Playing the Team Game: Unions in Australian Professional Team sports

Abstract

League and club officials in different Australian professional team sports have initiated a variety of labour market controls that have restricted the economic freedom and income-earning potential of players. Since before the First World War, different generations of players in a variety of sports have attempted to use collective action to respond to these and other employment problems. Most of these attempts were abortive or shortlived. It is only in the 1990s that Australian player associations have experienced the successes usually afforded to unionism. This paper examines the historical and contemporary record of player associa tions in Australian team sports. It begins with an examination of the various labour market rules that have governed the employment of players. This is followed by an analysis of problems of organizational effectiveness that have traditionally dogged the operation of player associations. The next section focuses on developments in the 1990s. With the exception of rugby league and baseballers, player associations have solved organizational problems of the past, and have possessed leaders able to develop a bargaining relationship with their respective leagues and clubs.1