Quantcast
Channel: Neos Osmos
Viewing all 298 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

NPL VIC Round 19/18

July 27, 2014, 2:44 pm
$
0
0

NPL ROUND 19: 

Port Melbourne Sharks SC 1 Green Gully SC 1(HT: 0-0)
Northcote City FC 1 South Melbourne FC 1(HT: 0-0) 
Goulburn Valley Suns FC 1 Melbourne Knights FC 1(HT: 0-0) 
Dandenong Thunder SC 1 Pascoe Vale SC 2(HT: 1-2) 
Werribee City FC 1 Ballarat Red Devils SC 3(HT: 0-1) 
Heidelberg United SC 2 Hume City FC 0(HT: 2-0)
Oakleigh Cannons FC 2 Bentleigh Greens SC 1(HT: 2-0) 

NPL1 ROUND 18: 

Springvale White Eagles FC 1 Box Hill United SC 2(HT: 0-0) 
Dandenong City SC 2 FC Bulleen Lions 1(HT: 0-0) 
North Geelong Warriors FC 2 Kingston City FC 1(HT: 0-0)
Moreland Zebras FC 1 Avondale Heights SC 0(HT: 0-0) 
Brunswick City SC 2 (A. Kromah 1, S. Mazzolini 1) Whittlesea Ranges FC 0(HT: 1-0)
St Albans Saints SC 1 Sunshine George Cross SC 0(HT: 0-0)
Richmond SC Seniors  3 FC Bendigo 3(HT: 0-0)  

Tables

NPL

Pos Team                                    P       W       L       D       F       A     GD      PTS    

1   South Melbourne FC                19      16      1       2       42      16      26      50     
2   Oakleigh Cannons FC               19      13      2       4       46      14      32      43     
3   Heidelberg United SC                19      10      4       5       48      28      20      35     
4   Bentleigh Greens SC                  18      10      5       3       34      22      12      33     
5   Hume City FC                           19      9       9       1       25      26      -1      28     
6   Pascoe Vale SC                        18      7       6       5       23      23      0       26     
7   Northcote City FC                     19      7       7       5       30      31      -1      26     
8   Melbourne Knights FC               19      7       10      2       30      29      1       23     
9   Green Gully SC                          19      7       10      2       35      40      -5      23     
10  Dandenong Thunder SC            19      6       10      3       24      40      -16     21     
11  Port Melbourne Sharks SC        19      5       9       5       25      35      -10     20     
12  Ballarat Red Devils SC               17      5       10      2       33      40      -7      17     
13  Werribee City FC                      19      5       12      2       22      42      -20     17     
14  Goulburn Valley Suns FC           19      2       14      3       19      50      -31     9      


NPL1


Pos Team                                  P       W       L       D       F       A     GD      PTS    

1   Avondale Heights SC              18      14      2       2       38      16      22      44     
2   Box Hill United SC                  18      10      5       3       36      16      20      33     
3   North Geelong Warriors FC    17      10      6       1       40      24      16      31     
4   St Albans Saints SC                18      10      5       3       31      22      9       30     
5   Richmond SC Seniors              17      9       6       2       37      33      4       29     
6   FC Bulleen Lions                     18      8       6       4       43      34      9       28     
7   Moreland Zebras FC               17      8       7       2       30      24      6       26     
8   Sunshine George Cross SC      18      7       7       4       30      36      -6      25     
9   Kingston City FC                     18      7       9       2       38      33      5       23     
10  Dandenong City SC                18      6       7       5       31      34      -3      23     
11  FC Bendigo                             17      5       9       3       30      37      -7      18     
12  Springvale White Eagles FC     18      5       11      2       31      43      -12     17     
13  Whittlesea Ranges FC              18      4       10      4       25      43      -18     16     
14  Brunswick City SC                  18      2       15      1       18      63      -45     7      


↧
Search

NPLVIC Round 21/20/19

August 3, 2014, 3:47 am
$
0
0
NPL

ROUND 20

  • Pascoe Vale SC 0 Werribee City FC 2(HT: 0-1)
  • Dandenong Thunder SC 1 Northcote City FC 1(HT: 1-1)
  • Port Melbourne Sharks SC 3 Ballarat Red Devils SC 1(HT: 0-0)
  • Green Gully SC 1 Heidelberg United SC 1(HT: 0-1)

ROUND 21

  • Pascoe Vale SC 0 South Melbourne FC 3(HT: 0-1)
  • Green Gully SC 2 Ballarat Red Devils SC 1(HT: 1-0)
  • Bentleigh Greens SC 2 Goulburn Valley Suns FC 2(HT: 2-0)
  • Werribee City FC 2 Dandenong Thunder SC 1(HT: 0-0)
  • Northcote City FC 1 Oakleigh Cannons FC 3(HT: 1-1)
  • Melbourne Knights FC 0 Heidelberg United SC 2(HT: 0-0)
  • Hume City FC 2 Port Melbourne Sharks SC 1(HT: 1-0

NPL1

ROUND 19

  • Whittlesea Ranges FC 1 Moreland Zebras FC 2(HT: 1-0)
  • Avondale Heights SC 2 St Albans Saints SC 2(HT: 1-1)
  • Sunshine George Cross SC 0 Richmond SC Seniors  6(HT: 0-3)
  • Springvale White Eagles FC 4 Brunswick City SC 2 (M. Tancevski 1, S. Mazzolini 1)(HT: 1-2)
  • FC Bendigo 0 North Geelong Warriors FC 2(HT: 0-1)


↧
↧

NPL results and tables Rounds 22 and 20

August 10, 2014, 3:30 pm
$
0
0

NPL

ROUND 20

  • Bentleigh Greens SC 2 South Melbourne FC 1(HT: 0-0)  

ROUND 22

  • Port Melbourne Sharks SC 0 Melbourne Knights FC 1 (S. Andrijasevic 1)(HT: 0-0)
  • Green Gully SC 0 Hume City FC 1(HT: 0-1)
  • Heidelberg United SC 2 Bentleigh Greens SC 2(HT: 0-0)
  • Ballarat Red Devils SC 0 Dandenong Thunder SC 1(HT: 0-0)
  • Goulburn Valley Suns FC 1 Northcote City FC 3(HT: 1-2)
  • Oakleigh Cannons FC 3 Pascoe Vale SC 0(HT: 1-0) 

NPL1

ROUND 20

  • Richmond SC Seniors  0 Avondale Heights SC 1(HT: 0-1)
  • Springvale White Eagles FC 2 FC Bulleen Lions 2(HT: 1-1)
  • Dandenong City SC 4 FC Bendigo 1(HT: 0-0)
  • North Geelong Warriors FC 2 Sunshine George Cross SC 1(HT: 0-0)
  • Brunswick City SC 3 Moreland Zebras FC 2(HT: 2-0)
  • St Albans Saints SC 3 Whittlesea Ranges FC 0(HT: 1-0)
  • Box Hill United SC 1 Kingston City FC 0(HT: 0-0) 

TABLES

NPL

Pos Team                                    P       W       L       D       F       A       GD      PTS    

1   South Melbourne FC               21      17      2       2       46      18      28      53     
2   Oakleigh Cannons FC              21      15      2       4       52      15      37      49     
3   Heidelberg United SC              22      11      4       7       53      31      22      40     
4   Bentleigh Greens SC                21      11      5       5       40      27      13      38     
5   Hume City FC                          21      11      9       1       28      27      1       34     
6   Northcote City FC                   22      8       8       6       35      36      -1      30     
7   Green Gully SC                        22      8       11      3       38      43      -5      27     
8   Melbourne Knights FC             21      8       11      2       31      31      0       26     
9   Pascoe Vale SC                       21      7       9       5       23      31      -8      26     
10  Dandenong Thunder SC          22      7       11      4       27      43      -16     25     
11  Port Melbourne Sharks SC      22      6       11      5       29      39      -10     23     
12  Werribee City FC                    21      7       12      2       26      43      -17     23     
13  Ballarat Red Devils SC             20      5       13      2       35      46      -11     17     
14  Goulburn Valley Suns FC         21      2       15      4       22      55      -33     10     

NPL1

Pos Team                                    P       W       L       D       F       A       GD      PTS    

1   Avondale Heights SC               20      15      2       3       41      18      23      48     
2   North Geelong Warriors FC     19      12      6       1       44      25      19      37     
3   Box Hill United SC                   20      11      6       3       37      18      19      36     
4   St Albans Saints SC                  20      11      5       4       36      24      12      34     
5   FC Bulleen Lions                       20      9       6       5       47      36      11      32      
6   Richmond SC Seniors                19      10      7       2       43      34      9       32     
7   Moreland Zebras FC                 19      9       8       2       34      28      6       29     
8   Dandenong City SC                   20      8       7       5       38      35      3       29     
9   Sunshine George Cross SC        20      7       9       4       31      44      -13     25     
10  Kingston City FC                      20      7       11      2       38      37      1       23     
11  Springvale White Eagles FC      20      6       11      3       37      47      -10     21     
12  FC Bendigo                              19      5       11      3       31      43      -12     18     
13  Whittlesea Ranges FC               20      4       12      4       26      48      -22     16     

14  Brunswick City SC                    20      3       16      1       23      69      -46     10      
↧

10,000 people at the footy, July 1875

August 14, 2014, 3:53 pm
$
0
0
One thing that has always puzzled me is the assertion that high scoring leads to excitement and the popularity of a sport. This is an argument used against soccer (in which the average goals-per-game total is around 3). In Melbourne, high scoring is put forward as an explanation for the immense popularity of Australian rules football.

Yet, when we look back at the origins of the game we see a confusing fact. The scoring in the first 20 years or so of Australian rules tended to be similar to the scores in English Association football of the time. Indeed, it is possibly the case that more goals were scored in English football matches in the 1870s than there were in Australian rules matches around the same period.

This article, published in the Queenslander 31 July 1875, makes it clear that Victorian rules was a very popular code of football. The reported game between Melbourne and Carlton attracted a crowd of 10,000. Yet it resulted in the narrowest of 1-0 victories to Carlton. This fact did little to deter the writer from predicting 20,000 at the next week's game.
The principal football match of the season ; between the two crack clubs of the colony— Melbourne and Carlton—which I alluded to in my last as about to take place, resulted in a splendid game. There were about 10,000 persons present, who evinced the greatest degree of excitement in the struggle. The only goal obtained during the afternoon was kicked by Carlton in the first twenty minutes' play, and though this gave that club the victory, the Melbourne men had by far the best of the fight. The return match comes off next Saturday on the Melbourne ground, when there is bound to be 20,000 persons present. The Melbourne men have been hard at work practising since their defeat, and they are confident they will turn the tables on the victors in the next match.
It seems to me that a grievous historical error is made when the relatively high-scoring games of today or the recent historical past are used as an explanation of why footy became so popular. It was something else: the tussle; the opportunity to gather in support of your local team; the spectacle of violent contact—maybe all of these and more. One thing it was most definitely not was the game's reputedly high-scoring nature.
↧

Daniel Orbach, rising football media star?

August 14, 2014, 4:21 pm
$
0
0
Daniel Orbach, a year 12 student in Melbourne, has put together this short documentary video about the perception of soccer in the media and society generally. Technically it is excellent with great editing and very high quality footage. It moves from interview to interview in a smooth fashion without ever having to adopt a controlling narrative voice. The interviewees and footage used are allowed to tell the whole story.

The doco is probably not hard enough on the wannabee hool culture that still infects the game. But it does historicise the problems pretty well. (I would say that given that I am one of the interviewees!).

Have a look at the video and comments below if you see fit.


↧
↧

NPLVIC Round 24 and 22

August 24, 2014, 2:50 am
$
0
0
NPL ROUND 24

  • Bentleigh Greens SC 1 Oakleigh Cannons FC 4(HT 1-3)
  • Pascoe Vale SC 0 Dandenong Thunder SC 0(HT 0-0)
  • Green Gully SC 1 Port Melbourne Sharks SC 2(HT 0-0)
  • Ballarat Red Devils SC 1 Werribee City FC 2(HT 0-0)
  • Hume City FC 0 Heidelberg United SC 2(HT 0-0)
  • Melbourne Knights FC 3 Goulburn Valley Suns FC 0(HT 3-0)  


NPL1 ROUND 22 
  • Springvale White Eagles FC 2 FC Bendigo 1(HT 0-1)
  • Dandenong City SC 0 Avondale Heights SC 2(HT 0-1)
  • North Geelong Warriors FC 2 Whittlesea Ranges FC 0(HT 1-0) 
  • Brunswick City SC 1 St Albans Saints SC 2(HT 0-1)
  • Box Hill United SC 2 Sunshine George Cross SC 2 (HT 1-0)  


SHORT TABLES

NPL 

Pos Team                    P   W L D  F  A  GD PTS     

1   South Melbourne FC      23 19 2 2 51 18  33 59      
2   Oakleigh Cannons FC     23 17 2 4 57 16  41 55      

.......
   
11  Dandenong Thunder SC    24 7 12 5 27 4  -17 26      
12  Werribee City FC        24 8 14 2 28 49 -21 26      
13  Ballarat Red Devils SC  22 6 14 2 37 48 -11 20      
14  Goulburn Valley Suns FC 23 2 17 4 22 61 -39 10      


NPL1

Pos Team                  P  W  L D  F  A  GD PTS     

1   Avondale Heights SC   22 16 3 3 43 21  22 51      
2   North Geelong W FC    21 14 6 1 49 25  24 43      
3   St Albans Saints SC   22 13 5 4 40 25  15 40      

.......

10  Kingston City FC      21 8 11 2 42 38  4  26      
11  Springvale WE FC      22 7 12 3 40 52 -12 24      
12  FC Bendigo            21 5 12 4 33 46 -13 19      
13  Whittlesea Ranges FC  22 5 13 4 30 53 -23 19      
14  Brunswick City SC     22 3 18 1 24 79 -55 10      

↧

A new reason not to play soccer, from 1905

August 29, 2014, 7:23 pm
$
0
0
TheMurrurundi Times and Liverpool Plains Gazette in 1905 found a reason to object to soccer that I have not seen before. It dilutes the strength of the other codes!
Sure it uses the old 'foreign money', 'poaching schoolboys', 'forcing the game on us' arguments, but this represents a new angle.
Once again I wish to protest against the attempt that is being made to force the 'Soccer' game down our throats. The endeavor has been a strenuous one, and what with the introduction of star Victorian teams to show us the trick, must cost the enthusiasts who are at the back of it no small amount of money. Even in our public schools there is a vigorous canvass to wean the youngsters from Rugby and run them on to the sister game. The idea is that in the next generation 'Soccer' will be the only game.That may be all right for the next generation, but it is hard on the present one. We were always a soft snap for any Rugby team that cared to come from any other country for the purpose of taking our scalps. But now that half of our best men are playing the other game we are not able to put a decent team in the field.The result is that both games are ruined. The Rugby play this season is not worth mentioning.
↧

Gallipoli Veteran Stuck With Soccer

September 2, 2014, 8:54 pm
$
0
0
This is a nice piece passed on by Roy Hay.

Keith Gilmour, ‘Gallipoli veteran stuck with soccer’, Soccer World, 7 October 1966, p. 2.

↧
Search

Telling Fibs for Footy

September 26, 2014, 5:41 pm
$
0
0
John Silvester's piece in today's Age reminded me of the following piece I published in March 2013. Silvester spews out his usual self-loathing-pommy soccerphobic bile by making up stories about crowd segregation in Victorian soccer and bizarrely using examples of verbal and physical violence in footy to show that AFL crowds do indeed get on without verbal and physical violence.
The Victorian sports media has been ever thus. With a few honourable exceptions it has been the VFL/AFL's full-time shepherd and part-time attack dog.
Even as Victorian soccer entered the 1930s in a sorry state the VFL press remained wary of the threat the game had represented in the late 1920s, taking every opportunity to remind its readers what a weak and passionless game soccer was. For example, in a truly astounding piece of journalism, the VFL saw fit to publish G. Cathie’s withering epistolary account of English soccer in (of all places) its 1934 Grand Final edition of the Football Record.‘Australian Game Vastly Superior’ is a fabricated (if not delusional) reminder for readers that Australian Rules is truly the game for Australia.
Some interesting and illuminating comments on the soccer code of football as played in England, compared with our own Australian game, is contained in a letter received this week from Mr G Cathie, a life member of the League, who is at present in England. The letter runs as follows:—
‘Whilst in Newcastle I saw the opening match of the soccer season and to say I was disappointed is to put it very mildly. Believe me, soccer is not in the same street as our game and it made me feel proud to belong to an organisation that plays the Aussie code. There was little enthusiasm amongst the crowd, which numbered about 14,000, and the deliberate ‘kicking-out’ was atrocious and a blot on their game.
‘The full backs are the only players allowed to touch the ball with their hands, and they are afraid, when in possession, to leave the goal by more than 15 yards. Then they punt the ball with a kick which as often as notgoes in the opposite direction to where it is intended. What salaries would await some of our Aussie rules full backs if they wereto come over here.
‘They could learn all there is in the code in a week or two, and would become champions in a month!
‘Think of players like Jack Regan, Frank Gill, Maurie Heahan, Ron Hillis, ‘Jacka’ Todd, Jack Vosti, and Bill Tymms and Bert Hyde in their prime, coming out with the ball from the goal mouth like a streak of lightning, vigorous, pacy, spectacular – and generally with only one man to pass. Then footing the ball to the other end – it would create a sensation in England. If we could only teach our English cousins the great charm and exhilaration of our national sport, it would be wonderful.’

The article claims that soccer is an inferior game for a number of reasons. It is less exciting and exhilarating. The crowd numbers are low and those who attend are not enthusiastic towards the game. The players are afraid to be adventurous and they are incompetent at what they do. The writer assumes (like Jack Dyer afterhim) that with a little bit of training VFL footballers would take soccer by storm. Ultimately Cathie’s complaint is simply that soccer is guilty of the crime of not being Australian Rules football.

Significantly, the letter shifts mood midstream. Starting out as a hardnosed and prejudiced critique of soccer’s faults, it suddenly transforms into a fantasy of Australian Rules internationalism. Coveting the salaries of the English game for Australian Rules champions and decrying the failure of ‘English cousins’ to be taught the merits of the game, the piece becomes a resentful hymn to the game’s failure to belong anywhere beyond the southern half of Australia. Beneath the triumphalism lies a self-loathing xenophobia.

It seems unnecessary to go beyond one word – ‘silly’ – to summarise the article. However, when it is realised that the author is inventing material as well as leaving out crucial information then the piece shifts from the realms of silliness to propaganda.

Cathie can be forgiven for calling the goalkeepers full-backs, but he can’t be forgiven for calling them cowardly for refusing to handle the ball illegally outside of the penalty area. Yet the more serious errors are ones of detail. The author claims to have gone to the opening game of the season in the Newcastle area. Problematically, Newcastle United were playing away on this day, hammered 5–1 by Nottingham Forest. The professional teams in the area who played at home on that day were Gateshead and Darlington (3rd division) and 1st division Sunderland who beat Huddersfield Town 4–1 at Roker Park – a game at which there would have been a few more than 14,000 given that Sunderland were in the upper echelons of English football in the mid-1930s. If the author is referencing a game he saw Newcastle United play (possibly their first home game on 1 September, beaten 5–2 by Brentford), he really needed to point out their 2nd division status. He might also have added that the club was in a shambles, having been relegated the previous season and only just avoiding relegation in 1934–35 on goal average. As he rightly pointed out, they weren’t very good!

However, accuracy in reporting was not at the forefront of the writer’s mind. The important work to be done on Grand Final day 1934 was simply to remind Australian Rules spectators that soccer was an illegitimate and uninspiring game compared with what they were about to receive, fare that deserved to be served to the world. The great tragedy of such propaganda is that in the 1930s there was almost no contradictory source for information on English football for readers of the Football Record. Such dishonest propaganda therefore found easy entry into the realm of ‘truth’ for generations of Victorian football aficionados and the stories they held and told.

The effect of this propaganda cannot be underestimated historically or politically. The process creates collective or social memory grounded in historical exclusion, marginalisation and untruth. Such social memory becomes an important tool for cultural-political elites to enhance legitimacy and control. In this way hegemony is achieved or solidified. The stories told about soccer in the name of the VFL are very much part of this process of maintaining cultural hegemony. While the dominance of Australian Rules football at this time is not in question, the lies it tells itself and its supporters about the world of sport point to a severe case of anxiety and insecurity.

The Footy Record could get away with this kind of propaganda then because there was no other source of information on English football for its readers. Imagine the flurry of refutations that would happen today if such blatant lies were told. While the propaganda remains as per Silverster's piece, it is far more subtle today.
↧
↧

Soccer Player Enlistments 1915. A vital founding document.

September 26, 2014, 6:54 pm
$
0
0
This is the article I've been searching for — a kind of foundation point for the database of Victorian soccer soldiers in WW1. Of the 500 or so who enlisted, 114 are named below, alongside their clubs, As the article suggests, the list is incomplete at the time. Also there are OCR errors and literal errors that need to be accounted for. Nonetheless it's a great starting point. 
The article is in the Winner on the April 28, 1915 (3 days after the carnage of Gallipoli but before the facts were known). The fixtures referred to in the the article are here. The Winner has only recently been digitised and as Mark Boric suggested, it is a real boon for soccer historians. This was a paper that took the game seriously and gave it substantial coverage.

SOCCER

PLAYERS WHO RESPONDED TO COUNTRY'S CALL

BY J. W. HARRISON

The Victorian Amateur British Football Association, which opens its campaign on Saturday afternoon next has had both its playing and ordinary members' ranks seriously depleted by the call to arms since the outbreak of war. In consequence, the executive of the association have passed through a rather serious ordeal since the close of last season, but the clubs have rallied well to the occasion, and the prospects for season 1915 are by no means of the gloomy order. Though the list of those soccerites who have volunteered for active service with the Expeditionary Forces are not quite complete, the following names to be placed on The Winner's roll of honor, for which I am indebted to Secretary E. C. Crawford, will prove of interest : —

  • N. and D. — R. Martin. W. Knox, T. Norton. W. Richardson, J. Wallace, J. Maughan [?], J. Morgan. — Hutchinson, — Thompson, H. Weston, F. Harper, — Finch, J. Stubbs, —Derbyshire, P. Grogan.
  • Burns. — W. Lycett. 
  • Preston. — R. C. May, . Geo. Hew...? Phelps, P. Minter, Geo. Latimer. F. Williams, Geo. Rumbol. 
  • Yarraville. — R. Hamilton, E. Jones. ?.Vaughan. 
  • St. Kilda. — F. Hopwood, H. Lowe, H. A. Lowe, T. E. Lowe, F. Waterhouse, F. Garwood, T. Spencer, J. Vass, J. Kemp[?]rey.
  • Thistle. — J. Guthrie, J. Parkinson, W. M'Laughlin, T. Jones, J. M'Kenzie, R.M'Lardy.
  • Albert Park. — G. Jeffrey, G. Fraser, J. Cox, H. Weston. T. Jennanway, T. Millar, W. Morrison, W. Fairweather, A. Dewar, J. Knight, T. Knight, T. Flowers, A. Stirrup, C. Price, H. Kelly.
  • Hawthorn. — H. Matthews, W. Matthews, G. Matthews, A. — Simmons, G. Foster, W. Foster.
  • Birmingham Victoria. — G. Talbot, F. Heywood, A. Hyde, D. Walker, L. Dymond, B.Golding, G. Sheppard, S. Dethridge, Jas. Greaves. 
  • Footscray Thistle. — D. Smith, A. Stephens, J. Malcolm, D. M'Donald, B. Gow.
  • Prahran City. — C. Gray, — Impy, F. Helps, A. Baker, — Stretton, J. Brown, F. Wright,— Gottschild, — Asdown, F. Keating. —Witham, — Roberts, — Shalders, — Kennedy. — Lane, T. Hutton.
  • Spotswood. — W. Cattrall, R. Linn, — Price.H. Mobbs, — Thorpe, A. Taunton, H. Lomax, G. Catchpole, R. Catchpole, — Chorley, R.Blair, B. Issard.
  • Cambrian United. — J. M'Pettigrue, W. Glenister. F. Piggott, J. Lewis, H. Lewis, J. Evans, O. Thomas, W. Manderson, H. Jones, J.Roberts.

NEW CLUBS
There are 19 entrants for the League this season, and, as will be seen from the fixture list given below, two new clubs — the H.M.A.S. Cerberus and Windsor — figure in the list. Thirteen entries were received for the first division of the League, which the Association management decided to divide into two sections as follows: —

Section A. — Spotswood, Northumberland and Durham United, Footscray Thistle, Yarraville, Albert Park and H.M.A.S. Cerberus.

Section B. — Burns, Birmingham Vics., St. Kilda, Thistle, Preston, Sandringham and Prahran.

THE PREMIERSHIP
It has been resolved that to decide the premiership, the first and second in the above sections shall do battle at the end of the season, and there is every promise of a big fight for the blue riband of Victorian Soccer. Clubs in the second division of the League are Cambrian United, Hawthorn, Spotswood A., Thistle A., St. Kilda A., and Windsor. Though the various teams have indulged in practice games of late, and many of the players have shown promising form. I do not intend so early in the season to attempt to forecast the prospects of the individual clubs. I know, however, that there have been transfers of some good players to clubs which will have a tendency to considerably weaken those organisations from which they have seceded. In the near future, I may have something to say on this important matter.

THE WORKING MANAGEMENT
The Football Council, under the presidency of Mr H. C. Dockerty, are determined to further the interests of the soccer code in the metropolitan area, and the indefatigable hon. secretary —Mr B. C. Crawford — seems to have a lot of hard work in front of him. I regret that the calls of business has necessitated the withdrawal of Mr W.B. Gilbert from the Council, as thatgentleman was a thorough and conscientious worker in the interests of the game.
↧

Soccer's regeneration in Melbourne 1907[1908]. The First Committee

September 26, 2014, 7:15 pm
$
0
0
This photo and attached text are great material. They give us a sense of organisational energy and commitment to the game upon its regeneration in Melbourne. However, the article also shows the problem of memory, even relatively recent memory (Harrison is writing in 1914). In all likelihood the photo is from 1908 and not 1907. Unfortunately there is no corroborating evidence from 1907 to suggest these men had formed a committee at that stage. I'll keep an eye out though.

This fine looking group of gentlemen represents the first committee formed in soccer's regeneration
in Melbourne in 1907. It was published as a retrospective by the Winner on Aug 12, 1914.
Click to enlarge.

ORIGINAL SOCCER COMMITTEE IN VICTORIA, 1907. 

Soccer players, will be interested in the above illustration, representing the original committee formed to propagate the game in Victoria in 1907. Those in the group are, front row, reading from left to right:— H. H. Wood (sec.), H.L. Dockerty (president); H. Miller (Treasurer); back row: J. Holford, E. Harvey, W. Pitt, L. Fifer, A. Phillips, D. Evans, and P. Fraser. Of these gentlemen Mr Dockerty retains the presidential chair, Mr B. Harvey is now treasurer, while Mr L. Fifer has been secretary of the St. Kilda club since its inception. At the date of the formation of the committee there were only six clubs, which were formed into a league, in the State, comprising Carlton, St. Kilda, Prahran, Williamstown, Melbourne, and Fitzroy. The trophies consisted of one shield, held annually by the league premiers, and the Dockerty Cup being awarded on the 'knock-out' principle. There are now 22 clubsin the Melbourne district alone, while other clubs are Ballarat, Bendigo, Warrnambool, Wonthaggi, and other towns. There are two league trophies, for the first and second divisions, and there is further a junior cup to be played for on the same terms as the Dockerty Cup. Of the original players E. Forbes is still an active member, and J. Kerr, one of the most enthusiastic councillors.
↧

Soccer registrations reach 600 in pre-WW1 Melbourne

September 28, 2014, 3:35 pm
$
0
0
This article is from The Winner, 5 August 1914, only just over 100 years ago. It demonstrates a number of things. First it shows the value of The Winner as an historical source for soccer historians and our good fortune that it has been digitised on Trove. The article also suggests that soccer in Melbourne in 1914 is a game in rude health - with: 600 players, a competitive Dockerty Cup competition, a strong league, a budding junior competition, willing and able officials and administrators and interstate representative trips. The only dull note is the complaint of limited availability of grounds (something that echoes down the years).


SOCCER
POPULARITY GROWING
600 PLAYERS IN VICTORIA
BY J. W. HARRISON 
‘The Victorian Amateur British Football Association Is now well established, and I can assure you that the game of 'soccer' has come to stay in Victoria, and this with all due respect to other branches of football.' Thus spoke a prominent official to the writer in the course of a recent interview. 'It is not generally known, I feel sure, that we have no fewer than600 players on our register, all connected with clubs in Melbourne and district.' I may point out that the Victorian British Football Association is under strictly amateur auspices, and that it has at its head a body of sportsmen whose one and only desire is to further the interests of this branch of athletics.
Their love for 'soccer' is full of enthusiasm, and bids well for the welfare of the game. Though to an extent hampered for the want of official playing grounds, the Association has surmounted many formidable obstacles, in the course of its efforts to bring the code to the forefront. And it is well to know that they promise to 'make good.'
Of all winter pastimes, 'soccer' has made great and rapid strides in England and Scotland, particularly having made wonderful progress in veritable hotbeds of Rugbyism. In fact, I number amongst some of my best football friends persons who are now well known officials with British Association clubs in the North of England, who years ago held high positions in Rugby circles. When I cast my mind's eye back, it seems almost perplexing to note the intense popularity the 'soccer' game enjoys where once only 'rugger' was spoken of.
FASCINATION OF THE GAME
It would truly seem as if when one becomes thoroughly initiated into theintricacies of British Association football, it possesses such a wonderful fascination that there is no forsaking itfor any other branch of the winter game. I well remember an old football acquaintance of mine, one of England's finest goal-keepers — J. W.Sutcliffe — remarking to me that 'soccer' was the ideal game so far as scientific football is concerned. Itcould not be well said that this illustrious player had a prejudiced mind, seeing that Sutcliffe is one of the few footballers in the world who enjoys the distinction of having represented his country at both 'soccer' and 'rugger.' He gained his Rugby international honor on the occasion of the first visit of the Maories to England, Sutcliffe being then a mere youth. After further successes inclass 'rugger,' he joined Bolton Wanderers, and whilst with that famed Lancashire organisation gained thecoveted blue riband of the 'soccer' football— an international cap, and a place in the English team! I simply make reference to the above as an in-stance of a crack player's love for this particular game after securing the highest possible honors at the sister code.
To revert, however, to our local clubs, it is interesting to note that the Victorian B. F. A. is affiliated with theparent body in England, no more powerful organisation that which exists in British sport. Victoria is represented on the Council of the v English F. A. by Mr E. Gibb, a player of the olden days, who is not altogether unknown in New Zealand football circles. 
BRITISH ELEVENS ON TOUR
Chatting the other day with an enthusiast, he told me that there, was some hope in the not far distant future of organising a tour to Australia of acouple of 'crack' teams from England and Scotland respectively as a missionary enterprise to exhibit the niceties of the game. The undertaking would, of course, be a costly one, butat the same time, it might be money well spent.

CADETS AND A SOCCER LEAGUE
It is well to know that the Victorian Council have secured Government sanction from the Defence Department toformulate a scheme for the institution of a 'Soccer' league on behalf of the cadets. The project seems to be a commendable one. Mr R. C. M. Strachan, of Prahran, has made the Association an offer of either a challenge cup or shield to be put up for competition among the cadets. 
REFEREES' ASSOCIATION
I am told also, officially, that thecode is making rapid headway in theYarraville district, and in Footscray and Spotswood a lot of enthusiasm is being shown. It is well, too, to knowthat the V.B.F.A. has no lack of efficient referees, which is a most important factor nowadays. The Referees' Association has as president Mr J. G. Hawes, an indefatigable worker in the interests of 'soccer.' Mr W. B. Gilbert is secretary and treasurer, and the examining council comprises Messrs Cummings, Palmer, and Gilbert.
All this goes to show that local 'soccer' is booming, and must eventually make that headway which has characterised its progress in Great Britain.
DOCKERTY CUP CONTEST.
The finalists for the Dockerty Cup competition is not as yet settled. At the second time of asking, the St. Kilda and Thistle teams failed to decide the issue, another pointless draw being played. The other semi-final, that between Wonthaggi and N. and D., saw a keen, strenuous game, with the last-named coming out on top by a goal to nothing. The game was brimful of incident, each side in turn being seen to advantage. The win may be said to have been of a somewhat flukey character, the winners' goal which gave them the victory being the result of an unlucky piece of play by one of the Wonthaggi backs, who turned the ball into his own goal.
In the concluding stages of the game excitement was intense, Wonthaggi testing the defence of the opposition to its utmost. Thevisitors had certainly a bad share of the luck of the afternoon.
The other games resulted:— League (Division I.) : Birmingham, 2; Burns,The goal-scorers were Taylor, Dodds, Anderson andRuddiman re spectively. Yarraville, 2 ; Prahran, 1.this game, Earthey (through owngoal), Blackburn and Staniforth werethe scorers. Spotswood and Preston scored a draw of a goal each, with Mobbs and Purcell as the respective goal-getters.
ON TOUR
The present is a red-letter week for 'Soccerites.' Today (Wednesday) thefollowing players leave Melbourne by the s.s. Manuka for Hobart, under the management of Mr. E. Harvey: — Hamilton, H. Jones, Stranger, M. Gardiner, Woods, Rumbol, Fleming, Marsden, Jeffereys, G. Brown, and Weston. 
SATURDAY'S INTERNATIONAL
Seeing that this issue of 'The Winner' contains the first official publication of the teams for next Saturday's international match — England v. Scotland — at Fitzroy, there will be some disappointment amongst those players whose names do not appear. The Football Council sat until a late hour, giving the many claims their most careful consideration.
In accordance with the traditions of international football, all the selected are of English or Scottish birth.
England — Robinson (N. and D.),Hyde (capt., Birmingham), F. Jones(Burns), Lamb (St. Kilda), Riley(Spotswood), Goodson (Thistle), Fisher(Thistle), Walsh (Spotswood), Kendall (St. Kilda), Dowker (Yarraville),Slade (St. Kilda), Allen (Birmingham), Church (St. Kilda), and Golding (Birmingham).
Scotland — Russell (Thistle), Kelly(Albert Park), Raith (Thistle), Tray-nor (Preston); M'Milian (capt., St.Kilda), Cox (Albert Park), Turner (Thistle), Lowe (St. Kilda), Spencer(St. Kilda), Hogg (Thistle), Guthrie(Thistle), Ruddiman (Burns), T. Anderson (Burns), W. Anderson (AlbertPark).
Mr C. R. Williamson is to officiate as referee, with Messrs Dempster and Meens as linesmen. The Football Council hold anothermeeting tomorrow (Thursday) evening, and finally decide on the two elevens to take the field.




↧

Rohan Connolly: 100 years too late?

October 28, 2014, 7:37 pm
$
0
0
Barely over 100 years ago, the Melbourne Argus published a report (below left) on the growth of soccer in Melbourne. Written by an habitual follower of VFL, it acknowledged that soccer was going through a growth period, with more and more players and spectators being attracted to the game. The report spoke about the attractiveness of the game and the enjoyment of the spectators. It praised the skills of the players and suggested that VFL footballers might have something to learn from soccer's technical qualities. The article also put VFL in a poor light when comparing the 'gentlemanly' nature of soccer with the corruption suspected of inhabiting Australian rules at that time. 
Two days ago: 100 years later, Age footy journalist Rohan Connolly wrote an article (below right) that was remarkably similar in both rhetorical terms and in the way it noticed the rise of soccer and the suggestion that AFL might have something to learn from it. As I said to Connolly on twitter, it was both thoughtful and respectful. It also refused to take the anti-sokkah knee-jerk line that others journos have when confronted with the 'evil' of flares. The articles do exhibit some differences of course. The Argus piece is focused largely on the soccer played at Middle Park in 1914 whereas Connolly's interest is in fan engagement. Another difference is that the first piece is followed by the local league results of the day. Hell will freeze over before Connolly's employer reports on state soccer again.
What I find most interesting though is that Connolly is able to write this kind of article; as if this crazy, funny game has only just started to emerge in this town; as if this is a game without local precedent, without local history. I'd love to take Connolly on a ride in my time machine, to Middle Park and Olympic Park and even the Fitzroy Cricket Ground and show him a real, existing, passionate soccer culture across Melbourne's history. I'd like to show him why articles like his, however positive and respectful, are re-inventions of a wheel that started turning in 1883 and has hardly stopped since.
I'd just love to know when we will stop seeing gobsmacked non-soccer writers writing about our long-standing culture as if it has just dropped in from planet UnAustraya. Articles like Connolly's are ultimately about the writer's own lack of knowledge and familiarity and not the phenomenon which he is observing. Good on him for taking this first step. Let there be more of them.

"SOCCER" FOOTBALL.
GROWING POPULARITY.
A PLAYERS' GAME. 


Argus, June 29, 1914

Organised by a few enthusiasts from England, who found the Australian game, even as it was played several years ago, not at all to their liking, British Association football now draws from 2,000 to 4,000 people to Middle Park every Saturday. That the internal growth of the Victoria Amateur Football Association now affiliated with the governing body in England, has been equally steady is shown by the fact that there are 22 clubs in Victoria, with a roll of about 500 playing members, while New South Wales has 130 clubs. Most of those who are satisfied to stand in the open all the afternoon, threatened by batteries of artillery and stray horses, were keen followers of the game before they reached Australia, but there is a growing percentage of local "barrackers" who come down as curious sceptics, and soon find themselves fascinated by what is one of the prettiest and cleverest games in the world to watch. A game that will attract 100,000 Englishmen must necessarily have some good features, and these are beginning to be more and more recognised by many who are disgusted at the present condition of the Australian game. It might be thought that some of the supporters are won by the prospect of a free show, but no suggestion of that can be found in the appearance of the men and women round the side lines. To a great extent it is a family outing, and renewal of home ties.

Men who have seen the game at its best laugh when asked how the standard of play here compares with that in England, but the things that are done with the ballat Middle Park are eye-openers to followers of League football. The principles underlying British Association are the prevention of handling of the ball and the reduction of rules, and consequently interference by the umpire or referee, to minimum. The playing area is smaller than ours, and there are only eleven men a side, who stand all in their own half of the ground at the kick-off and play largely in their places, the attack being made by the five forwards—centre and inside and outside left and right. The goalkeeper is the only player allowed to handle the ball, and he may not run with it. This formation and the use of a spherical ball make the game clean and open. Passing becomes a feature of the play, and even the mediocre player seems able to direct the ball to any angle with any part of the foot, toe, or heel while running. Naturally, the round ball is easier than the oval to deal with but the precision with which it is got under control from the air and 'dribbled' along a few inches in front of the feet at top speed is only less surprising than the use made of the opposite end of the body. Meeting the ball on the full a player will "head" it across to the wing with the front of his skull farther than an Australian would pass with his hand. A man prominently connected with a sport once as popular as football, but killed by corruption, was keenly interested in the play on Saturday, and speculated as to the result if first-class League players acquired the same control over the ball as these amateurs. As he spoke an incident capped his remark. The ball flew high to the wing. A man "headed" it back. An opponent headed it out again. and a fellow of the first smothered it with his foot as it landed, and swung it hard towards the goal.

After the skill of the players the insignificance of the referees part is the most striking feature. Imagine a league umpire in boots and blazer, walking about the centre of the ground most of the time! The only penalties he has to inflict are for handling the ball or the man, charging in the back, tripping and kicking, and "offside." But when he speaks he speaks with authority. Any player can be ordered off the ground. An incident on Saturday showed the spirit of the game. A player was tripped and he turned and kicked his opponent. Shouts of "Play the game" came from both teams and as the referee merely warned the kicker and gave a penalty against him, a burly spectator growled "And he didn't order him off. No wonder the game doesn't get on in the colonies."

Still, it does get on and its supporters even prophesy that it will solve the problem of universal football. Australians are not yet excelling as players, for their speed is counteracted by a lack of restraint. That is why Victoria won all four matches against New South Wales recently. One has only to listen to the shouts of the players and the keenest supporters to discover where they hail from. But they hold that the morals of the game will win a way for it. Already the round ball has made its appearance in school playgrounds. The prime advantage claimed for British Association is that to achieve corruption one must buy most of the team. The referee has so little to do in comparison with the Australian umpire that he is a valueless asset.

What the AFL could learn from the A-League



Rohan Connolly

Age, October 27, 2014

In purely scoreboard terms, Saturday night's A-League derby between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City was, in the finish, a bit of a rout. Yet the post-game talk universally was of a stunning night for local soccer. Why? It was the atmosphere.

I've been to something like 1500 AFL games in my lifetime and only a handful of A-League fixtures, but the different feel at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night was remarkable. The place simply buzzed.

The derby drew 43,729, more than for all but two of the 48 AFL games played at Etihad Stadium this year, but this was about more than numbers. It was about the noise, the colour and the excitement generated.

Which, heading towards 2015, and a season the AFL has unofficially dubbed "the year of the fan", is an example the indigenous code needs to study very carefully.

Soccer has always had it over the indigenous game for the quality of its crowd chants and singing, but this wasn't just about clever quips and taunts to opposition fans.

There were banners and waving flags aplenty, mass twirling of coloured scarves, and a constant wall of noise generated by the fans, not by ear-splitting and intrusive advertising booming across the PA system at the breaks, a staple of AFL on this occasion thankfully absent.

It was a salient reminder for us older football types of how AFL used to be as a live experience, and perhaps the extent to which the commercialisation and homogenisation of our own code has chipped away at it.

Watch any clips from the old VFL days and you're reminded again. For starters, there were up to eight or nine different venues, each with their own character and quirks, compared with just two in Melbourne now.

Have a look at any home-and-away game from the 1970s or '80s, let alone finals at the MCG or Waverley, and you'll see grounds decked out in club-coloured banners stretching around most of the stands.

They were works of art, slogans that borrowed from old verse or simpler rhymes, the lettering bold or in some memorable cases in Old English script.

Then there were the cheer squads, whose floggers stretched around the fence further than you'd ever see today. They threw copious amounts of crepe paper streamers and ripped up phone directories. Each week, the area behind each team's goals resembled a sea of colour and movement.

The reason you don't see these things any more is in most cases the same: overly draconian health and safety measures and corporatisation of the game to within an inch of its life.

First it was players tripping on streamers and a couple of silly escapades where floggers caught on fire, which led to restrictions on their size. Then came the complaints from sponsors about the streamers covering up the perimeter advertising that began to encase grounds. Good luck finding a square inch of an AFL ground these days not sold off to sponsorship.

There are a lot more AFL games per season than there were 30 years ago. But a lot less differentiation, too, as will happen when roughly 100 games are scheduled for just two multipurpose stadiums that a large contingent of clubs all call "home", though the term regarding Etihad and the MCG should be used loosely.

Social clubs remain anchored at the old suburban bases of those still retaining some connection with them. The grounds of today may have post-match function rooms for the clubs hosting games there, but there's a transient feel, the lack of club culture palpable.

Even beyond that, I hear consistent complaints from football fans about the "nanny state" intruding on their football-going experiences. Signs any more provocative than "Go Pies" being frowned upon or confiscated. And, believe it or not, supporters being warned by security staff for barracking too loudly.

The AFL has had enough trouble this year, amid confusing ticketing systems and unfriendly scheduling, convincing followers to actually turn up to games. The last thing it can afford is to make them feel like naughty schoolchildren when they do.

Which is why, for a hard-core AFL supporter, last Saturday night felt something like a trip back in time. Real passion and involvement, unstymied by over-officiousness. Loads of colour and movement. And lots of noise actually generated by fans rather than speaker stacks.

Of course soccer has its own cultural nuances, its own vibe. But occasions such as the Melbourne Victory-Melbourne City derby just serve to reinforce that, at this critical juncture in the AFL public's relationship with the game, it's a feel those running the show could do a lot worse than reacquaint themselves with. 





↧
↧

FIFA and World Cups 2018 and 2022

November 23, 2014, 3:31 pm
$
0
0

by Roy Hay


Surprise, surprise. The FIFA inquiry into corruption in the bidding process for the World Cups in 2018 and 2022 has now been completed. The two countries whose media have been most vociferous in alleging improprieties in the bidding process, England and Australia, are castigated for engaging in nefarious practices, while of the two successful bidders, Russia, gets a slap on the wrist and Qatar is completely exonerated from any involvement. The full report on what FIFA believes went on is not released for legal reasons, so all we have is a very longwinded statement by the head of the adjudicating body, Hans Joachim Eckert, which considered the report and selected the items to be discussed.

The treatment of Russia is almost laughable. Apparently the Russian football authorities hired the computers on which the work was done, then returned them to the suppliers at the conclusion of the process and they have since been destroyed. So no evidence there. Then Google, which might have had some of the Russian data on its Gmail accounts ‘had not responded request’ (sic) to release it. Why an investigative body with no coercive powers should think it could get to the bottom of the behaviour by a country whose football body is overseen by a former official of the KGB is hardly a puzzle.

American lawyer Michael Garcia, who conducted the two-year inquiry on behalf of FIFA, said the Eckert commentary on his report ‘contains numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations’. Michael Garcia has been banned from entering Russia. He plans to appeal to FIFA though for precisely what is not clear. Several influential people have argued that his report should now be published in full.

In the case of Qatar all the financial shenanigans engaged in by Mohamed bin Hamman are attributed to his abortive campaign to run against Sepp Blatter in the election for President of FIFA in June 2011 and have nothing to do with the Qatari bid for the World Cup hosting, which is squeaky clean. Bin Hamman refused a request to speak to the Investigatory Committee. But the Committee found that Bin Hamman encouraged and offered to pay for an appeal against his suspension from football activities by the representative of Oceania, Reynald Temarii. Temarii had been instructed to vote for Australia by Oceania, but was not able to vote because of his suspension, or be replaced because he had appealed against the suspension. If that is not influencing the voting process then what is it? As it was that would only have given Australia two votes in the first round, and it needed four to have any chance of taking part in the subsequent rounds of voting.

Australia on the other hand is said to have been involved in dodgy deals with those well-known conmen Fedor Radmann and Peter Hargitay. Australia also tried to buy the support of Jack Warner, an Executive Committee member who was later suspended from football related activities for corruption. Australia was also complicit in deals to improve football facilities in Africa which were tied to the bid process in a way that was deemed inappropriate. Much of the evidence against Australia was already in the public domain and the whistleblowing of Bonita Mersiades, formerly part of the Australian bid team, but later sacked, was sidelined because she went public with her issues. There is no doubt that dealing with Radmann, Hargitay and Warner was a serious error of judgment on the part of Frank Lowy and his team and there may be repercussions, but the report concludes that the ‘potentially problematic facts and circumstances identified by the report regarding the Australia 2022 bid were, all in all, not suited to compromise the integrity of the FIFA World Cup 2018/2022 bidding process as a whole’!

The England bid is also said to have involved corrupt behaviour by Warner and other members of the Executive Committee which the English bid team ‘accommodated, or at least attempted to satisfy’ in two cases. Most of the evidence relating to these matters came up in the House of Commons commissioned inquiry by James Dingemans, though the FIFA Committee claimed to have supplemented Dingemans’ findings. Again the overall conclusion is that despite jeopardising the integrity of the bidding process, the English facts and circumstances were not suited to comprise the process as a whole!

So that’s all right then.
↧

At least they don't do this any more . . .

December 12, 2014, 1:16 pm
$
0
0

Vandals at Oval

By Morrie Buckner

Vandals tried to burn down the grandstands at Middle Park soccer stadium on Friday night. Several rows of seats were charred. The vandals also chopped down both sets of goal posts. These had to be replaced before yesterday’s Hakoah-Lions match. Anti-soccer slogans were daubed on walls and terraces in letters 18 inches high. These included ‘Down with soccer’. ‘Go home wogs’. South Melbourne police have questioned two youths.

Sun, 24 May 1965, p. 33.
↧
Search

2015 Lakeside, 2012 Mooney Valley; 1954 Revisited.

January 28, 2015, 2:00 pm
$
0
0
Postscript Prologue

Here we go again, again, again, again. Peter Rolfe has written a Hun article essentially blaming ("second-tier club" - oooh, in the ribs!) South Melbourne FC for spoiling the fun for little athletics. 

So South, who have been endlessly displaced by Victorian Major Events (who despoiled Bob Jane Stadium and removed Olympic Park in one fell swoop largely through the Machiavellian workings of Eddiot MGoo), and who have no control over ground maintenance at Lakeside Stadium are being blamed for the actions of some other body.

OK. So all is normal. What is interesting about the Rolfe piece is that the photo uses similar imagery to the one below showing the footy kids' resistance to evil soccer.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/

The Mav has also written about it on his blog from a South Melbourne perspective.

Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children!Some wonderfully sensationalist anti-sockah writing in the Hun recently. Basically, Little Athletics had the venue booked well in advance for their annual carnival, but the decision of the State Sports Centres Trust to resurface the grass on the arena and thus put out the Little Athletics people has not gone unnoticed by our citizen journalist, who's managed to rustle up a bunch of surly looking youngsters staring down the barrel of the camera with their arms folded at the injustice of it all.
Now I certainly feel for these kids, because they've obviously been put out by this decision, but the tone of the article which seeks to either directly or indirectly blame it on soccer (and therefore us) is so stupid it's mind boggling; unless of course, the article wasn't written by someone with an anti-soccer agenda. Did South get asked for comment? It doesn't seem like it. So no mention of the club's long tenure at the ground, no mention of the damage caused by the shotput, hammer and javelin on the turf during our winter season, and of course no mention of the fact that we have to share with athletics while Collingwood and Eddie McGuire get whatever they want.

_____________________________________________

Three years ago I wrote the following. 

Here we go again. The Hun is frothing at the mouth about soccer on page 3 of today's issue, complaining that a historic footy club (Moonee Valley Football Club) is being threatened by the encroachment of the round-ball game. In many ways it repeats the complaints through the ages that "soccer is taking our grounds". It observes that "junior footy clubs everywhere wage a fight for territory against the 'world game'." 

I've written about the Toorak Park episode in 1954 when the same arguments were being mobilised. Soccer wanted to share the grounds; footy wanted sole possession.



And of course it's largely rubbish. It's a beat up aimed to stir emotion. The council is merely investigating the options to allow soccer to expand to meet its demand; while the article promotes the idea of code war. Rather than "soccer threatens to oust juniors" it might have simply gone with "council considers options". The content differs from the headline and the confrontational pose in the photo. The problem is many readers will have formed their views on the piece simply from the headline and image. The damage has already been done, no matter how 'balanced' the content.

The content is not particularly balanced in any case. Unbelievably it makes no mention of the current co-tenant of Ormond Park, Essendon Royals Football (soccer) Club, whose membership dwarfs MVFC and makes it possibly the biggest sporting club in the region.

Radio station 3AW went with "Footy clubs threatened as Soccer soars". It warns that "More children in Victoria are playing soccer than our beloved Aussie Rules [which is simply not true] and the repercussions have begun."

The bottom line is that there are not enough sportsgrounds in the Moonee Valley district and at present they are allocated inefficiently. A process of rationalisation needs to occur. Footy needs to give a bit; soccer needs to be prepared to be flexible. The council has expressed a preference for Ormond Park to have sole occupancy. In all likelihood MVFC will get this (as is appropriate) and Essendon Royals will be shifted to a more suitable playing space like say Fairbairn Park. 

As a summer game, cricket is just irrelevant to the issue.


↧

Soccer player occupations in Melbourne 1914

February 2, 2015, 4:58 pm
$
0
0
This list might be vaguely interesting for some people. It gives the occupation of 86 out of 600 Melbourne soccer players prior to the First World War. It says some fairly interesting things about class in relation to the game. It's certainly not a game for toffs though there are a lot of skilled workers and tradies playing the game.

Why 86? That's where I stopped before going on a week's leave.

What do the colours mean? Well, the ones in red belong to players that were killed in the war.

  1. Asphalter
  2. Baker
  3. Blacksmith
  4. Boilemaker
  5. Bootmaker
  6. Boundary rider
  7. Bricklayer
  8. Butcher
  9. Butcher
  10. Cabinetmaker
  11. Cabinetmaker
  12. Cabinetmaker
  13. Candle moulder
  14. Carpenter
  15. Chauffeur
  16. Chauffeur
  17. Clerk
  18. Clerk
  19. Clerk
  20. Clerk
  21. Clerk
  22. Confectionery hand
  23. Decorator
  24. Draper
  25. Driver
  26. Driver
  27. Driver, mechanic
  28. Electrician
  29. Electrician
  30. Electrician
  31. Engineer
  32. Engineer
  33. Engineer
  34. Engineers driller
  35. Factory hand
  36. Farmer
  37. Farmhand
  38. Fitter
  39. Fitter
  40. Fitters labourer
  41. Gas employee
  42. Gasworker
  43. Glass bottle maker
  44. Glazier
  45. Gracer
  46. Hospital attendant
  47. Jeweller
  48. Labourer
  49. Labourer
  50. Labourer
  51. Labourer
  52. Labourer
  53. Labourer
  54. Labourer
  55. Labourer
  56. Labourer
  57. Labourer
  58. Labourer
  59. Lead glazier
  60. Leather worker
  61. Lithograpghic artist
  62. Lithographer
  63. Miner
  64. Motor car tester
  65. Motor driver
  66. Motor Trimmer
  67. Moulder
  68. Nurseryman
  69. Orchardist
  70. Painter
  71. Pettern maker
  72. Rigger
  73. Sailor
  74. Sailor
  75. Salesman
  76. sheetmetal worker
  77. Shipwright
  78. Smith
  79. SoldierStudent
  80. Surveyor's assistant
  81. Tiler and Slater
  82. Turner and Fitter
  83. Tutor (at Scotch College)
  84. Twine Dresser
  85. Upholsterer
  86. Wood merchant

↧
↧

Soccer reporting in 1915 Melbourne

March 9, 2015, 12:10 am
$
0
0
This is a nice example of the calibre of soccer reporting produced by one element the Melbourne press in 1915. J.W Harrison in the Winner produced some terrific articles that gave broad coverage to the game and the culture and politics around it. The article is from 19 May 1915 p 7


SOCCER
FOOTBALL FAMILY FIGHT FOR THE FLAG
HOW CLUBS ARE FARING
BY J. W. HARRISON

Britishers are immensely proud of the ready response which field sportsmen made when first the 'call to arms' sounded. It is only in keeping with the true British spirit that our athletes should eagerly volunteer for the defence of King and Empire, and when the roll of honor is published in detail of those who forsook their football uniform for the khaki and the handling of the rifle, players and followers of the soccer code will be among those who hold pride of place in the football world. And in that category the Victorian Amateur British Football Association will be numbered.

FAMILY OF SOLDIERS
In this connection a family of footballers is well worthy of mention. I refer to the three brothers Lowe, of the St. Kilda Club, all members of the Australian Expeditionary Force, whose portraits are published in this issue.The family record is one to commend itself, seeing that the trio of brothers so readily forsook their home and playing fields for the stern realities of war.Victorian soccerites are proud of them,and rightly so.

PRIDE OF ST. KILDA
The three players — T. E., A. H., and H. M. Lowe, respectively — had done yeoman service for the St. Kilda club, and that organisation rendered them all possible honor prior to their departure for active service. The Lowe family arrived in Melbourne some 14years ago from Aberdeen, the granite city of Scotland. T. E. Lowe, familiarly known as Tommy, began his career with the St. Kilda club six years ago, and became so popular that in the following season he was appointed captain of the seaside organisation. His two brothers came into prominence with St. Kilda somewhat later. Some two years ago A. H.Lowe was appointed treasurer and assistant secretary of the club, and also kept goal for the club in that period. The two abovenamed are, at the time of writing, on the high seas with the Australian Expeditionary Force, following in the wake of H. M. Lowe, who is already at the front with his brother Australians at the Dardanelles. H. M. Lowe was a promising young footballer in St. Kilda's second team. A fourth brother — Bert. — Is also in the ranks of that club.

LEST WE FORGET !
One and all were sorry to hear of the death in Egypt of Private R. Martin, formerly secretary of the Northumberland and Durham United club; and later still of the wounding of Private Waterhouse, a playing member of the St. Kilda organisation. An illuminated photograph of the Northumberland and Durham team, with an inset of the late Private Martin, has been sent to his bereaved parents. It was the gift of Mr. Bergin, a member of the N. arid D. club, who sailed on the steamer Beltanaon Saturday last on a visit to England.

WEEK-END GAMES.
The inclement weather of last weekend played havoc with the 'Soccer' programme, equally with that of other field sports. In fact, the Spotswood v. Footscray Thistle fixture had to be abandoned owing to the playing arena being flooded, and Yarraville v. Albert Park was also a game not proceeded with. It is only on rare occasions that I have known Soccer games to have to be abandoned, and invariably King Frost has been the culprit, though, of I
course, that was in another part of the world.

SAILOR SPORTS.  
The advent of the new club representing H.M.A.S.. Cerberus into the ranks of the Victorian Amateur British Foot-ball Association is being watched with interest. Though the Jack Tars struck a 'bad patch' as it were, when opposing Northumberland and Durham United on Saturday. I hear excellent re-ports of their spirit of sportsmanship which was in evidence in the whole progress of the game.

WONDERFUL GOAL-SHOOTING.
The most wonderful piece of work in Saturday's Soccer programme was the goal-scoring of W. Kilty for the North of England representatives, that player putting up four goals — all the points registered in the match. No wonder that his team members and opponents alike congratulated Kilty upon his meritorious performance. I am told that the game was one of the 'cleanest' ever seen on the N. and D. enclosure, and that the naval men would make things hum if they could get combination by playing' the same set of men week by week. Those, however, who know anything of 'the Service' realise that that is almost an impossibility.'

'NIPPY' FORWARDS
Cerberus soccer eleven proved themselves to be possessed of 'nippy' for-wards, and when they made tracks for goal took a lot of holding back. And I am aware that N. and D. know some-thing of defensive tactics! Finch, at centre forward, played a great game, and made no mistake when the opening came by placing the ball out of the reach of N. and D's, 'star' goalkeeper, Robison. For the winners, in whose ranks D. Jeffrey reappeared from retirement, owing to J. Grieves having an injured hand, Helas and Soames played their usual sound game at back. J. Ford also put up. A great game in the forward line, but H. Marsden, who was given a trial, was somewhat disappointing. Referee Dempster handled the game well.

OTHER GAMES
In Section B. of the League, a close contest was that between Birmingham and Thistle, and, after their defeat at Preston the week previous, the Brums' victory over the Scotsmen by 2 — 1 must have brought solace in its wake. Allen and Hogg were the scorers for the victors. Thistle's goal coming from the foot of A. Wood. I am wondering if the Thistle representatives are suffering from want of combination, though perhaps the season is too young to weigh form properly. 
Preston, who pleased their supporters the previous week, in their initial match at home, failed to retain their reputation when opposed to St. Kilda,a team of great promise. Nevertheless, Captain T. Bailey's eleven is capable of improving upon last week-end's performance. Church and Lamb put on the two goals for the winners in the first portion of the game.
I congratulate Prahran upon their victory over Sandringham, which should prove a stimulus to them in their future engagements. 
The new club— Brunswick — found Hawthorn too smart for them at almost all points of the game, though it maybe aptly put forward as an excuse that the lads of Brunswick have not had time to get that combination necessary for success. The near future may put a different complexion upon their prowess. And I am told that the team referred to have no reason to lose heart at Saturday's non-success.
↧

I Am Not a Professional Historian: I’m a Human Being

March 23, 2015, 11:51 pm
$
0
0
I am not a professional historian. Yes, I get paid to research and write. And yes, I write history. But I am not a professional historian.

I came to my history work through the back door. More interested in rhetoric, literature and the politics and poetics of language (with a PhD in Literature), I married these to my love of sport – particularly soccer and cricket. I started to notice and analyse the way language was used in sporting media discourse in order to make preferences and discriminations in favour of certain sports and against others.

I also started to get a sense of how these discriminations happened historically. In 2009 Paul Mavroudis I interviewed a series of figures within Melbourne soccer and they all related this peculiar story of the time in November 1964 that the Slavia team played soccer against a team of VFL stars – and smashed them. Variations of the piece were published in a number of places and in on my blog as ‘When Ron Barassi Played Soccer’ http://neososmos.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/game-that-never-happened.html

But in Melbourne popular consciousness the match had been forgotten. Even one VFL star who had played in the game had no recollection of it! And Ron Barassi refused several requests for an interview. As is my wont I saw a conspiracy of silence and came up with the title, ‘The Game that Never Happened’ – the same title that was used by Greg Baum when he borrowed from my story in the Age. The more I thought the more I realised that the title applied to more than just this game. In a sense it applied to the whole history of Australian soccer. It was the game that either never happened or, if it did, disappeared from notice very quickly. This is now a trope that runs through all my soccer writing.

Another vital moment was when I discovered Trove, the magical Aladdin’s Cave at the National Library of Australia (http://www.nla.gov.au) that contains seemingly endless archival records. Anyone who hasn’t visited needs to have a quick look. Those of you with the slightest interest in soccer history will become entrapped by its charms.

I was first captivated by the photos. All these soccer teams going back to the 1890s or even further. Happy, fit soccer players and officials smiling for the camera, conveying a sense of solidity and belonging not recorded in the conventional narrative of soccer’s place in Australian sports.

Then perhaps the major discovery: the Irymple (near Mildura) team of 1913. (http://www.picturevictoria.vic.gov.au/site/mildura/images/14522.jpg)



In a mix of awe and horror I noticed that five of the players (the ones asterisked) were killed in the First World War. It was confusing because in the stories of sporting sacrifice, soccer enlistments and deaths are rarely mentioned. Other sports that make a bigger deal of Australian war dead leave soccer in the shade on ANZAC Day.

This discovery set me on a new track on which I am still working. It struck me that soccer may well have contributed a great deal of manpower to the First World War without getting due cultural recognition for having done so. After all, the game that never happened could hardly have been at Gallipoli, could it?

Well the facts are, it was at Gallipoli -- both in terms of players and games played there or in transit. Only the extent is yet to be determined. For example of the first 58 Australians to fall, about 25 were recent immigrants born in Britain. My guess is that a good portion of these were soccer players. We’ll see.

At present I am constructing a database of Victorian soccer players in 1914 and 1915 to determine how many there were and what proportions enlisted and lost their lives. At present the respective figures look the will end up something like 600: 500: 60. Again time will tell.

The digitised newspaper section of Trove is vital in this research process. While it doesn’t contain every newspaper published in Victoria during the war it holds many of them, including The Argus, The Age and The Winner (the sporting paper). These provide reasonable coverage of soccer (British Association football) during the period. Using the site’s brilliant search function, I have tagged every soccer article from the period and am now combing through each report to find team lists, goal scorers and best-player lists in order to compile club player listings. The newspapers of the time were also keen to publish stories of players going to war so this helps us in compiling our enlistment figures. The grisly accounting of war deaths is also helpful because a dead serviceman’s newspaper biography usually includes his sporting affiliations.

I figure that this project is giving due honour to Australian soccer players whose sacrifice has gone unnoticed, especially at the collective level. It also locates the game itself more centrally in an important Australian legend. When Peter Weir in the movie Gallipoli decided to depict Australians at play in Egypt, why did he choose Australian rules as the sport? It was just as, if not more, likely that Australians would be playing soccer in such circumstances.

While I enjoy the challenge of the research and the outcomes being achieved, I am troubled by aspects of it. First, politically I am of the opinion that the First World War was avoidable and not a good thing and that enlistment was also not a good thing. While I resent the fact that sports like NRL and AFL make cultural capital out of commemorating a war to which they had questionable commitment at best, I applaud the players and communities of the time who refused to do the empire’s bidding and kept their games running. I just wish these organisations would celebrate their refusal instead of someone else’s sacrifice.

So while I collect the soccer war dead, I do not do so to increase the empire’s glory but to focus on individuals, families and clubs broken by the war. Some will say (some have already) that this contradiction disables my work. I hope not but I do need to be wary of this possibility.

Another contradiction is that when I find another dead soccer soldier, my heart sinks even while I perform an intellectual fist-pump, “Yes. Another one!” Some days I have found so many dead Australian soccer soldiers in Trove that the feeling of depression has curtailed my work and I have had to move on to something else. It is draining.

In the end I comfort myself with the fact that I am researching a story that comes as an absolute surprise to those to whom I tell it. I also believe that I am doing honour to the personal sacrifices made by the individual soccer soldiers who made choices for reasons we will never know. But then again, what would I know? I’m not a professional historian.

This piece was first published in Leopold Method.
↧

Australian soccer teams from World War 1

March 24, 2015, 9:59 pm
$
0
0
These are randomly selected photographs from the Australian War Memorial collection. They represent teams of Australian soccer players or games of soccer being played by Australians during World War 1. I selected them from among a number of other football photographs (rugby and Australian rules) and have ignored photographs where the code was not clear. I have also left out the substantial number photographs of interned German and Italian players in Australia.

The AWM database information is included.


The team from the destroyer HMS Hunter playing a game of soccer against a 6th Battalion team at a camp on the Aegean island of Lemnos. The Greek government lent the island to the Allies as a base for operations on the Gallipoli Peninsula. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C01191/



Australian Flying Corps Christmas Day Sports. Football match. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C03957/


The Australian Army 12th Training Battalion football team at an unidentified camp. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/H18925/


Outdoor portrait of two Allied Prisoner of War (POW) football teams and officials at Soltau POW camp near Hanover, Germany. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P08218.008/


Outdoor portrait of an Allied Prisoner of War (POW) football team of eleven members and two officials at Soltau POW camp near Hanover, Germany. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P08218.007/


An outdoors group portrait of unidentified members of the Soccer Football team of the 1st Australian Pioneer Battalion. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E04098/


Group portrait of the football team from the destroyer HMAS Huon. The Huon was headed for patrol work around Malaysia, with a base at Sandakan in British North Borneo. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/EN0192/


Outdoor group portrait of twenty-one unidentified allied prisoners of war (POW), probably a football team and associated personnel, at Güstrow POW camp, Germany. The soldier sitting in the front row, second from the right is holding a football with "1918" written in white. One of a series of 157 images from the collection of 4199 Sergeant William Charles Groves, 14th Battalion, an Australian prisoner of war held at Güstrow POW camp in Germany. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P09591.106/


The 1st Pioneer Battalion football team with supporters standing behind the team. The men are probably reinforcements for the 1st Pioneer Battalion at the Pioneer Training Battalion. The Australian soldier, wearing a slouch hat and standing just to the right of the footballers, has been identified as 2130 Private John Jonas, an Aboriginal serviceman who was attached to the Pioneer Training Battalion between 13 August 1916 and 2 November 1916. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P00960.003/


Group portrait of unidentified members of No 1 Command Depot, Sutton Veny, Soccer Football Team, who were the 1918 Premiers. Lieutenant Colonel W O Mansbridge DSO, 44th Battalion is seated in centre of second row. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/A03388/


An outdoors group portrait of the Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel William Reginald Ffrench DSO MC and unidentified members of the soccer football team of the 1st Australian Machine Gun Battalion sitting on a field. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E04151/


Group portrait of the football team from HMAS Sydney. Third from the left in the middle row is probably Boatswain Alfred Moule Martin. On his left is Captain John Collings Taswell Glossop, RN. Along with HMAS Melbourne, the Sydney was engaged in patrols of the North Atlantic off Long Island and of the Caribbean, with bases in Halifax and Jamaica respectively. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/EN0191/



Group portrait of unidentified members of the 2nd Australian Pioneer Battalion soccer team. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/H00537/


Feuquieres, France. 3 January 1919. Presentation of medals by Commanding Officer (CO), 35th Battalion to C Company (Coy) "soccer" team, winners of inter-company football competition played at Merelessart Chateau, on steps of the Mairie [Town Hall] in the village square. Left to right: Major H. J. Connell DSO MC & Bar, Second in Charge; Lieutenant Colonel H. F. White DSO Croix de Guerre, CO; Private (Pte) D. Lee; Captain R. V. Lathlean MC & Bar, OC C Coy; Corporal (Cpl) H. Randall; Cpl L. Whittaker; Pte Yarrow; Lance Corporal J. Mitchell; Pte J. Thraves. At left, foreground, is "Chick" the mascot of the Battalion transport section presented by a Flemish woman in January 1917 at Pont De Nieppe. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C04112/


Group portrait of an allied Prisoner of War (POW) football team, possibly at Dulmen POW camp, Germany. The team consists of five Australians, two Canadians, four Englishmen and two Frenchmen. In the background are two Russians and one Italian. Identified standing in the back row of the group, second from the left (and marked with an x) is 3388 Private (Pte) Frederick William Nichols, 3rd Battalion, from Junee, NSW, who enlisted on 29 June 1915 at the age of 18 and embarked for overseas on 2 November 1915 aboard HMAT Euripides. Identified standing in the back row fourth from the left (and marked with an x) is 3288 Pte Thomas Harrison Dobson, 1st Battalion, from Auburn, NSW, who enlisted on 18 July 1915 at the age of 21 and embarked for overseas on 5 October 1915 aboard HMAT Themistocles. Identified kneeling in the centre row (and marked with an x) is 3467 Pte Herbert Alfred Wilkins, 3rd Battalion, from Howlong, NSW, who enlisted on 20 July 1915 at the age of 24 and embarked for overseas on 2 November 1915 aboard HMAS Euripides. Identified sitting in the front row on the far left is 4151 Pte John Joseph Costello, 54th Battalion, from Sydney, NSW, who enlisted on 20 August 1915 at the age of 23 and embarked for overseas with the 2nd Battalion on 20 December 1915 aboard HMAT Aeneas. Identified sitting in the front row, second from the left is 3112 Pte Stephen Soper, 53rd Battalion, from Sydney, NSW, who enlisted on 8 July 1915 at the age of 21 and embarked for overseas on 8 October 1915 aboard HMAT Warilda. All of the five Australians were captured at Fleurbaix, France, on 20 July 1916 and held as POWs in Germany until repatriated to England on 29 November 1918. They all arrived back in Australia the following year. The postcard was sent to the Australian Red Cross in London by 4512 Pte Percy Arthur Haslam, 54th Battalion, from Newcastle, NSW, who enlisted on 28 July 1915 at the age of 24 and embarked for overseas with the 13th Battalion on 16 February 1916 aboard HMAT Ballarat. He was captured at Laventie, France, on 20 July 1916 and held as a POW in Germany. On 14 October 1917, he wrote from the POW camp at Dulmen "The advice of the despatch of the Boxing Gloves was hailed with delight by the boys. Would you send a couple of packets of playing cards and a few parlour games to help pass the time during the winter nights. The football which has provided such good sport for us will soon have to be put aside for milder weather conditions as the winter is very severe." Pte Haslam was repatriated to England on 5 December 1918 and arrived back in Australia on 29 February 1920. One of a series of over 400 photographs sent by Australian POWs in German camps to Miss M. E. Chomley, Secretary, Prisoners Department, Australian-British Red Cross Society, London. Original album housed in AWM Research Centre at RC00864, Album image number 348. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P03236.289/


Outdoor portrait of Prisoners of War (POW) and their German guard at POW camp Munster 3, Germany. The POW sitting in the centre is holding a football inscribed "432 F.C. 1918" and the two sitting in front are holding a dog and a rabbit, probably mascots. Identified standing in back row, second from right is 3219 Private (Pte) Raymond Edward Stevens, 54th Battalion, from Bega, NSW who enlisted at the age of 21 on 2 August 1915 and embarked for overseas on 20 November 1915 aboard HMAT Suevic. He was captured at Fleurbaix, France on 20 July 1916 and held as a POW until repatriated to England on 14 December 1918. Pte Stevens arrived back in Australia on 4 March 1919. Identified standing in back row on far right is 3536 Pte Charles Joseph McCue, 53rd Battalion, from Manly, NSW who enlisted at the age of 20 on 18 August 1915 and embarked for overseas on 2 November 1915 aboard HMAT Euripides. He was captured at Fleurbaix, France on 20 July 1916 and interned at various German POW camps. He was repatriated to England on 14 December 1918 and arrived back in Australia on 26 March 1919. He re-enlisted in the Army in the Second World War and served from 13 December 1939 to 29 September 1943. Identified sitting in second row, second from right is 3067 Private (Pte) James McCullock Galloway, 55th Battalion, from Balmain, NSW who enlisted at the age of 20 on 4 August 1915 and embarked for overseas on 20 December 1915 aboard HMAT Suevic. He was captured on 20 July 1916 during the fighting around Fromelles on the Somme, France. He was held in German POW camps until he was repatriated to England in December 1918. Pte Galloway embarked to return to Australia on 2 March 1919. Identified sitting in second row on far right is 3339 Pte John Francis Killalea, 53rd Battalion, from Surry Hills, NSW who enlisted at the age of 43 on 15 August 1915 and embarked for overseas on 2 November 1915 aboard HMAT Euripides. He was captured at Fleurbaix, France on 20 July 1916 and held as a POW in Germany. Pte Killalea was repatriated to England on 14 December 1918 and arrived back in Australia on 26 March 1919. Identified sitting in front row, holding the rabbit, is 3563 Private (Pte) Herbert George Lohmann, 54th Battalion from Balmain, NSW who enlisted on 2 November 1915 and embarked for overseas on 12 December 1915 aboard HMAT Berrima. He was captured at Laventie, France, on 20 July 1916 and was interned in at least two POW camps in Germany. He was repatriated to England on 14 December 1918 and arrived back in Australia on 26 March 1919. One of a series of over 400 photographs sent by Australian POWs in German camps to Miss M. E. Chomley, Secretary, Prisoners Department, Australian-British Red Cross Society, London. Original album housed in AWM Research Centre at RC00864, Album image number 194. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P03236.164/


An outdoors group portrait of unidentified members of the 1st grade soccer team of the 9th Battalion and an unidentified officer, on a playing field. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/E04227/


Outdoor group portrait of members of the Scottish-born soccer team on the occasion of a match between Scottish and English-born players at Fremantle, 1914. The Scottish team, dressed in the Caledonian Soccer Club strip, won the game, one goal to nil. Identified in this photograph are players from the Caledonian Soccer Club who later served in the AIF. Back row standing are: third from left, 421 Private (Pte) James Durward, 11th Battalion, D Company; fifth from left, 28654 Gunner (Gnr) Alexander Marr, 10 Field Artillery Brigade; seventh from left, 25977 Driver (Dr) Robert Brodie Dewar, 3 Divisional Ammunition Column, 2nd Reinforcements. Middle row, seated, are: far left, 2705 Pte James Simpson, 16th Battalion, 8th Reinforcements. Pte Durward (later Sergeant), Gnr Marr and Dr Dewar all returned to Australia following the war. Pte Simpson, who was transferred to the 48th Battalion in March 1916, was killed in action near Pozieres on 7 August 1916. Pte Simpson has no known grave; his name is recorded on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial, France. This photograph also appeared in the Western Mail, Friday 1 May 1914, and is part of a collection of eight photographs relating to the Caledonian Soccer Club, Fremantle, WA. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P08210.008/

Group portrait of the soccer team representing the crew of HMAS Sydney. Two of the men have tattoos on their forearms. On the far right of the back row is an unidentified midshipman. HMAS Sydney was at the southern naval base of the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet, near the Forth of Firth, Scotland, during a break from patrols of the North Sea with the 2nd Light Cruiser Squadron. https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/EN0334/
↧
Viewing all 298 articles
Browse latest View live
Search