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University research on fans' views of racism in the A-League


theacademic
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Dear all,

My name is Jamie Cleland and I am an academic at the University of South Australia (my details are included at the beginning of the survey). I am conducting some research on fans’ views of racism in the A-League. In doing so, I have constructed an anonymous survey (hosted by the University of South Australia) and it should only take a few minutes of your time to complete:

https://doit.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eyd5NiGZu3V7jrU

Completing the survey is voluntary, but I hope you agree it is a topical study and I thank you in advance for your time.

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24 minutes ago, kingofhearts said:

What a load of rubbish lmao

In 11 seasons I've not been aware of any "racial" abuse of players at City home matches, and I think if there were any that there are adequate legal means of dealing with it. TBH, I think that many of these "policies" are largely window-dressing, and that organisations have them mainly to avoid the criticism they would cop if they didn't.

I don't use "social media" but I gather from what I've read that there was a lot of on-line abuse of players after England's penalty shoot-out loss to Italy. The reported rise of extremist right-wing views generally worries me, but again I very much doubt whether policy documents as such will have any value in changing those views.

As to the survey itself - IMO it would have been improved by having more "not sure it applies" boxes, and a comments section at the end.

I suppose in the end I'm just an old bloke who just likes to go to see a good match, some talented players, and my club win.

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I have never witnessed any racial behaviour at an A-League match. In the old NSL I did see UDF twats spouting shite. And in social media overseas leagues seem to have a fair bit. Also older folks than me seem to recall that the croatian and serbian clubs had their moments in the past. Not sure today.

However, as an AFL fan, it has always been prevalent and I would rather have the A-League be proactive rather than reactive as is the AFL.

And rather than use the term 'white' the formal term is Caucasian.

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1 hour ago, NewConvert said:

I have never witnessed any racial behaviour at an A-League match. In the old NSL I did see UDF twats spouting shite. And in social media overseas leagues seem to have a fair bit. Also older folks than me seem to recall that the croatian and serbian clubs had their moments in the past. Not sure today.

However, as an AFL fan, it has always been prevalent and I would rather have the A-League be proactive rather than reactive as is the AFL.

And rather than use the term 'white' the formal term is Caucasian.

Likewise never observed racism at the A League.

Really the only time I can remember hearing anything like that was at a Rugby League game on the Gold Coast almost 40 years ago. It was the Gold Coast rep side vs Souths (of Brisbane) and the abuse was directed to a legend of the game playing for Souths. pretty ordinary.

 

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26 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

One thing that annoys me is extra bureaucracy to fix things that aren’t a problem. Melbourne City doesn’t have a racism problem and therefore doesn’t need to “make changes” to fix it. Simples.

Not sure whether an extra layer of bureaucracy is required. Just a policy that states what is considered bigotry and punishment .

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6 minutes ago, NewConvert said:

Not sure whether an extra layer of bureaucracy is required. Just a policy that states what is considered bigotry and punishment .

IMO "...a policy that states what is considered bigotry and punishment" is indeed additional bureaucracy. Bureaucracy for the club, probably for stadiums, APL and FA, and on and on it goes. Surely, in Australia, there are legal instruments already in place that can deal with racism as, when and where it occurs? After the "Racism Policy" there will be a push to have an inclusivity policy, and so on and so forth. Never-ending.

I think that Melbourne City and its fans conduct themselves pretty well. The club does a lot of positive things in the community that our researcher may not be aware of ("City in the Community") and City Football Group has "Citizens Giving," and we adopt a positive approach with our annual ceremony at AAMI Park when we recognise we are playing on land once belonging to the indigenous inhabitants of Melbourne, and we play for the Blue Ribbon Cup against Sydney, recognising police service. People can dismiss all this as tokenism, sportswashing etc. etc. but personally I'd rather see these positive actions than another piece of paper and a list of rules and punishments.

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10 hours ago, jw1739 said:

IMO "...a policy that states what is considered bigotry and punishment" is indeed additional bureaucracy. Bureaucracy for the club, probably for stadiums, APL and FA, and on and on it goes. Surely, in Australia, there are legal instruments already in place that can deal with racism as, when and where it occurs? After the "Racism Policy" there will be a push to have an inclusivity policy, and so on and so forth. Never-ending.

I think that Melbourne City and its fans conduct themselves pretty well. The club does a lot of positive things in the community that our researcher may not be aware of ("City in the Community") and City Football Group has "Citizens Giving," and we adopt a positive approach with our annual ceremony at AAMI Park when we recognise we are playing on land once belonging to the indigenous inhabitants of Melbourne, and we play for the Blue Ribbon Cup against Sydney, recognising police service. People can dismiss all this as tokenism, sportswashing etc. etc. but personally I'd rather see these positive actions than another piece of paper and a list of rules and punishments.

This can go on forever. The legal system works on criminal, civil and disputes. Do I think that racism is a criminal charge? No unless there is another physical/fraud charge alongside or there is repeated behaviour. Is it a civil charge? More likely, but civil charges can take up to 7 years to come up before a court (and that was pre-covid, criminal charges can take up to 3 years) and you have to have the money/will to pursue it. So that leaves tribunal resolution for disputes which although cheaper still take a long time.

Instead having policies that are publicise leads the public to ostracise those who racially abuse fans/players. Over time the racism declines. Yes there will be die hards but they are going to be on teh outer.

And all multinational companies have such policies because employees have to work with one another across the globe.

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Come are we actually saying that the A League is not racist. 

It's a racist as the rest of Australian society, and from my perspective and experience it runs deep. 

Berisha is a gypsy comes to mind, but I reackon there's heaps more. 

Middle aged white blokes saying they are not racist really doesn't paint an accurate picture. 

Not trying to trigger anyone but couldn't let this go through to the keeper. 

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2 hours ago, Jovan said:

Come are we actually saying that the A League is not racist. 

It's a racist as the rest of Australian society, and from my perspective and experience it runs deep. 

Berisha is a gypsy comes to mind, but I reackon there's heaps more. 

Middle aged white blokes saying they are not racist really doesn't paint an accurate picture. 

Not trying to trigger anyone but couldn't let this go through to the keeper. 

Being nitpicky I suppose, but I don't think anyone has actually said that on here. What has been said prior to your comment is that in their eyes and ears in the stands no-one has seen what they would deem as racism in the A-League. If you're saying that middle-aged white blokes can't have an opinion on the subject, or even on what "racism" is, then that is a different matter; in my experience "racism" is not confined to that particular category of person, nor indeed to just "white" people. This isn't a confessional, but I'd be very surprised if any one of us could truthfully claim to have no prejudices whatsoever, whatever criterion they pertain to - sexual preferences, nationality, religion, political views, race, etc. etc.

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On 30/07/2021 at 10:16 AM, theacademic said:

Dear all,

My name is Jamie Cleland and I am an academic at the University of South Australia (my details are included at the beginning of the survey). I am conducting some research on fans’ views of racism in the A-League. In doing so, I have constructed an anonymous survey (hosted by the University of South Australia) and it should only take a few minutes of your time to complete:

https://doit.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eyd5NiGZu3V7jrU

Completing the survey is voluntary, but I hope you agree it is a topical study and I thank you in advance for your time.

welcome to the studies involved in the degree of sport management

you have a 95% chance of not finding a full time and financially efficient job with this niche course

Regards, former sport management graduate, who is doing a masters in something completely different

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3 hours ago, jw1739 said:

Being nitpicky I suppose, but I don't think anyone has actually said that on here. What has been said prior to your comment is that in their eyes and ears in the stands no-one has seen what they would deem as racism in the A-League. If you're saying that middle-aged white blokes can't have an opinion on the subject, or even on what "racism" is, then that is a different matter; in my experience "racism" is not confined to that particular category of person, nor indeed to just "white" people. This isn't a confessional, but I'd be very surprised if any one of us could truthfully claim to have no prejudices whatsoever, whatever criterion they pertain to - sexual preferences, nationality, religion, political views, race, etc. etc.

All I'm commenting on is that several previous posts have stated that they never heard or seen any racial abuse at A League games and in paticular home games at AAMI. 

I'm saying otherwise. Large sections of active would racially abuse Berisha for several seasons. 

Referring to middle aged white guys was just a tounge in cheek drop away line and maybe didn't help my statement. 

All I'm saying is racism is prevalent in our game just as its in the wider community, and the sooner we accept it then maybe we might be closer to eradicating it. 

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20 hours ago, Jovan said:

All I'm commenting on is that several previous posts have stated that they never heard or seen any racial abuse at A League games and in paticular home games at AAMI. 

I'm saying otherwise. Large sections of active would racially abuse Berisha for several seasons. 

Referring to middle aged white guys was just a tounge in cheek drop away line and maybe didn't help my statement. 

All I'm saying is racism is prevalent in our game just as its in the wider community, and the sooner we accept it then maybe we might be closer to eradicating it. 

We've all made the same mistake - throwaway lines rarely add to an argument and can often have the opposite effect to that intended. Oscar Wilde was one notable victim!

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