ABSTRACT
New social forces exerted intense pressures on the surf lifesaving movement in the 1970s. Clubs struggled to recruit teenagers who saw no merit in marching drills and coercive military-style methods of discipline. Women auxiliaries increasingly demanded full admission, including the right to patrol beaches and compete in sporting events. Advances in technology - inflatable rescue boats (lRBs) and torpedo buoys - rendered obsolete traditional methods of patrolling and rescue. Lifesaver athletes discovered the commercial potential of their sports. Collectively these conditions changed the fundamental nature and structure of surf lifesaving. Most noticeably, they eroded the traditional fratriarchal culture of lifesaving and demanded that members involved in professional ifesaving sports adopt new attitudes.
