ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the role sport plays in the social world in Australia. Despite the position of sport in Australian popular culture, the sociology of sport developed relatively slowly. Participation in sports has both positive and negative aspects. Rugby Union, one of many sports played in Australia today, originated in nineteenth-century England in elite private schools whose aim was to empower students and create an idealised form of masculinity. When played by the lower classes, particularly Indigenous populations, the aims were valued for their controlling and civilising mechanisms. Biological deterministic thinking is often used to explain the success of Black athletes in certain sports rather than considering how they may be positioned in the wider society. The chapter examines the history of girls and women in sport in Australia and how gender ideologies and expectations have shaped their opportunities. Gender equity initiatives have attempted to support and encourage greater participation in sport for women and girls. Despite the success of women in sport at the elite level, nevertheless the gendered struggle in sport is ongoing.
