Arts and Sport
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. Sledging on and off the field.
As what is left of Australian cricket segues from its dismal autumn into a miserable winter, there is at least a tinge of irony in the disaster. Last week, Malcolm Turnbull, still drooling with spittle and bile after another session of parliamentary question time, gave the world a homily about the evils of sledging before Continue reading »
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PETER DAY: “Crucify him! Crucify him”
This Good Friday there will be two Passion ‘plays’ proclaimed throughout the world: The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to John, and The Passion of Our Lauded Cricket Captain According to Us. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL THORN. Cricket Australia crisis is an opportunity to remove the booze culture.
Australia loves to cut down its tall poppies. Just a few months ago, Australian cricket captain Steve Smith was being compared with the Don himself, Donald Bradman. In the aftermath of the weekend’s ball-tampering controversy in Cape Town, the Australian media were after his head, with a fervour normally reserved for murderers and sex offenders. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Our cricketers The Ugly Australians. A REPOST
Repost from 01/04/2015. Things have only got worse with the cheating in South Africa.. We need a clean out not just of players but coaching staff,Cricket Australia and the media . They are very good cricketers, but the behaviour of our cricketers leaves a nasty taste. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL THORN. The cricket pay dispute and how broadcast deals drive unhealthy product marketing
After the series of serious drug and alcohol incidents involving rugby league players and officials in May, some quite reasonably made the argument that sports that so closely embrace alcohol brands can hardly be surprised when the behaviour of players clothed in these brands act badly. This was cited in support of the argument that Continue reading »
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PETER DAY. Show me the money!
Cricket’s two most powerful bodies have reached an impasse over pay. The enmity between the two runs deep – blinking first ain’t an option. Thus, all our elite players (230+) are currently unemployed. HOWZAT for a dilemma? Continue reading »
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MICHAEL THORN. Cricket Australia throw Aussie kids to the Lion
Alcohol and sport sponsorship is a toxic marriage, an ill-fitting and dangerous partnership. Like sport and tobacco sponsorship before it, it is anachronism; a throwback to a less enlightened era. Continue reading »
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STEVE GEORGAKIS and JADE WARD. The first week in February 2017: A Landmark for Women’s Football Codes
Histories are silent on any real influence that women have had on their respective sport. This is because involvement in these sports have historically emerged from the connotations that such sports were about providing opportunities for men to develop a masculine character. Continue reading »
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STEVE GEORGAKIS. Gilchrist and Australia’s national sport, Cricket?
Until recently cricket is a sport that has rarely engaged other minority cultures, such as Indigenous Australians or newly arrived migrants. In fact, unlike other sports such as Australian Rules football, cricket has been resistant to broaden its base. … The more multicultural Australia became, the more insular cricket became. … The integrity stops with the baggy Continue reading »
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THOMAS BABOR, DAVID JERNIGAN, CHRIS BROOKES. Alcohol marketing: the simple truth
According to the World Health Organization, there are 3.3 million deaths attributable to alcohol use worldwide each year. Alcohol marketing, promotion and sponsorship are widespread in most of the world today and marketers are moving increasingly to digital and social media, where efforts at regulation have fallen far behind industry innovations in producing audience engagement Continue reading »
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STEVE GEORGAKIS. How professional sport handicaps youth sporting culture.
The recent spate of incidents and reports of doping, match-fixing and wall-to-wall TV coverage of betting, alcohol and junk food advertisements has stimulated considerable debate about the impact of commercialised sport on Australian youth. Continue reading »
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PETER DAY. Kyrgios: the anti-hero
Like the rest of us, Nick needs time: time to mature; time to know himself; and time to sort out the wheat from the chaff – as regards the latter, I think he’s already worked out that the media is mostly full of chaff… and don’t the media hate it, love it, know it, resent Continue reading »
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IAN WEBSTER. Protecting young people from our ‘favourite drug’ – alcohol.
Marketing of alcohol is out of control. 20% of those watching major sporting events on TV are under the age of 18 years. Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. Cricket – alcohol and junk food.
Cricket has a dangerous relationship with alcohol and junk food. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. The Olympic Games. A chance to celebrate and honour human achievements.
My favourite Olympic Games story comes not from Rio in 2016 but from Persepolis in 492 BC. The setting was the court of King Darius I, who styled himself Darius the Great. His Persian empire was vast, but there were problems: the Greek Ionian states had revolted, and although they had been ruthlessly put Continue reading »
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STEVE GEORGAKIS. Sport is only sport if you participate; otherwise it is a spectacle
The highpoint of sport occurred more than 2,000 years ago when the ancient Greeks established an education system which placed a significant emphasis on the playing of sport and in particular the educational value of participation in sport. The central role of sport in the education system coincided with the flourishing of Greek culture Continue reading »
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KATHY CHAPMAN & BRIDGET KELLY. Unhealthy sport sponsorship continues to target kids.
In the final month of the countdown to the Olympic Games, our sports stars are probably not eating and drinking the Games sponsors’ foods. Again, as in previous Olympics, the Olympic Games sponsors are Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Cadburys, whose foods and drinks are not good choices for athletes due to their lack of nutrition and Continue reading »
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JOHN TULLOH. Olympics and oil – a tale of two South American countries.
Back in 2009, the International Olympic Committee made a bold decision. It decided the 2016 Games would be held for the first time in South America, a continent not noted for its political, economic or social stability. Rio de Janeiro in Brazil would be the host city even though the evaluation of three others Continue reading »
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PETER DAY. Despite alcohol and gambling in sport, let us never forget ‘the backyard’.
Sport is a majestic thing. Just like our imaginations, it takes us to so many good places. The backyard: where gran and grandson become batting partners in a fiercely fought family ‘Test Match’. The beach: where sand and water gently accommodate the thrills and spills of diving and catching and tackling and throwing. The family home: where mum’s Continue reading »
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STEPHEN LEEDER. Alcohol and sport.
Queensland’s victory over NSW in the June 1 game was reported as the highest rating State of Origin match ever and ‘the top TV event of 2016.’ Both teams carried alcohol advertising on their clothing into the match. The association of alcohol with sport is deep, complex and profitable. Sport provides a lucrative vehicle for Continue reading »
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MICHELE KOSASIH. Seven years on and still itching for change on the negative impacts of alcohol.
2016 marks seven years for the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education’s (FARE) Annual Alcohol Poll (conducted by Galaxy Research), and we continue to see Australia’s concern about the negative impacts alcohol has on the community. Continue reading »
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Evan Williams. The seven sacred cows of Australian politics
We are indebted to the Hindu religion for that useful term sacred cow. As every schoolboy knows, Hindus venerate the cow and forbid its slaughter or abuse. Our political landscape abounds in sacred cows – institutions or practices that are considered beyond criticism, immune to scrutiny and supported by politicians of all parties. Some sacred Continue reading »
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John Dwyer. ‘Health’ products and treatments that are often unproven and sometimes dangerous.
Health Care Advertising and Consumer Protection There are far more irritations than pearls available currently to those of us trying to champion the importance of having our health care underpinned by credible scientific evidence of clinical effectiveness. Though we live in the most scientific of all ages it is cause for concern that practices Continue reading »
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John Menadue. Supporting Adam Goodes.
This blog is a repost from 1 August 2015. Adam Goodes has been bullied and vilified because he has reminded us of our dark history and the discrimination that continues against him and many others in Australia today. We don’t like being reminded of the dispossession, killing, poisoning and discrimination against our own indigenous people. Continue reading »
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Robin Room and Michael Livingston. Alcohol companies target the 20% of Australians who drink 75% of the alcohol.
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 restricted, consumption is distributed in a quite predictable way. That is, there are many light Continue reading »
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Michael Thorn. Caught Out: How Cricket Australia maintains Aussies high drinking average.
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 commercial breaks in between the on field action. That barrage of alcohol ads on the Continue reading »
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Steve Georgakis. The unholy trinity of sports advertising in Australia – betting agencies, junk food and alcohol.
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 Djokovic confirmed he was approached with a reported offer of US$200,000 in 2006 to throw Continue reading »
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Peter Day. Professional sport needs more ‘Pats’.
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. Results 3. Results. Winning is everything, and self-interest, the “jockey”. In such a hyper competitive Continue reading »
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Dennis Hemphill. Essendon Football Club
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 to ban 34 past and present players for one year for contravening the World Anti-Doping Continue reading »
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Michael Thorn. The Australian cricket captain says its about the brand and not alcohol.
Repost from 24/09/2015 Premier Mike Baird’s public comments at last week’s Thomas Kelly Foundation event in Sydney wasn’t the first time he has questioned the extent of alcohol advertising in this country, particularly its strong association with big sport. Baird made the self-evident point that such alcohol advertising has become omni-present and spoke about the Continue reading »