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Abstract
Drawing on the author's research in northwest Victoria, Australia, this essay examines the forms of capital that are created in and through rural sport as well as the processes of social inclusion and exclusion that structure access to social networks and to the resources these networks contain. In the face of economic and social changes that affect the region, rural sport participants view local sport clubs as vital community hubs fostering social cohesion, local and regional identities and a shared focus and outlet. Sporting competitions in northwest Victoria also contribute to cultural and economic capital for some participants, and to relatively limited stocks of linking social capital. While the creation and transference of these capitals are to a large degree regulated by wider social divisions, structural changes in the area present increased opportunities for other people, including young women, to take on leadership roles and to develop new skills and knowledge through sport participation.
Notes
1 I thank Dr June Senyard for her helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.
2 CitationCoalter, Allison and Taylor, The Role of Sport.
3 E.g. CitationCoalter, The Social Benefits of Sport; CitationLong and Sanderson, ‘The Social Benefits of Sport’.
4 CitationVinson, Dropping off the Edge; CitationAlston, ‘Social Exclusion’.
5 CitationCollins and Kay, Sport and Social Exclusion, 194–216.
6 CitationCoalter, ‘Sport-in-Development’, 62; cf. CitationUnited Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Sport for Development and Peace, Sport as a Tool.
7 CitationTonts, ‘Competitive Sport and Social Capital’, 149.
8 CitationLynd and Lynd, Middletown.
9 CitationLynd and Lynd, Middletown, 485–7.
10 CitationHughson, Inglis and Free, The Uses of Sport, 63.
11 E.g. CitationEitzen, Fair and Foul; CitationCoakley, Sports in Society.
12 CitationGruneau and Whitsun, Hockey Night in Canada, 203.
13 CitationBourke, ‘Rural Communities’.
14 CitationRural and Regional Services and Development Committee, Inquiry into Country Football, 50.
15 CitationPortes, ‘Social Capital’, 6.
16 E.g. Putnam, Bowling Alone, 22–3; Woolcock, ‘The Place of Social Capital’. The literature on social capital and its applications to sport and leisure have been reviewed elsewhere, e.g. CitationBlackshaw and Long, ‘What's the Big Idea?’
17 Putnam, Bowling Alone, 22.
18 Putnam, Bowling Alone, 22
19 Putnam, Bowling Alone, 22, 23.
20 CitationHughson, Inglis and Free, The Uses of Sport, 68.
21 DeFilippis, ‘The Myth of Social Capital in Community Development’, 800.
22 Woolcock, ‘Social Capital and Economic Development’, 13–14.
23 Woolcock, ‘The Place of Social Capital’.
24 CitationTonts, ‘Competitive Sport and Social Capital’, 143.
25 CitationAtherley, ‘Sport, Localism and Social Capital’, 355.
26 Tonts, ‘Competitive Sport and Social Capital’, 144; see also CitationTownsend, Moore and Mahoney, ‘Playing their Part’.
27 Cf. CitationDempsey, Smalltown, 60–2.
28 Tonts, ‘Competitive Sport and Social Capital’, 147.
29 CitationDempsey, A Man's Town, 52–8, 77–83.
30 Tonts, ‘Competitive Sport and Social Capital’, 149.
31 CitationBourdieu, ‘The Forms of Capital’.
32 CitationBourdieu, ‘The Forms of Capital’
33 See Coleman's use of Max Gluckman's distinction between simplex and multiplex relations. CitationColeman, ‘Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital’, 108–9.
34 CitationCoalter, Allison and Taylor, The Role of Sport, 60.
35 The total n is higher than the total number of interviews due to the existence of multiplex sporting relations. For example, some people participate in both netball and hockey clubs, while others are involved in both football and local business. These people have been included in all relevant categories.
36 Excerpts from field notes, July 2008.
37 Rural and Regional Services and Development Committee, Inquiry into Country Football, 48. In most small towns in Australia, there exists a partnership between football and netball teams.
38 E.g. CitationSenyard, Birchip, 170.
39 CitationKirk, An Introduction to Donald.
40 E.g. CitationCocklin and Dibden, eds, Sustainability and Change; CitationBlack et al. , Rural Communities.
41 The Age, 31 August 2005; Data collated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
42 CitationMcKenzie, ‘Population Decline’.
43 CitationBlack et al. , Rural Communities, 13; CitationLawrence, ‘Globalisation’.
44 CitationTonts, ‘Government Policy’; CitationAlston, ‘Gender Perspectives’, 146–7.
45 CitationBudge, ‘The Changing Dynamics’, 56.
46 CitationTonts, ‘The Restructuring’, 52; see also CitationStayner, ‘The Changing Economies’, 128.
47 CitationMcManus and Pritchard, ‘Introduction’, 10.
48 E.g. CitationKirk, An Introduction to Donald; Cf. CitationAlston and Kent, Social Impacts of Drought.
49 CitationBudge, ‘The Changing Dynamics’, 56.
50 CitationMcKenzie, ‘Population Decline’.
51 CitationRural and Regional Services and Development Committee, Inquiry into Retaining Young People. It should noted that this development is by no means new.
52 CitationMartin, ‘The Study of Small Towns’, 63.
53 CitationAtherley, ‘Sport, Localism and Social Capital’.
54 CitationAlston, ‘Gender Perspectives’, 142–3; cf. CitationDempsey, A Man's Town.
55 CitationDriscoll and Wood, Sporting Capital, 77–8.
56 CitationGruneau and Whitsun, Hockey Night in Canada, 203.