Brad is in Chelmsford. Soon, he’ll have a route named after him. It will be called the “Brad Wood Chignals Loop with Extra Part Anniversary Trail”. The distance is 16.01km and it is to be run in precisely 4:42minutes per kilometre. A divergence of more than 10% on this pace disqualifies one from having completed…
I went to the footy on Thursday night. I left my house, turned right and walked towards the light towers. There were no other pedestrians about. There was no queue at the traffic lights in front of the bicycle shop. I didn’t see anyone parking their car urgently and with a bunch of children scrambling to put their scarves and beanies on. I was wearing my light brown cotton jacket: the same jacket I wore, adorned with player badges, on the day we won the 2017 Grand Final and the night we lost the 2018 preliminary final to Cox, Treloar, de Goey et al.
The river which runs through Melbourne is one of the city’s key geographical assets. It has been transformed and damaged since colonisation and invasion. These days it is a site for sporting and leisurely rowing. Its banks are a vital pathway for commuter cyclists and recreational joggers.
How are the tensions between cultural heritage and sportized landscapes negotiated? What are the implications of the sportization (sportification) upon the landscape?
Australian Rules Football, the national game of Australia, is linked strongly with hetero-normative values. The game at its elite level, is dominated by men. The game’s legendary players – Jack Dyer, Ron Barrassi, Leigh Matthews, Dermott Brereton, Luke Hodge etc – played the role of physical enforcers as well as exhibiting some of the best…
Manipulating the ball is a long-tradition in cricket, but, even the Australian cricket public couldn’t stomach the cheating of their national team. The culprits sought redemption through dramatic displays of grovelling and tears.
There is a book, Swimming Studies, by a Canadian author Leanne Shapton, which documents her notes on swimming and the shapes of pools she swims in. The book also contains photographs of the swim-suits she has collected over time as a swimmer – both serious and recreational. She writes of the smells of pools and…
Melbourne promotes itself as not only the world’s most liveable city, but also one of the world’s premier sporting cities. The 2006 Commonwealth Games, however, was a moment in which the city’s Indigenous ownership and history was asserted through the Camp Sovereignty protests in King’s Domain.