associated with
being homosexual. This can often lead to a decrease in males in these sports.
Similarly women who play sports that involve strength such as boxing or javelin may
be presented by the media as lesbians which results in fewer women wanting to
participate in sport. Women also exclude themselves from these sports in order
maintain their ideal body type, which the the media portray as having little fat and
little muscle mass. These sports increase muscle mass and therefore get portrayed as
‘butch’ by the media. This femininity of women is a common excuse used by women
not to participate in sport, claiming they don’t want to get bulky muscles or be seen
sweaty. Some implications of women's participation in sport is that females view their
abilities differently to males, as they have less muscle mass, they see their
disadvantage as a weakness and therefore will be less likely to participate in sport.

Australia’s involvement in sport as a whole has increased dramatically since half way
through the nineteenth century. This has influenced the values in which Australians
have on sport and competition. There are discrepancies in the values of women in
sport, however female participation as a whole has increased, due to greater
acceptance in society.

Word Count: 2289