Indigeneity and the performance of corporeal masculinities in the Australian Football League

Abstract

Allegations of sexual misconduct in Australian sport are the stuff of tabloid and offensive commentary via the nation's mainstream media. The topic of alleged sexual misconduct in the Australian Football League (AFL) polarizes people, causing debate and heated exchange. These allegations have involved only a small numbers of Indigenous players, and the reality and/or myth of sexual misconduct in elite sports by male sporting stars has been with us some time, thus necessitates a conversation on masculinity, sexual gamesmanship, male violence and, I argue, ethnicity. I pursue the argument that gender, sexuality and ethnicity intersect in complex ways to reveal and hide the Indigenous male body in the AFL. Gender, sexuality and ethnicity are a proverbial three-way in the AFL where myths of Indigenous male corporeality and masculinity are constructed and challenged. Not limited to the football field, this has occurred historically and continues to occur in mainstream socio-politicking of everyday Indigenous identities.

Notes

¹ Cleary, ‘Football, Culture and Violence’, provides a sobering account of sexual assault allegations in the Australian Football League. His writing galvanizes a relationship between male violence against women, sexual assault allegations involving elite footballers and the failure of the Australian legal system to enshrine the rights of women.

² ‘Playing By The Rules’ is a program based on research and advice provided to the NRL by academics at the University of New South Wales. The program implements education strategies for players in relation to off-field behaviour, and has been running at the NRL since 2004, http://www.arts.unsw.edu.au/news-and-events/nrl-tackles-sex-ethics-661.html.

³ See Adam, This is What We Said; Altman and Hinkson, Coercive Reconciliation; Toohey, Last Drinks.

⁴ See Atkinson and Woods, ‘Turning Dreams into Nightmares’, for an excellent summation and challenge to the myth of Indigenous male violence that has been historically crafted and recently reinvigorated through popular writing and government myth making.

⁵ See Yang, Ethnic Studies, for a comprehensive overview to contemporary ethnic studies.

⁶ Turner, ‘Media Texts and Messages’, 203.

⁷ Leading the charge in masculinity studies, Connell has produced seminal work in Masculinities; Gender and Power; and ‘Hegemonic Masculinity’. Connell's work offers brilliant insights into the development of masculinity studies and hegemonic masculinity. Other key texts consulted for this research include Brod, The Making of Masculinities; Kupers, Revisioning Men's Lives; Segal, Slow Motion; Whitehead, Men and Masculinities.

⁸ I define the term ‘ethnicscape’ as a fluid and shifting sociopolitical landscape of cultural groups, Indigenous, diasporic, immigrants, exiles and other moving groups and persons.

⁹ Mills and Sen, Confronting the Body, 3.

¹⁰ Mills and Sen, Confronting the Body, 3

¹¹ Inspiration for the term ‘deep colonising’ is taken from Bradley and Seton, ‘Self Determination or “Deep Colonising”’.

¹² Dimeo, ‘A Parcel of Dummies?’ 39; Booth, Australian Beach Culture.

¹³ Dimeo, ‘A Parcel of Dummies?’ 39.

¹⁴ Dimeo, ‘A Parcel of Dummies?’ 39

¹⁵ See Conor, ‘In a League of Their Own’; Leonard, ‘Innocent Until Proven Innocent’; McKay, ‘Marked Men and Wanton Women’.

¹⁶ Stephens and Lorentzen, ‘Male Bodies’, 5.

¹⁷ Stephens and Lorentzen, ‘Male Bodies’, 5

¹⁸ Stephens and Lorentzen, ‘Male Bodies’, 5

¹⁹ Stephens and Lorentzen, ‘Male Bodies’, 5

²⁰ Messner and Sabo, Sport, Men, and the Gender Order; Connell, Masculinities; Connell, ‘Hegemonic Masculinity’; Segal, Slow Motion.

²¹ Stephens and Lorentzen, ‘Male Bodies’, 6.

²² Stephens and Lorentzen, ‘Male Bodies’, 6

²³ Konishi, Lui-Chivizhe, and Slater, ‘Indigenous Bodies’, 2.

²⁴ Konishi, Lui-Chivizhe, and Slater, ‘Indigenous Bodies’, 4.

²⁵ Elder, Being Australian, 68; McNeill, ‘Black Magic’, 23.

²⁶ McNeill, ‘Black Magic’, 24.

²⁷ McNeill, ‘Black Magic’, 26.

²⁸ McNeill, ‘Black Magic’

²⁹ Konishi, Lui-Chivizhe and Slater, ‘Indigenous Bodies’.

³⁰ Konishi, Lui-Chivizhe and Slater, ‘Indigenous Bodies’, 1.

³¹ Haebich, ‘Marked Bodies’, 8.

³² Haebich, ‘Marked Bodies’, 8 In reality, total assimilation as equated with equal rights was never afforded Indigenous Australians on the ground that their ‘otherness’ or Indigeneity precluded them from acquiring the qualities of whiteness as an imaginary apical form of humanity (derived from social Darwinism and cultural evolution principles). This is tragically evidenced by the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal children, many of both Aboriginal and white descent, who were taken from their families by Australian government agencies and church missions under various state acts of parliament and placed into institutionalized care. To quote reconciliation, a civil society group for reconciliation: ‘Under the White Australia and assimilation policies Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were “not of full blood” were encouraged to become assimilated into the broader society so that eventually there would be no more Indigenous people left’, http://reconciliaction.org.au/nsw/education-kit/stolen-generations (accessed November 3, 2010).

³³ Said, ‘Representing the Colonised’.

³⁴ Mills and Sen, Confronting the Body, 1.

³⁵ Mills and Sen, Confronting the Body, 5.

³⁶ Mills and Sen, Confronting the Body, 5.

³⁷ Mills and Sen, Confronting the Body, 2.

³⁸ Mills and Sen, Confronting the Body

³⁹ Hallinan and Judd, ‘Race Relations, Indigenous Australia’, 1228.

⁴⁰ Hallinan and Judd, ‘Race Relations, Indigenous Australia’, 1229.

⁴¹ Dimeo, ‘A Parcel of Dummies?’ 39.

⁴² Dimeo, ‘A Parcel of Dummies?’; Hancock et al., The Body, Culture and Society, 3.

⁴³ Frey and Eitzen, ‘Sport and Society’, 503.

⁴⁴ Adair, ‘Race, Ethnicity and Indigeneity’; Anderson, Bielert, and Jones, ‘One Country, One Sport’; Hokowhitu and Scherer, ‘The Maori All Blacks’; Judd ‘On the Boundary Line; MacClancy, ‘Sport, Identity and Ethnicity’; McNeill ‘Black Magic’; Majumdar and Bandyopadhyay, ‘Race, Nation and Performance’;, Obstacle Race; ‘Coming to Terms’; Zheng ‘Embodied Masculinity’.

⁴⁵ Dimeo, ‘A Parcel of Dummies?’ 53.

⁴⁶ Dimeo, ‘A Parcel of Dummies?’ 53

⁴⁷ Adair, ‘Race, Ethnicity and Indigeneity’, 2.

⁴⁸ ‘AFL and the Indigenous Community’, AFL Website, http://www.afl.com.au/indigenous%20community/tabid/14282/default.aspx (accessed October 18, 2010).

⁴⁹ See Hallinan and Judd, ‘Race Relations, Indigenous Australia’.

⁵⁰ ‘Current Indigenous Players in the AFL’, AFL Website, http://www.afl.com.au/development/qantasaflkickstart/indigenousplayersintheafl/currentplayers/tabid/14139/default.aspx (accessed October 18, 2010).

⁵¹ Poulter, ‘The Origins of Australian Rules Football’, 64–67 cited in McNeill, ‘Black Magic’, 29.

⁵² McNeill, ‘Black Magic’, 29–30.

⁵³ McNeill, ‘Black Magic’, 29.

⁵⁴ Hallinan and Judd, ‘Race Relations, Indigenous Australia’, 1225.

⁵⁵ Hallinan and Judd, ‘Race Relations, Indigenous Australia’, 1225

⁵⁶ Hallinan and Judd, ‘Race Relations, Indigenous Australia’, 1225, 1226.

⁵⁷ Mills and Sen, Confronting the Body, 7.

⁵⁸ Dimeo, ‘A Parcel of Dummies?’ 41.

⁵⁹ Dimeo, ‘A Parcel of Dummies?’

⁶⁰ ‘The AFL Player Spectator’, May 19, 2006, http://the-speccy.blogspot.com/2006/05/profile-wayne-carey.html; A. Rule, ‘Dark Side of the Hoon They Called King’, The Age, February 3, 2010, http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/dark-side-of-the-hoon-they-called-the-king/2008/02/02/1201801098872.html?page = 2; ‘The Media and Women's Rights’, Green Left, February 14, 1996, http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/12561.

⁶¹ See McNeill, ‘Black Magic’, 28–34, for a discussion of Indigenous player Nicky Winmar's 1993 powerful and now infamous on-field protest against racial vilification in the AFL.

⁶² Nina Funnell is a researcher in the Journalism and Media Research Centre at the University of New South Wales.

⁶³ N. Funnell, ‘Women Cop Blame (Again) for Sex Assault’, The Sydney Morning Herald, October 7, 2010, http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/women-cop-blame-again-for-sex-assault-20101006-167pp.html (accessed November 9, 2010).

⁶⁴ Conor, ‘In a League of their Own’, 75.

⁶⁵ McKay, ‘Marked Men’ and ‘Wanton Women’, 1.

⁶⁶ McKay, ‘Marked Men’ and ‘Wanton Women’, 1

⁶⁷ Leonard, ‘Innocent Until Proven Innocent’, 27.

⁶⁸ S. Spits, ‘Andrew Lovett Rape Case: Saints March On’, The Age, August 12, 2010, http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/andrew-lovett-rape-case-saints-march-on-20100812-120lp.html (accessed November 9, 2010).

⁶⁹ ‘Andrew Lovett Player Profile Bio’, AFL website, http://www.afl.com.au/players/playerprofile/andrewlovett/tabid/8471/playerid/20170/category/senior/season/2010/selected/bio/default.aspx (accessed November 3, 2010).

⁷⁰ For a sample of the Summer's events, see, M. Robinson and M. Warner ‘AFL Club St Kilda Refuses to Name Stars Behind Sex Claims’, Herald Sun, May 26, 2010, http://www.news.com.au/national/schoolgirl-claims-she-got-pregnant-after-sex-with-afl-players/story-e6frfkvr-1225871304791 (accessed November 9, 2010); R. Lamperd and M., Buttler, ‘Young AFL Star in Sex Assault Investigation’, Herald Sun, October 9, 2010, http://www.news.com.au/national/young-afl-star-in-sex-assault-investigation/story-e6frfkvr-1225936252196#ixzz14kuwxGGc (accessed November 9, 2010); S. Rielly and C. Walsh, ‘Geelong's Mathew Stokes has been Charged with Trafficking and Possessing Cocaine’, The Australian, February 3, 2010, http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/geelongs-mathew-stokes-has-been-charged-with-trafficking-and-possessing-cocaine/story-e6frg7mf-1225826431805 (accessed November 9, 2010); M. Cooper, ‘“Hazy Memories”: Carlton Rookie's Booze-Cruise Bender’, The Age, December 24, 2009, http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/hazy-memories-carlton-rookies-boozecruise-bender-20091224-le03.html (accessed November 9, 2010).

⁷¹ AAP, ‘Andrew Lovett Sacked by St Kilda’, The Sydney Morning Herald, Febuary 16, 2010, http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/andrew-lovett-sacked-by-st-kilda-20100216-o6vi.html (accessed October 18, 2010).

⁷² Oxford online dictionary, http://oxforddictionaries.com/view/entry/m_en_gb0325900#m_en_gb0325900 (accessed October 29, 2010).

⁷³ D. Killalea, ‘Stay in the Closet, Jason Akermanis Tells Gay Players’, news.com.au, May 20, 2010, http://www.news.com.au/national/stay-in-the-closet-footballer-tells-gay-players/story-e6frfkvr-1225868921917 (accessed November 2, 2010).

⁷⁴ Mills and Sen, Confronting the Body, 1.

⁷⁵ McNeill, ‘Black Magic’, 26.

⁷⁶ M. Robinson, ‘It's Disappointing but Keep it in Perspective’, Herald Sun, February 10, 2010, http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/its-disappointing-but-keep-it-in-perspective/story-e6frf9jf-1225828490933 (accessed October 28, 2010).

⁷⁷ McKay, ‘“Marked Men” and “Wanton Women”’, 2; Waterhouse-Watson, ‘Playing Defence in Sexual Assault’, 109.

⁷⁸ D. Fogarty, ‘Lovett Ordered to Stand Trial for Rape’, Adelaidenow, August 11, 2010, http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/lovett-ordered-to-stand-trial-for-rape/story-e6frecj3-1225904086935 (accessed November 8, 2010).

⁷⁹ Conor, ‘In a League of their Own’, 76.

⁸⁰ Conor, ‘In a League of their Own’, 76

⁸¹ D. Hastie, ‘Saints Shun Andrew Lovett amid Rape Claim’, Herald Sun, December 27, 2010, http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/saints-shun-andrew-lovett-amid-rape-claim/story-e6frf9jf-1225813823354 (accessed November 8, 2010).

⁸² P. Anderson, ‘Woman Accuses Andrew Lovett of Raping her While She Slept’, Herald Sun, August 11, 2010, http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/tense-start-to-andrew-lovett-rape-case/story-e6frf7kx-1225903379187 (accessed November 9, 2010).

⁸³ P. Anderson, ‘Alleged Victim Says Andrew Lovett Took Advantage of her Drunk State’, Herald Sun, August 14, 2010, http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/alleged-victim-says-andrew-lovett-took-advantage-of-her-drunk-state/story-e6frf9jf-1225904960461; Anderson, ‘Woman Accuses Andrew Lovett of Raping her While she Slept’; S. Farnsworth, ‘Court Hears Lovett “Raped Sleeping Woman”’, ABC News, August 10, 2010, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/10/2979234.htm (accessed November 9, 2010).

⁸⁴ McNeill, ‘Black Magic’, 29; see also L. Darcy, ‘Winmar Encapsulates Indigenous Spirit’, Official AFL Website of the Essendon Football Club, May 21, 2010, http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/94684/default.aspx (accessed November 8, 2010).

⁸⁵ Sabo and Panepinto, ‘Football Ritual and the Social Reproduction of Masculinity’, 115.

⁸⁶ Carrigan, Connell, and Lee, ‘Hard and Heavy’, 92; Sabo and Panepinto ‘Football Ritual and the Social Reproduction of Masculinity’, 115.

⁸⁷ Carrigan, Connell, and Lee, ‘Hard and Heavy’, 92; Sabo and Panepinto ‘Football Ritual and the Social Reproduction of Masculinity’, 115