Factors Influencing participation

• She can play, Jeremy Story Carter, ABC, (10 May 2024). In the shadow of Uluru, an unprecedented football carnival was quietly held for young First Nations women from remote communities. More than sport was at play.
• ‘Someone else like me’: Athlete and coach Jacara Egan is decolonising space for Aboriginal women in sport, Brianna Boecker, Women's Agenda, (21 February 2024). While in university, Jacara Egan was dominating as a softball player. A Muthi Muthi/ Gunditjmara woman, she represented South Australia in both the U16 and U19 teams as well as won a U19 National Championship. It was around this time that Egan recalls a distinct moment when she became especially aware of her status as “the only Aboriginal woman” on her sports team.
• You can’t be what you can’t see: the benefits for and the pressures on First Nations sportswomen, Michelle O'Shea, Hazel Maxwell, Robyn Newitt. Sonya Joy Pearce, The Conversation, (11 August 2022). A record number of female Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander athletes represented Australia at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. While embracing their role model status, it is worth considering the weighty expectations and costs that accompany this visibility. On top of the pressures of representing Australia at the elite level, First Nations sportspeople also have to contend with the politicisation that still surrounds their very identity.
• Sisterhood in their stride, Teisha Cloos, National Indigenous Times, (22 October 2021). Yok Djakoorliny is a women’s running group that aims to support both Indigenous and non-Indigenous women through fitness. Yok Djakoorliny is a Noongar name for the group, with Yok meaning woman and Djakoorliny meaning running. Ms Curtis also highlighted the importance of having an Aboriginal women leadership because “for a long time, we were the minority” and now we get that control and power to have our own group.
• Sport and sistahood: Garnduwa Aboriginal Corporation empowers women through sport, Teisha Cloos, National Indigenous Times, (2 September 2021). Garnduwa Amboorny Wirnan Aboriginal Corporation hosted the Making Her Mark Tjurabalan Women’s Football Carnival in Balgo, Western Australia, which empowers women and girls through football and health education. The event brought women and girls from Balgo, Mulan and Billiluna together to engage in community workshops, football drills, and skills and capacity building workshops. Garnduwa says the aim of the program is to create a safe space to yarn and listen to Aboriginal women in community and understand perceived and real barriers to participating in sport.
• Sport can be an important part of Aboriginal culture for women – but many barriers remain, Michelle O'Shea, Hazel Maxwell, Megan Stronach, Sonya Pearce, The Conversation, (23 January 2020). Regular exercise is important for Indigenous women’s health, as it protects against obesity and chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. These conditions are more prevalent among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than non-Indigenous people. Women’s physical activity benefits whole communities. Active mothers and aunts are important role models for their children and peers; while women’s involvement as sport leaders, coaches and participants can empower Indigenous girls to participate in sports at community to elite levels. In 2012, only 23.3% of Indigenous women played sport, walked for fitness or leisure, or were physically active in the previous 12 months. Key barriers identified included: Racism or vilification based on skin colour; for women living in remote Indigenous communities, transport costs and logistics significantly impacted their participation in organised sport. The costs of registering for a sporting team, for example, and having to purchase a team uniform meant they were unable to compete. Ongoing effects of colonisation have resulted in some women rejecting calls for them to become involved in “westernised” sport, instead preferring activities that are more culturally acceptable, such as music and crafts. Our research also found that some Aboriginal people viewed time spent participating in sport and physical activity as “selfish” because it took them away from their family care commitments and responsibilities. Facilitators included: fun runs, carnivals and community competitions. Indigenous-women-only classes and activities offered by local Indigenous organisations. Programs and interventions foisted on Indigenous women are unlikely to benefit them as individuals or their communities. Instead, healthy and active sisters and aunties are powerful role models.
• Women in remote Aboriginal region striving to be AFL stars as footy brings community together. Emily Jane Smith, ABC Kimberley, (14 September 2017). The West Kimberley Football League is a 25-year-old institution. Until this year, women never had their own competition. Traditionally, their place has been on the sidelines, supporting their brothers, fathers, and partners. But that is all changing. Since the rise of the Australian Football League Women's, young players are dreaming of becoming national football stars.

• Black Diamonds Report, Glass Jar, (April 2022). The first of its kind, the Black Diamonds Project reviews the netball service delivery to ensure that the policies and systems of netball in Western Australia are transformed to better facilitate the engagement and retention of Aboriginal people to the sport of netball. The dominant method of data collection was Yarning Circles, a uniquely Aboriginal methodology, with four stakeholder groups, across two phases. Top motivators: My friends, team, or club support and motivate me; Coaches support and motivate me; I like competing, I am talented; Netball is fun, I feel good when I play, I love the game. Top barriers: Discrimination and racism; Lack of support and understanding; Cliques, purple circles and politics; Communication. Potential solutions for various categories were identified and ranked.

• ‘You can’t be what you can’t see’: Indigenous Australian sportswomen as powerful role models, Megan Stronach, Michelle O’Shea, Hazel Maxwell, Sport in Society, Volume 26(6), pp.970-984, (2023). It is generally agreed that sporting role models (SRM) can inspire behaviour and attitude. This paper explores the influence of three contemporary Indigenous Australian sportswomen, and in doing so, their role as SRMs for women and girls. By applying and extending Marianne Meier’s (2015) theoretical lens, the actions, voices and influences of the women are considered. Meier recognizes and describes nine functions of SRMs. The voices of the Indigenous female athletes are portrayed through a media analysis including the athletes’ own social media commentary alongside mainstream media over a four-year period from 2017 to 2021. Examining the Indigenous sportswomen’s SRM status enables a layered and deeper understanding of the unique platform provided by sport, which can serve to strengthen their voices and influence. Indigenous Australian sportswomen are constructed in complex and sometimes contradictory ways, at times portrayed as advocates, deviants, sporting ambassadors, and political activists.
• Exploring the voices of health promotion stakeholders concerning the implementation of physical activity programs for the social and emotional wellbeing of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls, Madeleine English, Lee Wallace, Cristina Caperchione, et al., Sport in Society, (1 September 2022). Physical activity and sport programs have been promoted as a strength-based way to enhance social and emotional wellbeing in young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. However, there is limited evidence that describes how these programs may be tailored for girls. A need for culturally safe, youth-friendly services was emphasized, where physical activity and sport may play an influential role. Program development recommendations included focussing upon health literacy, utilizing co-design and creating culturally secure, fun environments.
• Barriers and facilitators of sport and physical activity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adolescents: a mixed studies systematic review, Tamara May, Amanda Dudley, James Charles, et al., BMC Public Health, Volume 20, Article no.601, (2020). This study was focused on a comprehensive identification of barriers and facilitators at each level of the social-ecological model. From this process, gender and geographic location emerged as areas in which individual engagement with PA and sport was highly influenced by environmental, community, and policy factors. At the individual level, the most commonly reported barriers related to shyness/ embarrassment, self-perception of not being good enough as well as lack of motivation and time. Barriers to participation in PA identified in relation to girls and young women show how the complex interactions of interpersonal and cultural factors, associated with gender can be strongly determining the personal behaviour of individuals. At the interpersonal level having family and friends who were active was one of the most commonly reported facilitators; and if they were inactive this was a barrier. This highlights the importance of participation in sport/PA for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults, in that they act as role models for children. For some young people their perceived lack of ability or the experience of losing in a sporting competition were deterrents to participation in and enjoyment of PA and sport. For the five studies conducted in regional and remote areas, barriers to participation in PA were particularly evident at community and environmental levels. These included lack of access to sporting facilities, organised PA and sport programs and transport to and from venues. Living in a ‘hot and sweaty’ climate and restrictions to travel in the wet season were also deterrents to participation in PA for young people from some communities in the Torres Strait Islands and the Cape York Peninsula. However, in the regional city of Geraldton (WA) the opportunity to engage in PA in natural environments such as parks, beaches and bush tracks was an important facilitator. Taken together, programs which offer sporting participation options for all family members (children, adolescents and adults), which appeal to males and females, are accessible through existing transport and related infrastructure, and are committed to communities through formal partnerships are needed. There are unique barriers in remote areas including, lack of programs in the local language, the transient nature of teachers, climate factors and a lack of (ongoing) sporting programs which will need targeted approaches to overcome. Overall, the health benefits of sport as well as its ability to provide future opportunities for young people are also a key facilitator. Public health campaigns broadening these messages to cover both physical and mental health could increase participation in sport and thus derive improved health outcomes.
• 'Developing sport for indigenous women and girls', Megan Stronach and Hazel Maxwell, Chapter 9 in Developing Sport for Women and Girls, Routledge, (2020). This chapter explores the distinctive experience that Indigenous women in Australia and Canada have with sport. It presents an exploration of the barriers and obstacles facing Indigenous women and girls when they wish to participate in sport, as well as a discussion of motivations of these women for participation in sporting activities. Some strategies currently employed by government, not for profit, health and sporting organisations to overcome negative or exclusionary issues that Indigenous women may otherwise experience are detailed. The overarching position adopted by the authors throughout is that Indigenous women deserve support to be able to change their current situations as they see fit, thereby taking control of their own health and wellbeing through sport and physical activity.
• Indigenous Australian women promoting health through sport, Megan Stronach, Hazel Maxwell, Sonya Pearce, Sport Management Review, Volume 22(1), pp.5-20, (2019). Drawing from an agency/empowerment theoretical framework, the authors posit that, given support and opportunities, Indigenous women can become empowered to improve their mental and physical health through participation in sport. Sport managers can facilitate Indigenous women's agency in the effects of colonisation, which continues to be the basis of health issues for this cohort. Listening to Indigenous women and facilitating opportunities for them to take control of their own participation can help facilitate this process. Indigenous-women's only opportunities, partnerships with health agencies and sports organisations, culturally safe spaces and Indigenous women acting as role models are some factors that may augment Indigenous women's agency, and thus empowerment. Government, sports, community organisations and health agencies which provide these conditions in their program design can help to overcome entrenched social, historical and health inequalities that Indigenous women may experience.
• ‘It’s more than just performing well in your sport. It’s also about being healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually’: Indigenous women athletes’ meanings and experiences of flourishing in sport, Leah Ferguson, Gillian Epp, Kellie Wuttunee, et al., Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, Volume 11(1), pp.1-19, (2019). The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of flourishing in sport for Indigenous women athletes. Two Indigenous community sport advisors were instrumentally involved throughout the study. Sixteen Indigenous women athletes (M age = 21.5 years; 10 First Nations, 6 Métis) from urban, rural and remote communities in a mid-Western Canadian province participated in sharing circles and symbol-based reflection to share their meanings and experiences of flourishing in sport. A four-step phenomenological structural analysis was used to analyse transcribed data. Four essential components and one facilitating component emerged as the general structure of flourishing in sport: (1) Multidimensional Community Support (having support from and for one’s family, home and sporting community); (2) Personal Accomplishments (setting and attaining individually tailored goals); (3) Persistent Growth (constant self-betterment); (4) Wholistic Athletic Excellence (excelling as a whole; physically, intellectually, spiritually and emotionally); and, (5) Humble Recognition (being acknowledged; a facilitating component). Nurturing Indigenous women athletes’ flourishing in sport requires athlete-specific attention and collaborative community engagement.
• Indigenous Australians Perceptions’ of Physical Activity: A Qualitative Systematic Review, Emma Dahlberg, Sandra Hamilton, Fatuma Hamid, et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 15(7), (2018). Four major themes emerged: family and community, culture and environment, sport, and gender differences. Men highlighted sport and going on walkabout as preferred types of physical activity while women preferred family-focused activities and activities and support for women's sport. Several studies found exercise was supported when in the context of family and community but was considered shameful when done only for oneself. Sport was regarded as playing an influential role in bringing communities together. Group, community, or family activities were desired forms of physical activity with the environment they are conducted in of high importance.
• Physical activity among indigenous Australian children and youth in remote and non-remote areas, John Robert Evans, Rachel Wilson, Clare Coleman, Wing Young Nicola Man, et al., Social Science and Medicine, Volume 206, pp.93-99, (2018). This study examined levels of PA in the Australian Bureau of Statistics Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey 2012-13. It also examined the relationship between PA and participation in education and self-reported health among 15–17-year-olds. Overall, participation rates appear to be high, with 64–84% of youth reporting at least 60 min of PA on the previous day. A gender gap was evident, with lower levels of activity among girls. PA decreased with age, particularly at or around the age of puberty. There were no significant associations between PA and either self-reported health or engagement in study. There was a relationship between high PA and low area-level socio-economic status in remote areas, but no association in non-remote areas.
• Correlates of physical activity among Australian Indigenous and non‐Indigenous adolescents, Rona Macniven, Shane Hearn, Anne Grunseit, et al., Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Volume 41(2), pp.187-192, (2017). Physical activity levels in Indigenous and non‐Indigenous adolescents in the out‐of‐school setting were similarly low in this large disadvantaged adolescent sample. Indigenous girls, those from fragmented families, or those feeling disengaged from their community had particularly low activity levels. Consistent with previous research, male gender and sports team membership were associated with higher levels of physical activity in this sample, as well as maternal employment and community involvement which are less well established correlates. However, it is evident that the relative importance of some factors and their association with physical activity may differ between Indigenous (gender, maternal employment, confidence) and non‐Indigenous (sports team membership, community involvement) adolescents. Importantly, our data found a stronger gender difference in the Indigenous sample compared to the non‐Indigenous participants. This may be due in part to cultural factors relating to gender in Indigenous communities, which may require culture‐specific solutions such as initiatives targeted to Indigenous girls. We found sports team membership was associated with higher levels of physical activity in both the total and the stratified non‐Indigenous sample, but not among the Indigenous respondents. The lack of association found in this Indigenous sample may reflect cultural preferences towards unstructured physical activity such as Caring for Country programs. Higher levels of feeling confident were found to be associated with higher physical activity among the Indigenous participants only.
• The facilitators and barriers of physical activity among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander regional sport participants, Claudie Péloquin, Thomas Doering, Stephanie Alley, et al., Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Volume 41(5), pp.474-479, (2017). Participants were 12 Indigenous Australian adults, and 12 non‐Indigenous Australian adults matched on age, sex, and basketball division. Most participants reported engaging in regular exercise; however, the Indigenous group reported more barriers to PA. These factors included cost, time management and environmental constraints. The physical facilitators identified by our Indigenous sample included social support, intrinsic motivation and role modelling. This study is the first to compare the perspective of Indigenous Australians to a matched group of non‐Indigenous Australians and provides useful knowledge to develop public health programs based on culturally sensitive data.
• Indigenous Australian women and sport: findings and recommendations from a parliamentary inquiry, Hazel Maxwell, Megan Stronach, Daryl Adair, et al., Sport in Society, Volume 20(11), pp.1500-1529, (2017). Researchers have consistently pointed to positive links between sport, physical activity, health and wellbeing amongst marginalized population groups. This paper concentrates on a group about which little is presently known in terms of these links – Indigenous women in Australia. The catalyst for this focus is twofold: demographic data that, while sparse, suggests that this group has very low levels of participation in sport and associated physical activity; and second, a recent parliamentary inquiry into Indigenous sport in which the participation of women featured in several submissions. Both data sets confirm that Indigenous women are significantly underrepresented in the Australian sporting landscape. There is no systematic knowledge about why this is so. The present study contributes to that small body of literature by considering (a) evidence about participation rates of Indigenous women in sport; and (b) the aspirations of sport organizations to attract Indigenous women into their programs.
• Sistas’ and Aunties: sport, physical activity, and Indigenous Australian women. Stronach, Megan, Maxwell, Hazel, Taylor, Tracy, Annals of Leisure Research, Volume 19(1), pp.7-26, (2016). Indigenous women have alarmingly low rates of participation in organized sport and physical activity (PA) in contemporary Australian society. To gain a better contextual and cultural understanding of the issues involved, we discussed the life experiences and the place of sport and PA with 22 Indigenous women. A complex amalgamation of cultural beliefs and traditions, history, gendered factors, and geography are presented in the women's stories. Sport and PA were highly regarded, providing the women with opportunities to maintain strong communities, preserve culture, and develop distinct identities as ‘enablers’. The women called for culturally safe spaces in which to engage in PA and noted the need for Indigenous females to act as role models.
• Factors influencing attendance in a structured physical activity program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in an urban setting: a mixed methods process evaluation, Karla J Canuto, Belinda Spagnoletti, Robyn McDermott, et al., International Journal for Equity in Health, Volume 12, Article 11, (2013). The aim of this study was to identify participants’ perceived barriers and enablers to attend group exercise classes as part of a 12-week fitness program. Analyses of the post-program interviews revealed that participants enrolled in the program primarily for the perceived health benefits and all (with one exception) found the program met their needs and expectations. The atmosphere of classes was positive and comfortable and they reported developing good relationships with their fellow participants and program staff. Low attendees described more barriers to attendance, such as illness and competing work and family obligations, and were more likely to report logistical issues, such as inconvenient venue or class times.

• Winyarr Ganbina - Women Arise, Victoria University, Outback Academy Australia, Paralympics Australia, (2022). For the first time in Australia, Victoria University in partnership with Outback Academy Australia and Paralympics Australia have recorded the experiences of Indigenous women with a disability who play sport. Provides insight and resources for sport organisations to improve access to sport for people with disability, in particular people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island backgrounds.
  • Checklist for an inclusive community sports organisation, Outback Academy Australia – Red Dust Heelers, (2022). A range of actions that sport organisations can implement to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for Indigenous people with a disability, as players and leaders in sport.

• How Sydney Roosters star Connor Watson is helping lead the fight against Indigenous youth suicide, Nick Campton, ABC, (18 May 2023). Watson's 'Boots for a Brighter Future' program will form part of the NRL's Indigenous Round for the sixth straight year with some of rugby league's biggest names to don boots decorated with Indigenous artwork by 43 youths across New South Wales and Queensland. 'Boots for a Brighter Future' is just one of a number of initiatives run by the Cultural Choice Association, an organisation run by Watson and his family with the goal of raising awareness and support around Indigenous youth suicide.
• You can’t be what you can’t see: the benefits for and the pressures on First Nations sportswomen, Michelle O'Shea, Hazel Maxwell, Robyn Newitt. Sonya Joy Pearce, The Conversation, (11 August 2022). A record number of female Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander athletes represented Australia at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. While embracing their role model status, it is worth considering the weighty expectations and costs that accompany this visibility. On top of the pressures of representing Australia at the elite level, First Nations sportspeople also have to contend with the politicisation that still surrounds their very identity.
• AFLW illustrates importance of Indigenous role models, Tash Gunawardana, Siren, (18 August 2020). Indigenous footballers in the AFLW have a positive impact as role models for Indigenous women and girls, encouraging them to be active and play sport.
• Patty Mills and Addin Fonua-Blake show power and pitfalls of the athlete's voice [paywall], Caden Helmers, Canberra Times, (11 July 2020). Patty Mills is working tirelessly to drive campaigns for equality with his entire NBA salary set to go towards social justice movements.
• Patty Mills launches 'Team Mills Foundation' to help people in need [paywall], Chris Dutton, Canberra Times, (27 May 2020). NBA championship-winner Patty Mills says he wants to bring "long-lasting improvement" to people's lives after launching a foundation to support women and underprivileged families, culture, diversity and enact change in the environment.
• Barty, Kerr and the importance of indigenous role models, Tash Gunawardana, The Women's Game, (8 May 2020). [Ashleigh Barty] is one of many prominent Indigenous female athletes including Sam Kerr and Kyah Simon in football and Ashleigh Gardner for the cricket national team. The wave of Indigenous talent couldn't come soon enough - in the latest available data, only 23% of Indigenous women were considered regularly 'physically active', as opposed to 66% of non-Indigenous women.
• Why are so few professional sport coaches from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities? Andrew Bennie, Demelza Marlin, Nicholas Apoifis, The Conversation, (13 June 2016). Sport has certainly provided inspirational athletic role models for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Only recently, meanwhile, have commentators considered the role of coaches as mentors, community leaders, and educators who can change lives.
• Indigenous role models make a world of difference, Andrew Ramsay, Cricket Australia News, (25 December 2015). It is difficult to oversell the impact of having highly visible Indigenous role models involved in the game at the highest level.

High profile First Nations athletes are used as role models by several Australian organisations and programs to promote positive health and lifestyle messages. Some of these programs include:

• National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy (NASCA). NASCA utilises a combination of Indigenous and non-Indigenous mentors and staff across all of our program streams. In order to remain successful, NASCA’S mentoring programs involve local community and parents and are long term, respectful, mutually beneficial relationships.
• Waalitj Foundation. Aims to lead the provision of education, employment and business opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians by working together to empower and build capacity amongst individuals, their families and their communities. We influence and inspire the empowerment of our people through our diverse work force, which is led by our First Australian role models.
• Indigenous Marathon Foundation. The Indigenous Marathon Foundation (IMF) was established in 2009 by world marathon champion Rob de Castella. It is a health promotion charity that uses running to celebrate Indigenous resilience and achievement, and create inspirational Indigenous leaders.
• Racism: It Stops with Me. The national Australian Human Rights Commission and Play by the Rules campaign to raise awareness of racism in society has used high profile sportsmen and women such as Adam Goodes to promote key messages through multiple media channels.
• Red Dust. A health promotion organisation that delivers innovative health promotion programs in partnership with remote communities. The Red Dust Role Models come from a variety of disciplines, including sport, art and music, but are also recognised for their mentoring and teaching capabilities.
• Share a Yarn. This initiative aims to provide Australian Elite Athletes with meaningful opportunities to connect and build relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and learn more about the differing cultures, lands, histories, and people within them. The AIS partners with organisations that are already delivering programs to youth in these communities, to open up channels for ongoing communication and learning between participants and athletes.
• Coaching Unlimited. A national coaching education program that provides sport-specific coaching accreditation, and research-based health promotion workshops, to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples become sport coaches and community leaders.
  • Coaching Unlimited: Empowering generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, A research report commissioned by Netball Australia and Netball New South Wales, (2017). Based on the survey and interview results, all coaches either agreed or strongly agreed that the Coaching Unlimited workshop included useful resources; increased their interest in, and understanding of, the workshop topics; and, enhanced their ability to implement strategies relating to the workshop.
  • ‘We were made to feel comfortable and … safe’: co-creating, delivering, and evaluating coach education and health promotion workshops with Aboriginal Australian peoples, Andrew Bennie, Demelza Marlin, Nick Apoifis, et al., Annals of Leisure Research, Volume 24(1), pp.168-188, (2021). This paper outlines the processes for co-creating and delivering Coaching Unlimited. We used the Ngaa-bi-nya framework – an Aboriginal health and social programme evaluation framework. Using the four domains of Ngaa-bi-nya, we were able to confirm the importance of co-creating and delivering the workshops in a culturally safe and inclusive environment.

• Black Diamonds Report, Glass Jar, (April 2022). The first of its kind, the Black Diamonds Project reviews the netball service delivery to ensure that the policies and systems of netball in Western Australia are transformed to better facilitate the engagement and retention of Aboriginal people to the sport of netball. This review took place between February 2021 and February 2022. The dominant method of data collection was Yarning Circles, a uniquely Aboriginal methodology, with four stakeholder groups, across two phases. Report highlights that many participants enjoyed coaching, mentoring, or being a role model (5th most common motivator for participation), and that they were inspired by role models in netball (6th most common motivator). The majority of participants who spoke about role models talked about Indigenous or familial role models, whether that was in reference to growing up on the side of the court watching their mum or aunties play, being exposed to other Indigenous players or coaches, or watching/interacting with elite level Indigenous athletes. Several participants talked about the part that role models play in terms of advocacy, and the importance of representation in terms of achievability or courage (she can do it, so can I), and safety. A lack of role models, especially at the elite level of netball, was also referenced as a barrier. The lack of Indigenous representation at the elite level of netball was compared with footy, which was described as having a more welcoming culture that respected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander athletes. The lack of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander coaches and umpires was discussed not just at the elite level but across the board.
• Indigenous Australians’ participation in sports and physical activities: Part 1, Literature and AusPlay data review, ORC International prepared for the Australian Sports Commission, (May 2017). This report includes a summary of the key drivers and barriers of Indigenous participation explored in the AusPlay data, and summarised from the recent literature. Having positive role models, in the form of older, more experienced participants from within the community, and professional Indigenous sportsmen and women, was also seen as motivating for young people and less experienced participants.

• Teach your children well: Adam Goodes, from unruly child to Indigenous statesman, Barry Judd, Diana Sandars, Celebrity Studies, Volume 14(2), pp.200-213, (2023). The ‘Goodes saga’ in Australian Football transformed Adam Goodes’ persona as a dutiful son of the sport into a polarising celebrity, most infamously through an encounter with a female teenage fan. In this article, we argue that the ‘Goodes saga’ exposed the contested nature of Indigenous celebrity stemming from settler anxieties about the unruly child and Indigenous statesman. Goodes transformed from a sports star, a dutiful ‘son’ of the sport to the national celebrity of a political statesman – a position of adulthood that might be described as characteristic of Eldership. Goodes’ self-manufactured celebrity persona, based in his concept of Indigeneity as ‘having a foot in both worlds’, was enacted through his mission to incorporate Indigenous cultural practices into the sport and wider settler-Australian culture. These actions were persistently disparaged through recourses to Euro-centric concept of the child and childhood as a state of innocence. We prompt readers to consider why the settler-public and its national institutions like the Australian Football League are so invested with surrounding Indigenous stars with a discourse of childhood. Why might the AFL and settler society more broadly consider the possibility that Aboriginal men might ascend to adulthood such a terrifying proposition?
• ‘You can’t be what you can’t see’: Indigenous Australian sportswomen as powerful role models, Megan Stronach, Michelle O’Shea, Hazel Maxwell, Sport in Society, Volume 26(6), pp.970-984, (2023). It is generally agreed that sporting role models (SRM) can inspire behaviour and attitude. This paper explores the influence of three contemporary Indigenous Australian sportswomen, and in doing so, their role as SRMs for women and girls. By applying and extending Marianne Meier’s (2015) theoretical lens, the actions, voices and influences of the women are considered. Meier recognizes and describes nine functions of SRMs. The voices of the Indigenous female athletes are portrayed through a media analysis including the athletes’ own social media commentary alongside mainstream media over a four-year period from 2017 to 2021. Examining the Indigenous sportswomen’s SRM status enables a layered and deeper understanding of the unique platform provided by sport, which can serve to strengthen their voices and influence. Indigenous Australian sportswomen are constructed in complex and sometimes contradictory ways, at times portrayed as advocates, deviants, sporting ambassadors, and political activists.
• Barriers and facilitators of sport and physical activity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adolescents: a mixed studies systematic review, Tamara May, Amanda Dudley, James Charles, et al., BMC Public Health, Volume 20, Article no.601, (2020). This study was focused on a comprehensive identification of barriers and facilitators at each level of the social-ecological model. From this process, gender and geographic location emerged as areas in which individual engagement with PA and sport was highly influenced by environmental, community, and policy factors. At the interpersonal level having family and friends who were active was one of the most commonly reported facilitators; and if they were inactive this was a barrier. This highlights the importance of participation in sport/PA for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults, in that they act as role models for children. Programs which offer sporting participation options for all family members (children, adolescents and adults), which appeal to males and females, are accessible through existing transport and related infrastructure, and are committed to communities through formal partnerships are needed.
• Indigenous Australian women promoting health through sport, Megan Stronach, Hazel Maxwell, Sonya Pearce, Sport Management Review, Volume 22(1), pp.5-20, (2019). Drawing from an agency/empowerment theoretical framework, the authors posit that, given support and opportunities, Indigenous women can become empowered to improve their mental and physical health through participation in sport. Sport managers can facilitate Indigenous women's agency in the effects of colonisation, which continues to be the basis of health issues for this cohort. Listening to Indigenous women and facilitating opportunities for them to take control of their own participation can help facilitate this process. Indigenous-women's only opportunities, partnerships with health agencies and sports organisations, culturally safe spaces and Indigenous women acting as role models are some factors that may augment Indigenous women's agency, and thus empowerment. Government, sports, community organisations and health agencies which provide these conditions in their program design can help to overcome entrenched social, historical and health inequalities that Indigenous women may experience.
• Mentoring as a tool to engage Aboriginal youth in remote Australian communities: a qualitative investigation of community members, mentees, teachers, and mentors’ perspectives, Louisa Peralta, Renata Cinelli, Andrew Bennie, Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, Volume 26(1), pp.30-49, (March 2018). Sport-based mentoring programs have been used across many contexts to engage young people in education. In this research, we explored the influence that an Aboriginal controlled organisation’s youth mentoring program has on three remote Aboriginal communities in Northern Territory, Australia. We used a composite set of culturally sensitive methods by including artefacts from the community members and mentees, informal interviews with community, and semi-structured conversations with mentors and schoolteachers. The findings demonstrate the positive feelings, many benefits, and relationships that had been established between mentors and mentees, the organisation and community over time. However, participants also suggested that it would be beneficial to engage mentors in activities with students not in the school system, and adults in the broader community. Despite some identified challenges, the mentoring program was perceived to be successful in engaging remote Aboriginal children in school and developing future career aspirations.
• The “ripple effect”: Health and community perceptions of the Indigenous Marathon Program on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, Australia, Rona Macniven, Suzanne Plater, Karla Canuto, et al., Health Promotion Journal of Australia, Volume 29(3), pp.304-313, (2018). We examined perceptions of the Indigenous Marathon Program (IMP) in a remote Torres Strait Island community. Barriers to running in the community were personal (cultural attitudes; shyness) and environmental (infrastructure; weather; dogs). Enablers reflected potential strategies to overcome described barriers. Indigenous questionnaire respondents were more likely to report being inspired to run by IMP runners than non‐Indigenous respondents. Positive “ripple” effects of the IMP on running and broader health were described to have occurred through local role modelling of healthy lifestyles by IMP runners that reduced levels of “shame” and embarrassment, a common barrier to physical activity among Indigenous Australians. A high initial level of community readiness for behaviour change was also reported.
• The facilitators and barriers of physical activity among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander regional sport participants, Claudie Péloquin, Thomas Doering, Stephanie Alley, et al., Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Volume 41(5), pp.474-479, (2017). Participants were 12 Indigenous Australian adults, and 12 non‐Indigenous Australian adults matched on age, sex, and basketball division. Most participants reported engaging in regular exercise; however, the Indigenous group reported more barriers to PA. These factors included cost, time management and environmental constraints. The physical facilitators identified by our Indigenous sample included social support, intrinsic motivation and role modelling. This study is the first to compare the perspective of Indigenous Australians to a matched group of non‐Indigenous Australians and provides useful knowledge to develop public health programs based on culturally sensitive data.
• Sistas’ and Aunties: sport, physical activity, and Indigenous Australian women. Stronach, Megan, Maxwell, Hazel, Taylor, Tracy, Annals of Leisure Research, Volume 19(1), pp.7-26, (2016). Indigenous women have alarmingly low rates of participation in organized sport and physical activity (PA) in contemporary Australian society. To gain a better contextual and cultural understanding of the issues involved, we discussed the life experiences and the place of sport and PA with 22 Indigenous women. A complex amalgamation of cultural beliefs and traditions, history, gendered factors, and geography are presented in the women's stories. Sport and PA were highly regarded, providing the women with opportunities to maintain strong communities, preserve culture, and develop distinct identities as ‘enablers’. The women called for culturally safe spaces in which to engage in PA and noted the need for Indigenous females to act as role models.
• 'Achievement, pride and inspiration': outcomes for volunteer role models in a community outreach program in remote Aboriginal communities, Renata Cinelli, Louisa Peralta, Rural and Remote Health, Volume 15(4), (October 2015). There is growing support for the prosocial value of role modelling in programs for adolescents and the potentially positive impact role models can have on health and health behaviours in remote communities. Despite known benefits for remote outreach program recipients, there is limited literature on the outcomes of participation for role models. Twenty-four role models participated in a remote outreach program across four remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, Australia (100% recruitment). Cultural training, Indigenous heritage and prior experience contributed to general feelings of preparedness, yet some role models experienced a level of culture shock, being confronted by how disparate the communities were to their home communities. Benefits of participation included exposure to and experience with remote Aboriginal peoples and community, increased cultural knowledge, personal learning, forming and building relationships, and skill development. Effective role model programs designed for remote Indigenous youth can have positive outcomes for both role models and the program recipients. Cultural safety training is an important factor for preparing role models and for building their cultural competency for implementing health and education programs in remote Indigenous communities in Australia. This will maximise the opportunities for participants to achieve outcomes and minimise their culture shock.
• The community network: an Aboriginal community football club bringing people together, Alister Thorpe, Wendy Anders, Kevin Rowley, Australian Journal of Primary Health, Volume 20(4), pp.356-364, (2014). The aim of the present study was to understand the impact of an Aboriginal community sporting team and its environment on the social, emotional and physical wellbeing of young Aboriginal men, and to identify barriers and motivators for participation. Results of the interviews were consistent with the literature, with common concepts emerging around community connection, cultural values and identity, health, values, racism and discrimination. However, the interviews provided further detail around the significance of cultural values and community connection for Aboriginal people. The complex nature of social connections and the strength of Aboriginal community networks in sports settings were also evident. Social reasons were just as important as individual health reasons for participation. Social and community connection is an important mechanism for maintaining and strengthening cultural values and identity. Barriers and motivators for participation in Aboriginal sports teams can be complex and interrelated. Aboriginal sports teams have the potential to have a profound impact on the health of Aboriginal people, especially its players, by fostering a safe and culturally strengthening environment and encompassing a significant positive social hub for the Aboriginal community.

• Sport and physical activity play important roles for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, but there are barriers to participation, Rona Macniven, Bridget Allen, John Evans, The Conversation, (1 October 2021). Many factors influence Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation in physical activity and sport. These can be classified as facilitators, that enable participation, or barriers, that can make participation more challenging. Our new review found 62 different facilitators and 63 different barriers to physical activity and sport. Multiple, complex facilitators and barriers were experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults across Australia.
• Indigenous Health Education Program, Paralympics Australia, (2018-2020). A grant was provided through the federal Department of Health’s Indigenous Australia’s Health Programme enabled Paralympic Australia to undertake a range of activities from 2018-20 developing targeted evidence based chronic disease prevention, health promotion and physical activity education resources and community events to address the increasing incidence of chronic disease in Indigenous people with disability in a culturally acceptable manner. Following are some of the key messages and learnings relating to barriers and enablers for physical activity participation from the project’s community engagement events, consultations and interviews.
  • Research Paper: Benefits and barriers of participation in physical activity for First Nations People with Disability, Dr Paul Oliver, Paralympics Australia, (accessed 11 March 2022). Sport can be a very powerful way of engaging First Nations people and providing positive outcomes in the areas of health and welfare.
• Sport can be an important part of Aboriginal culture for women – but many barriers remain, Michelle O'Shea, Hazel Maxwell, Megan Stronach, Sonya Pearce, The Conversation, (23 January 2020). Regular exercise is important for Indigenous women’s health, as it protects against obesity and chronic conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. These conditions are more prevalent among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than non-Indigenous people. Women’s physical activity benefits whole communities. Active mothers and aunts are important role models for their children and peers; while women’s involvement as sport leaders, coaches and participants can empower Indigenous girls to participate in sports at community to elite levels. In 2012, only 23.3% of Indigenous women played sport, walked for fitness or leisure, or were physically active in the previous 12 months. Key barriers identified included: Racism or vilification based on skin colour; for women living in remote Indigenous communities, transport costs and logistics significantly impacted their participation in organised sport. The costs of registering for a sporting team, for example, and having to purchase a team uniform meant they were unable to compete. Ongoing effects of colonisation have resulted in some women rejecting calls for them to become involved in “westernised” sport, instead preferring activities that are more culturally acceptable, such as music and crafts. Our research also found that some Aboriginal people viewed time spent participating in sport and physical activity as “selfish” because it took them away from their family care commitments and responsibilities. Facilitators included: fun runs, carnivals and community competitions. Indigenous-women-only classes and activities offered by local Indigenous organisations. Programs and interventions foisted on Indigenous women are unlikely to benefit them as individuals or their communities. Instead, healthy and active sisters and aunties are powerful role models.

• Profile of First Nations people, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, (2 July 2024). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) people are the first peoples of Australia. They are not one group, but rather comprise hundreds of groups that have their own distinct set of languages, histories and cultural traditions. The health and welfare of First Nations people living in the big cities are different to those living in the Torres Strait, which are different again to those living on the outskirts of Alice Springs or those living in remote communities. This page provides demographic information on the First Nations population, including information on their languages and cultures. Information is also included on the Closing the Gap targets.
• Footprints in Time - The Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children (LSIC), Australian Government Department of Social Services, (accessed 9 March 2022). The study includes two groups of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children who were aged 6 to 18 months (B cohort) and 3½ - 5 years (K cohort) when the study began in 2008. In wave 1, over 1,680 interviews were conducted with the children’s parents or primary carers (usually the mothers) and over 265 interviews were conducted with fathers or other significant carers. The study covers a wide variety of topics about children’s health, learning and development, their family and community, for example: Children’s physical and mental health and social and cognitive development which may include relevant data on children's physical activity.
• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework (HPF), Australian Institute of Health and Welfare/National Indigenous Australians Agency, (accessed 9 March 2022). This website brings together information from numerous sources to provide a comprehensive, up-to-date view of the state of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes, health system performance, and the broader determinants of health. It is designed to inform policy, planning, program development, and research.
• First Nations People with Disability issues paper, Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, (9 June 2020). Data shows that a disproportionate number of First Nations people live with a disability or some form of long term health condition. First Nations people with disability are more likely to: have experienced threats of physical violence; have poorer health outcomes than other Australians with disability; have experienced problems accessing health services; have been removed and/or had relatives removed from their family; experience high or very high levels of psychological distress; be detained due to a cognitive disability, foetal alcohol syndrome or other impairment; be reliant on government pensions or allowances as their main source of personal income ; and less likely to be studying and in jobs.
• Football's Indigenous Engagement: State of Play, Professional Footballers Australia on behalf of John Moriarty Football, (November 2018). Engagement between the major sporting codes and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians provides a significant opportunity for mutual benefit. This report benchmarks the progress being made by sporting codes to highlight football’s missed opportunity and to call for a reignition of football’s Indigenous engagement. Engagement between the major sports and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians provides a significant opportunity for mutual benefit. For sports, there is a pool of talent to be tapped, and a community of potential supporters to be embraced. For Indigenous communities, sport has the power to enhance social, education and health outcomes, and provide a pathway to rewarding professional careers, in turn developing inspirational role models.
• Physical activity across the life stages, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, (July 2018). This report presents information on the physical activity and sedentary participation rate of Australians across the life stages, reported against Australia’s Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines. According to the available data, Indigenous children aged 5–12 and young people aged 13–17 were more likely to meet the physical activity guideline, compared with non-Indigenous children: 60% of Indigenous 5–12 year olds, compared with 45% of their non-Indigenous counterparts. 33% of Indigenous 13–17 year olds, compared with 19% of their non-Indigenous counterparts. Among young children aged 2–5, similar proportions of Indigenous (64%) and non-Indigenous (69%) children met the physical activity guideline. Indigenous adults aged 18–64 and Indigenous women aged 65 and over were less likely to meet the physical activity guideline, compared with their non-Indigenous counterparts: 38% of Indigenous adults aged 18–64, compared with 46% of non-Indigenous adults of this age; non-Indigenous women aged 65 and over (38%) were twice as likely to meet the physical activity guideline, compared with Indigenous women of this age (16%). However, the proportions were similar for: Indigenous men (41%) and non-Indigenous men (44%) aged 65 and over who met the physical activity guideline. Indigenous adults (9.4%) and non-Indigenous adults (10%) aged 65 and over who met the strength-based activity guideline.
• Indigenous Study Part 2 - Qualitative research, ORC International prepared for the Australian Sports Commission, (March 2018). The research affirms the central role of sport and physical activity within Indigenous communities and the importance of sporting clubs and organisations to facilitate these opportunities. Increasing participation and overcoming barriers to sports and physical activities, for both adults and children was a priority amongst Indigenous people. Recommendations include ensuring that programs are culturally inclusive and respectful of Indigenous people, reducing costs, and increasing opportunities which are available within remote and some regional areas.
• After the Siren: The community benefits of Indigenous participation in Australia Rules Football. Michael Dockery and Sean Gorman, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, (September 2017). This report is based on analyses of data from the 2014-2015 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS), supplemented by interviews with a number of stakeholders in West Australian communities. The evidence provides a very strong social-benefit case for greater investment in structured AFL competitions in remote communities. As was observed with children, cultural identification appears to be complementary to participation in general sports. However, people who speak an Indigenous language at home are around 11 percentage points less likely to participate in organised sport.
• Indigenous Australians’ participation in sports and physical activities: Part 1, Literature and AusPlay data review, ORC International prepared for the Australian Sports Commission, (May 2017). This report includes a summary of the key drivers and barriers of Indigenous participation explored in the AusPlay data and summarised from the recent literature. For many Indigenous participants, the sports and physical activities they found most appealing were group activities that were culturally appropriate (for instance, having gender-specific groups), reinforcing family and community connectedness and collectiveness. When individuals had practical or emotional support or encouragement from family, friends, and even staff and other participants, they were more likely to be motivated to participate, and to keep participating. Having positive role models, in the form of older, more experienced participants from within the community, and professional Indigenous sportsmen and women, was also seen as motivating for young people and less experienced participants. A number of authors wrote that physical activity was perceived by some Indigenous Australians as an integral part of their day, inseparable from their lives with their families and communities, and not something to be chosen as an independent activity, in and of itself. Undertaking activities that were perceived as being for an individual’s own benefit, rather than for the benefit of the family or community made some Indigenous people feel shame, and there were often negative community perceptions of exercising alone. Feelings about what was culturally appropriate, or different cultural preferences for “the way physical activities are constructed and organised, the spaces they take place in and the times they occur,” meant that some Indigenous people did not want to do certain sports and physical activities.
• What's the Score? A survey of cultural diversity and racism in Australian sport, Paul Oliver, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, (2007). This section of What’s the Score? provides a summary of reports, census’, surveys and publications related to the level of participation in sport by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds (CALD). There are a significant number of barriers faced by Indigenous and CALD people with regards to participation in sport. Some significant socio-cultural barriers to participation identified by the report include:
  • Exclusiveness of the current structure of some sports.
  • Lack of familiarity with sporting clubs and environments and available services/activities.
  • Lack of understanding of the rules of some sports or lack of confidence in physical ability to play certain sports.
  • Potential threat, or experience, of discrimination or racism.
  • Feelings of isolation.
  • Language barriers.
  • Lack of role models working in and playing the game.
  • Family or cultural communities may take priority over sport.
  • Barriers for young women within their own communities and from sporting organisations.

• The Barriers and Facilitators of Sport and Physical Activity Participation for Aboriginal Children in Rural New South Wales, Australia: A Photovoice Project, Sarah Liew, Josephine Gwynn, Janice Smith, et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 19(4), (February 2022). Low physical activity participation is a behavioral risk factor for chronic disease, which is present at much higher rates in Australian Aboriginal communities compared to non-Aboriginal communities. Through photos and ‘yarning’, the Australian Aboriginal cultural form of conversation, this photovoice study explored the barriers and facilitators of sport and physical activity participation perceived by Aboriginal children (n = 17) in New South Wales rural communities in Australia for the first time. Seven key themes emerged from thematic analysis. Four themes described physical activity barriers, which largely exist at the community and interpersonal level of children’s social and cultural context: the physical environment, high costs related to sport and transport, and reliance on parents, along with individual risk factors such as unhealthy eating. Three themes identified physical activity facilitators that exist at the personal, interpersonal, and institutional level: enjoyment from being active, supportive social and family connections, and schools. Findings highlight the need for ongoing maintenance of community facilities to enable physical activity opportunities and ensure safety. Children held strong aspirations for improved and accessible facilities. The strength of friendships and the family unit should be utilized in co-designed and Aboriginal community-led campaigns.
• Barriers and Enablers to Older Indigenous People Engaging in Physical Activity—A Qualitative Systematic Review, Margaret J.R. Gidgup, Marion Kickett, Tammy Weselman, et al., Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, Volume 30(2), pp.340-352, (2022). The objective of this qualitative systematic review was to synthesize all evidence to understand the barriers and enablers to older Indigenous peoples (aged 40 years and older) engaging in physical activity. Four databases were searched. Study quality was assessed from an Indigenous perspective, using an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander quality appraisal tool. Data were analyzed using thematic synthesis. There were 4,246 articles screened with 23 articles and one report included from over 30 Indigenous communities across four countries. Cultural Safety and Security was a key enabler, including developing physical activity programs which are led by Indigenous communities and preference Indigenous values. Colonization was a key barrier that created mistrust and uncertainty. Social Determinants of Health, including cost, were supported by successful programs, but if not addressed, were demotivators of engagement. Older Indigenous peoples identified barriers and enablers that can direct the development of sustainable, culturally appropriate physical activity programs.
• Facilitators and Barriers to Physical Activity and Sport Participation Experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Adults: A Mixed Method Review, Bridget Allen, Karla Canuto, John Robert Evans, et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 18(18), (September 2021). A systematic search was undertaken of 11 databases and 14 grey literature websites during 2020. The included studies reported physical activity facilitators and barriers experienced by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander participants aged 18+ years, living in the community. Twenty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Sixty-two facilitators were identified: 23 individual, 18 interpersonal, 8 community/environmental and 13 policy/program facilitators. Additionally, 63 barriers were identified: 21 individual, 17 interpersonal, 15 community/environmental and 10 policy/program barriers. Prominent facilitators included support from family, friends, and program staff, and opportunities to connect with community or culture. Prominent barriers included a lack of transport, financial constraints, lack of time, and competing work, family or cultural commitments. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults experience multiple facilitators and barriers to physical activity participation. Strategies to increase participation should seek to enhance facilitators and address barriers, collaboratively with communities, with consideration to the local context.
• Sport for development and Indigenous Australians: a critical research agenda for policy and practice, Ryan Lucas, Ruth Jeanes, Zane Diamond, Leisure Studies, Volume 40(2), pp.276-285, (2021). Through a narrative literature review, this article seeks to broaden the discussion surrounding the use of sport as a development tool throughout Australia’s Indigenous communities, by considering perspectives within SFD literature that have received limited attention in existing policy and research approaches. The findings of this literature review expose a dominant trend towards positivistic research that reinforces existing approaches, and a lack of criticality surrounding the use of sport as a development tool. This article, therefore, seeks to pose a new research agenda by drawing on international perspectives with the potential to broaden this discussion surrounding the use of sport as a development tool for Indigenous Australians. Issues of conceptual clarity, the use of sport as a mechanism for social control, neoliberalism and neo-colonialism are largely absent from existing literature exploring SFD for Indigenous Australians. Calls to de-colonise SFD are also largely absent from the literature reviewed, and therefore calls for the decolonisation of SFD globally are also considered. Finally, this research note calls for researchers working in this space to engage critically with the use of sport in Indigenous communities, to shift the focus away from the production of ‘evidence’ to a broader discussion around the use of sport, including how research must contribute to decolonising both policy and practice through privileging Indigenous perspectives and voices.
• Barriers and facilitators of sport and physical activity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adolescents: a mixed studies systematic review, Tamara May, Amanda Dudley, James Charles, et al., BMC Public Health, Volume 20, Article no.601, (2020). This study was focused on a comprehensive identification of barriers and facilitators at each level of the social-ecological model. From this process, gender and geographic location emerged as areas in which individual engagement with PA and sport was highly influenced by environmental, community, and policy factors. At the individual level, the most commonly reported barriers related to shyness/ embarrassment, self-perception of not being good enough as well as lack of motivation and time. Barriers to participation in PA identified in relation to girls and young women show how the complex interactions of interpersonal and cultural factors, associated with gender can be strongly determining the personal behaviour of individuals. At the interpersonal level having family and friends who were active was one of the most commonly reported facilitators; and if they were inactive this was a barrier. This highlights the importance of participation in sport/PA for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults, in that they act as role models for children. For some young people their perceived lack of ability or the experience of losing in a sporting competition were deterrents to participation in and enjoyment of PA and sport. For the five studies conducted in regional and remote areas, barriers to participation in PA were particularly evident at community and environmental levels. These included lack of access to sporting facilities, organised PA and sport programs and transport to and from venues. Living in a ‘hot and sweaty’ climate and restrictions to travel in the wet season were also deterrents to participation in PA for young people from some communities in the Torres Strait Islands and the Cape York Peninsula. However, in the regional city of Geraldton (WA) the opportunity to engage in PA in natural environments such as parks, beaches and bush tracks was an important facilitator. Taken together, programs which offer sporting participation options for all family members (children, adolescents and adults), which appeal to males and females, are accessible through existing transport and related infrastructure, and are committed to communities through formal partnerships are needed. There are unique barriers in remote areas including, lack of programs in the local language, the transient nature of teachers, climate factors and a lack of (ongoing) sporting programs which will need targeted approaches to overcome. Overall, the health benefits of sport as well as its ability to provide future opportunities for young people are also a key facilitator. Public health campaigns broadening these messages to cover both physical and mental health could increase participation in sport and thus derive improved health outcomes.
• Indigenous Australian women promoting health through sport, Megan Stronach, Hazel Maxwell, Sonya Pearce, Sport Management Review, Volume 22(1), pp.5-20, (2019). Drawing from an agency/empowerment theoretical framework, the authors posit that, given support and opportunities, Indigenous women can become empowered to improve their mental and physical health through participation in sport. Sport managers can facilitate Indigenous women's agency in the effects of colonisation, which continues to be the basis of health issues for this cohort. Listening to Indigenous women and facilitating opportunities for them to take control of their own participation can help facilitate this process. Indigenous-women's only opportunities, partnerships with health agencies and sports organisations, culturally safe spaces and Indigenous women acting as role models are some factors that may augment Indigenous women's agency, and thus empowerment. Government, sports, community organisations and health agencies which provide these conditions in their program design can help to overcome entrenched social, historical and health inequalities that Indigenous women may experience.
• Indigenous Australians Perceptions’ of Physical Activity: A Qualitative Systematic Review, Emma Dahlberg, Sandra Hamilton, Fatuma Hamid, et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 15(7), (2018). Four major themes emerged: family and community, culture and environment, sport, and gender differences. Men highlighted sport and going on walkabout as preferred types of physical activity while women preferred family-focused activities and activities and support for women's sport. Several studies found exercise was supported when in the context of family and community but was considered shameful when done only for oneself. Sport was regarded as playing an influential role in bringing communities together. Group, community, or family activities were desired forms of physical activity with the environment they are conducted in of high importance.
• The “ripple effect”: Health and community perceptions of the Indigenous Marathon Program on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, Australia, Rona Macniven, Suzanne Plater, Karla Canuto, et al., Health Promotion Journal of Australia, Volume 29(3), pp.304-313, (2018). We examined perceptions of the Indigenous Marathon Program (IMP) in a remote Torres Strait Island community. Barriers to running in the community were personal (cultural attitudes; shyness) and environmental (infrastructure; weather; dogs). Enablers reflected potential strategies to overcome described barriers. Indigenous questionnaire respondents were more likely to report being inspired to run by IMP runners than non‐Indigenous respondents. Positive “ripple” effects of the IMP on running and broader health were described to have occurred through local role modelling of healthy lifestyles by IMP runners that reduced levels of “shame” and embarrassment, a common barrier to physical activity among Indigenous Australians. A high initial level of community readiness for behaviour change was also reported.
• Correlates of physical activity among Australian Indigenous and non‐Indigenous adolescents, Rona Macniven, Shane Hearn, Anne Grunseit, et al., Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Volume 41(2), pp.187-192, (2017). Physical activity levels in Indigenous and non‐Indigenous adolescents in the out‐of‐school setting were similarly low in this large disadvantaged adolescent sample. Indigenous girls, those from fragmented families, or those feeling disengaged from their community had particularly low activity levels. Consistent with previous research, male gender and sports team membership were associated with higher levels of physical activity in this sample, as well as maternal employment and community involvement which are less well established correlates. However, it is evident that the relative importance of some factors and their association with physical activity may differ between Indigenous (gender, maternal employment, confidence) and non‐Indigenous (sports team membership, community involvement) adolescents. Importantly, our data found a stronger gender difference in the Indigenous sample compared to the non‐Indigenous participants. This may be due in part to cultural factors relating to gender in Indigenous communities, which may require culture‐specific solutions such as initiatives targeted to Indigenous girls. We found sports team membership was associated with higher levels of physical activity in both the total and the stratified non‐Indigenous sample, but not among the Indigenous respondents. The lack of association found in this Indigenous sample may reflect cultural preferences towards unstructured physical activity such as Caring for Country programs. Higher levels of feeling confident were found to be associated with higher physical activity among the Indigenous participants only.
• Perceived barriers and enablers to participation in a community-tailored physical activity program with Indigenous Australians in a regional and rural setting: a qualitative study, Ashleigh Sushames, Terry Engelberg, Klaus Gebel, International Journal for Equity in Health, Volume 16, (2017). The aim of this qualitative study was to explore perceived barriers and enablers to attending an eight-week physical activity program in a rural and regional setting which aimed to improve health outcomes, but had a low attendance rate. Overall, there were positive attitudes to, and high levels of motivation towards, the physical activity program. Enablers to participation were the inclusion of family members, no financial cost and a good relationship with the principal investigator, which was strengthened by the community-based participatory approach to the program design. Barriers to program attendance were mostly beyond the control of the individuals, such as ‘sorry business’, needing to travel away from the community and lack of community infrastructure.
• An evaluation of an Australian Aboriginal controlled-community organization’s remote sports-based programme: a qualitative investigation, Louisa Peralta, Renata Cinelli, Sport in Society, Volume 19(7), pp.973-989, (2016). Current research suggests that Aboriginal-controlled organizations should play a larger role in developing and implementing sports-based programs for Aboriginal young people. In this paper, we explore the influence of an Aboriginal-controlled organization and its government-funded remote sports-based program on Aboriginal participants and non-Aboriginal stakeholders. The Aboriginal community members and youth would appreciate the Aboriginal-controlled organization working more closely with them to improve the influence of the programme by paying respect to the local Aboriginal culture, social systems and knowledge.
• Sistas’ and Aunties: sport, physical activity, and Indigenous Australian women. Stronach, Megan, Maxwell, Hazel, Taylor, Tracy, Annals of Leisure Research, Volume 19(1), pp.7-26, (2016). Indigenous women have alarmingly low rates of participation in organized sport and physical activity (PA) in contemporary Australian society. To gain a better contextual and cultural understanding of the issues involved, we discussed the life experiences and the place of sport and PA with 22 Indigenous women. A complex amalgamation of cultural beliefs and traditions, history, gendered factors, and geography are presented in the women's stories. Sport and PA were highly regarded, providing the women with opportunities to maintain strong communities, preserve culture, and develop distinct identities as ‘enablers’. The women called for culturally safe spaces in which to engage in PA and noted the need for Indigenous females to act as role models.
• The community network: an Aboriginal community football club bringing people together, Alister Thorpe, Wendy Anders, Kevin Rowley, Australian Journal of Primary Health, Volume 20(4), pp.356-364, (2014). The aim of the present study was to understand the impact of an Aboriginal community sporting team and its environment on the social, emotional and physical wellbeing of young Aboriginal men, and to identify barriers and motivators for participation. Results of the interviews were consistent with the literature, with common concepts emerging around community connection, cultural values and identity, health, values, racism and discrimination. However, the interviews provided further detail around the significance of cultural values and community connection for Aboriginal people. The complex nature of social connections and the strength of Aboriginal community networks in sports settings were also evident. Social reasons were just as important as individual health reasons for participation. Social and community connection is an important mechanism for maintaining and strengthening cultural values and identity. Barriers and motivators for participation in Aboriginal sports teams can be complex and interrelated. Aboriginal sports teams have the potential to have a profound impact on the health of Aboriginal people, especially its players, by fostering a safe and culturally strengthening environment and encompassing a significant positive social hub for the Aboriginal community.

• NNSW launches first-of-its-kind online Cultural Competency Course, (23 March 2023). Netball NSW is delighted to announce the launch of an interactive Cultural Competency and Reflections E-Learning course entitled C.A.R.E. The course is free for all netball participants, Clubs and Associations across the State. Importantly, it’s the first course of its kind to be launched by an Australian sporting organisation, and has been designed in close consultation with Netball NSW’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) Working Group. It encourages participants to challenge coaching, officiating, selection and leadership policies and practices within their sphere of influence, given these policies and practices can often exclude or discriminate against Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples. The C.A.R.E package then encourages participants to reflect and advocate for positive alternatives.
• Sports Inclusion for Indigenous People with a Disability, particularly women, Victoria University, (accessed 12 May 2023). Resources for sport organisations to improve access to sport for people with disability, in particular people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island backgrounds.
  • Winyarr Ganbina - Women Arise, Victoria University, Outback Academy Australia, Paralympics Australia, (2022). For the first time in Australia, Victoria University in partnership with Outback Academy Australia and Paralympics Australia have recorded the experiences of Indigenous women with a disability who play sport. Provides insight and resources for sport organisations to improve access to sport for people with disability, in particular people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island backgrounds.
  • Checklist for an inclusive community sports organisation, Outback Academy Australia – Red Dust Heelers, (2022). A range of actions that sport organisations can implement to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for Indigenous people with a disability, as players and leaders in sport.
• Gippsland Indigenous Round: Information and resource kit, 2nd edition, GippSport, (2018). Indigenous rounds [sometimes called Dreamtime rounds] are a great opportunity to highlight the contribution that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make to sporting clubs and the wider community. They also provide an opportunity to work towards better understanding and reconciliation. This document is a starting point for sporting clubs considering holding an Indigenous Round event. It has been developed by GippSport's Deadly Sport Gippsland team from observations, discussions and involvement in events held during previous years.
• Many Stories, One Goal – Supporting Indigenous Footballers, AFL Players Association, (updated 2016). Resource was developed by the nine-member Indigenous Advisory Board and built from the stories and experiences of every Indigenous player in the game and key stakeholders within the industry. The policy is built around four key pillars; Induction, Professional Development, Personal Support and Our Culture – areas identified as vital to developing an environment that best supports Indigenous footballers throughout every stage of their playing career and beyond.

• When physical activity programs include cultural elements, they are even better for First Nations people, Brett Biles, Grace McKeon, Jonathan Bullen, et al., The Conversation, (13 December 2023). Culturally safe physical activity programs that are community-led and adopt First Nations values are effective in improving social and emotional wellbeing.
• Boorloo Demons make history in the WAFL, Giovanni Torre, National Indigenous Times, (4 July 2023). Boorloo Football Club, also known as Perth or the Demons, have become the first club in WAFL history to adopt their Traditional name. Boorloo will take the field for two rounds under their Whadjuk Noongar name, marking NAIDOC Week.
• Deadly Little Dolphins program looks to find Australia's next First Nations Olympic or Paralympic swimming champion, Tracey Holmes, The Ticket/ABC Sport, (6 April 2023). The Swimming Australia initiative is First Nations led and co-designed. The hope is corporate Australia will see the benefits and contribute to a national rollout. "Deadly Little Dolphins" is a program that is about much more than talent identification in the Torres Strait Islands – it is about harnessing children's love of the water to improve educational outcomes; it is about water safety, with First Nations children over-represented in national drowning statistics; and it is about building bridges between cultures.
• Indigenous ways of knowing and doing connected to physical literacy, diversity and collaboration in sport [Canada], Greg Henhawk, Wes Chen, Caela Fenton and Veronica Allan, SIRCuit, (25 July 2022). Indigenous thought-leader Greg Henhawk discusses the synergy between traditional Indigenous knowledge and holistic approaches to physical literacy. Henhawk advocates for prioritizing collaboration, rather than solely “inclusion,” when it comes to addressing differences. Henhawk advises sport (and other) organizations wishing to engage Indigenous communities to prioritize developing a relationship before making any asks.
• Lifting Participation Rates Requires Cultural Understanding, David Sygall, Paralympics Australia, (19 July 2022). When they met recently for the first time, Paralympics Australia Chief Executive Catherine Clark asked Kevin Coombs a question that had been on her mind since she started in the role early in 2022. Coombs, the five-time Paralympian and Australia’s first Indigenous Paralympic representative, was looking through PA’s recently released Reconciliation Action Plan, which outlines the organisation’s goals regarding First Nations people. “Uncle Kevin, I’m interested to know, what are your thoughts on how we can have more First Nations Australians become Paralympians?” Clark asked.

• Physical activity and the social and emotional wellbeing of First Nations people, Macniven R, Tishler X, McKeon G, et al., Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, catalogue number IMH 021, (December 2023). Summarises existing evidence on the relationship between physical activity and First Nations SEWB. It describes the policy context and actions, as well as program approaches implemented with First Nations adults and children in Australia. It takes the form of a scoping review of academic research and grey literature, including governmental reports and policy documents. The article focuses on the strengths of First Nations people’s experiences and knowledge and concludes with a summary of the key messages from this report that are essential for understanding First Nations physical activity participation and SEWB. Includes summaries of several programs and initiatives that include sport as a vehicle for engagement in physical activity.
  • What works * Culturally safe physical activity programs that are community-led and adopt First Nations values act as key facilitators of engagement in programs. * Enhancing cultural identity through engagement in physical activity that has a cultural focus, and that fosters connections with family and kinship, enriches SEWB outcomes. * Other facilitators of physical activity participation include support from family and friends, and opportunities to connect with community or culture. * First Nations community involvement increases program effectiveness, relevance and sustainability.
  • What doesn’t work * Programs that do not centre First Nations ways of knowing, being and doing are unlikely to be well received or effective. Generally, these programs have barriers that impede program participation and subsequently hinder potential improvements in SEWB. * These barriers include insufficient transportation, time inefficiency, high program costs, and conflicting family and community commitments. * Racism can act as a deterrent for First Nations people to participate in available programs, services and initiatives that enhance SEWB.
• Gari Yala (Speak the Truth): Centreing the experiences of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians at work, Diversity Council Australia/Jumbunna Institute, (2020). Gari Yala, which means ‘speak the truth’ in the Wiradjuri language, is based on a survey 1,033 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander workers across Australia and reveals some shocking realities about experiences of racism, the lack of cultural safety and identity strain experienced by Indigenous people across Australian workplaces. The report reveals that Indigenous employees continue to experience significant workplace racism and exclusion and that racism is impacting wellbeing and job satisfaction. The report also provides ten truths for organisations to improve workplace inclusion for Indigenous staff based in evidence and designed for workplaces that are ready to listen to Indigenous staff, and willing to act on what they tell them.
• Supporting healthy communities through sports and recreation programs, Resource sheet no. 26, Vicki-Ann Ware and Veronica Meredith, produced for the Closing the Gap Clearinghouse, (December 2013). Healthy communities are communities in which people have the physical and mental health and wellbeing needed to conduct their daily lives. This paper reviewed the available evidence of a range of sports and recreation programs in relation to their effects on supporting and building healthy communities, what we know, what works, what doesn't work, and what we don't know. There is some evidence, in the form of critical descriptions of programs and systematic reviews, on the benefits to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities from participation in sport and recreational programs. These include some improvements in school retention, attitudes towards learning, social and cognitive skills, physical and mental health and wellbeing; increased social inclusion and cohesion; increased validation of and connection to culture; and crime reduction.

• A scoping review of Indigenous community-specific physical activity measures developed with and for Indigenous Peoples in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, Shara Johnson, Phil Chilibeck, Sarah Oosman, Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, Volume 49(5), (May 2024). Historical factors including colonization and ongoing socioeconomic inequities impact Indigenous Peoples’ ability to mitigate chronic disease risks such as achieving recommended physical activity (PA) levels. Reliably assessing, reflecting, and promoting PA participation among Indigenous Peoples may be impacted by a lack of culturally appropriate assessment methods and meaningful engagement with Indigenous communities throughout the research process. The objectives of this scoping review were to examine: (1) How PA research with Indigenous Peoples used community-specific PA measures developed with and/or for Indigenous Peoples in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand; and (2) How the studies utilized community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles to engage communities. A systematic search was conducted in four electronic databases (Web of Science, Medline, University of Saskatchewan Indigenous Portal, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global). Thirty-one (n = 31) articles were identified and data extracted for narrative synthesis. Studies using community-specific PA measures have been increasing over time. Adapting questionnaires to traditional Indigenous activities such as cultural dances, ceremonies, and food-gathering activities were the most frequent adjustments undertaken to use community-specific measures. There are, however, gaps in research partnering with communities with only 6% of studies including all eight CBPR principles. Practical ways researchers can engage Indigenous communities and build capacity such as training and employing community members were highlighted. More needs to be done to facilitate community self-determination and develop long-term sustainable initiatives. Using culturally appropriate and relevant methodologies including partnering with Indigenous communities may help identification and implementation of culturally relevant and sustainable health-promoting initiatives.
• Waka, Whanaungatanga and Water Safety: Using Indigenous Knowledge to Educate Future Aquatic Educators about Māori Water Safety in Aotearoa, New Zealand, Chanel Phillips, Anne-Marie Jackson, Journal of Sport for Development, Volume 11(1), (October 2023). Waka (ancestral canoes) and water are central to Māori, the Indigenous people of Aotearoa, New Zealand, yet Māori have disproportionately high rates of drowning. New research has begun to examine Māori and Indigenous understandings of water safety; however, Indigenous approaches to water safety continue to be an underdeveloped area, particularly in a sport for development (SFD) context. In this study, we demonstrate how waka as an “Indigenous-plus” approach to SFD can provide important insights for a field in which Indigenous views are often absent or marginalized. Underpinned by a kaupapa Māori approach (generally, but not exclusively, research by Māori, for Māori, with Māori), we surveyed 74 future aquatic educators of primarily Pākehā descent (New Zealand European) who participated in a Māori water safety wānanga (cultural space of learning) led by Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki Waka Club, an Indigenous canoe club based in New Zealand’s South Island. Through our thematic analysis, we found that the participants identified the role of waka as fundamental to learning Indigenous Māori water safety in an Aotearoa, New Zealand context. In this paper, we argue that waka provides a vehicle for educating our future aquatic educators about Māori water safety, which will support more meaningful drowning prevention for all New Zealanders.
• Community co-selection of measures to evaluate the health and wellbeing impact of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community running groups, Rona Macniven, Kim Delbaere, Ebony Lewis, et al., Health Promotion Journal of Australia, Volume 34(1), pp.17-23, (January 2023). This Brief Report provides a model of participatory research to determine evaluation measures with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants that could be applied more broadly. Such an approach has been used to develop mixed methods and experimental design methodologies that have been described as optimal for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health programme evaluation. While research with, and for, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples increasingly uses collaborative methods to develop strategies and programmes, there are fewer examples of using participatory processes to determine research or evaluation measures. Our approach contributes to the limited evidence base of determining community evaluation measures in collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
• Exploring the voices of health promotion stakeholders concerning the implementation of physical activity programs for the social and emotional wellbeing of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls, Madeleine English, Lee Wallace, Cristina Caperchione, et al., Sport in Society, Volume 26(7), pp.1139-1160, (2023). Physical activity and sport programs have been promoted as a strength-based way to enhance social and emotional wellbeing in young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. However, there is limited evidence that describes how these programs may be tailored for girls. Semi‐structured interviews with health promotion stakeholders (N = 11) explored organizational perceptions of the needs and preferences of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls in relation to physical activity and social and emotional wellbeing. Interviews also investigated best practice approaches for implementing holistic health programs for the population. Thematic analysis revealed two overarching themes: (1) Perceived physical activity and health service needs, preferences and behaviours and (2) Best practice engagement strategies and associated challenges. A need for culturally safe, youth-friendly services was emphasized, where physical activity and sport may play an influential role. Program development recommendations included focussing upon health literacy, utilizing co-design and creating culturally secure, fun environments.
• Decolonising qualitative research with respectful, reciprocal, and responsible research practice: a narrative review of the application of Yarning method in qualitative Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health research, Michelle Kennedy, Raglan Maddox, Kade Booth, et al., International Journal for Equity in Health, Volume 21, (September 2022). Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be at the forefront of Indigenous research. While Yarning method has been identified as a legitimate research method to decolonising research practice, it must be followed and reported accurately. Researcher reflexivity and positioning, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ownership, stewardship and custodianship of data collected were significantly under detailed in the publications included in our review.
• The Barriers and Facilitators of Sport and Physical Activity Participation for Aboriginal Children in Rural New South Wales, Australia: A Photovoice Project, Sarah Liew, Josephine Gwynn, Janice Smith, et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 19(4), (February 2022). Low physical activity participation is a behavioral risk factor for chronic disease, which is present at much higher rates in Australian Aboriginal communities compared to non-Aboriginal communities. Through photos and ‘yarning’, the Australian Aboriginal cultural form of conversation, this photovoice study explored the barriers and facilitators of sport and physical activity participation perceived by Aboriginal children (n = 17) in New South Wales rural communities in Australia for the first time. Findings highlight the need for ongoing maintenance of community facilities to enable physical activity opportunities and ensure safety. Children held strong aspirations for improved and accessible facilities. The strength of friendships and the family unit should be utilized in co-designed and Aboriginal community-led campaigns.
• Barriers and Enablers to Older Indigenous People Engaging in Physical Activity—A Qualitative Systematic Review, Margaret J.R. Gidgup, Marion Kickett, Tammy Weselman, et al., Journal of Aging and Physical Activity, Volume 30(2), pp.340-352, (2022). The objective of this qualitative systematic review was to synthesize all evidence to understand the barriers and enablers to older Indigenous peoples (aged 40 years and older) engaging in physical activity. Four databases were searched. Study quality was assessed from an Indigenous perspective, using an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander quality appraisal tool. Data were analyzed using thematic synthesis. There were 4,246 articles screened with 23 articles and one report included from over 30 Indigenous communities across four countries. Cultural Safety and Security was a key enabler, including developing physical activity programs which are led by Indigenous communities and preference Indigenous values. Colonization was a key barrier that created mistrust and uncertainty. Social Determinants of Health, including cost, were supported by successful programs, but if not addressed, were demotivators of engagement. Older Indigenous peoples identified barriers and enablers that can direct the development of sustainable, culturally appropriate physical activity programs.
• Addressing the Needs of Indigenous Children?: Coach Education Programs in Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand, and Australia, Andrew Bennie, Jeremy Hapeta, Dan Henhawk, et al., Chapter 33 in 'Routledge Handbook of Coaching Children in Sport', Martin Toms, Ruth Jeanes, (eds.), Routledge, (2022). Canada, Australia, and Aotearoa New Zealand all share histories of devastating acts of colonialism against Indigenous peoples. As a result of this colonial history, and despite profound and enduring cultural strength and resilience, Indigenous children in these countries being produced as being “at risk.” Sport has long been used as a tool to connect with at-risk youth; unsurprisingly, Indigenous children are often the targets of sport-focused interventions that are meant to “improve” areas in which they are deemed as being deficient. Sport coaches, thus, can play key roles in the lives of Indigenous children. Without sufficient training, however, coaches who are meant to play positive roles in Indigenous children's lives can (re)produce a sport environment that enables racism and reinforces neo-colonialism. This chapter examines coach education programs in Canada, Australia, and Aotearoa New Zealand, and the extent to which they provide opportunities for coaches to become familiar with Indigenous approaches to sport and sport pedagogy. This chapter argues that it is crucial for national coaching bodies to use culturally safe approaches to sport coaching to ensure that prospective coaches learn about the strengths and resilience of Indigenous peoples, the impacts and legacies of colonisation, and their role of influence in sport contexts over time and Indigenous children's sport participation.
• Facilitators and Barriers to Physical Activity and Sport Participation Experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Adults: A Mixed Method Review, Bridget Allen, Karla Canuto, John Robert Evans, et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 18(18), (September 2021). A systematic search was undertaken of 11 databases and 14 grey literature websites during 2020. The included studies reported physical activity facilitators and barriers experienced by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander participants aged 18+ years, living in the community. Twenty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria. Sixty-two facilitators were identified: 23 individual, 18 interpersonal, 8 community/environmental and 13 policy/program facilitators. Additionally, 63 barriers were identified: 21 individual, 17 interpersonal, 15 community/environmental and 10 policy/program barriers. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults experience multiple facilitators and barriers to physical activity participation. Strategies to increase participation should seek to enhance facilitators and address barriers, collaboratively with communities, with consideration to the local context.
• Sport for development and Indigenous Australians: a critical research agenda for policy and practice, Ryan Lucas, Ruth Jeanes, Zane Diamond, Leisure Studies, Volume 40(2), pp.276-285, (2021). Through a narrative literature review, this article seeks to broaden the discussion surrounding the use of sport as a development tool throughout Australia’s Indigenous communities, by considering perspectives within SFD literature that have received limited attention in existing policy and research approaches. The findings of this literature review expose a dominant trend towards positivistic research that reinforces existing approaches, and a lack of criticality surrounding the use of sport as a development tool. This article, therefore, seeks to pose a new research agenda by drawing on international perspectives with the potential to broaden this discussion surrounding the use of sport as a development tool for Indigenous Australians. Issues of conceptual clarity, the use of sport as a mechanism for social control, neoliberalism and neo-colonialism are largely absent from existing literature exploring SFD for Indigenous Australians. Calls to de-colonise SFD are also largely absent from the literature reviewed, and therefore calls for the decolonisation of SFD globally are also considered. Finally, this research note calls for researchers working in this space to engage critically with the use of sport in Indigenous communities, to shift the focus away from the production of ‘evidence’ to a broader discussion around the use of sport, including how research must contribute to decolonising both policy and practice through privileging Indigenous perspectives and voices.
• Barriers and facilitators of sport and physical activity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adolescents: a mixed studies systematic review, Tamara May, Amanda Dudley, James Charles, et al., BMC Public Health, Volume 20, Article no.601, (2020). This study was focused on a comprehensive identification of barriers and facilitators at each level of the social-ecological model. From this process, gender and geographic location emerged as areas in which individual engagement with PA and sport was highly influenced by environmental, community, and policy factors. Taken together, programs which offer sporting participation options for all family members (children, adolescents and adults), which appeal to males and females, are accessible through existing transport and related infrastructure, and are committed to communities through formal partnerships are needed. There are unique barriers in remote areas including, lack of programs in the local language, the transient nature of teachers, climate factors and a lack of (ongoing) sporting programs which will need targeted approaches to overcome. Overall, the health benefits of sport as well as its ability to provide future opportunities for young people are also a key facilitator. Public health campaigns broadening these messages to cover both physical and mental health could increase participation in sport and thus derive improved health outcomes.
• Yarning with the Stars Project: An Indigenous evaluation protocol for a sport for development and peace program, Rose Whitau, Helen Ockerby, Journal of Sport for Development, Volume 7(13), pp.46-54, (September 2019). Shooting Stars is an engagement program based in seven remote and regional schools in Western Australia, where it uses netball and other incentives to engage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls in their education, while promoting their health and wellbeing. Shooting Stars evaluates the efficacy of its services through collation of attendance data, participant case studies, and yarning circles. The methods used in the yarning circles research were developed over 18 months in collaboration with Shooting Stars participants, localized Shooting Stars steering committees, and Shooting Stars staff. This paper presents the evaluation protocols for the Shooting Stars program, focusing on the yarning circles’ methods in order to provide a framework or model of Indigenous evaluation methods for others working within this space.
• Indigenous Australian women promoting health through sport, Megan Stronach, Hazel Maxwell, Sonya Pearce, Sport Management Review, Volume 22(1), pp.5-20, (2019). Drawing from an agency/empowerment theoretical framework, the authors posit that, given support and opportunities, Indigenous women can become empowered to improve their mental and physical health through participation in sport. Sport managers can facilitate Indigenous women's agency in the effects of colonisation, which continues to be the basis of health issues for this cohort. Listening to Indigenous women and facilitating opportunities for them to take control of their own participation can help facilitate this process. Indigenous-women's only opportunities, partnerships with health agencies and sports organisations, culturally safe spaces and Indigenous women acting as role models are some factors that may augment Indigenous women's agency, and thus empowerment. Government, sports, community organisations and health agencies which provide these conditions in their program design can help to overcome entrenched social, historical and health inequalities that Indigenous women may experience.
• ‘It’s more than just performing well in your sport. It’s also about being healthy physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually’: Indigenous women athletes’ meanings and experiences of flourishing in sport, Leah Ferguson, Gillian Epp, Kellie Wuttunee, et al., Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health, Volume 11(1), pp.1-19, (2019). The purpose of this study was to explore the phenomenon of flourishing in sport for Indigenous women athletes. Two Indigenous community sport advisors were instrumentally involved throughout the study. Sixteen Indigenous women athletes (M age = 21.5 years; 10 First Nations, 6 Métis) from urban, rural and remote communities in a mid-Western Canadian province participated in sharing circles and symbol-based reflection to share their meanings and experiences of flourishing in sport. A four-step phenomenological structural analysis was used to analyse transcribed data. Four essential components and one facilitating component emerged as the general structure of flourishing in sport: (1) Multidimensional Community Support (having support from and for one’s family, home and sporting community); (2) Personal Accomplishments (setting and attaining individually tailored goals); (3) Persistent Growth (constant self-betterment); (4) Wholistic Athletic Excellence (excelling as a whole; physically, intellectually, spiritually and emotionally); and, (5) Humble Recognition (being acknowledged; a facilitating component). Nurturing Indigenous women athletes’ flourishing in sport requires athlete-specific attention and collaborative community engagement.
• Indigenous Australians Perceptions’ of Physical Activity: A Qualitative Systematic Review, Emma Dahlberg, Sandra Hamilton, Fatuma Hamid, et al., International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Volume 15(7), (2018). Four major themes emerged: family and community, culture and environment, sport, and gender differences. Men highlighted sport and going on walkabout as preferred types of physical activity while women preferred family-focused activities and activities and support for women's sport. Several studies found exercise was supported when in the context of family and community but was considered shameful when done only for oneself. Sport was regarded as playing an influential role in bringing communities together. Group, community, or family activities were desired forms of physical activity with the environment they are conducted in of high importance.
• The “ripple effect”: Health and community perceptions of the Indigenous Marathon Program on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait, Australia, Rona Macniven, Suzanne Plater, Karla Canuto, et al., Health Promotion Journal of Australia, Volume 29(3), pp.304-313, (2018). We examined perceptions of the Indigenous Marathon Program (IMP) in a remote Torres Strait Island community. Barriers to running in the community were personal (cultural attitudes; shyness) and environmental (infrastructure; weather; dogs). Enablers reflected potential strategies to overcome described barriers. Indigenous questionnaire respondents were more likely to report being inspired to run by IMP runners than non‐Indigenous respondents. Positive “ripple” effects of the IMP on running and broader health were described to have occurred through local role modelling of healthy lifestyles by IMP runners that reduced levels of “shame” and embarrassment, a common barrier to physical activity among Indigenous Australians. A high initial level of community readiness for behaviour change was also reported.
• Indigenous Australian women and sport: findings and recommendations from a parliamentary inquiry, Hazel Maxwell, Megan Stronach, Daryl Adair, et al., Sport in Society, Volume 20(11), pp.1500-1529, (2017). Researchers have consistently pointed to positive links between sport, physical activity, health and wellbeing amongst marginalized population groups. This paper concentrates on a group about which little is presently known in terms of these links – Indigenous women in Australia. The catalyst for this focus is twofold: demographic data that, while sparse, suggests that this group has very low levels of participation in sport and associated physical activity; and second, a recent parliamentary inquiry into Indigenous sport in which the participation of women featured in several submissions. Both data sets confirm that Indigenous women are significantly underrepresented in the Australian sporting landscape. There is no systematic knowledge about why this is so. The present study contributes to that small body of literature by considering (a) evidence about participation rates of Indigenous women in sport; and (b) the aspirations of sport organizations to attract Indigenous women into their programs.
• Perceived barriers and enablers to participation in a community-tailored physical activity program with Indigenous Australians in a regional and rural setting: a qualitative study, Ashleigh Sushames, Terry Engelberg, Klaus Gebel, International Journal for Equity in Health, Volume 16, (2017). The aim of this qualitative study was to explore perceived barriers and enablers to attending an eight-week physical activity program in a rural and regional setting which aimed to improve health outcomes, but had a low attendance rate. Overall, there were positive attitudes to, and high levels of motivation towards, the physical activity program. Enablers to participation were the inclusion of family members, no financial cost and a good relationship with the principal investigator, which was strengthened by the community-based participatory approach to the program design. Barriers to program attendance were mostly beyond the control of the individuals, such as ‘sorry business’, needing to travel away from the community and lack of community infrastructure.
• An evaluation of an Australian Aboriginal controlled-community organization’s remote sports-based programme: a qualitative investigation, Louisa Peralta, Renata Cinelli, Sport in Society, Volume 19(7), pp.973-989, (2016). Current research suggests that Aboriginal-controlled organizations should play a larger role in developing and implementing sports-based programs for Aboriginal young people. In this paper, we explore the influence of an Aboriginal-controlled organization and its government-funded remote sports-based program on Aboriginal participants and non-Aboriginal stakeholders. The Aboriginal community members and youth would appreciate the Aboriginal-controlled organization working more closely with them to improve the influence of the programme by paying respect to the local Aboriginal culture, social systems and knowledge.
• Sistas’ and Aunties: sport, physical activity, and Indigenous Australian women. Stronach, Megan, Maxwell, Hazel, Taylor, Tracy, Annals of Leisure Research, Volume 19(1), pp.7-26, (2016). Indigenous women have alarmingly low rates of participation in organized sport and physical activity (PA) in contemporary Australian society. To gain a better contextual and cultural understanding of the issues involved, we discussed the life experiences and the place of sport and PA with 22 Indigenous women. A complex amalgamation of cultural beliefs and traditions, history, gendered factors, and geography are presented in the women's stories. Sport and PA were highly regarded, providing the women with opportunities to maintain strong communities, preserve culture, and develop distinct identities as ‘enablers’. The women called for culturally safe spaces in which to engage in PA and noted the need for Indigenous females to act as role models.
• The Impact of Sport and Active Recreation Programs in an Indigenous Men’s Shed, Cavanagh, Jillian, Shaw, Amie, Bartram, Timothy, et al., Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues, Volume 18(2), pp.17-33, (2015). This exploratory study examines Indigenous mens’ participation in a sport and active recreation program in an Indigenous Men’s Shed in partnership with local providers in a remote Australian township. The study employs a qualitative case study approach and considers the perspectives of the Shed coordinator, nine Shed members, two healthcare workers, two program delivery coordinators and one community sport and recreation coordinator. The research design includes semi-structured interviews and yarning circles (focus groups). This study has confirmed the importance of sport and active recreation programs in enhancing the social connectedness, health and wellbeing of an Indigenous community.
• To play Papunya: the problematic interface between a remote Aboriginal community and the organization of Australian Football in Central Australia, Barry Judd, Tim Butcher, Sport in Society, volume 18(5), pp. 543-551, (2015). This paper outlines issues arising from engagement with the remote Aboriginal community of Papunya. Researching the relationship between the community's football club and the organization of competitive fixtures in the Central Australian Football League (CAFL), we found that contrary to popular discourse the well-being of men in Papunya may be damaged by their participation in ‘town football’. We outline the nature of the current relationship between Papunya and the CAFL and the efforts of Elders to reshape the organizational interface via the establishment of an ‘on-country’ football league. We highlight that organizational rhetoric about reconciliation and cross-cultural awareness is not enough to warrant effective working relationships with Papunya people. We argue that there is a need to move beyond recognition of difference that is embodied in such agendas to develop strategies of interface inclusive of Aboriginal understandings of football.
• The Effects of a Community and School Sport-Based Program on Urban Indigenous Adolescents’ Life Skills and Physical Activity Levels: The SCP Case Study, Louisa Peralta, Donna O’Connor, Wayne Cotton, et al., Health, Volume 6(18), pp.2469-2480, (October 2014). The primary aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a community and school sport program (SCP) on Indigenous adolescents’ life skills and physical activity levels within program sessions. A secondary aim was to determine the acceptability of the SCP. Participants in the SCP (n = 34; 89%) participated in a 10-week case study (age = 13.7 ± 1.16; 58% girls). Systematic observations of SCP sessions were conducted to determine physical activity levels and a life skills questionnaire was implemented. Acceptability measures included retention, implementation, attendance rates, and interviews with participants [n = 18] and key stakeholders [n = 6]. Systematic observations indicated that Indigenous students were engaged in MVPA for 58% of lesson time. Participants’ life skills remained unchanged. Interview data showed that Indigenous students and key stakeholders believed the SCP was acceptable. This study highlights the need for partnerships between Indigenous community organisations and schools to design sport-based programs to promote Indigenous adolescents’ MVPA.
• The community network: an Aboriginal community football club bringing people together, Alister Thorpe, Wendy Anders, Kevin Rowley, Australian Journal of Primary Health, Volume 20(4), pp.356-364, (2014). The aim of the present study was to understand the impact of an Aboriginal community sporting team and its environment on the social, emotional and physical wellbeing of young Aboriginal men, and to identify barriers and motivators for participation. Results of the interviews were consistent with the literature, with common concepts emerging around community connection, cultural values and identity, health, values, racism and discrimination. However, the interviews provided further detail around the significance of cultural values and community connection for Aboriginal people. The complex nature of social connections and the strength of Aboriginal community networks in sports settings were also evident. Social reasons were just as important as individual health reasons for participation. Social and community connection is an important mechanism for maintaining and strengthening cultural values and identity. Barriers and motivators for participation in Aboriginal sports teams can be complex and interrelated. Aboriginal sports teams have the potential to have a profound impact on the health of Aboriginal people, especially its players, by fostering a safe and culturally strengthening environment and encompassing a significant positive social hub for the Aboriginal community.
• Opportunities, Barriers, and Constraints To Physical Activity in Rural Queensland, Australia. Eley R, Bush R, Brown W, Journal of Physical Activity and Health Volume 11(1), pp.68-75, (2014). Research in six diverse rural Queensland shires found that half the respondents failed to meet Australian physical activity guidelines and 1 in 5 reported no activity. Some barriers to physical activity (i.e. family commitments) were similar to those from urban areas. Rural barriers included climate, culture of exercise, and community leadership. It was concluded that the promotion of healthy lifestyle in rural environments need to be tailored to the local community and not necessarily replicate urban programs. While this research does not specifically address Indigenous communities or individuals, a substantial proportion of the Indigenous population live in rural, regional and remote communities, and these issues are therefore likely to apply.

• Winyarr Ganbina - Women Arise, Victoria University, Outback Academy Australia, Paralympics Australia, (2022). For the first time in Australia, Victoria University in partnership with Outback Academy Australia and Paralympics Australia have recorded the experiences of Indigenous women with a disability who play sport. Provides insight and resources for sport organisations to improve access to sport for people with disability, in particular people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island backgrounds.
  • Checklist for an inclusive community sports organisation, Outback Academy Australia – Red Dust Heelers, (2022). A range of actions that sport organisations can implement to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for Indigenous people with a disability, as players and leaders in sport.
• RAP good practice guide: Demonstrating inclusive and respectful language, Reconciliation Australia, (October 2021). Using respectful and inclusive language and terminology is an essential component of reconciliation. The ways we speak about reconciliation are just as important as the ways we act: language is itself active, and can impact on attitudes, understandings and relationships in a very real and active sense. While they are guidelines only, below are some recommendations for using respectful and inclusive language and terminology throughout your RAP and other communications.
• Gippsland Indigenous Round: Information and resource kit, 2nd edition, GippSport, (2018). Indigenous rounds [sometimes called Dreamtime rounds] are a great opportunity to highlight the contribution that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make to sporting clubs and the wider community. They also provide an opportunity to work towards better understanding and reconciliation. This document is a starting point for sporting clubs considering holding an Indigenous Round event. It has been developed by GippSport's Deadly Sport Gippsland team from observations, discussions and involvement in events held during previous years.
• Many Stories, One Goal – Supporting Indigenous Footballers, AFL Players Association, (updated 2016). Resource was developed by the nine-member Indigenous Advisory Board and built from the stories and experiences of every Indigenous player in the game and key stakeholders within the industry. The policy is built around four key pillars; Induction, Professional Development, Personal Support and Our Culture – areas identified as vital to developing an environment that best supports Indigenous footballers throughout every stage of their playing career and beyond.
• Yulunga Traditional Indigenous Games, Australian Sports Commission, (accessed 19 May 2023). Yulunga means playing in the language of the Kamilaroi (Gamori) people of northern-western New South Wales. Suitable for children and adults of all ages, abilities and backgrounds, Yulunga can be used in schools around Australia as an educational resource and as a guide to inclusive, structured sport within communities.

• JMF develops a Theory of Change framework, John Moriarty Foundation/Social Impact Hub/YouTube, (2022). Working with Social Impact Hub, the John Moriarty Football (JMF) team created a theory of change and impact measurement framework. This framework enables JMF to collect the data required to demonstrate the impact we are striving to achieve in the communities we deliver to and focus our efforts on activities that will make the biggest difference.
• Strength Based Community Development, Inala Wangarra, (2019). We strive to walk alongside community during significant moments in life ensuring they are never alone, at moments of celebration and culture, and, on a day to day basis to support pride, dignity and self-determination. From babies to Elders, our young people to people living with a disability, to job training, to those needing support in the criminal justice system, from the football field to the stage and in the classroom, Wangarra is there. "You know when you’ve got strength based community based practice right, is that you don’t need a carrot or a whip. People are engaged, because it’s something that is meaningful to them and they themselves see the benefit of engagement." Speaking about the Inala Family Touch Day. [A/Professor Chelsea Bond, Inala Wangarra Board member]

• Charlie King reaches out to Himanshu Bhatia over racist comment [paywall], Nathaniel Chambers, NT News, (5 July 2023). A trio of Indigenous sporting identities has met with a Darwin umpire who was banned for a racist online comment which ‘damaged the brand’ of the sport.
• ‘It was a horrible day, looking back’: Nicky Winmar on his 1993 ‘Black and proud’ moment, Jonathan Horn, The Guardian, (30 October 2023). In a new book, the Noongar man and AFL great reflects on his childhood, football career and the racist abuse he faced.
• ‘Culture of silence’: AFL and AFLW players fearful of speaking out on racism, report finds, Mike Hytner, The Guardian, (27 June 2023). A new report has revealed many AFL and AFLW players believe a “culture of silence” permeates through the game, leaving them fearful of the potential consequences of speaking out about important issues such as racism. The report found that 77% of AFLW and 40% of AFL Indigenous or multicultural players reported not being satisfied with how a racism incident was handled once reported. The data also showed the constraints and apprehensions players encounter when it comes to expressing their views through the media. Marsh said a whisteblower service would be introduced by the union to enable players to anonymously raise their concerns in a safe way.
• AFL statement on Hawthorn independent investigation, Australian Football League, (30 May 2023). The AFL today announced outcomes in relation to the Independent Panel Investigation into allegations of inappropriate conduct at the Hawthorn Football Club. The AFL is only able to impose sanctions for breaches of AFL Rules on persons subject to the AFL Rules and respects the right of the various parties to the Investigation (and those who decided not to participate) to pursue claims in other legal forums. Today’s outcomes do not interfere with those rights. The AFL knows that during the long history of our game there have been instances of racism and that players have been marginalised, hurt or discriminated against because of their race and for that we say sorry. The AFL further commits to devoting significantly increased resources to its continuous improvement model focussed on measures to combat racism and the improvement of cultural safety of First Nations players and their families in the AFL and AFLW. We are wholeheartedly dedicated to meeting our obligations to make the game stronger and safer for all players, and we understand that requires us to continually address our structures and systems, and to this end, the AFL agrees to undertake a series of initiatives listed at the bottom of the statement. Finally, under the agreed terms for the resolution including the agreement of the Panel chairman to the immediate termination of the Independent Investigation, the AFL confirms that the Panel will not issue a report based on the information they have been provided to date.
• Lifetime bans for vilification at AFL matches, Australian Football League, (6 May 2023). The AFL has announced that people found to be responsible of vilification within the sport will receive a lifetime ban from AFL matches. Nine lifetime bans have been issued so far in the 2023 AFL Premiership season with five more currently being investigated. Prior to the start of the 2023 Season, three-year bans were in place for individuals who have been found to be guilty of racist behaviour at AFL matches. The AFL has also implemented a range of initiatives to prevent and manage vilification incidents at the community football level around Australia.
  • A full-time dedicated employee, sitting within the AFL Integrity Unit, will be appointed to investigate racism and vilification cases at the elite and community level of the game.
  • Every community coach renewing their accreditation for the 2023 season must complete an online course which highlights the harm caused by vilification and discrimination. The course is freely available to all football participants, not just coaches, through the AFL's learning platform.
  • From this season, leagues around Australia have access to an AFL-appointed panel of expert conciliators to help manage and resolve incidents of racist and other abuse in the community football sphere. A number of successful conciliations have already been held with agreed outcomes including match suspensions, apologies and directions to complete education courses.
• Collingwood's apology to Nicky Winmar, 30 years on, welcomed but the fight against racism in football goes on, Jarred Cross, National Indigenous Times, (17 April 2023). Collingwood Football Club has apologised for the racist abuse Indigenous champions Nicky Winmar and Gilbert McAdam suffered at their home ground, and for the racist comments of their former club president.
• Thirty years ago Nicky Winmar took a stand against racism. Young players continue to follow his lead, Rachael Knowles, NITV/SBS, (31 March 2023). From Josh Addo-Carr, Jamarra Ugle-Hagan and Adam Goodes, the impact of Nicky Winmar's powerful stance has rung through the ages and lifted the lid on racial abuse for Indigenous athletes. Hearing it all, Winmar then took a stand - lifting his jersey and pointing at his skin. "I'm black and I'm proud to be black," the Noongar man shouted. It was the moment that changed the game and the league, pushing the racial vilification of Indigenous athletes into the spotlight. In late June 1995, 'Rule 30' was introduced. "No player … shall act towards or speak to any other person in a manner, or engage in any other conduct which threatens, disparages, vilifies or insults another person … on the basis of that person’s race, religion, colour, descent or national or ethnic origin," it said. But, three decades on from Winmar's mighty stand, racism in the sport remains rife. The list of Indigenous players who have experienced racism in the league is long and includes the likes of Lance 'Buddy Franklin, Cyril Rioli, Bradley Hill, Michael Walters, Michael Frederick, Maurice Rioli Jnr, Robbie Young and Marlion Pickett.
• Collingwood Football Club – Do Better Update, Collingwood Football Club, (2 December 2022). Collingwood has today provided an update on its progress regarding the Club’s ongoing work following the Do Better Report
• Former Netball Australia board member Nareen Young says 'racism in netball at every level', ABC, (20 Oct 2022). A former Netball Australia board member says she is happy to detail her experiences of racism in the organisation if NA is truly committed to learning and changing.
• AFL appoints panel to investigate Hawthorn racism allegations, Nico Bucci, The Guardian, (5 October 2022). The AFL has announced a panel to investigate allegations of racism at the Hawthorn football club, but it remains unclear if the First Nations players behind the claims will participate. According to the claims made during an independent investigation commissioned by Hawthorn, players were forced into separating from their partners, and one was told to tell his partner to terminate her pregnancy. The claims were referred to the AFL integrity unit, and the panel was due to report back in December. The AFL said it expected the panel’s report, including its findings and recommendations, would be made public.
• Almost a third of Indigenous AFL athletes and players of colour experienced racism, survey finds, Emma Kemp, The Guardian, (29 September 2022). The AFL Players’ Association’s first Insights and Impact Report also found less than one-fifth of AFL players who have experienced racism in the game felt their matter was sufficiently dealt with and showed “concerning” incidences of vilification from people in the industry. The report, released on Thursday amid the disturbing allegations of the Hawthorn racism review, found that of the 92 players surveyed who identified as Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or a person of colour, 29 had experienced racism while listed as an AFL player. Of those, only 17% felt the incidents were dealt with entirely to their satisfaction while 21% felt they were “somewhat or partially” dealt with and 62% felt they were not dealt with at all. The most common incidents of racism were reported to have occurred on social media (26), with spectators at games being the next most prevalent (13), followed by when playing at community level (10), publicly (10) and in the media (4).
• Hawthorn racism review: Read the document and the seven recommendations made to the club [paywall], Herald Sun, (28 September 2022). Hawthorn has been handed seven recommendations from the report into the treatment of its First Nations players. Read the report and the key recommendations made to the club below.
• Indigenous players allegedly abused at Hawthorn should receive compensation and public apology, review recommends, Caitlin Cassidy, The Guardian, (28 September 2022). Internal cultural review published by News Corp Australia states ‘allegations of abuse, racial vilification and bullying’ could amount to human rights violations. The Cultural Safety Review found a “strong theme” during interviews with 17 First Nations people that there was “little regard” for cultural safety or family values between 2010 and 2016. The review recommends the club “develops and offers a reparation and restitution package to the victims of negligence and abuse committed to them by the identified members of the HFC football department” and that the restitution “be in the manner of financial reparations and an official public apology”.
• 'As an Indigenous AFL player, I’ve faced abuse my entire career', Chad WIngard, GQ Magazine/Hawthorne Football Club, (8 September 2022). Hawthorn player and Kaurna Ngarrindjeri man Chad Wingard has faced abuse on and off the field. In this personal essay with GQ Australia Magazine, Chad explains what needs to change - and how.
• Systemic Racism, Reflect Forward, (8 September 2022). Systemic racism runs deep throughout Australian culture and society – but what does it really mean, and how do we go about creating change?
• 6 Ways to Respond to Racism, Reflect Forward, (24 August 2022). Responding to racist comments or incidents can be challenging for everyone – those who directly experience the racism and others present. Here are six ways to help you respond.
• A deep dive into inclusive and cultural safety within netball, sportanddev.org, (13 July 2022). The Black Diamonds project – the first of its kind – reviewed the netball service delivery within Australia to ensure the policies and practices are transformed to better facilitate the engagement and retention of Aboriginal people within netball. Through yarning circles, an Aboriginal research methodology, it was discovered that one of the most common barriers that participants face within the sport of netball is discrimination and racism. Participants explained how throughout their lives, discrimination was experienced and felt in a variety of ways. Their experiences of discrimination ranged from segregation and not feeling welcome/not fitting in, to not being heard or feeling as if they do not have a safe space for feedback. Participants talked about how they would often brush off racist experiences outwardly, but inwardly would feel disrespected and isolated. The broad and life-long detrimental effects of overt and institutional racism are highly damaging, with these experiences often leading to poor mental and physical health.
• Two years on from the Jemma Mi Mi incident, Super Netball is in a better place to celebrate First Nations Round, Brittany Carter, ABC, (25 May 2022). In the aftermath of netball's missed opportunity to showcase real representation of First Nations people in the sport, many other former Indigenous players went public with their stories, exposing the ways the sport they loved had also let them down. In the two years since Mi Mi could not get on the court, Netball Australia has introduced its Declaration of Commitment and various states have taken that pledge a step further by implementing reconciliation action plans and officers, and in some cases, introducing Indigenous advisory committees. The number of First Nations players in Super Netball has risen to three this season, with Donnell Wallam making her debut at the Queensland Firebirds alongside Mi Mi, and Melbourne Vixens training partner Gabby Coffey appearing for the Collingwood Magpies under COVID protocols.
• Racism in Sport: so where to from here? Josephine Sukkar AM, Chair Australian Sports Commission, Melbourne University Pursuit, (29 September 2021). While we have made great steps forward, when the ‘rubber hits the road’ Australia is coming up short when it comes to racism in sport. This is an edited extract of Josephine Sukkar AM’s Dungala Kaiela Oration co-hosted by the Kaiela Institute and the University of Melbourne. You can watch this year’s Oration on YouTube.
• Victorian netballers exit club in latest local sport racism saga, Shahni Wellington, NITV/SBS, (21 July 2021). An abhorrent slur used by their own teammate in the A-grade competition has seen the departure of nine Aboriginal netball players in their stand against racism. There were multiple exchanges to try and rectify the situation through committee avenues, with the representative of the Indigenous playing group saying she felt "unheard" and made to be "the aggressor instead of the victim." An investigation has been concluded by the Ardmona Football Netball Club with the player in question receiving a life ban and a 'strong recommendation' that she attend Cultural safety training. Despite the outcome, the complaint process was arduous and the Indigenous players demand more to be done to stamp out racism in sport.
• A not guilty verdict at a suburban league tribunal has shone a spotlight on racism issues in club football, Russell Jackson, ABC Sport, (19 July 2021). A Heidelberg footballer was found not guilty of racially abusing Bundoora's Indigenous star Kain Proctor. Indigenous footballers say racial abuse is not being taken seriously enough by the Northern Football Netball League. Incidents of racial abuse have been all too frequent in senior and junior ranks.
• Why we're not doing better at racism in sport, Karen Farquharson, Ramon Spaaij, Melbourne University Pursuit, (4 February 2021). Collingwood isn’t the only club where racism is part of the culture, but the AFL club’s report highlights the ongoing problems of dismantling racism in Australian sport. Having done extensive research with community sports clubs, it’s clear that racism is a feature of sport that is present from the start of many athletes’ careers. For those experiencing racism, they must weigh up the likelihood that their complaint will be received well, the likelihood that the racism will stop as a result of the complaint, and the career damage that complaining will cause. In our research, the costs of making a complaint was almost always considered too high. Dismantling racism cannot be the responsibility of those on the receiving end. It’s everyone’s responsibility, especially white people (this is where Collingwood failed spectacularly). White players and staff should notice and speak out when racism is present. Bystander intervention is one of the most effective ways to combat racism and reduces the risk of repercussions for its victims.
• Collingwood's 'Do Better Report' released, Collingwood Football Club, (1 February 2021). The CFC DO BETTER REPORT is an independent review that challenges Collingwood to take a leadership position in Australian sport by confronting racism. It also urges Collingwood to use its past to inform its future and to drive change in our game and, more broadly, our nation.
• Collingwood Football Club is guilty of systemic racism, review finds, Tracey Holmes, The Ticket/ABC Sport, (1 February 2021). While reference was made to claims of racism across the AFL more generally, Collingwood's history with racism was described as "distinct and egregious", with the club's leadership, "particularly its board", needing to drive structural change.
• Racism is not just a sporting matter, it is a matter for all Australians, Tracey Holmes, The Ticket/ABC Sport, (12 January 2021). Why does sport have such a problem with racism? It's a question we hear all the time, but it's the wrong one. It happens in sport because sport is part of who we are. Sport is not separate to the schools we go to, the workplaces we are employed by or the suburbs we live in. We often hear about sport being in the "DNA of the country". Racism happens in Australian sport because there is racism in Australia.
• Racism in Australian netball ended my career before it even began, Celeste Carnegie, IndigenousX/The Guardian, (24 September 2020). The racism I experienced came in many forms, and always in waves. Sometimes in the form of micro-aggressions, other times in the form of gaslighting my experiences, and more than a few times in direct language and actions. I experienced ostracising by my teammates and racist remarks disguised as attempted failed jokes.
• Racial abuse is rife in junior sports – and little is being done to address it, Karen Farquharson, Ramon Spaaij, Ruth Jeanes, The Conversation, (14 June 2019). The AFL and its clubs have finally issued an apology to two-time Brownlow Medallist Adam Goodes for their handling of the relentless racist booing that marred his last year of football in 2015. This apology is welcome, though certainly overdue. Despite its failures to adequately address Goodes’ situation at the time – and its subsequent delay in apologising – the AFL has actually been considered a leader in Australian sport for its efforts to stamp out racism among players. The AFL’s approach to managing racial vilification has been adopted throughout Australian sport, including at the community level. But it may be surprising to hear that these efforts to tackle racism on the field have been largely ineffective in junior sport. And it is at junior sport level where children learn the norms, values and practices around what is and is not acceptable behaviour. According to our interviews, the most effective way to address racist taunts by players was for their own teammates to call it out. In more extreme cases, some of the teams we surveyed refused to continue the match if a player was being vilified. This had an immediate effect – the racist behaviour stopped and didn’t start again.
• Eddie Betts and racism in sport: it’s not enough to just not join in, Keith Parry, The Conversation, (23 August 2016). Sport can be a driver for change; it can make a difference in people’s lives and unify communities, particularly around national successes. But it can also create tensions and cause conflict. Significantly, while Port Adelaide banned its banana-throwing fan, she was also invited to take part in the club’s Aboriginal cultural awareness programs, run by its Aboriginal players. Betts has supported this move, and educating offenders – and wider Australian society – as to why this behaviour is unacceptable and the impacts it has must be part of the solution. Players are increasingly taking a stand and not accepting racial (and other) abuse. Fans should follow their examples.
• Racism in sport in Australia, Wikipedia, (accessed 18 May 2023). Racism in sport in Australia has a long history as stated by the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Includes a list of cases related to racial vilification in Australian sport. In several of the cases, there was no racial vilification proved. The list concentrates on cases at the elite level of sport relating to athletes, spectators and commentators but there is anecdotal evidence of racism in community sport. These cases consequently received wide media coverage. There appears an increase in cases related to fans either at sporting events or through social media.

• Black and proud the story of an iconic AFL photo, Matthew Klugman and Gary Osmond, NewSouth, (2013). It is one of Australia's most iconic images. On 17 April 1993, the Indigenous AFL footballer Nicky Winmar stood up against racial abuse and made history. Facing the Collingwood crowd that had taunted him all day the St Kilda player pulled up his shirt, pointed to his chest and declared: 'I'm black and I'm proud to be black'. Published the next day, the photos of Winmar's gesture sparked an intense debate that forced the AFL, the fans and the nation to confront their prejudices head-on. Black and Proud takes us behind the searing image to the stories of those who made it happen - the Indigenous.
• Indigenous People, Race Relations and Australian Sport, Christopher J. Hallinan, Barry Judd (editors), Routledge, (2013). This book investigates the many ways that Indigenous Australians have engaged with Australian sports and the racial and cultural readings that have been associated with these engagements. Questions concerning the importance that sports play in constructions of Australian indigeneities and the extent to which these have been maintained as marginal to Australian national identity are the central critical themes of this book.

• Guide to addressing spectator racism in sports, Australian Human Rights Commission, (2021). These Guidelines are intended to promote best practice responses to spectator racism at the professional sporting level. They identify actions that can be taken consistently across sporting codes to ensure that spectators, officials, and players are safe, and aware of what to do and how to respond to incidents of spectator racism. They also propose proactive measures to prevent racism from occurring in the first place. To accompany the release of the Guidelines, the Commission has developed a suite of resources to support their implementation. These resources are a guide only and are designed to be adapted by sporting organisations for their particular context.
  • Racial Discrimination Policy Template
  • Checklist for creating anti-social behaviour reporting mechanisms
  • Guidelines for working with a trauma-informed approach
  • Information on support services for targets of racism
  • Guide to racism complaints handling policy
  • Material to support the Member Protection Policy
  • Guide to bystander intervention
  • Guiding principles for promoting the Spectator Racism Guidelines
  • Definitions of key terms
• Collingwood's 'Do Better' report: 6 practical take-aways for grassroots sports clubs, Tarik Bayrakli, Club Respect, (2021). 6 pivotal steps for your club to tackle racism and promote inclusion: Doing the work - Getting started; Club identity - What’s acceptable? What’s unacceptable? Speaking up - Raising issues around the club; Excellence - Winning and success; Inclusion - The “business case”; Community leadership - Being fair.

• Racism: It Stops with Me. The national Australian Human Rights Commission and Play by the Rules campaign to raise awareness of racism in society has used high profile sportsmen and women such as Adam Goodes to promote key messages through multiple media channels.
• Safeguarding hotline. Sport Integrity Australia have implemented a range of policies, such as a confidential reporting hotline, aimed at safeguarding athletes at all levels from racial abuse. The hotline - 1800 161 361 - has been created for members to share their story about issues they have experienced in sport, which includes wider racial and cultural issues in sport. It operates from 7am-7pm, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
• Reflect Forward is a joint-movement between racism education company One Love Australia and the Australian sports industry. It’s about starting an ongoing conversation about racism in sport, and working towards eliminating it at all levels throughout Australia. It’s backed by athletes, national sporting organisations and players’ associations who want to commit to making meaningful change in eliminating racism in Australia. Many campaigns or initiatives have preceded this movement, they’ve focused on awareness and education - we go one step further by building measurable impact into our long term model that is aimed at meeting people where they’re at in their racism education journey.
• #DOMORE is a call to action for Australians wanting to be more informed, more educated, and more engaged in challenging racism. The #DoMore Project will use the stories of Australians of all backgrounds to challenge existing beliefs and raise awareness of the impact of racism. By understanding how we can all do more, we’ll help create an equal future for all Australians.
• Show Racism the Red Card [UK]. Established in January 1996 Show Racism the Red Card (SRtRC) is the UK’s leading anti-racism educational charity. To this day SRtRC continues to utilise the high-profile status of football and football players to help tackle racism in society and has also expanded into other sports. The majority of the campaign’s work involves the delivery of educational workshops to young people and adults in schools, workplaces and at events held in football stadiums. Across the UK, SRtRC provides educational sessions to more than 50,000 individuals per year. In addition to the direct education of young people and adults, SRtRC produces educational resources, to challenge misconceptions, stereotypes and negative attitudes in society.

• Insights & Impact Report: Edition 3, AFL Players Association, (May 2024). Report highlights that racisim continues to be an issue within the industry.
  • 42% of AFLM, and 23% of AFLW First Nations or multicultural players had experienced racism while playing in their respective competitions.
  • 26% of Indigenous and multicultural AFL and AFLW players reported facing racial vilification via social media channels.
  • The AFLPA, clubs and the AFL have taken a range of steps in recent years to make it clear that abuse of players is unacceptable in our game, including public denunciations of racism, banning fans from games, and revoking club memberships.
  • Satisfaction among players regarding the response to racist incidents is notably higher for those that occur in public forums and on social media - with 47% of players impacted through those channels being “entirely” satisfied with the response, compared to only 22% of players being “entirely” satisfied by the response to other sources of racism.
  • 14% of AFLW and 32% of AFLM players rated racism as one of the most significant societal issues facing Australian footballers in 2023.
  • Social media and in public were the most frequently reported sources of racism occurrences.
• Physical activity and the social and emotional wellbeing of First Nations people, Macniven R, Tishler X, McKeon G, et al., Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, catalogue number IMH 021, (December 2023). Summarises existing evidence on the relationship between physical activity and First Nations SEWB. It describes the policy context and actions, as well as program approaches implemented with First Nations adults and children in Australia. It takes the form of a scoping review of academic research and grey literature, including governmental reports and policy documents. The article focuses on the strengths of First Nations people’s experiences and knowledge and concludes with a summary of the key messages from this report that are essential for understanding First Nations physical activity participation and SEWB. Includes summaries of several programs and initiatives that include sport as a vehicle for engagement in physical activity.
  • What works * Culturally safe physical activity programs that are community-led and adopt First Nations values act as key facilitators of engagement in programs. * Enhancing cultural identity through engagement in physical activity that has a cultural focus, and that fosters connections with family and kinship, enriches SEWB outcomes. * Other facilitators of physical activity participation include support from family and friends, and opportunities to connect with community or culture. * First Nations community involvement increases program effectiveness, relevance and sustainability.
  • What doesn’t work * Programs that do not centre First Nations ways of knowing, being and doing are unlikely to be well received or effective. Generally, these programs have barriers that impede program participation and subsequently hinder potential improvements in SEWB. * These barriers include insufficient transportation, time inefficiency, high program costs, and conflicting family and community commitments. * Racism can act as a deterrent for First Nations people to participate in available programs, services and initiatives that enhance SEWB.
• Insights & Impact Report: Edition 2, AFL Players Association, (June 2023). Report highlights that racisim continues to be an issue within the industry with little change since the first edition of the Report. Anecdotally, many AFL and AFLW players feel threatened by potential consequences of speaking out and believe that a culture of silence pervades throughout the industry.
  • 77% of AFLW and 40% of AFL indigenous/ multicultural players reported not being satisfied with how a racism incident was handled once reported.
  • 32% of responding Indigenous and multicultural AFL players, and 30% of responding Indigenous and multicultural AFLW players having experienced racism.
  • 14% of respondents reporting experiencing racism in the past 12 months.
  • 15% of AFLW and 43% of AFL players rated racism as the MOST significant societal issue facing AFL footballers in 2021.
  • Social media and in public were the most frequently reported sources of racism occurrences.
• Holding up a mirror to cricket, The Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket (ICEC), (June 2023). In November 2020, the ECB announced its intention to establish a Commission “to assist the ECB Board in assessing the evidence of inequalities and discrimination of all forms within cricket, and the actions needed to tackle these issues.” The ICEC was then established in March 2021. The problems we identify are not, sadly, unique to cricket. In many instances they are indicative of equally deeply rooted societal problems and so whilst our headline finding is necessarily blunt, we consider the fact that the ECB proactively initiated this process and opened itself up to independent scrutiny is both positive and brave. The evidence is unequivocal: racism is a serious issue in cricket. We are clear, as a Commission, that racism in cricket is not confined to ‘pockets’ or ‘a few bad apples’, nor is it limited to individual incidents of misconduct (i.e., interpersonal racism). In our opinion, the cumulative picture of evidence demonstrates that racism, in all its forms, continues to shape the experience of, and opportunities for, many in the game. Whilst 50% of all respondents described experiencing discrimination in the previous five years, the figures were 87% of people with Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage, 82% of people with Indian heritage, and 75% of all Black respondents.  The report also highlights the demographics of cricket as overwhelmingly white, male, and from private schools. As such, the evidence points to the fact that often those from ethnically diverse communities are not afforded the same opportunities, the same recognition and the same support as their White counterparts in any aspects of the game (i.e., leadership, participation, coaching, etc.).
• Insights & Impact Report: Edition 1, AFL Players Association, (September 2022). Report highlights that racisim continues to be an issue within the industry.
  • Of the 92 players that identified as Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or as a person of colour, almost a third (29) reported having experienced racism while listed as an AFL player: 15 within the past 12 months, 13 within the past 2-5 years, 8 longer than 5 years ago.
  • Players reported the most common instances of racism as occurring on social media. However, more concerning were reported incidences of vilification from people within the industry.
  • Of the players who experienced incidences of racism, only 17% felt that these were dealt with entirely to their satisfaction. This disappointing response highlights an area of future focus for the industry.
  • From the broader playing group sample, survey responses indicate that AFL players are confident they know how to recognise and react when they see or hear racism at their club or while playing AFL; 81% being entirely confident and 17% being somewhat confident.
  • Despite these high levels of confidence, 57% of players would welcome more support, tools and/or education to equip them in confidently responding to incidents of racism when they occur.
• Black Diamonds Report, Glass Jar, (April 2022). The first of its kind, the Black Diamonds Project reviews the netball service delivery to ensure that the policies and systems of netball in Western Australia are transformed to better facilitate the engagement and retention of Aboriginal people to the sport of netball. This review took place between February 2021 and February 2022. The dominant method of data collection was Yarning Circles, a uniquely Aboriginal methodology, with four stakeholder groups, across two phases. The most common barrier that participants face within netball is discrimination and racism. Discrimination was experienced and felt in terms of unfair calls made by umpires; non-selection for teams and selection criteria; not many black girls on teams; exclusive, segregated groups or not feeling welcome/not fitting in; not being heard or not having a safe space for feedback; and a lack of understanding of circumstances. Many participants talked about institutionalized or systemic racism, which prevented Aboriginal people from getting ahead in the pathway. Several participants mentioned racism from individuals that was “casual” or “outright”. For example, one participant spoke about how she was presented with an award for being the “Token Black” (this is literally what it said on the certificate) by her Association. Participants talked about how they would often brush off racist experiences outwardly, but inwardly would feel disrespected and isolated. Many of the experiences that relate to discrimination and racism are also linked with other barriers, in particular Cliques, Purple Circles, and Politics; Lack of support; Communication; Socio-economic Situation and Self Confidence and Shyness.
• Are We One?: The Ontario University Athletics Anti-Racism Report, Joseph, J., Razack, S., McKenzie, B., IDEAS Research Lab, University of Toronto, (October 2021). A research study led by Dr. Janelle Joseph and the Indigeneity, Diaspora, Equity, and Anti-racism in Sport (IDEAS) Research Lab to discover the OUA racial demographics, experiences and knowledge of racism, and strategies for change. Findings: Stop believing racism is only at another school or on another team. Racism is part of every OUA program. Racism can be obvious/overt or subtle/hidden. Hiring and recruitment can be unfair, leaving out excellent racialized student athletes, coaches, and administrators who can bring success to Ontario universities. Not every community member understands what racism is, or how white privilege operates, and many athletes suffer silently. Most institutions lack transparent anti-racism policies and reporting processes. Overwhelmingly, the examples shared by student athletes, coaches, and sport administrators fall into the category of ‘microaggressions’. These are “the brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioural, and environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial, gender, sexual-orientation, and religious slights and insults to the target person or group” (Sue, 2010, p. 5). The gestures, jokes, or mistreatment described below were (at times) indirect; nevertheless, they are deeply felt by racialized members of the community and perpetuate exclusion.
• Do Better — Independent review into Collingwood Football Club’s responses to Incidents of Racism and Cultural Safety in the Workplace, Professor Larissa Behrendt, Professor Lindon Coombes, UTS, (2020). This is not a review to determine whether racism had been perpetrated against individuals at Collingwood. On the extensive evidence on the public record and in our conversations with staff, players, ex-players and supporters, it is clear that players and fans have experienced incidents of racism and that Collingwood’s response to these incidents has been at best ineffective, or at worst exacerbated the impact of the racist incidents. The continual failures in this regard speak to a systemic racism within the Collingwood Football Club that must be addressed if things are to change. To this end, this review is focused on the responses of the Collingwood Football Club to incidents of racism and cultural safety in the workplace and the adequacy of the processes for addressing it.
• Gari Yala (Speak the Truth): Centreing the experiences of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians at work, Diversity Council Australia/Jumbunna Institute, (2020). Gari Yala, which means ‘speak the truth’ in the Wiradjuri language, is based on a survey 1,033 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander workers across Australia and reveals some shocking realities about experiences of racism, the lack of cultural safety and identity strain experienced by Indigenous people across Australian workplaces. The report reveals that Indigenous employees continue to experience significant workplace racism and exclusion and that racism is impacting wellbeing and job satisfaction. The report also provides ten truths for organisations to improve workplace inclusion for Indigenous staff based in evidence and designed for workplaces that are ready to listen to Indigenous staff, and willing to act on what they tell them.
• Indigenous Australians’ participation in sports and physical activities: Part 1, Literature and AusPlay data review, ORC International prepared for the Australian Sports Commission, (May 2017). This report includes a summary of the key drivers and barriers of Indigenous participation explored in the AusPlay data, and summarised from the recent literature. The main barriers to participation referred to in the literature fell broadly under the following categories: Other commitments, especially to family or community; Personal illness or injury; Financial; Access; Safety or comfort; Different cultural construct of sport and physical activity; and Racism. Feelings about what was culturally appropriate, or different cultural preferences for “the way physical activities are constructed and organised, the spaces they take place in and the times they occur,” meant that some Indigenous people did not want to do certain sports and physical activities. Racism can act as a barrier both in preventing Indigenous people taking up a sport or physical activity, or continuing to participate.
• What's the Score? A survey of cultural diversity and racism in Australian sport, Paul Oliver, Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, (2007). This section of What’s the Score? provides a summary of reports, census’, surveys and publications related to the level of participation in sport by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse backgrounds (CALD). There are a significant number of barriers faced by Indigenous and CALD people with regards to participation in sport. Potential threat, or experience, of discrimination or racism was one of the significant barriers to participation identified by the report.

• Simple rules for creating and sustaining an anti-racist sport and exercise organisation, John F. T. Fernandes, Craig Brown, NiCole R. Keith, et al., International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics, (7 January 2025). In the sporting world, a significant burden and labour is placed on athletes of colour to make strides towards anti-racism. However, every individual working with the sport and exercise industry must act to condemn and eradicate racism. Sport and exercise organisations are in an opportune place to contribute to anti-racism efforts because of their wide reach, yet there is a need for clear advice on how to make change. Therefore, we provide commentary on 10 simple ‘rules’ that can support sport and exercise organisations in creating and sustaining an anti-racism.
• Across field and classroom: The activism of Adam Goodes and the role of Australian teachers in tackling racism, Sam Schulz, Faye Rosas Blanch, Sam Elliott, Chapter 14 in 'Athlete Activism: Contemporary perspectives', Rory Magrath (ed.), Routledge, (2021). AFL offers a microcosm for examining broader social relations, and the 2019 documentary The Final Quarter offers insights into Australian racism on and off the field. The film follows the final years of First Nations Australian Adam Goodes’ playing career as he campaigns for racial justice while enduring the racial vilification of spectators, media and key figures in the AFL. The creators have made it free to Australian schools with a suite of resources in hopes that teachers will willingly teach about racism. However, anti-racism platforms struggle for legitimacy within the context of Australian schooling and choosing to teach about racism is optional. In this chapter, we discuss a qualitative study of pre-service teachers’ interpretations of the film and fundamental beliefs about teaching. This is set against a backdrop of post-racism that allows patent racism to masquerade as logic, making anti-racism activism slippery and urgent. We advocate in favour of cross-sectorial anti-racism alliances.
• Empowering Indigenous Networks: Collaborative Governance and the Development of a Racial Vilification Code in the Australian Football League, Lionel Frost, Pieter Van Dijk, Andrea Kirk-Brown, The International Journal of the History of Sport, Volume 38(5), pp.472-491, (2021). Few Indigenous Australians played Australian Rules football at the elite level before the 1980s. As the number of Indigenous players increased, a network of those who refused to accept on-field racial vilification developed. Opportunities for change were also seized by the Australian Football League, through a collaborative governance approach that empowered Indigenous players to inform strategies for reconciliation and education, and the development of anti-vilification rules. The case provides information about how governance structures may generate resources that improve socio-economic outcomes for indigenous and other disadvantaged people.
• Managing Racism on the Field in Australian Junior Sport, Karen Farquharson, Ramón Spaaij, Sean Gorman, et al., in 'Relating Worlds of Racism', palgrave macmillan, (2018). Junior sport is a popular activity for children under the age of 18. However there have been few analyses of the extent that racism is experienced in junior sport, or how sports clubs manage it. Farquharson, The authors investigate how junior sports clubs in Victoria, Australia manage experiences of racism during matches. Through an in-depth analysis of interviews with over one hundred players, parents, coaches and volunteers across nine junior sports clubs, they argue that structural and cultural factors result in the maintenance of an on-field sporting culture where racism is essentially tolerated, even when lip service is given to its inappropriateness. Both the official and the informal processes for managing racial abuse reinforce the marginalisation of non-White players while reinforcing the normativity of Whiteness in Australian sport.
• AFL Rule 35 – The Biggest Game in Town: An analysis of the AFL’s vilification policy. Sean Gorman, Dean Lusher and Keir Reeves, The Footy Almanac, (2 June 2016). This introductory paper lays the foundation for this important work. This is the first time that a multidisciplinary, systematic study has been conducted into the Australian Football League’s (AFL) Rule 35 (1) – the first code of conduct introduced by an elite sporting organization in the world to deal with racial, religious and sexual vilification. Social and sport history in Australia will be discussed to further contextualize the importance of the research. For more information see Sport in Society, Volume 19(4), (2016).
• The community network: an Aboriginal community football club bringing people together, Alister Thorpe, Wendy Anders, Kevin Rowley, Australian Journal of Primary Health, Volume 20(4), pp.356-364, (2014). The aim of the present study was to understand the impact of an Aboriginal community sporting team and its environment on the social, emotional and physical wellbeing of young Aboriginal men, and to identify barriers and motivators for participation. Results of the interviews were consistent with the literature, with common concepts emerging around community connection, cultural values and identity, health, values, racism and discrimination. Barriers and motivators for participation in Aboriginal sports teams can be complex and interrelated. Aboriginal sports teams have the potential to have a profound impact on the health of Aboriginal people, especially its players, by fostering a safe and culturally strengthening environment and encompassing a significant positive social hub for the Aboriginal community.

• National Anti-Racism Framework, Australian Human Rights Commission, (2024). The Framework contains 63 recommendations for a whole of society approach to eliminating racism, with proposed reforms across Australia’s legal, justice, health, education, media and arts sectors as well as workplaces and data collection.
  • Recommendation 33. Australian governments fund public awareness and education on anti-racism for the community sporting sector, in partnership with the Australian Sports Commission.
• Victoria's anti-racism strategy 2024-2029, Victorian Government, (2024). This strategy is the Victorian Government's 5-year plan to tackle racism and discrimination so we can build a safer, fairer and more inclusive state. This strategy focuses on ensuring all Victorians, including government and institutions, are central to efforts to prevent racism and discrimination in our state. It outlines how we can acknowledge, prevent and address racism and discrimination in schools, workplaces, government services and daily interactions.
  • As part of the consultation process people reported that public places like parks, streets, shopping centres and public transport are common settings for racism. Experiences included witnessing or experiencing racism in public and community sport settings.
  • People faced racism at sporting events from other players or spectators. Officials and community club staff were not always able or willing to step in. A 2022 survey of Victorians found that 29% of people identified racism in sport as a big problem, with racial vilification often justified as a form of ‘sledging’ to put players off their game. Racism is also common in junior sports involving children and young people, with racial abuse often not well managed by clubs and victims expected to ‘toughen up’.
  • A Key Action under Goal 1: Racist attitudes, behaviours and beliefs are recognised, challenged and rejected, is to deliver anti-racism campaigns in sport to drive behaviour change.

• Anti-racism, Australian Sports Commission, (accessed 16 October 2024). Explore a range of resources, courses, videos and podcasts and learn from the experiences of organisations who are leading the charge to remove racism from sport.
  • Anti-Racism – Dealing with the moment [online course], Australian Sports Commission, (2024). The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) partnered with anti-racism organisation Reflect Forward to design this course. It aims to help community coaches, umpires, participants and volunteers to deal with racism in the moment it occurs.

• Racism. It Stops with Me [video playlist], Australian Human Rights Commission, YouTube, (2013-2023).
• Allira Toby and Emma Ilijoski talk about racism, Reflect Forward, YouTube, (17 May 2022).
• Josh Lalor and Rachael Haynes talk about racism, Reflect Forward, YouTube, (28 April 2022).
• Dungala Kaiela Oration 2021 with Josephine Sukkar AM, University of Melbourne, YouTube, (29 September 2021). The Dungala Kaiela Oration is co-hosted annually by the Kaiela Institute and the University of Melbourne. Ms Sukkar’s oration will talk to the undeniable power within the infrastructure of sport in Australia to harness and channel the passion of the Australian people. She will highlight the willingness and ability within sporting infrastructure to tackle the insidious issue of institutional racism and to be a critical cornerstone in creating a healthy, vibrant nation we can all be proud to contribute to.
• Taking a Stand Against Racism in Sport, Vicsport, YouTube, (8 March 2019). The key message in this video is about how sport unites Aboriginal people and the impact racism has in sport.
• Equality and Inclusion in Sport, Vicsport, YouTube, (8 March 2019). Storytelling is at the heart of Aboriginal culture. This video involves the Prahran Junior Football Club hosting a Dreamtime Match in July 2018.