ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the narrative of race and identity in Australian sports culture; specifically, the campaign of Indigenous footballers that developed in the 1990s to end racial abuse in Australian Rules football. It considers key aspects of this campaign and its aftermath, the racial politics of identity it unfolded, and the important role played by the media. The chapter also investigates what this campaign has revealed about the operations of a traditional ‘code’ of Australian culture—namely racism, and the effect, if any, that the Indigenous players’ campaign may have had in challenging it. In Australian popular culture the most powerful, performative myths concern sport, and sporting heroes. The links between sport and national identity in Australian culture, and the important role sport has played in the developing mythology of the colonial nation – robust, egalitarian, fair-minded, and harmonious—are frequently cited as fundamental.
