How the play element has changed in Australian football and the consequences of this change on the community

This thesis is a theoretical analysis of the importance of the play element in developing communities and culture, using the Australian Football League (AFL) as a case study. Using the historical observations of Johan Huizinga and combining them with Pierre Bourdieu's concepts of fields and capital, a theoretical framework was created to illuminate the important role of play in creating communities. By developing this theory and applying it to the AFL, the analysis highlighted how the media and economic fields have transformed 'play' into 'display', which has changed the way AFL supporters relate to the game and subsequently weakened the AFL community.