- Title
- After the whistle: issues impacting on the health and well-being of Polynesian players off the field
- Creator
- Rodriguez, Lena; McDonald, Brent
- Relation
- Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical Education Vol. 4, Issue 3
- Relation
- http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/18377122.2013.836773
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- In Australia and New Zealand recognition of Polynesians is almost exclusively defined by their physicality. Sought after for size and strength on the sporting field, excellence in sport is arguably regarded as a life goal in itself. This paper will examine how this situation arose and the implications for Polynesians living in Australia. For a working class community struggling with the rapidly diminishing job opportunities and high cost of living, sport is progressively regarded as the only avenue out of poverty. With comparatively low rates of educational achievement keeping many in 'blue collar' jobs, there are consequences for health and health literacy, particularly in regard to obesity-related illness and premature mortality from otherwise preventable diseases. It will discuss the findings of two studies: an ethnographic project exploring the rugby life histories of fifteen Polynesian men in Melbourne and qualitative interviews with sixty-seven Polynesians in Sydney and the Hunter region about their perceptions of health and lifestyle. This paper will argue success in sport is inextricably bound with cultural pride and identity, and therefore is well placed as a vehicle for allowing a migrant minority a 'voice' in other areas of civic engagement. In this way, rather than a sporting career coming at the expense of an education, participation and achievement in sport should provide a background to improving culturally targeted programmes around improving outcomes in education and health awareness.
- Subject
- Polynesians; sport; health; education; migration
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1317893
- Identifier
- uon:23532
- Identifier
- ISSN:1837-7122
- Language
- eng
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