Australia's Blackest Sporting Moments

Internationally renowned academic, political advocate and award winning author, Stephen Hagan reveals the darker side of racism in sport and exposes Australian ugly underbelly.

Australia's Blackest Sporting Moments: The Top 100 is a painfully easy read of incidents of racism in Australian sport. Hagan has cleverly used a diverse range of professional non-Indigenous contributors to review 10 separate articles and in doing so adds balanced perspectives of this regrettable past. The contrast in styles and interpretations of the 100 incidents is appealing in its simplicity. The book has 46 cartoons illustrating various incidents in humorous way.

Hagan takes the reader on a journey not many of them would like to go. However the compelling read of iconic figures identified in his book is so profound that the reader's initial anxiety of 'not another black arm band book?' is quickly relieved.

It is demonstrably clear from Henry Lawson's 1908 remarks of African American Jack Johnson defeat of Tommy Burns 'for a nigger smacked your face' to Yvonne Goolagong receiving abuse 'That's the first time I've ever been beaten by a nigger' to the infamous Queensland Cricket Captain, Jimmy Maher's, comments "full as a coon's Valiant'', that the author's extensive research has not missed an incident of note since the time of colonisation.

Hagan's deliberate inclusion of Indigenous perpetrators of racial abuse gives creditability to an otherwise bias book. Hagan is refreshingly honest in his condemnation of the offenders, sporting administrators and government officials who continue to deny that there is a problem of racism in sport. Australia's Blackest Sporting Moments: The Top 100 is a mustread for everyone, of all ages, race, gender and religious persuasion.

Stephen Hagan

Stephen Hagan is a descendant of the Kullilli people of south-west Queensland. Born in 1959, his early years were spent living in a fringe camp on the outskirts of Cunnamulla. When he was seven, Stephen's father moved his family into their brand new house in town; a defining point in Stephen's life as he became conscious of the huge socio-economic gaps between Aboriginal kids and white kids.

Stephen's achievements in high school saw him go to Marist College Ashgrove, a private boarding school in Brisbane, where he stood proud as one of only a few Aboriginal students. In 1979 he took up teacher training but disillusioned with being forced to teach racist government-approved texts, Stephen made a career move. In Canberra he worked with various Indigenous organisations under charismatic leader Charles Perkins, who left an indelible impression on him. Stephen later moved to the Department of Foreign Affairs where he was posted as a diplomat to Colombo. Returning to Australia he worked in various public service roles as well as venturing into cultural tourism in the private sector.

Stephen represented his people at several international forums in India and the West Indies. He turned twenty one in Bombay and had the good fortune of spending time with Mother Theresa in Calcutta working among the destitute.

Stephen has become known in recent years as a commentator on race relations and for his relentless legal battle to remove the word 'Nigger' from a sign at a sportsground in the Queensland town of Toowoomba and to change the brand name of Coon Cheese. In September 2005 he received the DeadlyAward at the Opera House, Sydney for Outstanding Achievement in Literature for his published non-fiction book - The N Word, One Man's Stand.

He is married with two children and is currently an academic at the University of Southern Queensland, where he is also studying for his PhD.