![Sample our Social Sciences journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110822/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Social-Sciences.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Games and sport during the colonial period in Australia were rarely hospitable to First Nations people. However, the first Australian cricket team to tour England in 1868 were predominantly First Nations men. While such a tour might appear to be a ‘triumph' for race relations in Australia, the details of the tour and treatment of the young men were haunting. The 1868 tour has been glorified in contemporary cricket circles, however, despite this, the promotion of the game to First Nations Australians is relatively recent. Over the last decade, Australian cricket has attempted to combat racism and promote First Nations player development through initiatives such as their Reconciliation Action Plan. One example of promoting the Black Lives Matter message and anti-racism has been carried out by Australia's national women's cricket team and the women's national T20 competition. In 2020, the Australian women cricketers made a conscious decision to promote the Black Lives Matter movement by engaging in a ‘barefoot circle' to acknowledge country before each match. This manuscript will explore the importance of the Australian women cricketers' actions and advocacy against the backdrop of Australia’s history and interactions with First Nations Australians in cricket.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 First Nations people have occupied the lands now known as Australia for between 50,000 and 120,000 years. Dudgeon et al. suggest there were approximately 300,000 First Nations people, 260 language groups and 500 dialects at the time of the British invasion of Australia in 1788. Others, such as Reynolds suggests this number was closer to a million. See Pat Dudgeon, Michael Wright, Yin Paradies, Darren Garvey and Iain Walker, ‘The Social, Cultural and Historical Context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians’, in Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mental Health and Wellbeing Principles and Practice, eds., Nola Purdie, Pat Dudgeon, & Roz Walker, (Canberra, Australian Capital Territory: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2010), 25-42; Henry Reynolds, Forgotten War, (Sydney, NSW: NewSouth Publishing, 2013). Terminology such as ‘Indigenous’, ‘Aboriginal’ and ‘First Nations’ Australian people are often used interchangeably, and all refer to Indigenous people of Australia.
2 Colin Tatz, ‘Racism and Sport in Australia’, Race & Class 36, no. 4 (1995): 43-54; Richard Cashman, Paradise of Sport: The Rise of Organised Sport in Australia. (Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press Australia, 1995).
3 Tatz, ‘Racism and Sport in Australia’, 44.
4 Cricket Australia, Cricket Connecting Country – Reconciliation Action Plan December 2019- December 2022, Australia: Cricket Australia, 2019. To clarify, in Australia, Boxing Day is traditionally held on the 26th of December, the day after Christmas, and is a public holiday. A cricket test match regularly starts on this day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
5 David Sampson, ‘Culture, 'Race' and Discrimination in the 1868 Aboriginal Cricket Tour of England’, Australian Aboriginal Studies 2, (2009): 44-60.
6 Ibid.
7 Karen Farquharson and Timothy Marjoribanks, ‘Representing Australia: Race, the Media and Cricket’, Journal of Sociology 42, no. 1 (2006): 25.
8 Cited in David Rowe, ‘The Televised Sport ‘Monkey Trial’: ‘Race’ and the Politics of Post-Colonial Cricket’, Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics 14, no. 6 (2011): 792-804. One of Symonds’ biological parents is ‘Afro-Caribbean’.
9 ABC News, ‘Cricket Australia Says Indian Cricketers Were Racially Abused at SCG, but Offenders Have Not Been Found’, ABC News, January 27, 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-27/ca-says-indian-players-racially-abused-scg-not-by-fans-filmed/13095374
10 T20 or Twenty20 cricket refers to a 20 over match for each side.
11 An acknowledgement of country is an opportunity to show respect for traditional owners and the continuing connection of First Nations people to lands and waterways.
12 According to the blacklivesmatter.com site, the BLM was founded in 2013 after/in response to the acquittal of the murderer of Trayvon Martin (a 17-year-old African American high school student).
13 Jules Boykoff and Ben Carrington, ‘Sporting Dissent: Colin Kaepernick, NFL Activism, and Media Framing Contests’, International Review for the Sociology of Sport 55, no.7 (2020): 829-849; see also, Deena Zaru, ‘An ‘Eerie’ Parallel of Two Knees: George Floyd’s Death Renews Debate on Kaepernick Protest’, ABC News (US), June 3, 2020, https://abcnews.go.com/US/eerie-parallel-knees-george-floyds-death-renews-debate/story?id=70981946
14 Stevan Weine, Brandon Kohrt, Pamela Collins, Janice Cooper, Roberto Lewis-Fernandez, Samuel Okpaku, and Milton Wainberg, ‘Justice for George Floyd and a Reckoning for Global Mental Health’, Global Mental Health 7, no. e22 (2020): 1–5. https:// doi.org/10.1017/gmh.2020.17
15 Ebony Stansfield, ‘Black Lives Matter Movement in Australia: First Nations Perspectives’, UNSW, January 19, 2021, https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/business-law/black-lives-matter-movement-australia-first-nations-perspectives
16 Ken Edwards, ‘Traditional Games of a Timeless Land: Play Cultures in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities, Australian Aboriginal Studies, 2009, no. 2: 32-43.
17 Edwards, ‘Traditional Games’; Jim Poulter, Marngrook: Our Original National Football Game, (Templestowe, Victoria: Red Hen Enterprises, 2009).
18 Edwards, ‘Traditional Games’, 34.
19 Ibid.
20 Dudgeon, et al., ‘The Social, Cultural and Historical Context’, 26.
21 Richard Cashman, Paradise of Sport: The Rise of Organised Sport in Australia. (Melbourne, Victoria: Oxford University Press Australia, 1995); John Maynard, ‘Contested Space – The Australian Aboriginal Sporting Arena’, Sport in Society 15, no. 7 (2012): 987-996.
22 Cashman, Paradise of Sport, 16; Edwards, ‘Traditional Games’.
23 Cashman, Paradise of Sport; Edwards, ‘Traditional Games’; John Maynard, ‘Contested Space’.
24 Cashman, Paradise of Sport, 16.
25 Edwards, ‘Traditional Games’, 34.
26 Marion Stell, Half the Race: A History of Australian Women in Sport, (North Ryde, NSW: Collins/Angus & Robertson, 1991).
27 Poulter, Marngrook.
28 Barry Judd, ‘Good Sports: Representations of Aboriginal People in Australian Sports’, in Knowledge of Life: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia, ed. Kaye Price, (Melbourne, Cambridge University Press, 2015): 185-6.
29 Judd, ‘Good Sports’.
30 Sampson, ‘Culture, 'Race' and Discrimination’, 45.
31 Ibid, 46.
32 Ibid.
33 Jeremy McEachern, Far from Home: The 1868 Aboriginal Cricket Tour of England, Agora 52, no. 3, (2017): 18-24; Sampson, ‘Culture, 'Race' and Discrimination’, 45.
34 Ibid.
35 Collective government sanctioned isolation and control of First Nations people across Australia called the ‘Protection Era(s)’ were introduced by the colonial and, later, state and territory governments from the late 1860s.
36 Colin Tatz, ‘Reflecting on Race, Politics and Sport’, Sporting Traditions 32, no. 2 (2015): 1-11.
37 Lawrence Bamblett, Our stories are our survival, (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2013).
38 Stell, Half the Race; Murray Phillips, Isolated, monitored and controlled: sport, Aborigines and the Protection Era. Australian Historical Studies 49, no. 2 (2018): 203-220. doi: 10.1080/1031461X.2018.1439073; Chelsea Bond, Murray G. Phillips and Gary Osmond, ‘Crossing Lines: Sport History, Transformative Narratives, and Aboriginal Australia’, The International Journal of the History of Sport 32, no. 13 (2015): 1-15. doi:10.1080/09523367.2015.1038704.
39 Tatz, ‘Reflecting on Race’.
40 Cashman, Paradise of Sport; Phillips, ‘Isolated, Monitored and Controlled’; Colin Tatz, ‘Reflecting on Race’.
41 Matt Majendi, ‘‘Sunshine super girl’ Goolagong Cawley defied prejudice to become a star’, CNN, January 30, 2015, https://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/29/tennis/evonne-goolagong-cawley-australian-open/index.html; Toni Bruce and Emma Wensing. ‘'She's not one of us': Cathy Freeman and the place of Aboriginal people in Australian national culture’. Australian Aboriginal Studies 2, (2009): 90-100.
42 The Collingwood Football Club is one of the foundation Australian rules football clubs in the AFL competition. Sean Gorman, Legends: The AFL Indigenous team of the century, (Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press, 2011), 3.
43 Sean Gorman, ‘Sporting chance: Indigenous participation in Australian sport history’. Cosmopolitan Civil Societies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 2, no. 2 (2010): 12-22.
44 Ibid.
45 Chris Hallinan and Barry Judd, ‘Changes in assumptions about Australian Indigenous footballers: From exclusion to enlightenment’. The International Journal of the History of Sport 26, no. 16 (2009): 2368.
46 Stella Coram and Chris Hallinan, ‘Critical race theory and the orthodoxy of race neutrality: Examining the denigration of Adam Goodes’. Australian Aboriginal Studies 1, (2017): 100.
47 ABC News, ‘Adam Goodes declines Australian Football Hall of Fame honour’, ABC News, June 8, 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-06-08/adam-goodes-declines-hall-of-fame-honour-afl/100198050
48 According to Reconciliation Australia, reconciliation refers to the ‘process of strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians’ and involves five areas, historical acceptance; race relations; equality and equity; institutional integrity and unity. Reconciliation Australia, ‘What is reconciliation?’, https://www.reconciliation.org.au/reconciliation/what-is-reconciliation/
49 Cricket Australia, Cricket Connecting Country, 9.
50 Cricket Australia, Cricket Connecting Country. The RAP Framework. 2021. Reconciliation Australia. https://www.reconciliation.org.au/the-rap-framework/
51 Ibid.
52 Adam E. Evans, Sine Agergaard, Paul Ian Campbell, Kevin Hylton, and Verena Lenneis, ‘Black Lives Matter’: Sport, Race and Ethnicity in Challenging Times’, European Journal for Sport and Society 17, no. 4 (2020): 289.
53 Stefan Nestler, ‘Black Lives Matter: Protests in Sports’, Deutsche Welle (DW), August 27, 2020, https://www.dw.com/en/black-lives-matter-protests-in-sports/g-54715905
54 Ibid.
55 Sthalekar, ‘Cricket’s stirring stand for Black Lives Matter is only the beginning’, The Sydney Morning Herald, July 13, 2020, https://www.smh.com.au/national/cricket-s-stirring-stand-for-black-lives-matter-is-only-the-beginning-20200712-p55bce.html.
56 Ibid.
57 Mark Dobson, ‘Michael Holding condemns England and Australia for Not Taking a Knee’, The Guardian, September 11, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/sep/10/michael-holding-condemns-england-and-australia-for-not-taking-a-knee
58 Christy Doran, ‘Australia’s cricket team takes knee alongside West Indies for first time to support BLM’, Fox Sports, July 10, 2021. https://www.foxsports.com.au/cricket/australia/australian-cricket-news-2021-australia-vs-west-indies-knee-black-lives-matter-michael-holding-video-highlights/news-story/785fe0e4ec4e7868b16e5522474013e0
59 Daniel Gallan, ‘De Kock to join South Africa teammates in taking knee after issuing apology’, The Guardian, October 28, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/oct/28/cricket-south-africa-quinton-de-kock-apologises-for-refusing-to-take-knee
60 Ibid.
61 Jai Bednall, ‘NRL 2020: Sam Newman Slams Players for Kneeling in Black Lives Matter Protest’, News.com.au, June 15, 2020. https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-2020-sam-newman-slams-players-for-kneeling-in-black-lives-matter-protest/news-story/64c0ecfc0d58ca5aced0fdd5c1adfc1b; NRL.com, ‘Addo-Carr Inspires Storm to Take Knee for Black Lives Matter Movement’, NRL.com, June 12, 2020, https://www.nrl.com/news/2020/06/12/addo-carr-inspires-storm-to-take-a-knee-for-black-lives-matter-movement/
62 Mitch Cleary, ‘Clubs to come together to support Black Lives Matter movement’, AFL.com.au, June 10, 2020, https://www.afl.com.au/news/442847/clubs-to-come-together-to-support-black-lives-matter
63 AAP, ‘Wallabies Vote Not to Take a Knee in Support of BLM Movement Before ALL Blacks Clash’, The Guardian, October 12, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/oct/23/wallabies-vote-not-to-take-a-knee-in-support-of-blm-movement-before-all-blacks-clash
64 Ibid.
65 Payne Lubbers, ‘Taking a Knee for BLM’, Bloomberg Equality, July 30, 2021, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-07-29/black-lives-matter-racial-justice-protests-take-stage-at-tokyo-olympics-2021
66 Dan Palmer, ‘Women’s Footballers Take the Knee at Tokyo 2020 After Relaxation of Rule 50’, Inside the Games, July 21, 2021, https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1110529/womens-football-tokyo-2020-rule-50
67 SBS The World Game, ‘Matildas Unite Behind Aboriginal Flag in Olympics’, SBS, July 22, 2021, https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/sport/football/article/2021/07/22/matildas-unite-behind-aboriginal-flag-olympics
68 Cricket Australia, National Indigenous Cricket Strategy: For Game and Market Development, 2014, NATIONAL%20INDIGENOUS%20CRICKET%20STRATEGY%20FINAL%20(3).pdf
69 Ibid.
70 Andrew Wu, ‘Blatantly racist: Cricket Australia Condemns Abuse Aimed at Dan Christian’, The Sydney Morning Herald, September 10, 2020, https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/blatantly-racist-cricket-australia-condemns-abuse-aimed-at-dan-christian-20200910-p55uf0.html’.
71 Cited in Wu, ‘Blatantly racist’
72 Martin Smith, ‘Absolutely Brilliant’: Special Touch Added to Ashes Shirts’, Cricket.com.au, July 14, 2019, https://www.cricket.com.au/news/australia-ashes-test-shirts-walkabout-wickets-indigenous-art-jason-gillespie/2019-07-14
73 For examples of this see Jon Pierik, ‘Real and lasting change’: Cricket unveils new reconciliation plan. Sydney Morning Herald, December 5, 2019. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/real-and-lasting-change-cricket-unveils-new-reconciliation-plan-20191205-p53h20.html; Cricket connecting country-Cricket Australia launches its second Reconciliation plan, National Tribune, December 6, 2019. https://www.nationaltribune.com.au/cricket-connecting-country-cricket-australia-launches-its-second-reconciliation-action-plan/
74 Daniel Cherney, ‘CA reaches out to victims of racism through new series’ Sydney Morning Herald, September 9, 2020. https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/ca-reaches-out-to-victims-of-racism-through-new-series-20200908-p55tkt.html
75 Martin Smith, ‘Artwork to Mark Boxing Day Anniversary’, Cricket.com.au, October 20, 2016, https://www.cricket.com.au/news/aboriginal-xi-mcc-boxing-day-mcg-1866-tom-wills-johnny-mullagh-artwork-anniversary/2016-10-20
76 Ibid. While it was not explained in the media article, the brothers use different spelling of their surnames.
77 Cited in Madelaine Dickie, ‘Walkabout Wickets: The Doco and the Design’, National Indigenous Times, February 6, 2019, https://nit.com.au/walkabout-wickets-the-doco-and-the-design/
78 Smith, ‘Absolutely Brilliant’. The Ashes are a traditional cricket competition between England and Australia with roots dating back to the 1880s.
79 Ibid.
80 Other sources utilised included SBS and the Sydney Morning Herald.
81 The relationship between the Cricket Australia news and other media sources is critiqued below.
82 These terms included, but were not limited to, ‘racism’, ‘barefoot circle’, ‘Black Lives Matter’ and ‘taking the knee’, in combination with terms such as ‘cricket’ and ‘WBBL’.
83 Hsui-Fang Hsieh and Sarah Shannon, ‘Content analysis’, in The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation, ed. Bruce Frey, (SAGE Publications, Inc. 2018, 393-394). https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781506326139
84 Cricket Australia, Reconciliation Action Plan – Barefoot Circle, 2021, https://www.cricketaustralia.com.au/about/reconciliation-action-plan/barefoot-circle
85 See Laura Jolly, ‘Aussie Players Commit to Standing Against Racism’, Cricket.com.au, September 25, 2020, https://www.cricket.com.au/news/rachael-haynes-australia-women-aboriginal-stand-against-racism-ashleigh-gardner-barefoot-circle/2020-09-25; AAP, ‘Aussie men to support BLM with barefoot circle’, Cricket.com.au, November, 16, 2020, https://www.cricket.com.au/news/australia-mens-team-to-undertake-barefoot-circle-pat-cummins-black-lives-matter-gesture-india-series/2020-11-16
86 Jolly, ‘Aussie Players Commit to Standing Against Racism’.
87 Ibid.
88 See Wu, ‘Blatantly racist’.
89 Laura Jolly, ‘WBBL Prepares for First Nations Festival of Cricket’, Cricket.com.au, November 14, 2020, https://www.cricket.com.au/news/naidoc-week-wbbl-womens-big-bash-league-indigenous-kits-shirts-balls-bats-barefoot-circles/2020-11-14
90 The NAIDOC acronym originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’ and represents a week of celebrations held across Australia ‘to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’. NAIDOC Week, NAIDOC, 2021, https://www.naidoc.org.au/about/naidoc-week
91 Jolly, ‘WBBL Prepares’.
92 The bat toss or bat flip refers to tossing a cricket bat, instead of a coin toss to decide on which team has the option to bowl or bat first.
93 See Jolly, ‘Aussie Players Commit’.
94 Ibid. At the end of 2020 in late November, the Australian men’s team eventually followed suit and engaged in a barefoot circle with India before each match (AAP - Cricket Australia, 2020).
95 Megan Schutt, ‘Cricket has an Important Role to Play in Shining a Light on Racism in society’, The Guardian Australia, November 12, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/nov/12/cricket-has-an-important-role-to-play-in-shining-a-light-on-racism-in-society
96 Wu, ‘Blatantly racist’; Sam Phillips, ‘Thunder Confirm They Will Take a Knee During the WBBL, Sydney Derby Washed Out’, The Sydney Morning Herald, October 25, 2020, https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/thunder-confirm-they-will-take-a-knee-during-wbbl-sydney-derby-washed-out-20201025-p568f9.html
97 There was no record of players taking the knee at the start of matches during this series.
98 Laura Jolly, ‘Watershed Moment’ Looms for Aussie World Beaters’, Cricket.com.au, September 21, 2021. https://www.cricket.com.au/news/australia-women-team-matthew-mott-values-world-cup-2017-ashes-commonwealth-games/2021-09-21
99 Braden Quartermaine, ‘Perth Scorchers star Marizanne Kapp says she ‘Supports’ Teammate Alana King’s Knee Gesture, Won’t Participate’, The West Australia, October 29, 2021, https://thewest.com.au/sport/perth-scorchers/perth-scorchers-star-marizanne-kapp-says-she-supports-teammate-alana-kings-knee-gesture-wont-participate-c-4349267
100 Quartermaine, ‘Perth Scorchers star Marizanne Kapp’.
101 Daniel Gallan, ‘De Kock to join South Africa teammates in taking knee after issuing apology’, The Guardian, October 28, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/oct/28/cricket-south-africa-quinton-de-kock-apologises-for-refusing-to-take-knee
102 First Nations rounds, along with Indigenous rounds, are common in some Australian team competitions. A round of the competition is designated thus, and there are multiple ways in which clubs engage in a recognition and celebration of First Nations peoples to the sport. Some examples are provided in the paragraph below this footnote.
103 Camron Slessor, ‘Indigenous Culture to be Celebrated as WBBL Launches Inaugural First Nations Round’, ABC News, November 8, 2021, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-08/womens-big-bash-league-launches-inaugural-first-nations-round/100602428?fbclid=IwAR3qz2xu4-_OvO_bT_4HLs_hNbpg-TzY3gjj-JC0T8XT0inNboRHKniacpg Note that Cricket Australia has proposed a First Nations round in the men’s T20 competition (BBL) in January 2022.
104 Reconciliation Australia outlines a description and discusses the importance of these types of ceremonies - https://www.reconciliation.org.au/acknowledgement-of-country-and-welcome-to-country/
105 Slessor, ‘Indigenous Culture to be Celebrated’.
106 Gardner was selected in the Australian T20 and ODI side from 2017. See Tamar Cranswick and Sam Wicks, ‘Faith Thomas – The Girl Who Became the First Indigenous Person to Play Cricket for Australia’, ABC, April 5, 2021. https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/fierce-girls/faith-thomas-first-indigenous-cricket-player/13275338
107 See Nic Savage, ‘Indigenous star and Work Cup champion Ash Gardner won’t kneel for BLM’, News.com.au, November 15, 2020, https://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/indigenous-star-and-world-cup-champion-ash-gardner-wont-kneel-for-blm/news-story/e31b7521b922e7556bf94d2d32b71c94
108 Cited in Slessor, ‘Indigenous Culture to be Celebrated’.