Empowering Indigenous Networks: Collaborative Governance and the Development of a Racial Vilification Code in the Australian Football League

Abstract

Few Indigenous Australians played Australian Rules football at the elite level before the 1980s. As the number of Indigenous players increased, a network of those who refused to accept on-field racial vilification developed. Opportunities for change were also seized by the Australian Football League, through a collaborative governance approach that empowered Indigenous players to inform strategies for reconciliation and education, and the development of anti-vilification rules. The case provides information about how governance structures may generate resources that improve socio-economic outcomes for indigenous and other disadvantaged people.