Almanac Book Review: ‘The Badge We Wear: A History of Sport at UNSW Sydney’ – Anthony T. Hughes

 

 

 

A History of Sport at The University of New South Wales

 

Anthony T. Hughes, The Badge We Wear: A History of Sport at UNSW Sydney, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2024, pp. 288, PB, $69.99.

 

 

Universities have had a tradition of providing space and time for the playing of sport as part of the university experience. The usual refrain is that a healthy body helps create a healthy mind. Sport is also seen as a means of building cohesion within and enhancing the reputation of the university in the broader community. In America, the reputations of universities and donations from alumni are closely linked to the fortunes of their football and basketball teams. Coaches are employed on multimillion dollar contracts, earning substantially more than academics and university administrators. Nothing like this occurs in Australia.

 

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) was created by an act of the New South Wales parliament in 1949. Originally based in the old Sydney Technical College in Ultimo, it subsequently based its major campus in Kensington. In The Badge We Wear Anthony Hughes provides a history of sport at UNSW. This book breaks new ground in its broad based examination of how sport is organised and operates within an Australian University. Hughes has achieved a UNSW quadrella, being a former student, a stalwart of the football (soccer) team, having been awarded a Blue, employed as a member of academic staff and now a chronicler of sport at his alma mater.

 

We usually conceive of sport in ‘sport specific’ terms; a one off ‘carnival’ such as the Olympic Games or Melbourne Cup, a particular favoured sport, a regular league or international competition (The Ashes), a favourite team, champion players and dramatic moments that have occurred on different sporting arenas (Cathy Freeman winning gold in the 400 meters at the 2000 Sydney Olympics). University sport, however, has a different logic from these traditional mainstream forms. While it combines carnivals (intervarsity competitions) and involves athletes who compete individually and collectively in competitions, it has other unique elements.

 

University sport can range from the provision of facilities for individuals or groups to play – do laps in the pool, work out in a gym, kick or catch a ball on an oval, have a hit on a tennis, squash or badminton court – to contests organised on ad hoc or more organised basis in mainly lunchtime contests – under the rubric of intramural sport (as a member of UNSW staff I participated in cricket, football (soccer) and handball competitions) – or the organisation of teams to compete in intervarsity, city wide or state based competitions against other regional or community based teams for premierships and pennants.

 

These different types of sport march to the beats of different drums. What they all have in common, however, is the need for resources and time for their availability. The history of sport at UNSW is of tensions and struggles between these different types of sport for resources. It might be best to conceive of UNSW as being a supplier of sport. It is akin to a local authority or government department providing sports services, facing a never ending problem of knowing how to distribute the delivery of such services against competing demands.

 

Hughes begins his account with how ‘young men of vision teamed up with wily old men’ to obtain facilities to indulge their passion for sport. This was achieved by the imposition of a compulsory fee on students to fund sporting activities. Facilities were developed on the Kensington campus, and in time at Daceyville, Little Bay and other locations tailored for the needs of discrete sports, such as rowing and skiing.

 

A Sports Association was developed to coordinate different parts of the UNSW sporting experience. Clubs were run by student volunteers. Hughes points out that their success was dependent on the enthusiasm of such volunteers which, would wax and wane with the passage of time. He came across a quote from a 1955 student who complained about others not taking an interest in clubs because ‘there is always a collection of deadheads who couldn’t care less about anything except passing exams’ (if only this was true!). He also has the following ‘knockout’ quote of how the boxing club sought to enhance recruitment with ‘friendly sparring’ as ‘an excellent way to become acquainted with other students, graduates and especially lecturers’!

 

The first half of the book moves between organisational matters associated with the building and creation of UNSW’s sporting stock and the rise and success of a number of clubs in both intervarsity and community based competitions. In this first half, Hughes provides details on the exploits of leading teams and ‘star’ players, in a wide range of sports, who went on to represent New South Wales (or other states) and Australia.

 

In 1980 the University opened its Olympic sized heated indoor swimming pool, being the best such pool in New South Wales. Together with its gymnasium it had one of the best ‘portfolios’ of sporting assets in New South Wales.

 

In the latter part of the 1970s and continuing into the 1980s, events in both the sporting world and the broader socio political sphere combined to change the nature of sport delivery at UNSW. Following World War II, and continuing for the next three or so decades, there was little money to be earnt from top level sport. Cricketers and footballers of major mainstream codes (and Rugby was amateur) were part timers who needed to have secular full time employment to survive.

 

The implication of this is for those students who were talented players joining a university club was more attractive than playing for or being on the fringes of playing for a local ‘professional’ local club who offered relatively low levels of payment. If nothing else, the demands of training with a university team would be less and a university coach would be more understanding of missing training or being unavailable for the odd game due to the pressure of exams, a late essay or assignment. With more money coming into mainstream sport, in the late 1970s and 1980s, there was more of an incentive for talented players to play with a local outfit and turn their back on a university club.

 

At the socio political level, there was the development of the logic of the need to be efficient and accountable, to be more professional in the management of resources, and of using what resources one has as revenue raising or profit making centers. Efficiency trumped notions of the delivery of services. Such notions were adopted by Australian universities and permeated the delivery of sport at UNSW.

 

The management of the swimming pool and the gymnasium was separated from the sport service providing section of UNSW. The manager of the former wanted to use such resources as a means to raise revenue, in opposition to the service provider. There also developed the idea that clubs should pay for the use of grounds and other facilities, on a user pay basis.

 

In the second half of The Badge We Wear Hughes examines the tensions and struggles that went on between these two wings of UNSW sport, and a series of consultant reports UNSW commissioned to advise it on how best to manage its sports’ operation. In 2006, the Howard government legislated Voluntary Student Unionism which ended the practice of compulsory student fees to finance sporting activities. This reduced the level of income that was available for the Sports Association to provide services.

 

Starved of funds, the Sports Association ceased operation in 2010, transferring what was left of its resources to the university. The university, for its part, decided to downsize UNSW’s stock of sporting assets. It sold off its holdings at Little Bay and outsourced the operation of its swimming pool and gymnasium facilities. While it refurbished the Kensington campus with state of the art facilities, many clubs complain about problems associated with the availability of training facilities.

 

Hughes provides thumbnail sketches of leading university and sports administrators who have guided sport at UNSW. He also provides information on sporting scholarships which provide financial support to ‘leading players’ for buying text books and costs of equipment, travel and associated needs. The names of the winners of those who obtained scholarships, and those who obtained Blues or have been inducted into the UNSW Sports Hall of Fame are included in appendices.

 

One of the most pleasing aspects of The Badge We Wear: A History of Sport at UNSW Sydney is the quality of the production of this book. Both Anthony Hughes and UNSW Press are to be congratulated for the quality of its production. It includes countless photographs of the growth and buildings of the university from its origins to the present day, countless team photos of beaming students enjoying life and being together, shots of action on different fields of play, individual players and administrators and recipients of awards and scholarships. This is a book which will not only be of interest to students who played sport at UNSW, staff who worked there but also for those with a more general interest in sport. Anthony Hughes has provided a clear and concise exposition of the operation of sport at the UNSW, of the uniqueness of university sport and its differences from mainstream sport.

 

Braham Dabscheck worked at the University of New South Wales from 1973 to 2006.

 

To purchase a copy of the book click Here.

 

More from Braham Dabscheck can be read Here.

 

 

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