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Soccer is Ordinary
A letter from George's MotherVal Finlayson has sent me a copy of a letter written by George Macaulay's mother. It contains evidence of a soccer culture in Melbourne that shines a light on how...
View Article100 Years Ago Today 3 June 1921
Queensland Times (Ipswich), Wednesday 1 June 1921, page 4COLLIERY EMPLOYEES' SPORTS. The Queensland Colliery Employees' Sports Club,;in accordance with the usual custom, will hold a sports carnival on...
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The Trials of George Macaulay
These are three amazing documents sent to me by Val Finlayson. They are form letters (neither personalised nor signed) sent by Harry Bingham inviting George Macaulay to: Be selected for an England v...
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100 Years Ago Today. 27 June 1921
Daily Standard (Brisbane), Friday 24 June 1921, page 7FOOTBALL; SOCCER(By "WANDERER.")The positions of the senior clubs up to an including games played on June 18 are as follows:-….The match of the...
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100 Years Ago Today, 1 July 1921
Sun (Sydney), Friday 1 July 1921, page 2WOMEN TO PLAY SOCCERASSOCIATION FORMEDA meeting was held under the auspices of the Metropolitan (Soccer) Football Association, at the Sports Club,...
View Article100 Years Ago Today, July 8 1921
Queensland Times (Ipswich), Wednesday 6 July 1921, page 6LINKS WITH THE PAST. Compiled from files of the "Queensland Times," of 25 years ago, 1896.British Association Football--Ipswich Rovers trounced...
View ArticleWell, it’s in the paper!
Newspaper records of soccer and Rugby League in Newcastle in the 1920sThis research idea is based on the hypothesis that soccer in Australia achieved a level of popularity and growth in the 1920s that...
View ArticleGUNNER W. BROWNING.
GUNNER W. BROWNING.Gunner William H. Browning resided at 3 Whitehall st., Footscray, until he enlisted in April, 1916, with 120th Howitzer Battery. He reached England in Dec. 1916; France in Feb. 1917,...
View ArticleSOCCER AND WAR
CORPORAL H. TRAYNORVictorian Soccer (British Association amateur football) is paying its toll in this greatest of all wars, writes Mr J. W. Harrison. Some hundreds of players are on the honor roll of...
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SAPPER H. HUMPHREYS
Herald (Melbourne), Saturday 20 May 1916, page 1SOCCER PLAYER KILLEDNews has been received that Sapper H. Humphreys, well known as a playing member of the St. Kilda and Preston British Association...
View ArticleWeston Tragedies
This feels like a kind of starting point.George Kennedy, the Weston Soccer Club's trainer, was killed by a fall of stone in Hebburn Colliery yesterday. The deceased had been a popular member and player...
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Weston Tragedies: Rex Stevenson
ACCIDENTALLY SHOT DEADWeston's 1936 State League CupRex Stevenson. 23, who had been one of the Weston State League Soccer Club's forwards since 1935, was accidentally shot dead at Lemon Tree, Port...
View ArticleWeston Tragedies: Daisy and John James
Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder, Tuesday 22 October 1935, page 3Terrible Sequel to Pathetic Tragedy.HUSBAND SHOOTS HIMSELFAfter Wife's Dead Body Recovered. Five Little Orphans.ONE OF THE...
View ArticleFive Problems with Australian Rules Football
Last year John Weldon and I created a podcast called Behind the Play. He was the straight guy and I was (something he had called me for years) 'The most hated man in (AR) Football'. We produced some...
View ArticleFormation of Footscray Soccer Clubs
The first Footscray British Football Club (FFC) was founded in 1912. It survived for two years until the emergence of two new (and legendary) clubs: Footscray Thistle (FT) and Northumberland and Durham...
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1914 Dockerty Cup Final
The 1914 Dockerty Cup between Northumberland and Durham United and Melbourne Thistle played at Middle Park was a scoreless draw. The replay at the same venue had a similar scoreline even after extra...
View ArticleMore Fibs for Footy
The Melbourne Sporting Globe (28 February 1953, page 11) published the following letter from George Cathie (the former editor of the Footy Record and serial liar about soccer). In it he claims that...
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Robert Walter Pickersgill, Geordie Joiner.
This is the way it goes sometimes:1. Up early to watch EPL.2. Notice a text from Mav alerting me to a comment on facebook from Alan Pickersgill, to which he had attached this gorgeous photo of a...
View ArticleNorthumberland and Durham Smoke Night 1922
The Emerald Hill Record (7 October 1922, p2) reported the annual smoke night of Northumberland and Durham United. Some interesting points: It's a spotted history of the club's 10 years. The recent...
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The Real Game of Football
This is an extensive piece written by leading Melbourne player, George Raitt (Sporting Globe, Saturday 23 June 1923, page 6). It has a number of features/claims, including: the brief suggestion that...
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Soccer in Victoria: English Game Has Rapid Rise
Another Victorian state-of-play piece, this time in the Herald, Saturday 27 May 1922, page 5. Interesting for a number of reasons, especially the elision of 1. the original attempt to establish the...
View ArticleEngland v Scotland, Melbourne Style, 1909
This is a nice report in the Melbourne Herald on Friday 13 August 1909, p3. It gives a picture of a buoyant game ready to progress. It also contains a preview of the first Dockerty Cup final.BRITISH...
View ArticleFremantle Caledonians
This is a fb post from the Bassendean Caledonians FC facebook pageLEST WE FORGET...Our Callies ANZACSThe club was founded on 11 February 1913 as the Caledonian Soccer Club by members of the Fremantle...
View ArticleAdelaide Soccer Enlistments 1916
Some useful stats from the Adelaide Advertiser, Wednesday 7 June 1916, page 843 members of the South Adelaide Club enlisted.Estimated that of 340 soccer players in Adelaide, 230 enlistedconsciousness...
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Soccer Honour Rolls
The discovery of the photograph of the 1917 Merewether Advance Honour Board in Newcastle (right) jogs my memory that other First World War soccer honour boards were created around Australia. Several...
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