Australia Day is about remembering the arrival of the first fleet on our country’s shores in 1788 and looking back on our proud history. It’s also about throwing a barbie and getting together with family and friends on one of our few national public holidays.
But for all of us, no matter what religion we are or football team we barrack for, Australia Day should be the one day of the year that the country comes together to celebrate the sole thing that unites us as being uniquely Australian.
But being Australian means different things to different people, especially if you are an indigenous Australian or a recently arrived Australian with no connection to the first fleet or a British heritage.
As someone once remarked, being Australian is about driving in a Korean car to an Irish pub for a Dutch beer, then grabbing an Italian pizza, Chinese take away, Indian curry, or a Turkish kebab, on the way home to sit on Swedish furniture and watch American shows on a Japanese TV.
But having the highest per capita consumption of sport anywhere in the world, what is Australia’s game?
For the National Sports Museum there is no doubt. Their exhibition called ‘Australia’s Game’ is all about Australian Rules football.
The Australia’s Game pavilion traces the history of the game of Australian Rules Football and includes a selection of the greatest Victorian Football League and Australian Football League grand final moments and a wealth of VFL and AFL memorabilia.
However, the National Sports Museum is located in the heart of Melbourne inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the spiritual home of AFL. Is that a fair and unbiased choice then as Australia’s game?
AFL is a truly Australian brand of football and can be proud of its history. Although there are some doubts as to its exact origin, its claimed that the game of Australian Rules football is over 150 years old and pre-dates even association football and rugby as an organised sport.
The game started in Melbourne’s colonial settlement and was originally known as Melbourne Rules, then later as Victorian Rules, and more recently as Australian Rules football. The Australian Football League (AFL) competition was founded from the Victorian Football League (VFL) in 1990.
The AFL has always tried to claim the moral high ground, maintaining that it is the “only true Australian sport”, and its loyal fans will tell you that not to follow it is somehow un-Australian.
The AFL also lays claim to being the only sport that nurtures indigenous Australians, and is the sport with the most number of indigenous players.
They also claim the sport is most associated with ANZAC day and the game that the diggers played, thus making it truly Australia’s game.
During its 150 year anniversary, the AFL ran an advertising campaign branding AFL as “the game that made Australia”, and even commissioned a large painting and book about the AFL and the game that made Australia what it is today.
Not having grown up in an AFL-dominated culture, these notions of Australian-ness tied in to AFL and the game of Victorian Rules are a little foreign to me and my Australian family.
My nine-year-old daughter returned from an Auskick session held at her primary school telling me how the Auskick instructor had referred to AFL as the only real Australian game.
When she told him that she played football he remarked, “Soccer, phew! That’s a pommy game played by foreigners. You should be playing an Australian game like AFL, love.”
Not that my daughter came home in tears or with deep psychological scars or anything like that, but she did start asking me questions about where ‘soccer’ came from and whether she should do the “Australian thing” and play AFL instead.
What about cricket, Sir Donald Bradman, the baggy green cap, the Ashes series, Lillee, Marsh and Chappel?
Cricket is a game invented by the English too, but you would argue cricket was a truly Australian game for all Australians, and means more to a lot of Australians than AFL does.
And being from New South Wales, what about the Kangaroos, Wally Lewis, Sterlo, Fatty, Artie Beetson and rugby league?
What about the great tradition of the Wallabies and their great World Cup victories to establish themselves as the best rugby union nation in the world at those times of triumph?
Lets not forget the humble Socceroos and the football game that most Australians play. A long legacy of great Australians from Joe Marston to Harry Kewell and Johnny Warren in between, and countless others who have given their heart and soul to represent our great nation at sport.
There are lots of other sports that weren’t invented in Australia, that Australians still take as their own with many great memories to cherish.
Why should a game that was invented in Melbourne, and is made up of a combination of English football, Scottish rugby and Gaelic football, try to lay claim to being “Australia’s game,” especially in a multicultural, all-encompassing society like we have now in Australia?
This Australia Day, the National Australia Day Council is encouraging everyone to be part of the celebrations and to also consider what it is you think makes Australia a great place to live, whether you follow a sport or not.
There are thousands of organised events happening across Australia, from big city centres to the smallest of our regional communities.
Get involved in what’s happening in your local area, and find all the details at www.australiaday.org.au.
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