Australian Fans Research Articles

Scale-up of the Australian Fans in Training (Aussie-FIT) men’s health behaviour change program: a protocol for a randomised controlled hybrid effectiveness–implementation trial

IntroductionImproving physical activity (PA) and healthy eating is critical for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Behaviour change programmes delivered in sporting clubs can engage men in health...

Supporters, the forgotten chain in Asian football: fandom in the Chinese Super League and the Australian A League

The Australian League (A-League) and the Chinese Football Association Super League (CSL) have both only been established for just over a decade. However, since their earliest years, their teams have attracted passionate fans. These fans dedicate a great deal of emotional and physical energy to supporting their teams and actively disdain the intense commodification that is embedded in these professional football competitions. Both sets of supporters “fanatically” strive to impress the opposition with vivid animated performances which include songs, chants, flags and massive colourful banners. In doing so, both the Chinese and the Australian fans are in fact mimicking their European ultras counterparts. This paper analyses the origins of the ultras movement in European football and seeks to relate this movement to the Chinese and the Australian active fans. Then, using data collected on the football stands of both countries, combined with a content analysis of the fans’ social media channels, it explores some of the similarities and differences between both groups. It concludes by questioning whether the football fans in Australia and China will have any real power in the corporate and political contexts of Asian football or if their call against “modern football” will remain just a folkloric gesture without any significant political consequences.

Are Australian fans of anime and manga motivated to learn Japanese language?

Recent research into Japanese as a foreign language education has strongly emphasized the link between Japanese popular culture and learning Japanese. However, these studies have only targeted Japanese language learners in formal education contexts and have largely ignored those who are not studying Japanese or studying Japanese informally. This present study claims that it is premature to link the two in this way. Using the notions of public pedagogy, the continuum of informal–formal learning, and out-of-school curriculum as our theoretical underpinnings, we examine how a cohort of fans deals with learning Japanese and about Japan in relation to their consumption of Japanese manga and anime. The results of an online survey of 451 Australia based manga and anime fans reveal that their interest in and motivation to consume these media may not necessarily lead them to enter into formal Japanese language education.

Outback Elvis: Riding with the King in Parkes, Australia

Outback Elvis:Riding with the King in Parkes, Australia Gretchen Wood (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Aboard the CountryLink Elvis Express, Australia's Channel Nine News interviews Ross Mancini, an Elvis tribute artist from Sydney. [End Page 98] For the past twenty years, Australian fans have gathered in Parkes, New South Wales, to celebrate Elvis Presley's birthday. Since the initial gathering of two hundred, hosted by Bob and Anne Steel at their Gracelands banquet hall, the CountryLink Parkes Elvis Festival has turned into a community-wide effort, and attendance has mushroomed to 18,000, nearly double the town's population. But why Elvis? He never traveled to Australia; nonetheless, this agricultural and mining town approximately 200 miles west of Sydney stakes a sizeable chunk of its annual economy on celebrating the Mississippi-born icon of American rock and roll. Free of the gravitas involved in a memorial festival like Elvis Week in Memphis, the scheduling around Presley's birthday induces a celebratory atmosphere and encourages men to don the Elvis jumpsuit. After all, as festival founder Anne Steel says, "Elvis was a bloke." The Parkes festival also tends to encourage a more conservative or wholesome image of Elvis, and yet the various depictions create the festival's gonzo feel that is rich with an uncalculated, homespun hospitality. Most of all, the event creates a place for Elvis fans in Australia to celebrate the birth of the King of Rock and Roll without having to leave the continent. The festival's growth is a sure sign that Elvis's popularity continues to reverberate globally. Last year, after the Friday, January 13th, arrival of the Country-Link Elvis Express from Sydney, Elvis tribute artists performed onstage for a crowd in Cooke Park through the weekend. Elvis buskers lined Clarinda Street, which also served as the route for the Elvis parade. Shops featured Elvis window displays; couples renewed their marriage vows before an Elvis wedding celebrant; and even the statue of Sir Henry Parkes, the town's namesake, sported Elvis's seventies-era sunglasses. [End Page 99] Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 100] Click for larger view View full resolution Elias (opposite, top), Australia's representative at the 2011 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist contest, performs in Sydney Central Railway Station before passengers board the CountryLink Elvis Express train to Parkes, New South Wales. On-board the Express, things heat up for a rapturous fan (opposite, bottom), and later another adoring fan poses with Elvis tribute artist Paul French (above). [End Page 101] Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 102] Click for larger view View full resolution Opposite: Elvii greet the Elvis Express in Parkes and stroll past Elvis Central, an outlet for costumes and festival souvenirs. Above: The Confederate battle flag was a common sight in Parkes and included this one, customized with the pop icon's face. A statue of town founder Sir Henry Parkes even donned Elvis shades. [End Page 103] Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 104] Click for larger view View full resolution Opposite: Pricillas pose for photographs on their parade float, and an Elvis with mad hair waves to crowds during the Elvis parade. Above: The Elvis parade rolls past Dimmeys, Australia's iconic variety chain store. [End Page 105] Click for larger view View full resolution [End Page 106] Click for larger view View full resolution Opposite: Celebrant Andrew "Elvis" Appleby (top) conducts the annual renewal of marriage vows for about thirty couples. Brides (bottom) line up before an Elvis wedding celebrant. Above: Elvii—and Elvettes—are everywhere. [End Page 107] Click for larger view View full resolution Married thirty years, Allison and Dick Howlett of Parkes share a kiss after renewing their vows. [End Page 108] Click for larger view View full resolution Above: Gnarnayarrahe Waitairie (left), an Elvis tribute artist of Aboriginal descent, greets fans before the karaoke competition, and, in Cooke Park, Elias (right) strikes a pose for the crowds. Click for larger view View full resolution Below: CountryLink representative Cameron Nichols (left) poses with fans, and the winner of the junior division in busking, Bailey Sutcliffe (right), performs...

Australia’s ‘child-abuse material’ legislation, internet regulation and the juridification of the imagination

This article investigates the implications of Australia’s prohibition of ‘child-abuse material’ (including cartoons, animation, drawings and text) for Australian fan communities of animation, comics and gaming (ACG) and slash fiction. It is argued that current legislation is out of synch with the new communicative environment brought about by the internet since a large portion of the fans producing and trading in these images are themselves minors and young people. Habermas’s analysis of the conflict between instrumental and communicative rationality is deployed to demonstrate that legislators have misrecognized the nature of the communicative practices that take place within the ‘lifeworlds’ of fan communities, resulting in an unjust ‘juridification’ of their creative works. Drawing on Japanese research into the female fandom surrounding ‘boys’ love’ (BL) manga, it is argued that current Australian legislation not only forecloses the fantasy lives of young Australian fans but also harms them by aligning them with paedophile networks. Finally, drawing upon Jean Cohen’s paradigm of ‘reflexive law’ the article considers a possible way forward that opens up channels of communication between regulators, fans, domain host administrators and media studies professionals that would encourage a more nuanced approach to legislation as well as a greater awareness of the need for self-regulation among fan communities.

It's a fair cop, Guv: Australian fans of The Bill

It's a fair cop, Guv: Australian fans of The Bill