Work

‘That’s not a quirk of racism [. . .] – that’s a quirk of geography’: Exploring the role of place(s) in assigning responsibility for exclusion in grassroots cricket in Australia

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This article examines how place is discursively constructed as an agent in talk about the exclusion of ethnic minority players in Australian grassroots cricket. Drawing on 40 semi-structured interviews with players and other stakeholders, we combine thematic analysis with Critical Discourse Analysis to identify the linguistic strategies used to construct place(s). We show how references to places of different degrees of granularity – from very specific to more general – shift responsibility for exclusion away from individuals and organisations, attributing it instead to geography. This discursive framing constructs exclusion as natural, inevitable, and beyond human intervention, thereby obscuring accountability and limiting the potential for meaningful change. By foregrounding references to place as a mechanism through which exclusion is normalised and justified, the article advances sociolinguistic understandings of how language shapes experiences of belonging and marginalisation in sport. The study highlights the need to critically examine spatial discourses when addressing inequalities in sport.

Source: Discourse & Society

DOI: 10.1177/09579265261481839

Authors: Marianna Patrick, Stephanie Schnurr, Kieran File, Lucas Moreira dos Anjos Santos, Ruth Jeanes, Daniel Howe

Institutions: University of Warwick, Monash University

Language: English

Topic: Physical Education and Sports Studies

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650