Representing Australia: Race, the media and cricket

Sport and representations of sport in the media are key sites for political and social struggles around race and nation. In order to explore how meanings of race are constructed in a sporting context, we undertook a discourse analysis of Australian print media coverage of two incidents of alleged racial vilification in sport. In one, Australian cricketer Darren Lehmann was suspended for racially vilifying the Sri Lankan team. In the other, Pakistani cricketer Rashid Latif was accused of racially vilifying an Australian cricketer. Our research suggests the following: first, there was strong condemnation of racial vilification; second, despite this, print media representations reflect a white versus black divide in world cricket; third, a Lehmann as victim/reverse racism theme emerged. We conclude that race is being mobilized as a potent but contested symbol of both inclusion and exclusion within Australia.