A socio-cultural exploration of parental involvement in junior Australian Rules football

The junior Australian football landscape has been frequently linked to reports of undesirable parental behaviour, yet sufficient understanding around this potential socio-cultural issue remains limited. In light of this paucity, the study presented within this paper makes a unique contribution to the broad field of parent–sport literature by offering an insight into the self-perceived nature of parental involvement in junior Australian football. This research draws on in-depth qualitative data obtained during three separate focus group interviews from 15 parents of junior Australian football participants in South Australia. Participants provided rich, descriptive information which, through a thematic content analysis, led to the emergence of six principal themes. This paper considers two of those key themes which concern the diverse, yet equally significant relationships within the junior Australian football experience–(a) the parent–child relationship, and (b) the parent–parent relationships. This research not only provides the reader with an insight into the tensions around parent-oriented relationships in junior Australian football, but underlines the need for greater academic attention toward understanding this socio-cultural issue.