 | This article is missing information about women's cricket and colonial history.(December 2012) |
Women's sport in New South Wales was first organised statewide in 1933. Coverage of women's sport in the state media lags behind that of men. Discrimination based on gender is allowed for sport in the state. The University of Sydney has women's sport history dating back to the 1890s.
The first major sport statewide organisation for women was created in 1933 with the creation of the New South Wales Women's Amateur Sports Council. The council's first patron was Gwendolyn Game. The role of this council was to serve as a women's sport lobbying group to get state and local councils, and sporting clubs to create or improve facilities for women and to create greater opportunities for women in sport. [1] In 1930, a field hockey camp was held for metro and country New South Wales. [2] In 1955, at the invitation of the New South Wales Women's Hockey Association, England's national team coach visited the state and held several coaching clinics. [3] A coaching scheme was developed following this tour. 62 women had completed the course by 1957. [4] In 1984, the Premier of New South Wales decided to ban a bout between two women kickboxers citing clause 27.1 in the Theatre and Public Halls Act 1908 relating to preservation of good manners and decorum. [5] [6] A complaint was filed with the New South Wales Anti-Discrimination Board by cricketer Denise Annetts in January 1994 alleging she was not selected for the national team because she was a heterosexual. [7]
A study of sport coverage in rural New South Wales found coverage of sports favored men's sport, with coverage for women being less than that of horse sports and slightly more than dog racing. [8] From 1890 to 1990, there was an increase in women's sport coverage in the Newcastle Herald from 3.2% of all sport coverage to 15.7%. [9]
The 1996 New South Wales Anti-discrimination Against Transgendered Persons Act allows for gender discrimination in sport. [10] [ how? ]
At the University of Sydney, there were two parallel sport organised dating back to the 1890s. One was for men, the Sports Union, and one was for women, the Women's Sport Associations. Attempts were made to merge them during the 1890s, in 1922 for economic reasons, in 1934 and 1973. None of these efforts were successful. [11] During the 1960s and again in the 1970s, membership in the Women's Sport Association the University of Sydney doubled. In 1982, the organisation would give out awards for the first time for the sportswoman and sport-team of the year. [12] In 1971, the women's volleyball club was created, with the mountaineering, orienteering and canoe club being founded two years later. The Canoe club would separate in 1976, and the women's gymnastics and trampoline club was founded in 1970. A women's soccer club and women's boardsailing club were founded in 1980. The women's rockclimbing club and women's powerlifting club were founded in 1984. The women's Aikido club was founded a year later. The women's Tae Kwon Do Club, and women's triathlon club were founded in 1989. A year later, the women's water ski club was founded. The women's touch football club was founded in 1992. The women's cycling club was founded in 1993 and merged with the triathlon club in 1995. The women's rugby club was founded in 1994. [12] During the 1990s, members of the Women's Sport Association often outperformed their male counterparts when competing in international competitions. [12]
Women who came out of the Association's clubs included water polo players Jenny MacGregor, Julie Sheperd, Cathy Parkes, Naomi Woodberry and Cathy Turner, and sailor Adrienne Cahalan. [12]
section 27.1
Football in Australia refers to numerous codes which each have major shares of the mainstream sports market, media, broadcasting, professional athletes, financial performance and grassroots participation: Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union and Association Football. There are four pre-eminent professional football competitions played in Australia: the Australian Football League, the National Rugby League, Super Rugby and the A-League (soccer). By most measures, including attendance, television audience and media presence across the most states, Australian football is the most popular nationally. However, in the states of New South Wales and Queensland, rugby football is overall the most watched and receives the most media coverage, especially the Rugby League State of Origin contested between the two states referred to as “Australian sport's greatest rivalry”. In recent times there has been an increase in popularity in Australian football and corresponding decrease in popularity of Rugby union in New South Wales and Queensland. Soccer, while extending its lead in participation rate particularly in the large cities and improving its performance at the FIFA World Cup, continues to attract the overall lowest attendance as well as media and public interest of the four codes.
Sport is an important part of Australia that dates back to the early colonial period. Australian rules football, rugby league, rugby union, association football, cricket and tennis are among the earliest organised sports in Australia. Sport has shaped the Australian national identity through events such as the Melbourne Cup and the America's Cup. Australia also holds the record for the largest attendance at a Rugby Union match with almost 110 000 watching the Wallabies play the All Blacks in 2000.
Nigel Chase Barker was an Australian track and field athlete, who is regarded as holder of Australia's first athletics world record, in the 400 yards, and is an Intercalated Games bronze medalist.
Softball in Australia is played in Australia.
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.
Women's sport in Australia started in the colonial era. Sport made its way into the school curriculum for girls by the 1890s. World War II had little impact on women's sport in the country. After the war, women's sport diversified as a result of new immigrants to the country. In the 1990s, the percentage of media coverage for women's sport on radio, television and in newspapers was not at parity with male sport. Basketball is nominally professional in Australia but players do not earn enough from the sport to compete full-time. Some Australians have gone overseas to play professional sport. Many television spectators for Australian sport are women. In person, netball has large percentage of female spectators. The Australian Federal and State governments have encouraged women to participate in all areas of sport.
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.
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.
Women were involved with horse racing in Australia by the 1890s. Since then, they have owned horses, trained horses, gambled on horses and attended the races. Their participation in the sport was hampered because of a lack of facilities and participation rates were not as high as other sports.
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.
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.
Women's kickboxing in Australia is not popular when compared to men's participation in the sport. Women have faced legal challenges in participating in New South Wales, which outlawed their participation in the ring. The sport has been embraced by Muslim women, who can be fully clothed while participating.
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.
College athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games.
Leslie "Les" Alexander H. McKeand was an Australian triple jumper and javelin thrower. In the triple jump he won the national title in 1950 and a silver medal at the 1950 British Empire Games, placing seventh at the 1948 Summer Olympics. In the javelin, his best result was seventh place at the 1950 British Empire Games.
Sydney University Boat Club is the rowing club in Sydney, Australia with the oldest charter having been formed in 1860 by the founders of the University of Sydney. It has had a boatshed presence in various locations on Sydney Harbour since 1886, excepting between 1941 and 1966. A varsity and recreational club during most of its history, the Boat Club has since the 1990s had a focus on its high performance and elite rowing programs. Supported by the University's Sports Union the Club has developed an increasing number of Olympic representative oarsmen and women in the new millennium with club members rowing in twenty-two seats in those Australian Olympic crews who represented between Athens 2004 and Tokyo 2021.
Women's tennis in South Africa has historically been played primarily by English-speaking whites, with lower adoption rates by other groups of women in the country. International ties existed early with an Australian team touring in 1928. South Africa began competing in the Fed Cup during the inaugural year of the competition. From 1972 until the 1980s, there were some restrictions for South African tennis players.
The history of sport in Australia dates back to the pre-colonial period of the country.
