Politics & Sport

1.

2.

The ‘Fascist’ Cricket Tour of 1924–25
Andrew Moore
Sporting Traditions, Vol.7, No.1 (November, 1990)
[PDF]

In the inter-war period Australian political life was influenced by various ideologies imported from Europe. Bolshevism added clarity and rigour to Australian radicalism; class conscious Australian workers found much to celebrate in the successful October 1917 Revolution in Russia.

At the other end of the political spectrum many members of the comfortable classes were inspired by Benito Mussolini and subsequent fascist movements in Europe. Fascism came to be widely perceived as an antidote to Red Revolution. In the elite clubs of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide fascist panaceas were applauded over cigars and port, while conservative journals canvassed the prospects of an antipodean Mussolini emerging to teach sections of the militant Australian working class a lesson or two in industrial relations. By 1931 a mature form of Australian fascism had emerged in the form of an organisation known as the New Guard…

See also : Cricket, fascism and a redeveloped ground, David Mutton, The Silly Mid Off, July 26, 2009.

3.

France, May 1968 : Even sport was touched by May ‘68. In a long-forgotten incident, a hundred or so footballers occupied the headquarters of the French Football Federation on avenue Iéna to demand reforms to contractual conditions that had previously meant, in effect, indentured players being unable to choose their club at the end of their contract. The standoff lasted five days and resulted in the concessions being met, standard contracts being introduced into French football the following year.

See also : Fire & Flames Riotwear | blog | “If Cantona espouses any political theory, it is anarchism. Conventional politics, he says, leaves him cold. Another hero is the anarchist singer Léo Ferré, whose songs taught him “the taste of rebellion”. “There’s a fine line between freedom and chaos. To some extent I espouse the idea of anarchy. What I am really after is an anarchy of thought, a liberation of the mind from all convention.” ~ Eric: Le Roi., Andy Mitten, Relentless, April 16, 2009.

4.

Jeff Monson was sentenced on October 1, 2009 to 90 days of work release while on electronic home monitoring after pleading guilty in July to first-degree malicious mischief and second-degree malicious mischief for vandalizing the Capitol and an armed services recruitment center. Monson was arrested after admitting in a December 2008 interview in “ESPN The Magazine” to spray-painting an anarchist symbol on the Capitol.

See also : Jeff ‘The Snowman’ Monson ~versus~ The War On Terror™ (August 1, 2009).

5.

6.

Pies in 2010!