![Sample our Sports and Leisure journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5949/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Sports-Leisure.jpg"})
Abstract
In the early 1920s, the perceptions by Australians of the Chinese race was one of a single culture and single class. Chinese Australians continuously attempted to break from the shackles of this monolithic construction. A soccer tour in late 1923 provided the local Chinese with an opportunity to alter these stereotypes. Through the performances both on the field and off, through the persistence of the organisers to promote a ‘different type’ of Chinese and through the development of this alternative image in the Western press, the Australian public were afforded a view of Chinese they had not experienced prior, one which included well-educated, middle-class and athletic individuals. The paper investigates the projection of a multi-class society within China to white Australians as portrayed by the soccer tour and how it challenged the entrenched negative perceptions imposed on Australians through the White Australia Policy.
Notes
1 ‘“Shoo” Laddie!’, Sun, 12 August 1923.
2 CitationThompson, One Fantastic Goal, 32.
3 ‘“Shoo” Laddie!’, Sun, 12 August 1923.
4 Despite the fact that class was often used as an argument for Chinese exclusion by the labour movement, and has been examined accordingly, the study of class as it pertains to Australian perceptions of Asia and Asians is an area that has been under-examined. The usefulness of such an approach has been highlighted by the work of Americans historians, such as Calavita, who have demonstrated how race and class (and in her study also gender) were entangled producing ‘significant incoherences and self-contradictions’. See CitationCalavita, ‘Collisions at the Intersection of Gender, Race, and Class’. For discussions of class in the advocacy of a White Australia, see CitationPrice, The Great White Walls are Built; CitationMarkus, Fear and Hatred.
5 ‘Good Losers’, Sun News Pictorial, 28 September 1923.
6 There were some clear exceptions to this at the time of the tour, especially given the university-based teams. For a discussion of the working-class roots of the football codes, see the chapters: Mosely and Murray, ‘Soccer’; CitationWimpress, ‘Australian Football’; CitationPhillips, ‘Rugby’.
7 ‘Soccer’, Daily Standard, 4 August 1923.
8 CitationHarlow, History of Soccer in South Australia, 1902–2002; CitationHudson, A Century of Soccer, 1898–1998; CitationMosely and Murray, ‘Soccer’.
9 CitationHoney, ‘Sport, Immigration Restriction and Race’, 44–5; CitationCashman, Sport in the National Imagination, 148–9; CitationMosely, ‘Playing Ball with Asia’, 54.
10 Honey, ‘Sport, Immigration Restriction and Race’, 45.
11 Ibid., 31, 38, 42.
12 See CitationBroome, ‘The Australian Reaction to Jack Johnson, Black Pugilist, 1907–1909’.
13 CitationOsmond and Phillips, ‘Look at That Kid Crawling’, 58.
14 See CitationFitzgerald, Big White Lie.
15 This ‘colour line’ was significantly affected by many factors – ‘transnational in its inspiration and identifications but nationalist in its methods and goals’ CitationLake and Reynolds, Drawing the Global Colour Line, 4.
16 CitationTan, ‘Living with “Difference”, 101. The perception of Chinese disinterest to sport was challenged by commentators then and by recent historical examinations. See, for example, CitationTart, Life of Quong Tart, 58; CitationHess ‘A Death Blow to the White Australia Policy’.
17 CitationMcNair, Chinese Abroad, 72.
18 CitationYong, New Gold Mountain, 222.
19 It is not clear if these were some of the original French enlisted Chinese labourers or the English who employed their own battalions which, in total, numbered just under 100,000. CitationSummerskill, China on the Western Front, 27; CitationFawcett, ‘The Chinese Labour Corps in France 1917–1921, 50.
20 ‘Soccer Tour of Australia by Chinese Athletes will be Supported all over Country’, China Press, 2 February 1923.
21 ‘The Chinese Influx’, Auckland Star, 24 January 1921.
22 ‘Modern China’, New Zealand Herald, 24 July 1922.
23 ‘Chinese Footballers’, New Zealand Herald, 9 October 1922.
24 New Zealand Truth, 14 October 1922.
25 New Zealand Truth, 21 October 1922.
26 Only one player in the 28-man squad was from New Zealand. See Brisbane Courier, 29 July 1921. Millard was later to offer that person, Bert Laing, as the coach of the Chinese team.
27 ‘Chinese Footballers’, Sun, 24 November 1922.
28 ‘Best Center Three Quarter in Rugger’, China Press, 4 February 1923; CitationWhiticker and Hudson, Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, 113.
29 ‘Sport in China’, Sun, 6 February 1923.
30 ‘Chinese Rugby Tour’, South China Morning Post, 28 December 1922.
31 The New Zealand Truth was described as a paper that disdained the rich and would commonly be found in the homes of the conservative working man. CitationGriffith, ‘Popular Culture and Modernity’.
32 ‘No Chink League Team’, New Zealand Truth, 3 March 1923.
33 ‘No Chink League Team’, New Zealand Truth, 3 March 1923 emphasis in original text.
34 ‘Chinese Rugby Tour’, South China Morning Post, 28 December 1922.
35 CitationFrench, Through the Looking Glass, 254; CitationStrachan, Australia's China 114.
36 ‘Chinese Rugby Players’, South China Morning Post, 30 December 1922.
37 Hong Kong to the British was a colony and is treated as such in commercial documents by Australia. To the Chinese, Hong Kong was part of China and the editor's views expressed this.
38 ‘Chinese Rugby Tourists’, South China Morning Post, 17 January 1923.
39 South China Morning Post, 19 January 1923.
40 ‘No Chink League Team’, New Zealand Truth, 3 March 1923.
41 ‘Chinese Football Tourists’, South China Morning Post, 23 January 1923.
42 CitationPeng, Private Education in Modern China, 19. Part of the drive for educational reform came through the need to speak foreign languages and understand modern technology; the need to catch up to the West. Following the Opium Wars, new schools were created that included training in the English language. Those who were exposed to this education system understood Western culture.
43 CitationYeh, Alienated Academy.
44 CitationMorris, Marrow of the Nation, 47.
45 CitationBrownell, Training the Body for China, 46.
46 Morris, Marrow of the Nation, 47–8.
47 Morris, Marrow of the Nation
48 ‘China Rugby Team Tour is Proposed’, China Press, 23 January 1923.
49 ‘Soccer Tour of Australia is Now Plan’, China Press, 1 February 1923.
50 Millard, no doubt, believed that had he returned to New Zealand without a Rugby League team, the syndicate that had afforded him the finances would chase him for a return of their investment. This they did after they heard the news of the change of plan to play soccer. A solicitor was sent to Sydney, but returned empty handed. 'Some Inside Information', Sydney Sportsman, 10 October 923.
51 Soccer Tour of Australia by Chinese Athletes will be Supported all over Country, China Press, 2 February 1923.
52 Soccer Tour of Australia by Chinese Athletes will be Supported all over Country, China Press, 2 February 1923
53 ‘Best Centre Three Quarter in Rugger’, China Press, 4 February 1923.
54 CitationXu, Olympic Dreams, 26.
55 Brownell, Training the Body for China, 42.
56 CitationKolatch, Sports, Politics and Ideology in China, 28; CitationAnonymous, American Physical Education Review.
57 Indeed in a rare and early mention of the tour, Kolatch claimed the Australian tour had taken place ‘under the auspices of the YMCA’. Kolatch, Sports, 28.
58 Morris, Marrow of the Nation, 6, 19; CitationGarrett, Social Reformers in Urban China, 131.
59 ‘Australia to see Chinese Soccer Team’, China Press, 5 April 1923.
60 When Millard was in Hong Kong, initially in January and later in June and July, he was involved in a discussion with Australian and New Zealand ex-patriots discussing the merits of the tour. In the second period, these letters to the paper related eventually to trade and the immigration restrictions. See, e.g., Lin, ‘Correspondence’, South China Morning Post, 9 July 1923.
61 ‘Fitzgerald’, Big White Lie, 186.
62 ‘Dog Watch’, China Press, 3 May 1923.
63 ‘Dog Watch’, China Press, 3 May 1923
64 ‘Committee to Select Chinese for Soccer Tour’, China Press, 4 March 1923.
65 ‘Chinese Team for Australia Being Chosen’, China Press, 2 May 1923.
66 ‘Millard Picks Soccer XI for Australia Trip’, China Press, 3 June 1923.
67 ‘Chinese Football Tourists’, South China Morning Post, 11 June 1923.
68 ‘Chinese Footballers Visit to Australia’, South China Morning Post, 30 June 1923.
69 ‘Football’, South China Morning Post, 5 July 1923.
70 ‘Chinese Football Tour’, South China Morning Post, 9 July 1923.
71 ‘Chinese Football Tourists’, South China Morning Post, 4 July 1923.
72 ‘Chinese Football Tour’, South China Morning Post, 11 July 1923.
73 ‘Chinese Soccer Tour’, South China Morning Post, 14 July 1923.
74 ‘President Strong for Soccer Tour’, China Press, 21 April 1923.
75 ‘Chinese Football Tour’, South China Morning Post, 18 July 1923.
76 The Sydney Sun, for example, provided five articles in 1922 leading up to the departure of Millard and Shaw to Hong Kong, from 9 October to 24 November 1922.
77 CitationJakubowicz et al., Racism, Ethnicity and the Media, 48.
78 CitationJakubowicz et al., Racism, Ethnicity and the Media, 48
79 A few more articles were written in the days leading up to the players’ arrival in Sydney. Generally, they were positive in commentary. See, e.g., ‘Chinese Footballers’, Sun, 5 August 1923.
80 ‘Soccer’, Daily Standard, 4 August 1923.
81 ‘Soccer’, 13 August 1923.
82 ‘Chinese Make Good’, Sydney Sportsman, 14 August 14 1923.
83 ‘Soccer’, Daily Guardian, 30 August 1923.
84 ‘Wish the South China Soccer Team Success’, Chinese Republic News, 4 August 1923.
85 ‘Wrong Impressions’, News, 5 October 1923.
86 See, e.g., ‘Adelaide Overseas Chinese Welcome the South China Soccer Team’, Tung Wah Times, 20 October 1923; ‘The Hubbub of the Welcoming Meeting’, Chinese Republic News, 18 August 1923.
87 CitationFitzgerald, ‘Visions of Australian Federation, 114’.
88 CitationCurthoys “‘Chineseness” and Australian Identity’, 20.
89 ‘Dates of the Matches’, Chinese Republic News, 11 August 1923.
90 ‘The Hubbub of the Welcoming Meeting’, Chinese Republic News, 18 August 1923.
91 ‘Chinese Soccer Players’, Mercury, 16 October 1923.
92 ‘The Hubbub of the Welcoming Meeting’, Chinese Republic News, 18 August 1923.
93 At every opportunity Mok put forward the ideas of improving friendship and trade. This was generally done at receptions and dinners. For examples of their attacks on the policies, see ‘Wrong Impressions’, News, 5 October 1923; ‘Swept Like Epidemic’, News, 5 October 1923; ‘Australia's Open Door’, Examiner, 23 October 1923.
94 See CitationJones, ‘What Happened to Australia's Chinese Between the World Wars’, 222 for a discussion on the numbers of Chinese merchantmen allowed into and living in Australia.
95 ‘Wrong Impressions’, News, 5 October 1923.
96 ‘Wrong Impressions’, News, 5 October 1923
97 ‘Chinese Soccer Players’, Mercury, 16 October 1923.
98 Strachan, Australia's China, 100.
99 Honey, ‘Sport, Immigration’, 45.
100 CitationTrengrove, ‘Story of the Davis Cup’, 83, 321.