SpringerLink
Log in

“What They Love About Sports Is What I Love About Esports”: How Esports Factors into Australian National Identity

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Esports in the Asia-Pacific

Part of the book series: Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies ((PSAPS))

Abstract

Perhaps more than any other country, conventional sport holds strong cultural significance in Australia, particularly in relation to Australian national identity. The eventual succession of Australian sporting teams over British teams in the nineteenth century created one of the first key distinctions between colonial “Britions” raised in Australia and those in Great Britain, creating an early national identity centred around sporting prowess (White, 1981; Horton, 2000). It is unsurprising that this intrinsic identification through sport has permeated into Australian esports fandom and spectatorship. Drawing on two ethnographic studies, one conducted across two major 2017 Sydney esports events and the other conducted in 2018 at a Melbourne esports bar, this chapter will explore how Australian esports fans perform “Australianness” to authenticate their esports spectatorship and construct themselves as authentic esports spectators.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
EUR 29.95
Price includes VAT (Thailand)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
EUR 96.29
Price includes VAT (Thailand)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
EUR 119.99
Price excludes VAT (Thailand)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free ship** worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adler, Patricia A., and Peter Adler. 1987. Membership Roles in Field Research. Volume 6. Newbury Park: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Angrosino, Michael. 2007. Doing Ethnographic and Observational Research. London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Atkinson, Michael. 2016. “Ethnography.” In Routledge Handbook of Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise, edited by Brett Smith and Andrew Sparkes, 71–83. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bale, J. 1998. “Futurescapes of football.” In Fanatics!: Power, Identity, and Fandom in Football, edited by A. Brown, 285–298. London: Routledge, Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blaikie, Norman, and Jan Priest. 2019. Designing Social Research: The Logic of Anticipation. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braun, Virginia, and Victoria Clarke. 2006. “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology.” Qualitative Research in Psychology 3 (2): 77–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Braun, Virginia, and Victoria Clarke. 2021. “One Size Fits All? What Counts as Quality Practice in (Reflexive) Thematic Analysis?” Qualitative Research in Psychology 18 (3): 328–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bruce, Toni, and Christopher Hallinan. 2002. “Cathy Freeman: The Quest for Australian Identity.” In Sport Stars, edited by David Andrews and Steven Jackson, 267–280. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burgess, Ian, Allan Edwards, and James Skinner. 2003. “Football Culture in an Australian School Setting: The Construction of Masculine Identity.” Sport, Education and Society 8 (2): 199–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burke, Michael, Matthew Klugman, and Kate O’Halloran. 2022. “‘Why Now’ for AFLW? Providing a New Affirmative Narrative for Women’s Football in the Post-Covid World.” Sport in Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2022.2041600.

  • Burroughs, Benjamin, and Paul Rama. 2015. “The eSports Trojan horse: Twitch and streaming futures.” Journal of Virtual Worlds Research 8 (2).

    Google Scholar 

  • Button, Graham. 2000. “The Ethnographic Tradition and Design.” Design Studies 21 (4): 319–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carter, Marcus, Robbie Fordyce, Martin Gibbs, and Emma Witkowski. 2017. “eSports Futures in Australia.” In Proceedings of the 2017 DiGRAA Conference. http://digra2017.com/static/Extended Abstracts/84_DIGRA2017_EA_Carter_Australian_eSports.pdf.

  • Charway, Derrick, and Barrie Houlihan. 2020. “Country Profile of Ghana: Sport, Politics and Nation-Building.” International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics 12 (3): 497–512.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collinson, Ian. 2009. “‘Singing Songs, Making Places, Creating Selves:' Football Songs & Fan Identity at Sydney FC.” Transforming Cultures eJournal 4 (1). https://doi.org/10.5130/tfc.v4i1.1057.

  • Consalvo, Mia. 2012. “Confronting Toxic Gamer Culture: A Challenge for Feminist Game Studies Scholars.” Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology 1 (1). https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/handle/1794/26289.

  • Cumming, David Jian-Jia. 2018. “Understanding the Experience of Australian eSports Spectatorship.” In Proceedings of the 2018 DiGRA Conference. http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/DIGRA_2018_paper_271.pdf.

  • Cumming, David Jian-Jia, Martin Gibbs, and Wally Smith. 2022. “Constructing Authentic Spectatorship at an Esports Bar.” Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 51 (2): 257–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curthoys, Ann. 2003. “Liberalism and Exclusionism: A Prehistory of the White Australia Policy.” In Legacies of White Australia: Race, Culture and Nation, edited by Laksiri Jayasuriya, David Robert Walker, and Jan Gothard, 8–32. Crawley: University of Western Australia Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Wildt, Lars, and Mahli-Ann Butt. 2018. “Beer & Pixels: Embodiment, Drinking, and Gaming in Australia.” In Proceedings of the 2018 DiGRA Conference. http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/DIGRA_2018_paper_206.pdf.

  • Dixon, Kevin. 2015. “A Woman’s Place Recurring: Structuration, Football Fandom and Sub-Cultural Subservience.” Sport in Society 18 (6): 636–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dourish, Paul. 2014. “Reading and Interpreting Ethnography.” In Ways of Knowing in HCI, edited by Judith Olson and Wendy Kellogg, 1–23. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • ESL Gaming. n.d. “Inaugural Intel Extreme Masters in Sydney attracts 7,000 fans on Each Event Day, Nearly 8 Million Unique Viewers Online.” https://www.eslgaming.com/press/inaugural-intel-extreme-masters-sydney-attracts-7000-fans-each-event-day-nearly-8-million-unique-viewers-online.

  • Geertz, Clifford. 1973. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibson, Heather J. 1998. “Active Sport Tourism: Who Participates?” Leisure Studies 17 (2): 155–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gomá, Marina. 2020. “Challenging the Narrative of Canadian Multicultural Benevolence: A Feminist Anti-racist Critique.” OMNES: The Journal of Multicultural Society 10 (1): 81–113.

    Google Scholar 

  • Green, B. Christine, and Ian Jones. 2005. “Serious Leisure, Social Identity and Sport Tourism.” Sport in Society 8 (2): 164–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hallinan, Chris, and Barry Judd. 2012a. “Indigenous Studies and Race Relations in Australian Sports.” Sport in Society 15 (7): 915–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hallinan, Chris, and Barry Judd. 2012b. “Producing Benevolence and Expertise: Whitestreaming Marn-Grook and the Other Constraints of Australian Football.” Journal of Australian Indigenous Studies 15 (2): 5–13.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heere, Bob. 2018. “Embracing the Sportification of Society: Defining e-sports Through a Polymorphic View on Sport.” Sport Management Review 21 (1): 21–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobsbawm, Eric, and Terence Ranger. 2012. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Horton, Peter. 2000. “The ‘Green’ and the ‘Gold’: The Irish-Australians and Their Role in the Emergence of the Australian Sports Culture.” In Sport in Australasian Society, edited by J.A. Mangan and John Nauright, 65–92. Abingdon: Frank Cass Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes, John, Val King, Tom Rodden, and Hans Andersen. 1995. “The Role of Ethnography in Interactive Systems Design.” Interactions 2 (2): 56–65.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ireland, Tracy. 2018. “Cooking the Books: Contested Colonial Commemorations in Australia.” International Public History 1 (2). https://doi.org/10.1515/iph-2018-0021.

  • Ismangil, Milan. 2018. “(Re) Creating the Nation Online: Nationalism in Chinese Dota 2 Fandom.” Asiascape: Digital Asia 5 (3): 198–224.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jeanes, R., O’Connor, J., & Alfrey, L. 2015. Sport and the Resettlement of Young People from Refugee Backgrounds in Australia. Journal of Sport and Social Issues 39 (6): 480–500.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jenkins, Henry. 2006. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: NYU Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenny, Seth E., R. Douglas Manning, Margaret C. Keiper, and Tracy W. Olrich. 2017. “Virtual (ly) Athletes: Where eSports Fit Within the Definition of ‘Sport’.” Quest 69 (1): 1–18.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • **, Dal Yong. 2010. Korea’s Online Gaming Empire. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, Mark R, and Tom Brock. 2019. “How are video games and gambling converging?” Gambling Research Exchange Ontario.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, Gavin W. 2003. “White Australia, National Identity and Population Change.” In Legacies of White Australia: Race, Culture and Nation, edited by Laksiri Jayasuriya, David Robert Walker, and Jan Gothard, 110–28. Crawley: University of Western Australia Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karhulahti, Veli-Matti. 2017. “Reconsidering esport: Economics and Executive Ownership.” Physical Culture and Sport. Studies and Research 74 (1): 43–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ke, **aobo, and Christian Wagner. 2022. “Global Pandemic Compels Sport to Move to esports: Understanding from Brand Extension Perspective.” Managing Sport and Leisure 27 (1–2): 152–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keim, Marion. 2003. Nation Building at Play: Sport as a Tool for Social Integration in Post-apartheid South Africa. Oxford: Meyer & Meyer Sport.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koch, Natalie. 2013. “Sport and Soft Authoritarian Nation-Building.” Political Geography 32: 42–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamont, Matthew. 2014. “Authentication in sports tourism.” Annals of Tourism Research 45, 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lane, Samantha. 2018. Roar: The Stories Behind AFLW—A Movement Bigger Than Sport. Sydney: Penguin Random House Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lock, Daniel, and Bob Heere. 2017. “Identity Crisis: A Theoretical Analysis of ‘Team Identification’ Research.” European Sport Management Quarterly 17 (4): 413–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lockhart, Eleanor Amaranth. 2015. “Nerd/Geek Masculinity: Technocracy, Rationality, and Gender in Nerd Culture's Countermasculine Hegemony.” PhD diss., Texas A&M University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magdalena Tascón, Sonia. 2008. “Narratives of Race and Nation: Everyday Whiteness in Australia.” Social identities 14 (2): 253–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mewett, Peter G. 1999. “Fragments of a Composite Identity: Aspects of Australian Nationalism in a Sports Setting.” The Australian Journal of Anthropology 10 (3): 357–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Millen, David R. 2000. “Rapid Ethnography: Time Deepening Strategies for HCI Field Research.” In Proceedings of the 3rd Conference on Designing Interactive Systems: Processes, Practices, Methods, and Techniques, 280–286.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moran, Anthony. 2011. “Multiculturalism as Nation-Building in Australia: Inclusive National Identity and the Embrace of Diversity.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 34 (12): 2153–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Northcote, Jeremy, and Suzy Casimiro. 2009. “A Critical Approach to Evidence-Based Resettlement Policy: Lessons Learned from an Australian Muslim Refugee Sports Program.” Tamara: Journal for Critical Organization Inquiry 8 (2). https://www.tamarajournal.com/index.php/tamara/article/view/330.

  • Oldenburg, Ray. 1989. The Great Good Place: Café, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts, and How They Get You Through the Day. New York: Paragon House Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pope, Stacey. 2014. “‘There Are Some Daft People Out There!’: Exploring Female Sport and Media Fandoms.” Sport in Society 17 (2): 254–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ratna, Aarti. 2014. “‘Who Are Ya?’ The National Identities and Belongings of British Asian Football Fans.” Patterns of Prejudice 48 (3): 286–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, Jessica. 2018. “Passing and Moving: Negotiating Fieldwork Roles in Football Fandom Research.” Journal of Organizational Ethnography 8 (2): 146–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rogerson, Melissa Jane, Martin Gibbs, and Wally Smith. 2019. “Understanding the Travel Motivations of Game Hobbyists.” In Proceedings of the 2019 DiGRAA Conference.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruotsalainen, M. 2022. Overwatch esports and the (Re) Configurations of Gender and Nationality [Dissertation, University of Jyväskylä]. JYX Digital Repository. https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/82456.

  • Ruotsalainen, Maria, and Usva Friman. 2018. “There Are No Women and They All Play Mercy: Understanding and Explaining (the Lack of) Women’s Presence in Esports and Competitive Gaming.” In Proceedings of Nordic DiGRA 2018.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholz, Tobias M., and Daria Vyugina. 2019. “Looking into the Future: What We Are Expecting from Generation Z.” In Generations Z in Europe, edited by Christian Scholz and Anne Rennig, 277–284. Bingley: Emerald Publishing Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, Adrienne. 2010. “What Is Video Game Culture? Cultural Studies and Game Studies.” Games and Culture 5 (4): 403–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snow, David A., and Pamela E. Oliver. 1995. “Social Movements and Collective Behavior: Social Psychological Dimensions and Considerations.” In Sociological Perspectives on Social Psychology, edited by Karen S. Cook, Gary Alan Fine, and James S. House. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, Bob, Matthew Nicholson, Aaron Smith, and Hans Westerbeek. 2004. Australian Sport-Better by Design?: The Evolution of Australian Sport Policy. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Symons, Kasey. 2022. “How the AFLW Fan Space Has Created New Fan Narratives in Alternative Storytelling.” TEXT 26 (67): 1–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tarver, Erin C. 2017. The I in Team: Sports Fandom and the Reproduction of Identity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tavan, Gwenda. 2005. “Long, Slow Death of White Australia.” Sydney Papers 17 (3–4): 135–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Nicholas Thiel. 2016. “Now you’re playing with audience power: the work of watching games” Critical Studies in Media Communication 33 (4): 293–307.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Nick. 2018. “I’d Rather Be a Cyborg Than a Gamerbro: How Masculinity Mediates Research on Digital Play.” MedieKultur: Journal of Media and Communication Research 34 (64): 21.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, T.L. 2012. Raising the Stakes: E-sports and the Professionalization of Computer Gaming. The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toffoletti, Kim, and Catherine Palmer. 2019. “Women and Sport in Australia—New Times?” Journal of Australian Studies 43 (1): 1–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trumpbour, Robert C. 2006. The New Cathedrals: Politics and Media in the History of Stadium Construction. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Krieken, Robert. 2012. “Between Assimilation and Multiculturalism: Models of Integration in Australia.” Patterns of Prejudice 46 (5): 500–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Virilio, P. 1991. The Lost Dimension. Los Angeles: Semiotext(e).

    Google Scholar 

  • Walters, Robert. 2020. National Identity and Social Cohesion in a Time of Geopolitical and Economic Tension: Australia–European Union–Slovenia. Singapore: Springer Singapore.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weed, Mike, and Chris Bull. 2009. Sports Tourism: Participants, Policy and Providers. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yu, Haiqing. 2018. “Game on: The Rise of the esports Middle Kingdom.” Media Industries Journal 5 (1). https://doi.org/10.3998/mij.15031809.0005.106.

  • Zhao, Hongna. 2018. “Research on China’s Network Nationalism from the Perspective of the Spreading Development of E-Sports.” In Proceedings of the 2018 International Workshop on Education Reform and Social Sciences (ERSS 2018).

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhong, Yuchun, Kai Guo, Jiahong Su, and Samuel Kai Wah Chu. 2022. “The Impact of esports Participation on the Development of 21st Century Skills in Youth: A Systematic Review.” Computers & Education 191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2022.104640.

  • Zhu, L. 2018. “Masculinity’s New Battle Arena in International e-sports: The Games Begin.” In Masculinities in Play, edited by N. Taylor and G. Voorhees, 229–247. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Zulfiqar, Tehzeeb, Lyndall Strazdins, and Cathy Banwell. 2021. “How to Fit In? Acculturation and Risk of Overweight and Obesity. Experiences of Australian Immigrant Mothers from South Asia and Their 8- to 11-Year-Old Children.” SAGE Open 11 (3).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, London, UK

    David Jian-Jia Cumming

Authors
  1. David Jian-Jia Cumming
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Jian-Jia Cumming .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, China

    Filippo Gilardi

  2. University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo, China

    Paul Martin

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Cumming, D.JJ. (2023). “What They Love About Sports Is What I Love About Esports”: How Esports Factors into Australian National Identity. In: Gilardi, F., Martin, P. (eds) Esports in the Asia-Pacific. Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_8

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-3796-7_8

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-99-3795-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-99-3796-7

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation