Softball in Australia

Last updated

CountryAustralia
Governing body Softball Australia
National team(s) Australia
Nickname(s) Aussie Steelers (Men)
Aussie Spirit (Women)
National competitions
International competitions

Softball in Australia is played in Australia.

History

The game was first played in Australia in 1939, having been introduced to the country by Gordon Young of Canada, who at the time was the director of physical education in New South Wales. [1] [2] Prior to the Second World War, vigoro was one of the sports played by women in Australia. With the introduction of softball during the war, the game fell out of popularity and was replaced with softball in the eastern states. [3] The game was introduced to a wider audience in 1942 by American nurses stationed in the country during the war. [4] [5] Their matches were organized by US Army Sargeant William Duvernet. [1] [5] The Victorian Women's Softball Association was created two years later in 1944. [4] The association at the time of its founding had 20 teams, 250 members and staged regular competitions. [4] Women's participation in softball led to a decline in the number of women participating in cricket at this time. [4] [6] A Queensland organisation was created in 1946 by the American Mack Gilley. [5] [7] By 1946, the big states had their own association. In 1947, at the behest of Queensland, the first interstate championships were held in Brisbane, with the Victorians claiming victory. [1] [8] Only New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland competed at the innaurgal event. [5]

Contents

There were efforts by the Australian Softball Council as early as 1950 to get softball on the Olympic programme for possible inclusion at the 1956 Summer Olympics. [9] [10]

After the failure of getting softball on the 1956 Olympic programme, an attempt was made by Western Australians to get softball included on the schedule at the 1962 British Empire Games that were going to be held in Perth. Empire Games organisers did not support this as they allowed neither team sports, nor demonstration sports at the Games. [10]

Governance

The first national organisation for women's softball was created in 1947 as a result of talks at the first interstate championships and named the Australian Women's Softball Council. [1] It was originally composed of representatives from New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland and Victoria. [1] Other states and territories were later added: Western Australia in 1951, Tasmania in 1952, the Australian Capital Territory in 1961, and the Northern Territory in 1978. [1] The organisation would later change its name do the Australian Softball Federation. [1] [5] Australia's national organisation was recognised by the international governing body, the International Softball Federation, in 1953. [1] In 1995, the organisation was based in Bayswater, Victoria and had 60,000 members. [2]

Funding

The national team has not secured as much funding as male dominated sports in Australia despite having performed better than some and having won major international competitions. [11] As of 1999, softball was not being supported by all state and territory based institute of sports. Only the ACT, the New South Wales Institute of Sport, the Queensland Academy of Sport and the Victorian Institute of Sport did. [12] The federal government allocated money to sport through a variety of methods. When combined, softball was allocated A$ 1,265,200 in 1995/1996, A$ 1,275,900 in 1996/1997, A$ 1,548,600 in 1997/1998, A$ 1,625,700 in 1998/1999, and A$ 1,767,500 in 1999/2000. [13]

National championships

Hawker International Softball Centre in Canberra Hawker International Softball Centre 0676.JPG
Hawker International Softball Centre in Canberra

There are several national championships held for men and women in Australia. The championships occur every year, with hosting rights given to states in the order they were admitted to the Australian Women's Softball Council. The championships are the Mack Gilley Shield for the open women, the Elinor McKenzie Shield for the U19 women, the Ester Deason Shield for the U16 women, the John Reid Shield for the open men, and the Nox Bailey Shield for the U19 men. [1] In the Gilley Shield, Victoria won every Shield between 1947 and 1951, Western Australia won in 1952 and 1953 before Victoria won again in 1954. Western Australia won in 1955 with the South Australians winning in 1965. Victoria won in consecutively in 1957 and 1958, before Western Australia went on to win in 1959. Victoria went on a winning streak again winning in 1960, 1961 and 1962. Queensland interrupted their streak with a win in 1963. Victoria won again in 1964 and 1965. Queensland and Victoria went on to trade wins with Queensland in 1966, Victoria in 1967 and Queensland in 1968. [5]

Play

Softball is played in Australia during the summer and the winter. [1]

Education

The University of Melbourne required physical education students to learn about softball as part of the programme's curriculum. This helped spur the inclusion of the sport in the curriculum at secondary schools and colleges around the state of Victoria. [4]

International competitions

Parade of Olympians - Sydney 2008 - Women's softball team 2008 Summer Olympics Australian Parade in Sydney - Women's softball team.jpg
Parade of Olympians – Sydney 2008 – Women's softball team

Australian women competed in their first international competition in 1949 when they played a series against New Zealand in St Kilda at the St Kilda Cricket Ground. [14] [15] 10,000 people watched the game live. [14] [15] The first international for Australian women took place in 1951 when the Australians toured New Zealand. [5] [14] Australia won both games against the New Zealanders. [5] In 1960, Australia hosted its first international tournament with national teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa competing. [5] [14] At the tournament, Australia beat South Africa by a score of 2–1. [5] Australia hosted the event again in 1962, where they beat the New Zealanders in the final 2–1. [5] At the ISF Women's World Championship, Australia finished first in 1965 and second in 1998. [16] The 1965 victory was considered very impressive as they beat the Americans, who invented the game in 1887, to win the championship. [17] Between 1949 and 1967, Australia's senior women's side was undefeated in international play. [5]

On television

The first softball World Series, called the Diamond International trophy, was hosted by Australia. World television rights were sold for the event by the International Softball Federation for A$ 6,500. [5]

Participation

In 1995, an estimated 200,000 children regularly played softball in organised school based games. [2]

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Australian aboriginals have represented the country as members of the national team. One such player was Joanne Lesiputty, born in 1966, who also represented Australia in a number of other sports including basketball and netball. Her selection to the senior national softball team occurred in 1987. She was granted a federal scholarship for "young Aboriginal sporting achievers" [18] in 1989. [18] Australian aboriginals have been present on state representative sides for softball including Rose Damaso who represented the Northern Territory. [18] Softball is the most popular sport for Aboriginal women to play. In March 2012, Softball Australia and the federal government announced a program to further increase aboriginal participation in softball as a way of promoting healthier lifestyles in the community. [19]

Men

Men's softball being played in the Australian Capital Territory NZ Jr vs ACT jr test 1 137.JPG
Men's softball being played in the Australian Capital Territory

A national men's association for softball was created in 1949 and was the first of its kind for men's softball in Australia. The organisation folded within the year because men's softball could not compete for participation with other popular Australian sports like Australian rules football, rugby league, cricket and baseball. [5] [15] The popularity of softball for men started happening in the late 1970s. [1] In 1994, estimates put male participation in the sport at fifty-thousand regular competitors. [1] Men's world championships were first held in Mexico City in 1966 and have been held every four years since. Australia did not send a team to this competition. [5] Australia has never hosted the men's championships, nor won it or been runners up. [20] Australia's men competed at the 1988 Men's Softball World Series, the first Softball World Series for men. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

Softball Australia

Australia's softball history began in 1939 when Gordon Young, Director of Physical Education in NSW, began to promote the game in schools and colleges. In 1942, during World War II, US army sergeant William Duvernet organised softball as a recreation for US nurses stationed in Victoria. Another American, Mack Gilley, introduced the game to Queensland in 1946. Australia's first inter-state championship was played in Brisbane in 1947 and was won by Victoria. The second national championship was held in Melbourne two years later. It was at this championship that the Australian Softball Federation was formed with Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and New South Wales being the founding members. The other States of Australia have since joined. Eight Australian Championships are now conducted each year – Women's, Men's, Under 23 Women and Men, Under 19 Women and Men, and Under 16 Girls and Boys. Softball has been a major sport in the schools program for some time now and it is estimated that more than 250,000 children play the game each year.

Gilleys Shield

The Gilleys Shield is a trophy symbolising the Open Women's Championship of the Softball Australia organisation. The competition's full name is the Mack Gilley Shield.

The Women's Softball World Cup is a fastpitch softball tournament for women's national teams held historically every four years, now every two years, by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). The tournament, originally known as the ISF Women's World Championship, was sanctioned by the International Softball Federation (ISF) until that body's 2013 merger with the International Baseball Federation to create the WBSC. The number of teams in the tournament began at five in its inaugural event in 1965, went to a high of 28 for the 1994 edition, and now the WBSC Code legislates that the maximum number of teams that may participate is 16. There are qualifying tournaments that determine which countries will play at the World Cup.

The Australia women's national softball team, also known as the Aussie Spirit, or the Dingeroos, is the national softball team of Australia. It is governed by Softball Australia and takes part in international softball competitions. They are one of Australia's most successful women's sporting teams on the world stage, and they have achieved outstanding results over the last 3 decades. Alongside the USA team, the Aussie Spirit are the only other team to medal at all 4 Olympics that softball was included as a sport in the Olympics program. At the inaugural Women's Softball World Championship held in Melbourne, 1965. Australia claimed the first ever title, winning Gold and stamped themselves as a pioneer in the sport.

Field hockey has been played by men in Australia since 1901. By 1907, there were clubs in several states including New South Wales, South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria. Women's field hockey was eventually represented by the Australian Institute of Sport, though the amount of support it received was less than the support the men received. The All Australian Women's Hockey Association was established in 1910 to govern the sport in Australia. in 2000, Women's Hockey Australia merged with the Australian Hockey Association to form Hockey Australia. The game has been played by women on the university and school level. Interstate matches were being played by 1909. The level of play on the interstate level is very high. The Australia women's national field hockey team, established in 1914, has placed highly in many competitions.

Womens athletics in Australia

While not being urged to avoid competition, women had few opportunities to compete in sport in Australia until the 1880s. After that date, new sporting facilities were being built around the country and many new sport clubs were created. Athletic events were being held in schools in Australia by the early part of the twentieth century. The Glennie School in Toowoomba was one school to host races for girls during their annual girls' sport day. During the 1920s, girls were able to run while wearing bloomers, instead of skirts. The first meeting for women's athletics took place in 1926 and was organised by the NSWAAA. The purpose of the meeting was to determine if it would be possible to send women to compete in the 1928 Summer Olympics based on merit. Only one female athlete was determined to be good enough to send. That was E.F. Robinson. The first women's national athletics body designed to govern the sport in Australia was founded in 1932 and was called the Australian Women's Amateur Athletic Union. It was designed to oversee state organisations in Victoria (1929), Queensland (1921), New South Wales (1932) and South Australia. (1932) The first Australian woman to travel overseas to compete was E.F. Robinson, who went to the 1928 Summer Olympics where she ran in the 100-metres. She came in third and was the only Australian female on the 1928 Australian Olympic team.

Womens badminton in Australia

The beginning of women's badminton in Australia dates back to the year 1900, when for the first time badminton was played in Australia.

Womens bowls in Australia

The first women's bowls match played in Australia took place in Stawell, Victoria, in October 1881. The first women's only bowls club was not created for another seventeen years, when the Rainsford Bowls Club was created on 16 December 1898 at the home of J. Rainsford Needham, who lived in Glenferrie, Victoria. The first women's bowls association was created in September 1907. The association was called the Victorian Ladies' Bowling Association, and was created by six Melbourne-based clubs. It was the first women's bowling association created the world.

Womens croquet in Australia

Croquet has historically been a sport in Australia where men and women were able to compete on a level playing field.

Womens lacrosse in Australia

While not being urged to avoid competition, women had few opportunities to compete in sport in Australia until the 1880s. After that point, new sporting facilities were being built around the country and many new sport clubs were created. During the 1900s in Australia, lacrosse became more socially acceptable for women to participate in. Subsequently, female participation rates rose in places like Queensland.

Women's cue sports in Australia is a sporting topic that has received some Australian media coverage since the early 20th century. Coverage began with English billiards and today is more often about the sport of snooker and various pool games such as eight-ball.

Womens baseball in Australia

In the 1880s in Victoria, there were school competitions for girls involving interschool competitions for rounders, an early form of baseball. The competitions were abandoned in the 1890s. Girls who played rounders/baseball during the 1880s and 1890s were required to wear long sleeved shirts and long skirts. These restricted a player's ability to move.

In Australia, archery is a sport in which men and women compete against each other on an equal playing field. Coed competitions have occurred since Australia's colonial era. An example of one such competition took played in Yandilla, Queensland, in 1878. Women's archery was established in Victoria by the 1870s, mostly in archery clubs. People viewed women's archery as a royal sport during this era and they encouraged women to participate because it did not require women to give up their womanhood in order to compete. Women were members of an archery club in Adelaide by 1870.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Australian women's basketball was successful in terms of attracting participants and having a competitive team on the international stages. This success did not translate into sponsorship and financial support for the sport.

Softball is played in Queensland .

Softball is played in New South Wales, introduced to the state in 1939. By 1984, there were 1,356 registered teams in New South Wales. Players from Australia have been on the men's and women's national team, had AIS scholarships, played at universities in the United States, and professionally in the US, Japan and Europe.

Softball is played in the Australian state of Victoria.

Softball is played in Tasmania. The game was brought to the island during the late 1940s from Melbourne, Victoria. The sport would grow in popularity in Tasmania with 56 teams in 1976 to 216 in 1984. Men's softball is not popular in Tasmania. The first softball only facility was built in Tasmania in 1984.

Softball is played in the Australian Capital Territory. The game was influenced early in its history in the territory by Queanbeyan. There are efforts to increase participation in the sport in the ACT. The territory has won the Gilleys Shield three times in a row. Players from Canberra have been on the national team, held Australian Institute of Sport scholarships and played for American universities.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Vamplew, Wray; Australian Society for Sports History; Australian Sports Commission (1994). The Oxford companion to Australian sport (2 ed.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press. pp. 388–389. ISBN   0195532872. OCLC   27509815.
  2. 1 2 3 Coppell, W G (1995). Sportspeak : an encyclopedia of sport. Port Melbourne, Vic., Australia: Reed Reference Australia. p. 479. ISBN   1875589732. OCLC   35235752.
  3. ↑ Stell, Marion K. (1991). Half the Race, A history of Australian women in sport. North Ryde, Australia: Harper Collins. p. 55. ISBN   0207169713.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Stell, Marion K. (1991). Half the Race, A history of Australian women in sport. North Ryde, Australia: Harper Collins. p. 95. ISBN   0207169713.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Pollard, Jack (1968). AMPOL book of Australian Sporting Records. Sydney: The Pollard Publishing Co. pp. 273–274. OCLC   71140.
  6. ↑ Stell, Marion K. (1991). Half the Race, A history of Australian women in sport. North Ryde, Australia: Harper Collins. p. 210. ISBN   0207169713.
  7. ↑ Cashman, Richard (2001). Australian sport through time. Milsons Point, N.S.W.: Random House Australia. p. 259. ISBN   1740514459. OCLC   223005022.
  8. ↑ Coppell, W G (1995). Sportspeak : an encyclopedia of sport. Port Melbourne, Vic., Australia: Reed Reference Australia. p. 28. ISBN   1875589732. OCLC   35235752.
  9. ↑ "Victorian softballers too strong for North Tasmania". The Advocate . Burnie, Tas.: National Library of Australia. 4 November 1952. p. 3. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
  10. 1 2 Embrey, Lynn; Australian Softball Federation. (1995). "The Olympics". Batter up! : the history of softball in Australia. Bayswater, Vic.: Australian Softball Federation. pp. 152–156.
  11. ↑ Stell, Marion K. (1991). Half the Race, A history of Australian women in sport. North Ryde, Australia: Harper Collins. p. 266. ISBN   0207169713.
  12. ↑ Shilbury, David; Deane, John (2001). Sport management in Australia : an organisational overview (2 ed.). Victoria, Australia: Strategic Sport Management Pty Ltd. p. 231. ISBN   095801700X. OCLC   66199132.
  13. ↑ Shilbury, David; Deane, John (2001). Sport management in Australia : an organisational overview (2 ed.). Victoria, Australia: Strategic Sport Management Pty Ltd. p. 83. ISBN   095801700X. OCLC   66199132.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Stell, Marion K. (1991). Half the Race, A history of Australian women in sport. North Ryde, Australia: Harper Collins. p. 209. ISBN   0207169713.
  15. 1 2 3 Cashman, Richard (2001). Australian sport through time. Milsons Point, N.S.W.: Random House Australia. p. 271. ISBN   1740514459. OCLC   223005022.
  16. ↑ White, Patrick (2005). Chambers sports factfinder. Edinburgh: Chambers. pp. 542–543. ISBN   0550101616. OCLC   58052551.
  17. ↑ Viney, Nigel; Grant, Neil (1978). An illustrated history of ball games. London: Heinemann. pp. 97–98. ISBN   0434969400. OCLC   5125714.
  18. 1 2 3 Stell, Marion K. (1991). Half the Race, A history of Australian women in sport. North Ryde, Australia: Harper Collins. pp. 238–239. ISBN   0207169713.
  19. ↑ Rees, Courtney (24 March 2012). "Chasing indigenous talent". The Canberra Times. Canberra, Australia. p. Sports, 14.
  20. ↑ White, Patrick (2005). Chambers sports factfinder. Edinburgh: Chambers. p. 542. ISBN   0550101616. OCLC   58052551.
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