Category Archives: Sport

Robin Room and Michael Livingston. Alcohol companies target the 20% of Australians who drink 75% of the alcohol.

23 January 2016

Researchers have known for a long time that alcohol consumption is quite concentrated in a small part of the population. They argue about the exact distribution, but there is substantial agreement that, so long as alcohol sales are not heavily … Continue reading →

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Michael Thorn. Caught Out: How Cricket Australia maintains Aussies high drinking average.

23 January 2016

  The runs are coming thick and fast in the current Victoria Bitter One Day International Series between Australia and India, bested only by the onslaught of alcohol advertising both on and off the pitch as well as in the … Continue reading →

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Steve Georgakis. The unholy trinity of sports advertising in Australia – betting agencies, junk food and alcohol.

20 January 2016

Why we shouldn’t be surprised that tennis is implicated in match-fixing. The first day of the Australian Open was marred by revelations alleging widespread match-fixing and cover-ups in men’s tennis stretching back more than a decade. World number one Novak … Continue reading →

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Peter Day. Professional sport needs more ‘Pats’.

17 January 2016

Despite all the feel good talk, the rags to riches stories and wonderful qualities that people like to associate with professional sport, when all is said and done, what really shapes and drives it are these three things: Results 2. … Continue reading →

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Dennis Hemphill. Essendon Football Club

14 January 2016

Their club failed them, but Essendon players can’t excape blame for doping ban. Fingers are pointing again at the Essendon Football Club for its failures in the long-running supplements fiasco. This follows the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS) decision … Continue reading →

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John Menadue. Cricket and the sound of summer.

31 December 2015

For me, the most memorable comment of the cricket season so far has been by Steve Smith, the Australian captain, explaining that the VB logo on their jackets wasn’t really advertising alcohol. It was only ‘branding’. I notice that he … Continue reading →

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Sean Gorman. Goodes is gone but the confronting truth remains.

9 October 2015

For many AFL fans, the last week in September is the time of the year where we reflect on a season that could have been and dream of next year. One thing we can be sure of is that we … Continue reading →

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Sandra Jones. Don’t worry about the kids: Let’s just protect the alcohol industry

26 August 2015

A recent study from Monash University found that a quarter of all alcohol advertising on Australian TV was during televised sports. Importantly, 86% of alcohol advertising between 6.00am and 8.30pm (that is, when kids are most likely to be watching … Continue reading →

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Andrew Pridham. Adam Goodes and Rosa Parks.

3 August 2015

Before last weekend’s match between the Sydney Swans and the Adelaide Crows, the Chairman of the Sydney Swans, Andrew Pridham, gave a very challenging speech about Adam Goodes and racism in Australia.  He said that recent events are a seminal … Continue reading →

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Marcus Woolombi Waters. We all know and admire the Haka … so why not one of our own?

1 August 2015

The first I heard of the Adam Goodes Bumala-y Yuurrama-y (war dance) I was in Aotearoa/New Zealand. I had been watching my son play rugby. It was a carnival (under 12s) and they had just lost the grand final. After … Continue reading →

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Tim Soutphommasane. Adam Goodes has made some people feel uncomfortable.

31 July 2015

Racism comes in many forms: overt and covert, crude and subtle. The harms of racism also come in many forms. We know from a large body of research that racism can lead to stress, negative emotions, psychological damage, even physiological … Continue reading →

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Peter Day. Warning: role models may shrink

11 July 2015

Role models: We love them. We look up to them. We say we need them. We want to know them. We want to live through them. But who are they, and what purpose do they serve? In Australia they tend … Continue reading →

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Alcohol is a bigger problem than ice.

11 April 2015

In the Herald Sun on April 8, 2015, Jeff Kennett, the former premier of Victoria, said that it was time to stop the promotion of alcohol. See link to article below. In this article he says ‘If it is good … Continue reading →

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John Menadue.  Alcohol and junk food – winning at the expense of our health.

7 April 2015

If you seriously follow almost any major Australian sport as I do, you will be conscious of the saturation alcohol and junk food advertising. And in the run up to the centenary of Gallipoli there are no holds barred to … Continue reading →

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Ian Webster.  Alcohol-drenched cricket.

2 April 2015

Michael Thorn is right; the ICC Cricket World Cup was an alcohol-drenched event (SMH Tuesday, 31st March 2015). Cricketers were once models of sportsmanship. There was even altruism and some became statesmen. Recall, “That’s simply not cricket.” No longer, as … Continue reading →

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ICC Cricket World Cup: Alcohol-drenched culture needs to change.

31 March 2015

Many media outlets today have drawn attention to the alcohol influenced behaviour of Australian cricketers as they celebrated winning the International World Cup. At the celebration in Federation Square in Melbourne yesterday morning, the Australian captain Michael Clarke seemed to … Continue reading →

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Michael Kelly SJ. Phillip Hughes: reality bites

30 November 2014

Seeing Australia from outside the island continent offers some very strange views from time to time. The outpouring of grief over the tragic accident that took the talented life of cricketer Phillip Hughes went global within a very short time. … Continue reading →

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Clare Condon SGS. Sanctioned Violence: What does it do to our society and relationships?

1 September 2014

Some violent acts, depending on where and how they were perpetrated, are regarded as criminal. Others, however, are sanctioned by society, even applauded and cheered. Some are blatant; others are covert and subtle. Some are justified by cultural norms, by … Continue reading →

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The Power of the Gambling and Liquor Complexes. John Menadue

13 March 2013

I remember speaking many years ago to an old friend, Justice Xavier Connor, after he had completed an enquiry for the Victorian Government on a possible casino in Melbourne. He recommended against it. He said ‘John, gambling and casinos everywhere … Continue reading →

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Sport and Markets. Guest blogger: Ian McAuley

7 February 2013

We are all suitably shocked by Justice Minister Jason Clare’s announcement of the findings of the Australian Crime Commission’s investigation into the use of prohibited substances and links to organized crime in sports. I heard his solemn announcement as I … Continue reading →

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