This quotation has been reproduced so often by commentators and journalists over the past four decades that its original meaning has been lost. Many of those using it have never read Donald Horne's (1964) The Lucky Country. They are using Horne's formidable reputation as a public intellectual to support the idea that Australia is a sporting nation, but miss the irony of the book's title, as well as the fact that Horne was expressing his distaste for this situation. They should read the relevant paragraphs to their conclusion, the part where competitive sport is declared to be ‘a ruthless, quasi-military operation’.

A lack of critical perspective infuses much popular writing about sport. A close reading of Horne and other sources would reveal the truth of the matter. Sport is a social activity that divides as much as it unites; it is a site for the expression of nationalist triumphalism and has contributed to the marginalisation of many groups within Australian society. Populists regard it as inappropriate to point out that, historically, many sports have a poor to moderate record of appealing to people from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) backgrounds, have actively discriminated against Indigenous competitors, and have systematically excluded many women (Booth & Tatz 2000; Hutchins 2005). These facts are lost amid the recollection and celebration of past athletic feats, both famous and infamous.