Paradise of sport: The rise of organised sport in Australia - Softcover

Cashman, Richard I

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195532988 ISBN 13: 9780195532982

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1995

Synopsis

Australia has long been regarded as a paradise of sport, but few have questioned why. When and how was this sporting paradise established? Who created it, and for whom?

Richard Cashman's Paradise of Sport explores the rise of organized sport in Australia and advances many reasons why sport became so dominant. Australian society was deeply influenced by the games cult inherited from Britain. Strategically located land was found for sporting venues in the new
cities, reinforcing sport's lofty status. Abundant waterways and superb beaches encouraged this fascination. Australia's prosperity after the Gold Rush led to an elaborate sporting culture which included grand stadiums, racecourses, gymnasiums, swimming pools and golf links. Sport represented a kind
of social unifier, binding new communities, neighbourhoods, suburbs and country towns.

Every paradise presupposes its hell. If Australia became a sporting utopia, it was more so for certain Australians: men rather than women; Anglo-Celtic Australians rather than immigrants and Aborigines. Sizeable numbers of women and men came to resent the dominance of sport in Australia. Many
intellectuals believe that Australians' preoccupation with sport has been detrimental. Richard Cashman disagrees and contends that sport is central to the business of being Australian. Believing that nothing will be gained by deriding or ignoring sport - the theatre of the masses - he contends that
sport, like politics and business, needs to be scrutinized, historicized, and understood.

About this title

About the Author:

Richard Cashman is at University of New South Wales.

Review:

`Richard Cashman's comprehensive 'Paradise of Sport' is so welcome - even moreso because its subject is sport in Australian society...Cashman has provided us with the most informative and wide-ranging historical study of Australian sport yet produced. The contents of this book are
exhaustive...it should appeal to both general and academic readers... wihtout doubt the most ambitious book yet written on the history of Australian sport...it is surely the standard academic text that novices and aficionados of our sporting culture have long needed.'
Sporting Traditions

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0195532988
• ISBN 13: 9780195532982
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 242