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Abstract
The way the Australian sport system arrested its unrelenting decline in the 1970s to become a model of best practice perplexes many countries. This essay aims to give an insight into the way the system was transformed and became successful. The essay reviews the decline, and then the evolution and devolution of the system, and analyses the stakeholders involved, and the inter relationships developed to achieve success. The study is based on a document analysis examining 74 annual reports from 35 national sporting organizations over a period of four years, before and after the Sydney Olympic Games. The results of the study show that in the face of financial instability and an over-reliance on government funding, sport stakeholders sought alternative sources of income, amalgamated or worked in collaboration with other stakeholders, and/or opted for intra-organizational cooperation. The sport system in Australia has proven resilient and able to adapt to an ever-changing environment via the cooperation of its stakeholders and their willingness to work together towards a common goal.
Notes
1 Australian Sports Commission, Annual Report 2005–2006.
2 CitationAustralian Sports Commission, Strategic Plan 2006–2009, Department of Communications Information Technology and the Arts Funding Boost for Australian Sports, Senator Rhn Rod Kemp.
3 CitationBloomfield, ‘The Contribution of Sports Science’.
4 CitationCuskelly, ‘Volunteer Retention in Community Sport Organisations’.
5 CitationLeach, Political Ideologies.
6 CitationGreen and Oakley, ‘Elite Sport Development Systems’.
7 CitationSemiotuk, ‘Theoretical and Methodological Considerations’.
8 CitationJobling, Sport and the State.
9 CitationStewart et al., Australian Sport.
10 CitationPyke, ‘Science in Australian Sport’.
11 Bloomfield, ‘The Contribution of Sports Science’; CitationWesterbeek, Shilbury and Deane, The Australian Sport System.
12 CitationWebb, Rowland and Fasano, ‘Development of Sport Policy’; CitationConfederation of Australian Sport, A Whole New Ball Game.
13 CitationWoodman, ‘Sport Development: Systems, Trends and Issues’.
14 Jobling, ‘Sport and the State’.
15 Stewart et al., Australian Sport.
16 CitationVamplew et al., The Oxford Companion to Australian Sport.
17 Quoted in Jobling, Sport and the State, 254.
18 CitationFarmer and Arnaudon, ‘Australian Sport Policy’; Jobling, ‘Sport and the State’; Shilbury, Sport Management in Australia.
19 CitationShilbury, Deane and Kellett, Sport Management in Australia.
20 CitationO'Brien and Slack, ‘Deinstitutionalising the Amateur Ethic’.
21 CitationCashman, Paradise of Sport.
22 Westerbeek, Shilbury and Deane, The Australian Sport System.
23 CitationSweaney, ‘Where Do We Go From Here?’.
24 CitationSotiriadou, Quick and Shilbury, ‘Sport for “Some”’. CitationLorsch and Morse, Organizations and their Members.
25 CitationCooke, ‘Sport and Politics’.
26 CitationCooke, ‘Sport and Politics’
27 Westerbeek, Shilbury and Deane, The Australian Sport System.
28 Farmer and Arnaudon, ‘Australian Sport Policy’.
29 CitationHogan and Norton, ‘The “Price” of Olympic Gold’. CitationSotiriadou, ‘Sport for “Some”’.
30 Confederation of Australian Sport, A Whole New Ball Game.
31 Quoted in CitationDepartment of Industry, Science and Resources, Shaping Up, 73.
32 CitationDepartment of Industry, Science and Resources, Shaping Up, 73
33 M. Grattan, ‘Grassroots Sport Targeted as $547m Kicked into Play’. Sydney Morning Herald, 2001.
34 CitationDepartment of Industry, Science and Resources, Backing Australia's Sporting Ability.
35 Grattan, ‘Grassroots Sport Targeted as $547m Kicked into Play’.
36 Stewart et al., Australian Sport.
37 CitationDepartment of Industry, Science and Resources, Backing Australia's Sporting Ability.
38 CitationSmith, ‘Active Australia’.
39 CitationStewart-Weeks, ‘The Third Wave’.
40 CitationNihill, ‘Funding Boost for Beijing Challenge’.
41 CitationBloomfield, Australia's Sporting Success.
42 CitationBloomfield, Australia's Sporting Success.
43 CitationCovell, ‘Attachment, Allegiance’.
44 CitationFreeman, Strategic Management.
45 CitationCarroll, Business & Society.
46 CitationMitchell, Agle and Wood, ‘Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification’.
47 CitationJones, ‘Instrumental Stakeholder Theory’.
48 Green and Oakley, ‘Elite Sport Development Systems’.
49 Farmer and Arnaudon, ‘Australian Sport Policy’.
50 CitationMiles and Snow, Organizational Strategy. CitationPfeffer and Salancik, The External Control of Organizations.
51 Pfeffer and Salancik, The External Control of Organizations. Quoted in CitationJohns and Saks, Organizational Behaviour, 489.
52 Johns and Saks, Organizational Behaviour.
53 CitationHuxham and Vangen, ‘Working Together’.
54 CitationMcQueen, ‘Us and Them’.
55 CitationBourne and Walker, ‘Visualizing Stakeholder Influence, 17–25.
56 Stewart-Weeks, ‘The Third Wave’.
57 CitationShilbury, ‘Considering Future Sport Delivery Systems’, 217.
58 CitationThibault and Harvey, ‘Fostering Interorganizational Linkages’.
59 CitationShilbury, ‘Considering Future Sport Delivery Systems’.
60 CitationPaulson, ‘A Paradigm for the Analysis of Interorganizational Networks’; Pennings, ‘Strategically Interdependent Organizations’.
61 CitationShilbury, ‘Considering Future Sport Delivery Systems’.
62 CitationSotiriadou and Quick, ‘Management Processes’.
63 CitationRyan, Athletics Australia Overhaul Boosts Performance.
64 CitationRyan, ‘Athletics Australia Overhaul Boosts Performance’, 1.
65 Quoted in CitationAustralian Sports Commission, National Sporting Organisations Governance, 1.
66 CitationElias, Cavana and Jackson, ‘Stakeholder Analysis’, 301.
67 CitationSauter and Leisen, ‘Managing Stakeholders’, 312.
68 CitationBasketball Australia, 2000 Annual Report.
69 CitationBrown, Amalgamation, 1.
70 CitationMahony and Howard, ‘Sport Business in the Next Decade’.
71 Brown, Amalgamation, 3.
72 CitationPhillips, How Hockey Avoided Merger Meltdown, 1.
73 CitationSchraeder and Self, ‘Enhancing the Success of Mergers and Acquisitions’.
74 Quoted in CitationWomen's Hockey Australia, 2000 Annual Report, 1.
75 Quoted in Confederation of CitationAustralian Motor Sport, 2000 Annual Report, 2.
76 CitationCuskelly, McIntyre and Boag, ‘A Longitudinal Study’.
77 CitationCuskelly, McIntyre and Boag, ‘A Longitudinal Study’, 181.
78 CitationHeah, ‘Tips on Being a Good Coach’.
79 CitationDepartment of Communications Information Technology and the Arts, Participation in Exercise.
80 CitationAustralian Bureau of Statistics, Sport and Recreation.
81 CitationCovell, ‘Attachment, Allegiance and a Convergent Application of Stakeholder Theory: Assessing the Impact’.
82 Bloomfield, ‘The Contribution of Sports Science’.
83 CitationCummings and Doh, ‘Identifying Who Matters’.
84 Thibault and Harvey, ‘Fostering Interorganizational Linkages’.
85 Quoted in Johns and Saks, Organizational Behaviour, 489.
86 Lorsch and Morse, Organizations and their Members.
87 Sotiriadou and Quick, ‘Management Processes’.
88 CitationGalaskiewicz, Exchange Networks and Community Politics.
89 Paulson, ‘A Paradigm for the Analysis of Interorganizational Networks’; Pennings, ‘Strategically Interdependent Organizations’.
90 Freeman, Strategic Management.
91 Quoted in Green and Oakley, ‘Elite Sport Development Systems’, 258.
92 CitationAustralian Sports Commission, National Elite Council Strategic Plan 2006–2008.
93 CitationMerrilees, Getz and O'Brien, ‘Marketing Stakeholder Analysis’.
