Ethnicity and Soccer :: essays research papers

Ethnicity and Soccer The effect of non-English speechmaking immigrants on the establishment of soccer in Canberra in the fifties and 1960s.Abstract Soccer in Canberra as a athletic competition had died prior to the war. The advent of Australias new immigration policy after 1945 see a solid influx, over the next two decades, of non-English speaking Europeans to Australia and through their input they assisted in the re-emergence of soccer as a main sport in the region. From the Baltic states to the Southern Europeans of Greece and Italy, the change to the Canberra landscape was quite dramatic soccer was genius that benefited significantly.In the days prior to the second cosmos war ethnicity evolved around that of Scottish and non-Scottish when dealing with the sport of soccer in the region. In all the records of those who played soccer up until 1933, there was only one non-British player even though a number of Italians and others were working in the district.When Australia opene d its migration policy, after 1945, to include those from a larger number of non-English speaking sandgrounds, many moved to Canberra to help build the Capital during the construction boom of the period. Yet this did not create the harmony that was hoped for.Familiarity was essential to post-war immigrants. Australian finis was alien to new arrivals and Australians were at best indifferent to immigrants and sometimes antagonistic to the newcomers. A long-held Australian distaste for anything not British also helped drive immigrants into self-possessed communities, their organisations serving as bulwarks against the British-Australian majority.Soccer clubs in immigrant communities were an instrument through which all elements of life could be sustained. They enabled individuals to interact, establish patronage links, support networks and social contacts. They were institutions which could be utilise to create tightly-knit communities and they were valued as a way of retaining the support of the youth. There was a continuing fear among older immigrants that their children would abandon their heritage in privilege of Australian ways. (1)Following the second world war, soccer in the district did not return until 1948, when a team participated in the Goulburn competition. The sport moved back to Canberra in the following year although competitions were rare, and reporting of these even rarer.In those few years following the recommencement of play, soccer teams comprised of mixed ethnic origins, only team names were still mainly geographical. In 1951 four teams entered a competition Turner, Ainslie, Capitol Hill and Olympics.