Indigenous player inclusion in the Australian Football League

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to audit the efforts made around the support of indigenous players within the Australian Football League (AFL).Design/methodology/approachContent analysis of the publicly available information on websites of organizations associated with the AFL was undertaken to identify the extent of programs and policies around indigenous representation, inclusion, and development.FindingsThe AFL, as an organization, has a high percentage of indigenous players (employees) in comparison to the wider Australian workforce representation. Largely, indigenous representation within the AFL is merit based, prioritized on an individual’s ability to play football at an elite level. The website audit identified a number of inconsistencies in the public personas portrayed by the AFL and organizations aligned to it such as the AFL Players Association and clubs. The findings raise a number of questions for future research.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitation is that the website audit represents a very small insight into the current situation and does not provide a depth of analysis into the circumstances around indigenous inclusion within the AFL. The audit also is very focused on one sporting organization which may or may not be representative of the sport industry.Originality/valueThe research introduces a number of questions for future discovery.