Past Programs
Community and Society - 2008
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Masters sport: never too old, never too late
26/12/2008
Whoever suggested sport was only for the young never went to the World Masters Games. Next October the Games are being held in Sydney and registration for competitors is about to open. Hear how some mature champions live and love their sport.
(This program was originally broadcast on 30/05/08)
Shane Gould: to move is to live
28/11/2008
As a precociously talented fifteen year-old Shane Gould was a shining star of the 1972 Munich Olympics. She then quit elite swimming, but her commitment to exercise and the physical dimension of life never faltered. Now she's one of the country's most consistent advocates of the need to keep active.
Show me the money, if there's any left
21/11/2008
The world financial crisis is causing governments on every continent to review their spending priorities, so what will it mean for the dollars dished out to sport, at both the elite and community levels?
Batman wears gloves, and walks
14/11/2008
Adam Gilchrist was a singular presence in the Australian cricket team - a player who wore his heart on his sleeve and pursued the spirit of the game as much as victory. Meet the man who made the most out of his time in the middle.
The Maharajah of Moorabbin
07/11/2008
Robert Harvey is an old-school Aussie Rules player. He played his whole senior career with just one club, St Kilda, and outlasted almost all of his contemporaries.
Boy racer gets the chequered flag
07/11/2008
Lewis Hamilton is rewriting the motor racing record books. Young, black and British, he's injecting new interest into what many consider to be the declining world of Formula one.
Football World Cup in South Africa
31/10/2008
In 2010 the eyes of the football world will be focused on South Africa as the FIFA World Cup is hosted for the first time on the African continent. The Communications Director of the South African Football Association, Morio Sanyane, details the progress so far.
A good judge of horse flesh
24/10/2008
As punters get ready to exchange some hard-earned for a little easy money, attention is turning to the spring racing carnival. So this week we explore two of the key dynasties in Australian racing - the Waterhouses and the Smiths.
Voices of veterans
17/10/2008
When you're at the centre of the sporting firmament how difficult is it to overlook the cheering and focus on retirement? This week two greats of Australian rugby, George Gregan and Tim Horan, talk about the decision to go.
The road to South Africa 2010
17/10/2008
Let's bask for just a moment longer in the warm aftermath of that rain-swept, lighting-lashed Football World Cup qualifier in Brisbane on Wednesday night.
Great sporting moments
10/10/2008
Australians have a particular fascination with generating lists of sporting achievements, across categories and generations. But is it ever possible to objectively settle on a definitive list?
Hard riding and hard choices
10/10/2008
This week on the Sports Factor a special feature on this year's 'Tom Quilty' equestrian event in regional Queensland.
Peter Troy
03/10/2008
A tribute to the man widely hailed as the historian of surfing in Australia, Peter Troy.
Tribal minds, local passions
03/10/2008
Why is it that some teams are able to inspire both love and loathing. As the fans count the days until the National Rugby League grand final, on Sydney's northern beaches there's no doubting the commitment to the local team, the Manly Sea-Eagles. But almost everywhere else Sydneysiders are wondering what it'll be like barracking for the Melbourne Storm.
A few seconds of panic: a journalist's experience of high-performance sport:
26/09/2008
Everyone's an expert in the armchair, but what's it like to actually train, practice and perform in the real world of professional football, even for just a couple of months? American writer Stefan Fatsis recently found out.
Lance rides again
12/09/2008
Lance Armstrong retired in 2005, but the lanky Texan who survived cancer to dominate cycling, is back. So can he do it all again?
The Paralympics: powered by passion
12/09/2008
The Paralympics not only feature some outstanding athletic performances, they also showcase the extraordinary determination of athletes who don't so much overcome their physical challenges as make them irrelevant.
Lethal footsteps: The Matthews legacy
05/09/2008
Leigh Matthews has been a powerful force in Australian Football, from his days as a star player at Hawthorn, through to his stunning achievements as a coach at both Collingwood and Brisbane AFL clubs. He's a hard act to follow, so how do you assess the legacy of a legend.
Britain & the Beijing games
29/08/2008
As we know, the Australian team won an impressive 14 Gold Medals. Unusually, the Brits won more: 19 in fact, and the self-satisfied glow could apparently light up half the Midlands.
Footywild
29/08/2008
The third Australian football international cup is about to get underway in Victoria. And this week on the Sports Factor we have a special report on the state of AFL in South Africa, where hundreds of young players are taking it up instead of soccer or rugby union.
(Due to copyright restrictions parts of this program have been removed)
Globalisation and sport
22/08/2008
Globalisation now describes just about everything, from the way we do business right through to the way we watch the Olympics. So what are the implications for sport in a world where global is rapidly replacing local?
(This program originally went to air in 2006)
Olympic business
15/08/2008
Beyond the lane markings and behind the scenes a lot of business people are hard at work in the Chinese capital.
Sirens in the saddle
15/08/2008
Life as a jockey is hard: pre-dawn starts, hard riding and lots of work to get the maximum performance from the gallopers. So what inspired two rural women - one almost straight from school, the other in a career-changing move - to decide to become jockeys.
Rings of security
08/08/2008
Athletic excellence aside, Olympic organisers want the games safe and secure. Ever since Munich in 1972, securing the safety of all participants is paramount. Australian Olympian Graham Windeatt competed in '72 and has followed the changes in the Olympic experience.
Olympic Security
01/08/2008
If there's one thing the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games should have in spades, it's security. Of course security concerns have dominated the Games in recent years.
Launching a rocket: Rodney Eade and Australian Rules football
01/08/2008
For many years Rodney Eade has been an important figure in Australian Rules football - as a player with Hawthorn, as a coach with the Sydney Swans and now the Western Bulldogs, and simply as one of the game's most interesting thinkers. Meet him on this week's Sports Factor.
Cadel Evans & Le Tour
18/07/2008
Australian interest in the Tour de France has peaked this year because of the possibility that our very own Cadel Evans might just be there at the end, being awarded the winner's yellow jersey.
The weird world of darts
11/07/2008
It's not quite the sport of kings, but darts (yes darts) inspires passionate fans and charismatic champions. For thirty years the man describing each flighted flick has been Sid Waddell, doyen of darts commentators.
(This program was originally broadcast on 09/03/07)
Looking Beyond Depression for Australia's sportswomen
04/07/2008
An important new initiative to raise awareness of depression among women and girls has been launched, combining the resources of BeyondBlue, Netball Australia and a major women's health club group. The three chief executives involved are on the Sports Factor to explain what's planned.
The sporting north
27/06/2008
A recent ABC forum in Darwin looked at new ideas for northern Australia, so where does sport fit into the future of one of the nation's most diverse and challenging regions?
Masters sport: never too old, never too late
30/05/2008
Whoever suggested sport was only for the young never went to the World Masters Games. Next October the Games are being held in Sydney and registration for competitors is about to open. Hear how some mature champions live and love their sport.
Raising the Red (and Blue) Flag
16/05/2008
Famous Englishmen in Moscow used to suggest espionage, but now it's about football. Chelsea and Manchester United, giants of the English Premier league, are about to contest the UEFA Champions' League final in the Russian capital. Has the centre of Euro football shifted?
Sport and the military
25/04/2008
Anzac Day seems an appropriate time to consider the relationship between sport and the military.
Whatever happened to the humble champion?
25/04/2008
When did all that sporting self-belief, determination and skill morph into selfishness and crass petulance? How come Rod Laver and Lew Hoad seem to be from a different planet to Anthony Mundine and Ben Cousins.
The curse of Billy Penn
18/04/2008
If you love sport, take pity on the fans of Philadelphia. Their teams have lost so many games - the baseball franchise has already hit the 10,000 mark - they've turned to the supernatural for answers.
Rugby League Cracks a Ton
11/04/2008
Australia's Rugby League competition is about to celebrate a centenary of big hits, runaway tries and a bit of biff. A hundred years on the working man's game is woven into the fabric of community, class and recreation across north-eastern Australia.
End of an era
04/04/2008
Brisbane Broncos coach Wayne Bennett will be moving from one of the youngest clubs in the competition, to one of the oldest. From establishing football traditions in Brisbane to rediscovering someone else's, namely St George's.
Inspired by the ocean
21/03/2008
As the Bells Beach pro classic fires the imagination of the surfing community we hear about other waves of inspiration. Author Tim Baker has spoken to many of the world's most intrepid surfers and discovered the wide ranging appeal of board and beach.
Aussie Rules at 150
14/03/2008
This year is the 150th anniversary of Aussie Rules and to mark the event, the AFL has commissioned publisher Geoff Slattery to produce a book detailing the game and its history.
Diplomacy, Darfur and the Olympic Spirit:
29/02/2008
Olympic competitors from a range of countries, including Australia, have signed on to "Team Darfur" in an attempt to pressure the Chinese government to be more active in the search for a peaceful outcome in the Sudan. It's a bold move, but will it make any difference in Beijing?
Blindsight
15/02/2008
Climbing in the Himalayas is dangerous at the best of times. So how does a blind climber, even with the help of a sighted companion, deal with the unexpected dangers of falling rocks or slabs of ice. Even if you can hear them, how do you avoid them?
Football memories and football passions: Munich 1958
08/02/2008
In the UK this week the football world is focussed on one of Britain's most sacred sporting memories: the 1958 aeroplane crash that decimated Manchester United football club. Amid the tears and testimonials lies bitterness at the way some of the survivors were treated.
Please note that due to copyright restrictions parts of this program have been removed.
Good sports, bad sports
01/02/2008
What does it mean to be a "good sport"? Is it as obvious as simply playing fairly, or in these days of fiercely competitive professional rivalry does the very idea of being a "good sport" need renovation?
Soul surfing
25/01/2008
When you've been surfing for fifty years, it's not so much a pastime, more of a lifestyle and an attitude. Three old salts describe their days on the waves.
(This program was originally broadcast on 13/04/07)
Whatever happened to squash?
18/01/2008
What happened to the game that grew wildly in the 1960s only to contract as fast a generation later. Once it seemed there were squash courts in every suburban shopping centre, so what - if anything - went wrong?
(This program was originally broadcast on 23/03/07)
Beijing or bust:
11/01/2008
China's Olympic preparations are on the bell lap, so how's the schedule going in Beijing. And the built environment is one thing, another is the quality of the atmosphere. What's it like to perform in a town usually shrouded in smog?
(This program was originally broadcast on 06/04/07)
