ABSTRACT
Since the 1970s, the Australian-Asian sport relationship has intensified and has developed greater depth. There have been an increasing number of tours to and from Asia, Australian involvement in Asian competitions, player exchanges, Australian investment in Asia and vice versa, as well as coach and information exchange. Australian players and spectators have become more familiar with Asian sport and what it means to play in Asia and against Asian players. Australian sport, as a result of globalization, has become more closely tied to Asian sport and this interconnectedness is likely to increase in the future. The greater involvement of Australian sport in Asia has had subtle changes in the imaging of Australian sport as a result of an increasing prominence of ‘multiculturality’ and ‘polyethnicity’. It remains to be seen whether this increasing awareness of ‘each other’ will necessarily result in greater cultural understanding or lesser stereotyping on both sides.
