GRADLIFE VOLUME 8 ISSUE 2 SPRING 2016 INSIDE UNDERDOGS BECOME TOP AFL TALENT Western Sydney University doctorate student Lael Kassem helped establish Auburn’s first women’s AFL club. SWIFT COMEBACK BRINGS NETBALL GOLD Sydney Swifts netballer GradLife Paige Hadley is a force to be reckoned with on and Western Sydney’s sporting culture off the court. REFEREE NOW WHISTLES WHILE HE WORKS Donning his striped shirt at the Rio Olympics topped off a winning streak for mature-aged graduate Scott Beker. IN THIS EDITION MESSAGE FROM VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRESIDENT, PROFESSOR BARNEY GLOVER 2016 has been a successful year for Western Sydney University. In August, our growing international influence was recognised in 3WOMEN IN SPORT, 9KICKING GOALS WITH the 2016 Shanghai Academic GENDER IN SOCIETY THE BULLDOGS Ranking of World Universities. The recent Olympics and Western Sydney University This international ranking places Paralympics have thrown has joined forces with the Western Sydney University among the spotlight once more Bulldogs Rugby League the top 400 institutions worldwide. onto the place of women Club to build social in sport. inclusion. The University also recorded a significant boost in the latest QS World University Rankings, moving 100 places to now be amongst the world’s top 600 universities. These impressive results reflect Western Sydney University’s commitment to a quality research program, which continues to produce world-class research in areas of international interest. 4UNDERDOGS BECOME 10INTERNATIONAL ALUMNI TOP AFL TALENT ARE A WORLD OF This year the University has focused on building connections to local OPPORTUNITIES Western Sydney University industry and businesses within Greater Western Sydney. In June doctorate student Lael Efforts to engage with a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Western Sydney Kassem helped establish international alumni have University and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Auburn’s first women’s been bolstered by the AFL club. launch of a Global Alumni This agreement enables staff and students from the School of Engagement Strategy. Business to work alongside PwC, and coincides with their decision to join the University at 1PSQ – our new Parramatta City campus which opens in 2017. This industry partnership will contribute to making our Parramatta City campus an innovation precinct that will generate important opportunities for Western Sydney and students of the University. 6REFLECTIONS ON TWO 12SWIFT COMEBACK BRILLIANT CAREERS BRINGS NETBALL GOLD Our partnerships with regional sporting teams are equally as important. Western Sydney University is a proud partner of the Western Sydney Steve Mortimer OAM and Sydney Swifts netballer Wanderers, and both organisations are committed to making a positive Tim Gilbert are household Paige Hadley is a force to names in Australian sport be reckoned with on and contribution to the Region. We are proud co-sponsors of the ‘Read with – one as a Rugby League off the court. a Wanderer’ literacy program, which brings together schools, teachers legend and the other as a and young people to improve literacy levels across the Western Sydney veteran sports reporter. region. Western Sydney University continues to advocate for the success of the Western Sydney region. We are proud to serve its students, and look forward to further developing these initiatives in 2017. 14 Referee now whistles while he works Professor Barney Glover Vice-Chancellor and President 16 More than passive customers: multicultural lessons from the sport stands 17 Plans to grow Indigenous coaching talent 18 Wanderer’s balancing act pays off Front Cover Photo: Paige Hadley, Bachelor of Business and Commerce (Advanced Business 20 Ben’s in a league of his own Leadership), 2016 GradLife, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith NSW 2751 Australia 21 Science behind footy success Website: westernsydney.edu.au/alumni 23 Alumni leading the way Email: [email protected] Tel: +61 2 9685 9500 Design: iMedia and Design Services, Western Sydney University 24 Saddling up for global glory Journalist: Laura Albulario GradLife Enquiries: Advancement and 25 Boost your career confidence Alumni, Western Sydney University 26 Western Alumni Voice 2016 Copyright 2016 OPINION Women in Sport, Gender in Society The recent Olympics and Paralympics have these issues and more, both in sport and its under-represented as ‘producers’ and once more thrown the spotlight onto the more informal physical counterpart, exercise. consumers. A new women’s AFL league, place of women in sport. Sportswomen women’s Big Bash cricket and better TV get considerable media coverage in these But supporting sport is not only a government coverage of netball are all signs of progress quadrennial global events, but they are atypical responsibility given the enormous commercial in this regard. of a sporting world that is still massively male involvement of media companies and corporate dominated. sponsors. The logic of the ‘mediasport’ market It is crucial, though, that the price of getting favours a small number of mainly male sports attention is not, as so often before, emphasis High-end sport mostly involves watching leagues, despite the popularity of predominantly on the sexual attractiveness of female athletes. well-paid men playing other men on behalf of female sports such as netball. sport organisations run by men. What are the There is ample room for women to engage prospects for greater equality in this key area For many years, women’s sport advocates have with sport at all levels, from playing, coaching of cultural life? tried to redress this imbalance by getting more and managing to board membership and club women involved and enabling some to carve ownership. This involvement goes far beyond Sport has historically operated to define out professional careers in which they get paid the traditional nurturing roles of making masculinity and femininity. Male excellence has to play, rather than the other way round. refreshments and providing ‘mum’s taxi’ been encouraged and even demanded but for services. women, especially in sports involving contact Slow-paced change has recently accelerated, and muscularity, it still tends to be treated with although from a low base. Top women Western Sydney University’s female students suspicion. cricketers can now make a reasonable living, and graduates now have unprecedented and there have been improvements in the pay opportunities to excel in the culturally Enhancing girls’ and women’s participation in and conditions of female basketballers and prestigious sport world and, in so doing, to sport, which is below that of boys and men, is football (soccer) players. contribute to the advancement of all women an important area of social and cultural policy. across the entire society. This is not only a matter of promoting good While they earn far less than most professional health, but also of ‘cultural citizenship’ and the sportsmen, and also women in individual sports AUTHOR right to take part fully in social life. like tennis and golf, elite sportswomen are making significant inroads into this resilient Professor David Rowe is Professor of Cultural There are many barriers to female involvement male bastion. Research in Western Sydney University’s in sport, including time pressures, body image Institute for Culture and Society. His books concerns, disapproval among some cultural These developments make commercial as include Sport, Culture and the Media: The groups, family responsibilities and financial well as sociological sense – the men’s sport Unruly Trinity and Global Media Sport: Flows, cost. Public policy needs to address each of market is saturated and women are still Forms and Futures. 3 STUDENT Underdogs become top AFL talent Western Sydney University doctorate student According to Lael, the individual growth of A new National Women’s League is set to launch Lael Kassem helped establish Auburn’s first the Auburn Giants players has been just as next year and Lael wants to see the Auburn women’s AFL club in what reads like a classic impressive as the turnaround in the team’s Giants be a launch pad for talented local players underdog tale. Having watched her nine older scores. “We’ve seen such an improvement in who aspire to compete at an elite level. The brothers play AFL, Lael wanted to try the game the fitness and self-confidence of our players,” Greater Western Sydney Giants has fielded herself and with no existing clubs in the area, she says. “This creates not just better players, Sydney’s only team in the national league and the Auburn local set up her own club with a but stronger women and future leaders of the with the number of NSW Women’s AFL teams friend. community.” The team’s best weapons were a having grown from nine to 16 since 2011, it’s an dedicated coach and the camaraderie between exciting time to be involved in the sport. “The The pair mustered a group of girls who had teammates, she adds, “When we started out, talent in female footy is growing and we can see never played AFL and, in many cases, hadn’t winning didn’t define us – we just enjoyed a future in it now,” Lael says. “Before, it was a played any sport, and the Auburn Tigers (now being together and became lifelong friends. dead-end so we’d lose talent to other sports.” known as the Auburn Giants) were born. Our camaraderie means that we play for each They lost every game in their first year – most other really hard. That good club culture can A qualified physiotherapist, Lael is now working memorably by 150-0 – but now, five years later, take you a lot further than anything else.” towards a Doctor of Philosophy (Science). She is they have made it into the premier league. using her thesis research to help uncover more 4 The talent in female footy is growing and “ we can see a future in it now.