Using a combined Huizingian-Bourdieu framework, this paper analyses the significance of sport’s transformation into a business and how the prevailing business structure that defines professional sport has influenced the ‘lived experience’ of those playing at sport’s elite level. Furthermore, this paper highlights how the actions of players, coaches and other participants serve to reinforce, legitimise and normalise the business characteristics of sport’s dominant business structure. Importantly, this paper illuminates how the professionalization of sport corrupts the act of playing and indeed gives rise to play tactics, such as ‘sledging’, which both reflects the increased seriousness of sport and, in its very execution, further reinforces the dominant business structures of professional sport, all the while corrupting the essence of sport – play. In doing so we are challenged to consider how society’s fields could be different in structure, and in the ‘lived experience’ within the field.

Sledging, or 'trash talk' or 'chirping', as it's known in other parts of the world, has long been part of competitive sport. Often described as ‘gamesmanship’, quick witted athletes have provided numerous examples of spontaneous, creative and humorous banter as part of the play contest. Furthermore, it has largely been an accepted part of sport with some athletes even celebrated for their ability to distract opponents with well-timed barbs or relentless, ongoing sledges. However, more recent times have seen the issue of sledging, and its place in sport, debated with many athletes, fans and academics arguing that sledging has moved outside the notion of ‘sportsmanship’ and gone beyond light hearted, good natured banter. They argue it is now characterized as hurtful, insulting, offensive and intimidating - a tactic that has moved beyond fair play and, in many instances, no longer acceptable. This paper seeks to explore this issue in greater depth. In particular, this paper seeks to ask, ‘is sledging part of play, or is it a characteristic of play's corruption?’ In doing so, the notion of sledging, play and its corruption, will be explored in depth with examples used to illuminate the changing nature of both concepts. The argument proceeds by adopting a conception of play, grounded in the work of Johan Huizinga. While there have been significant developments in play theory since Huizinga wrote his most famous study of play, Homo Ludens, in 1938, the core aspects of his definition have continued relevance. Indeed, as will be outlined later in the paper, Huizinga’s key characteristics of play have been embraced and adopted by more modern play theorists. As such, the argument of sledging as play, or as a characteristic of its corruption, is made broadly within Huizinga’s conception of play. The insights of academics and scholars will be drawn on, as will the insights of surveyed sports fans and amateur athletes to highlight their views on sledging and its place in modern sport. By doing so, sledging's role in sport and its most dominant characteristics, according to those who watch professional sport and play at the community level, will be illuminated.

This theoretical paper aims to highlight how Dyer’s star theory can be used to understand the ways in which athlete stars can promote star attributes to cultivate their stardom by displaying modern values and presenting themselves as both “ordinary” and “extraordinary.”

This paper utilises the combined observations and theories of Johan Huizinga and Pierre Bourdieu to create a theoretical lens through which we can understand the media’s growing influence in sport and its impact on play’s transformation. The theory will then be expounded through an extensive analysis of the media’s influence in the AFL, particularly its play element. This analysis will be supported with insights and views from AFL fans, members, commentators and theorists.

This article interprets the Australian Football League's (AFL) transformation from a game to an entertainment business through the concepts of Pierre Bourdieu. The transformation of sport, as illustrated in Australia, highlights how communities are being undermined by the agenda of global neoliberalism to transform all relations into commercial relations. Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital and habitus enable us to understand how the sport field has merged with the economic and media fields and how the dominant, neoliberal, business characteristics of the sport field influence the way those participating in the field act, make decisions and prioritise. Likewise, we can interpret how the actions of the field’s participants reinforce the dominant characteristics of the field. In practical terms, using the AFL as a case study, the analysis highlights how neoliberal, business ideals characterise the sport field and how the relationships and actions of the field's participants reflect this. Importantly, this article draws on insights from the fans who provide their thoughts on the changing face of the AFL, and in particular, the increased role of the media and economic fields in the sport field.