How hyperbolic is your adjective on World Football Day?

Soccer is the world’s most popular sport and while there are valid criticisms of its financial model, there is much to celebrate about the ‘beautiful game’ on World Football Day.

Sausages and cauldrons: Making law and policy in 21st Century Australia

The divergent fates of proposed federal legislation to restrict social media use by children and online gambling adverts for everyone highlight the complex interplay of public concern, political convenience and vested interest lobbying which shapes policy making in contemporary Australia.

Was it The Sun wot won it?

It is common wisdom that right-wing British newspapers help shape its political climate, so why has the Labour Party swept to power in a historic landslide victory?

Lionel Messi: The man who fell to Earth in Hong Kong

When Lionel Messi failed to take the field in a pre-season exhibition football (soccer) match in Hong Kong, the furious reaction exposed the risks of staging celebrity-centred sports events without the main act.

Sport: Socially divided, spuriously unified?

Sport can still unite rather than divide us but must reinvent its structures and practices, rediscover its ethical mission, and reimagine who are ‘us’ to remain a positive and progressive force for social good.

What’s it all about, Gary? Politics and the sports presenter

Gary Lineker has enjoyed a wave of public and professional support after he was stood down by the BBC after tweeting his thoughts on the British government’s new asylum bill.

A World Cup of two halves

The soccer World Cup takes place in Qatar, that famous hotbed of football fervour, in November this year, when human rights will be in the spotlight as much as England’s inevitable elimination on penalties in the semi-final.

No regrets, coyote

Australian cricket lost two of its greats last Friday, swashbuckling wicket-keeper Rod Marsh and peerless leg-spinner Shane Warne. Neither were saints on or off the field, but both embodied the winning mentality and larrakin personality which Australians seek in the sporting heroes.

English football fans: Lamenting a lost world

The uniformly hostile reaction by fans across Europe to the breakaway European Super League humbled its participants and provoked a swift u-turn, but also shone a light on the changing nature of fandom itself.

Voyeurism and media sport violence

The fiery crash suffered and survived by French Formula 1 driver Roman Grosjean has reignited the debate about the immediate and more insidious long-term dangers sports stars face for our entertainment.

And the winner is…Television: spectacle and sport in a pandemic

In the historic contest between sport and media, the Covid-19 Trophy went to television. In extra time to a fake soundtrack.

Australasia will host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup: What’s not to like?

Australia and Aotearoa/New Zealand have won the right to host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. In the middle of a global pandemic, sport in both countries surely has something to celebrate.