Women’s Football in Oceania

This book presents the most comprehensive mapping and analysis of women’s football in Oceania and is the first to examine the game’s historical development alongside social, political, and cultural issues, weaving origin stories with players’ day-to-day challenges.

Alongside presentation of the contemporary state of play and its overarching narrative of women’s game in the region, the book highlights key issues, discusses established and emergent themes, examines relevant contexts, investigates the status of the game at local and national levels, and lays foundations for further research. Its primary objective is to detail and illustrate the historical, social, and organisational development of the women’s game, including international tournaments, national competitions, and teams in an effort to amplify the efforts of the individuals that made or make a significant contribution to the game. It draws on extensive formal and informal discussion, realises insight, proposes the means and related fields of further investigation, and generates new knowledge alongside the uncovering of old.

Women’s Football in Oceania covers key events, actors, and moments and fills a gap in research for scholars of sports history and women’s history.

Lee McGowan is a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Sunshine Coast. His primary research interests are in the intersections of creative writing, sport, and community engagement. His publications include books, journal articles, book chapters, a digital history, fiction, and creative non-fiction.

Kasey Symons is a Research Fellow in the Sport Innovation Research Group at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia. Her research areas include women in sport, fan culture, sport media, and literature. Symons is also a sports journalist and co-founder of the women in sport media collective Siren Sport.

Yoko Kanemasu is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of the South Pacific, where she teaches social theory and research methodology. Her research areas include gender, sexuality, identity, sport, and migration, with a particular focus on the socio-political agency of women and non-heteronormative persons in the Pacific.