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This paper is a summary of a research project to investigate the relationships between women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and sport. A conflict between sport providers’ perceptions of the needs of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and the views of the women themselves was found. Providers generally perceived the problem of low participation in sport as relating to the women’s culture (a cultural deficit explanation); whereas, the women interviewed mainly associated their low participation rates with non-inclusionary practices engaged in by providers.

Since 1972, there has been an association between terrorism, violence, and the Olympic Games. The events of September 11, 2001, however, clearly reescalated concerns about the Games being a terrorist target. This conceptual article discusses the theories of the risk society and the precautionary principle to understand and interpret how visitors to the most recent Summer Games, Athens 2004, framed their decision to attend. Consistent with risk theory, a strong public and financial commitment to safety at the Games was evident, with the organizers undertaking wide-ranging large-scale risk management initiatives. Athens attendees, while displaying tenets of risk aversion and engagement with a discourse of fear, also showed resilience, resistance, and indifference to potential terrorism threats. Implications for both theory and practice are noted.

Our research investigated the sporting experiences of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, a subpopulation excluded from most mainstream sport scholarship in Australia. The information was collected via surveys, focus groups, and individual interviews with women. Sporting, local government, community, and ethnic organizations were also surveyed about their current policies and practices regarding sport for women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The interviews resonate with a strong sense of frustration about current sport policy and provision. For many sport providers, the low levels of sport participation of women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds is a perplexing issue. The comments of many of the women interviewed reflect extreme dissatisfaction with the current lack of consideration given to them by sports providers, but a hope that the situation will improve for the better if the two groups can work together to improve their understanding of the issues.

This paper considers how organizational practices facilitate and inhibit the social inclusion of Muslim women in a community sport setting. A case study of social inclusion practices in an Australian community sport organization (CSO) was built through interviews, focus groups, secondary data, and documentary evidence. Drawing on the work of Bailey (2005, 2008) the analysis employed a social inclusion framework comprised of spatial, functional, relational, and power dimensions. Findings indicated that there are a range of practices which facilitate social inclusion. Paradoxically, some of the practices that contributed to social inclusion at the club for Muslim women resulted in social exclusion for non-Muslim women. Examining each practice from multiple perspectives provided by the social inclusion framework allowed a thorough analysis to be made of the significance of each practice to the social inclusion of Muslim women at the club. Implications for social inclusion research and sport management practice are discussed.