ABSTRACT
The participation of large numbers of Indigenous players in Australian professional football is a relatively recent phenomenon. Prior to the 1970s participation was, at best, limited. This paper identifies the underlying assumptions, shared values, beliefs and ideologies that have been held by the chief recruiters of elite teams. Football club recruiters are ideal subjects because, more than any other group of persons, they are gatekeepers of the game at the elite level. Furthermore, many have served in this generalized role over a long period of time. Recruiters were interviewed to understand how the recruiting strategies involving Indigenous players have changed. We investigated the interpretive frameworks that have been used by recruiting working staff, and to identify some of the complex dynamics that have enabled a shift from a blunt exclusion to a form of participation characterized by Stuart Hall as ‘inferential racism’. An analysis of factors that facilitate narratives and aligned opportunities for Indigenous players revealed that several themes permeate the language of recruiters.
