The long road from local communities to professional sport and the culture of the global sport industry for indigenous Australians

This article draws on the findings of a three-year, inter-disciplinary study conducted on the journeys of sixteen Australian Indigenous sportsmen from their first touch of the ‘footy’ to the most elite levels of Australian football and rugby league and the central role of culture in these journeys. The first stage of their journeys involved the development of expertise and a distinctively Indigenous approach to their sport from early childhood to around the age of around thirteen. The second stage involved dealing with the challenges of cultural transitioning from small, local communities and practices to professional sport and the global culture of the sport industry.