Description

Re-Creating Global Sporting Cities Locally: Melbourne as a Case Study

Melbourne is a unique sporting city. It is the only city to stage a Grand Slam tennis tournament and a Grand Prix, yet for much of the year it is transfixed on a Melbourne-centric football code. This panel will discuss what makes Melbourne a unique sport city. Is it this blend of local and global sport? What role has the media played in constructing narratives of Melbourne’s uniqueness; and what does it mean to cover sport in a city that is localised and insular, but aspires to be a global player? How does a city with so much sporting action, use that to leverage social change, drive women's sport forward and highlight broader diversity and inclusion initiatives? The panel will examine how Australian rules football has shaped the social and cultural histories of Melbourne and how the city’s sporting landscape continues to evolve. It still has the Open, the Grand Prix and the Boxing Day Test, but has the cancellation of the Commonwealth Games tarnished the city’s global brand? Does Melbourne’s uniqueness now lie in its tribal attachment to a localised football code, and how does this sit in one of the world’s most ethnically diverse cities?

This session will be recorded and uploaded here shortly after the session. Please ask questions in the discussion board.