Play On! The Hidden History of Women鈥檚 Australian Rules Football
Brunette Lenki膰 and Rob Hess
Echo Publishing 2016,
324 pages
In a landmark development, the first national women鈥檚 Australian Football competition 鈥 AFL Women鈥檚 鈥 will be launched next February. But a century ago, attitudes to women playing the game were very different.
Sports
聽The protests by professional sports players in the United States during 鈥淭he Star-Spangled Banner鈥 have spread since NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick sparked the controversial movement in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in August by refusing to stand for the anthem before games. The protests have spread, with other NFL players joining in as well as sportspeople from soccer and volleyball.
Kurdish footballer Deniz Naki has been indicted by a Turkish court on 鈥渢errorist propaganda鈥 charges for sharing posts on Facebook and Twitter about Turkey鈥檚 destruction of Kurdish cities and killing of civilians and militants.
Naki, who plays as a striker and playmaker for Kurdish team Amedspor, in Turkey鈥檚 Second League, will face up to five years in prison if found guilty. Amedspor are based in Diyarbak谋r, the unofficial capital of Turkish Kurdistan.
In a dramatic depiction of the vast differences in resources and respect between men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 sport, a report by the Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) has laid bare the woeful pay and conditions for W-League football (soccer) players.
AAP reported on September 23 that he report by the PFA, the union representing Australian footballers, surveyed almost two-thirds of W-League players last season. The report suggests players could walk away from the game because of the financial strain.
On September 11 in the United States, a small group of National Football League players risked their careers, their endorsements and their livelihoods. They did so through the simple act of refusal.
Explaining why he refused to stand for the 鈥淪tar Spangled Banner鈥 before a preseason game on August 26, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick said: 鈥淚 am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour.
鈥淚 am absolutely convinced that history will talk of the Rio de Janeiro before the Games and the much better Rio de Janeiro after the Olympic Games,鈥 said Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee.
Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Visa and the rest of the corporate sponsors of the August 5鈥21 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro won't be paying any taxes on the money they earn due to a tax exemption law that is set to cost Brazil hundreds of millions of dollars.
South African runner Caster Semenya won the women's 800m at the Rio Olympics in the fifth fastest time in Olympic history. Her win, and the from the runners she beat, has drawn renewed attention to the problems facing international sports bodies as they struggle to maintain strict segregation by biological sex.
Chanting 鈥淚 love Celtics鈥, Palestinians have released a video praising the fans of Scottish football team Celtic FC for 鈥渙ne of the biggest solidarity actions in European football history鈥.
The first Black football player for English club Liverpool, Howard Gayle, said he declined a nomination for the Member of the British Empire (MBE) honour because he felt he would be betraying his Black ancestors who suffered oppression at the hands of British colonialism.
There is joy in Olympic Rio, make no mistake about it. Maybe it takes two hours to travel 25 miles across the city; and maybe only 15% of the Olympic decorations were delivered; and maybe there are more soldiers on the ground, per capita, than the United States had in Iraq at the height of Bush鈥檚 war; but there is joy.
- Previous page
- Page 11
- Next page