Changes in the ethnic identification of women’s soccer clubs in Adelaide: the case of Adelaide City Women’s Football Club.

Abstract

The paper focuses on women’s soccer, one of the fastest growing sports in Australia, and in particular on the aspect of the ethnic background of Adelaide-based clubs. The paper aims to illustrate the shift in ethnic image that has occurred in recent years amongst Adelaide clubs, formerly associated with the Italian community, and to investigate the reason(s) behind this shift. Methods include interviews and correspondence with officials, sponsors, players and coaches of a local women’s soccer club (Adelaide City Women’s Football Club - ACWFC), officials of the South Australian Women’s Soccer Association (SAWSA) and a literature review. The outcome is an inside perspective on the phenomenon of the abandonment of the Italian background of Adelaide women’s soccer clubs. The project’s significance relates to the exploration of a field, ethnicity in women’s soccer in Adelaide, which links the important framework of ethnic community identity to a national fast-growing sport such as women’s soccer.