Extraordinary stories and recollections dominate this energetic glimpse into the hearts and minds of the die-hard fans of the Australian Football League. Based on interviews conducted with 50 football supporters, this account takes the roller-coaster ride through the passions of triumph and despair, mourning and melancholy, joy and fulfillment, and sacrifice and resurrection. With a keen ear, this study listens to the fans talk about the emotions associated with the game, how it gives meaning to their lives, and shows that football is much more than just a game.

In 1996, the 113-year-old Fitzroy Football Club played its final game in the AFL. Financial pressures brought about by the steady professionalisation of the AFL respected neither the worth of the club's history nor the passion of its fans. Out of time and money, on 4 July 1996 Fitzroy was forced into a merger with the Brisbane Bears - creating the League's first, and thus far only, merged club. MERGER tells the story of that fateful year, from boardroom drama and intrigue to the wind and mud of the Whitten Oval, capturing the profound tragedy of Fitzroy's doomed plight. 'The demise of Fitzroy is a deep wound rather than a scar. A tear in the fabric of the game that will never truly repair.' - from the Foreword by Gerard Whateley

Most sociological work on football fandom has focused on the experience of men, and it usually talks about alcohol, fighting and general hooliganism. This book shows that there are some unique facets of female experience and fascinating negotiations of identity within the male-dominated world of men's professional football.

This book provides a set of integrated frameworks—capital, systems, and objects—that transcend managerial or technology hype by focusing on the long-term fundamentals that sustain organizational success. Many organizations are currently addressing two important transformational issues: ecological sustainability and digitization. Sustainability is a goal, an end, and digitization is a process, a means to achieve a goal. This book introduces a flexible model that can be applied to current and future organizational challenges, including sustainability and digitization, because the fundamentals are constant. This book is designed to serve two purposes for the readers: first, to present three conceptual foundations for designing and operating organizations (capital, systems, and objects in Part I); and second, to provide a reference source for implementing these ideas in an organization (Parts II and III). The Part I of the book, chapters 1 through 7, sets forth the conceptual foundations. The chapters mix concepts and practical examples to give a new way of thinking about the setting in which one may work many days each year. The Part II provides details and associated examples of every one of the thirty-six forms of capital conversion. It also illustrates how the five foundational systems support capital conversion in a variety of ways. Finally, the Part III is about measuring capital and systems. The book will resonate with practitioners and students of strategy, leadership, and organizational design. It is critical reading for leaders, industry experts, and general readers who want to understand how over thousands of years the capital creation system has developed today’s world and will fashion its future.

Fully illustrated profiles of the most legendary Australian Rules players. The Immortals of Australian Football celebrates the greatest players from Australia's indigenous game. It takes the Immortals concept made famous elsewhere in the sporting world and applies it to AFL. Selections include the pioneering Roy Cazaly, legendary figures Ron Barassi and Leigh Matthews, and modern-era greats such as Lance Franklin and Dustin Martin. Each Immortal's remarkable story and contribution to the sport is expertly told.

The sociology of sport is a core discipline within the academic study of sport. It helps us to understand what sport is and why it matters. Sociological knowledge, implicit or explicit, therefore underpins scholarly enquiry into sport in every aspect. The Routledge Handbook of the Sociology of Sport is a landmark publication that brings together the most important themes, theories and issues within the sociology of sport, tracing the contours of the discipline and surveying the state-of-the-art. Part One explores the main theories and analytical approaches that define contemporary sport sociology and introduces the most important methodological issues confronting researchers working in the social scientific study of sport. Part Two examines the connections and divisions between sociology and cognate disciplines within sport studies, including history, anthropology, economics, leisure and tourism studies, philosophy, politics and psychology. Part Three investigates how the most important social divisions within sport, and in wider society, are addressed in sport sociology, including ‘race‘, gender, class, sexuality and disability. Part Four explores a wide range of pressing contemporary issues associated with sport, including sport and the body, social problems associated with sport, sport places and settings, and the global aspects of sport. Written by a team of leading international sport scholars, including many of the most well-known, respected and innovative thinkers working in the discipline, the Routledge Handbook of the Sociology of Sport is an essential reference for any student, researcher or professional with an interest in sport.

Practiced and watched by billions, sport is a global phenomenon. Sport history is a burgeoning sub-field that explores sport in all forms to help answer fundamental questions that scholars examine. This volume provides a reference for sport scholars and an accessible introduction to those who are new to the sub-field.