Understanding and Working Within Cultural Diversity in Sport: An Australian Lens

Australia is home to one of the most culturally diverse populations in the world. Over 30% of Australians were born overseas, and more than 300 languages are spoken across the nation (ABS, 2021). From suburban club fields to elite stadiums, this diversity is mirrored in our sporting communities. Yet, cultural diversity is not always matched with cultural safety — particularly for those from minority or marginalised backgrounds.

As a sport psychologist with Ni-Vanuatu and Scottish heritage, I’ve witnessed both the power of inclusion and the harm of cultural blindness. Working within culturally diverse sporting spaces means more than celebrating heritage days, it requires ongoing reflection, education, and accountability, especially for white-identifying professionals and organisations in leadership roles.

The Diversity Within “Diversity”

Cultural diversity is often flattened into generalised categories like “CALD,” “First Nations,” “Pasifika,” or “migrant backgrounds.” While these can be helpful starting points for visibility, they do little to capture the complexity of identity, belonging, and lived experience. For instance, a Samoan rugby player born in Western Sydney may have vastly different needs and perspectives than a recent refugee from Afghanistan or an Aboriginal athlete living on Country.

Moreover, culture encompasses far more than language and customs. It includes values, communication styles, gender roles, views on authority, time orientation, and concepts of health and wellbeing, all of which directly influence how athletes engage with sport and support systems.

Whiteness in Australian Sport

To understand cultural diversity in sport, we must also reckon with the dominance of whiteness. Whiteness is not just about skin colour it refers to the social, cultural, and institutional norms that define what is “standard,” “professional,” or “successful” in a given context (McDonald, 2014). In elite Australian sport, whiteness has shaped who gets seen, heard, selected, and supported.

Cashman (2024) outlines how Australia’s sporting culture has historically prioritised

Anglo-Celtic narratives, reinforcing colonial ideals of masculinity, competition, and individualism. Even today, boardrooms, commentary panels, and peak leadership roles in national sporting bodies remain overwhelmingly white. This lack of representation can contribute to cultural erasure, tokenism, or subtle exclusion for non-white athletes and staff.

Working with Cultural Awareness vs. Cultural Safety

Working cross-culturally requires more than good intentions. As researchers from Aotearoa have highlighted, cultural awareness may involve simply acknowledging differences, whereas cultural safety requires an active commitment to power-sharing, reflexivity, and anti-racism (Wikaire & Pitama, 2022).

In practice, this means:

• Understanding how your own identity, assumptions, and cultural lens shape your work.

• Actively seeking feedback from minority athletes or colleagues about whether they feel safe, seen, and supported.

• Building partnerships with community leaders and cultural consultants, rather than assuming expertise.

As van Neerven (2023) notes in Personal Score, the stories of culturally diverse athletes are often edited or simplified to fit mainstream narratives — leaving little room for messy truths, complexity, or strength forged outside of dominant systems. Making room for these stories requires discomfort, curiosity, and humility.

Common Missteps When Working with Minorities

Allied health professionals and sport leaders may unintentionally undermine inclusion efforts when:

• Asking individuals to speak for their entire culture.

• Expecting gratitude for minimal inclusion efforts.

• Failing to challenge racist, sexist, or homophobic behaviour on teams.

• Overlooking intergenerational trauma, displacement, or systemic disadvantage that can shape an athlete’s behaviour, coping, or trust in support services.

Even well-meaning support can land poorly if it doesn’t consider cultural frames of reference. For example, individualised mental skills strategies may not resonate in collectivist cultures where identity is deeply relational and shaped by family, community, and spirituality.

Practical Strategies for Working Culturally Responsively

Here are a few evidence-informed steps that allied health professionals, coaches, and sport psychologists can take:

1. Educate Yourself Beyond the Basics Engage with Indigenous-led literature, podcasts, or community events. Read works like Australian Sport History (Cashman, 2024) and Personal Score (van Neerven, 2023) to deepen your understanding of history, politics, and identity in sport.

2. Practise Cultural Humility Rather than striving to “know” every culture, practise being teachable. Ask questions like “What do I need to know about your background to support you better?” and be open to feedback.

3. Diversify Your Professional Network Collaborate with cultural consultants, bilingual clinicians, or peers from different backgrounds. Representation is protective, particularly for young or early-career athletes.

4. Embed Cultural Contexts in Assessment and Intervention Consider the athlete’s worldview when designing interventions — from imagery scripts and pre-performance routines to discussions about wellbeing, confidence, or stress.

5. Challenge Whiteness in Systems Audit your language, selection criteria, dress codes, or service delivery. Are they reinforcing norms that exclude? Who is not in the room — and why?

6. Make Psychological Services Visible and Accessible Use community settings, sporting clubs, or peer-led programs to build trust and normalise mental health support — especially in populations with historical reasons for mistrust.

Moving Forward

Australia’s sporting landscape is rapidly evolving. Our athletes come from all walks of life but until our systems, services, and stories reflect that same richness, we risk leaving many behind. As professionals working in and around sport, we each have a role to play in creating culturally safe environments not just in moments of crisis, but in the everyday fabric of our work.

At Surge Performance + Wellbeing, we are committed to these ongoing conversations. Throughout August, we’ll be sharing more blogs about creating culturally safe spaces, working with diverse populations, and challenging systemic norms in sport.

Subscribe to our newsletter or follow along on socials to be part of the journey.

References (APA 7th)

• Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2021). Cultural diversity in Australia. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-diversity-australia

• Cashman, R. (2024). Australian sport history: Culture, value, identity and debate. Routledge.

• McDonald, B. (2014). Whiteness, sport and resistance in Australia. Contemporary Pacific, 26(2), 389–414. https://doi.org/10.1353/cp.2014.0029

• van Neerven, E. J. (2023). Personal Score: Sport, Culture, Identity. University of Queensland Press.

• Wikaire, E., & Pitama, S. (2022). Rethinking cultural safety in health and sport services. MAI Journal, 11(1), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.20507/MAIJournal.2022.11.1.7

• Hylton, K. (2010). Sport and Race: Understanding and Challenging Racism in Sport. Routledge.

• Paradies, Y. (2016). Colonisation, racism and Indigenous health. Journal of Population Research, 33(1), 83–96.

• Dudgeon, P., Milroy, H., & Walker, R. (Eds.). (2014). Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice (2nd ed.). Commonwealth of Australia.