power to the people - Swinburne University of Technology

Q&A
Swinburne sociologist Associate Professor
Karen Farquharson talks about her research on diversity
and participation in Australian children’s sport.
Sport for all
Q: Sport is a big part of the Australian way of life. What benefits does
it bring for society?
A: Recreational sport is increasingly being seen as a solution for serious health
problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity, associated with a
sedentary lifestyle. It is also a potential source of social connection – a way
for new migrants to become part of Australian society. Recreational sport
participation is seen as good for individuals and for broader society, but most
of us stop participating when we are still children.
Q: What brought you to sport as an area of research?
A: I’m a sociologist who has a strong interest in sport. I’m also a migrant and a
woman who is not very good at sport and stopped participating as soon as I could.
While I’m fairly fit, it is not via organised sport.
So I’m interested in how sport can be made more attractive to a broader
constituency: how can people such as me, who like sport but who are not very
talented, be better engaged in sport over their life span? How can migrants be
attracted to sport?
For sport to be a solution to health issues and contribute to social inclusion,
people need to want to participate. Sport needs to attract kids
and keep them involved.
Q: Tell us about your research
A: I’m part of a team made up of researchers from a number of
universities, investigating diversity in junior sport in Australia.
Our research is interested in how junior sports clubs manage
diversity of all sorts, including ability, culture and gender.
Led by Ramón Spaaij (La Trobe University), and including Ruth
Jeanes (Monash University), Dean Lusher (Swinburne University
of Technology) and Sean Gorman (Curtin University), we recently
conducted a pilot study in the greater Melbourne area.
We were interested in finding out whether clubs incorporated
people of diverse backgrounds and, if so, how they achieved this.
Q: What were your findings?
A: The results were mixed. Some clubs
were interested in attracting participants
from migrant backgrounds and
developed strategies to do so, but
others were not.
‘They know where we are’ was one response from
the latter type of club. And often the clubs that
had strategies did so because one leader had a
keen interest in attracting people from diverse
backgrounds, not because the club had a
particular policy around the issue.
Clubs that courted culturally diverse
players often did so in search of talent,
believing that attracting people of
different backgrounds would increase
their talent pool. Research into diversity
management suggests this way of thinking is
For sport to
be a solution
to health
issues and
contribute to
social inclusion,
people need
to want to
participate.
right: if you broaden your scope, you will find a larger number
of talented people.
Q: What about diversity in terms of gender
and disability?
A: There was little discussion of gender diversity. Junior
sport, and sport in general, is very much gender-segregated,
and the need to improve female participation rates is tied up in
ideas we have about girls (and women) playing sport that makes
girls’ sports less important than boys’ sports. Indeed, much research
has shown that girls tend to stop playing sport at puberty. Girls from diverse
backgrounds are particularly likely to drop out.
A number of clubs had dedicated programs for people with a disability and
strategies to reach out to this constituency, but many clubs also did not. Access
and appropriate programs are key barriers for people with a disability in terms of
sport participation, and for many clubs the infrastructural access issues seemed
too great to overcome.
Q: What about kids who have varying
levels of ability?
A: One type of diversity that was not actively viewed
as a concern by sporting clubs was diversity of ability
among the able-bodied. It was not
really seen as desirable. Having
less than talented players
means your teams are less
likely to win. Clubs want
to field winning teams.
Q: What impact does
this attitude have on
sport as a positive
social force?
A: This is a key
conundrum in using sport
as a solution to health
problems and lack of social
connectedness. If sport is to be
optimally beneficial to society, then junior
sports clubs need to engage all kids. However, sporting clubs are caught
in a difficult place between the desire to perform well and the desire to
encourage participation.
Q: What steps should sports clubs be taking?
A: Solutions that provide spaces for the less talented to enjoy and
excel in sport are needed. Clubs also need advice on diversity
management: why it is desirable to have diverse members and
how to achieve that.
Our research is exploring this issue from the ground up, with an
eye to understanding the clubs’ perspectives, but also with an eye
to developing strategies to improve junior sport participation. l
22 | swinburne | venture | issue ONE 2013