Untitled Document

Football

What were they doing in 1863?

Goal Weekly, Monday 11 May 2009, p. 12.

By Roy Hay

I know this column is called Blast from the Past, but given that most people believe the first game of Association Football was not played in Australia until the 1880s, what, you may ask, am I on about? It is, however, 150 years since the first set of rules for what became Australian Rules were written in Melbourne. The other day when trawling through Bell’s Life in Victoria in 1864 I came across a letter by a fellow who signed himself Free Kick, who was very familiar with what was happening in the United Kingdom and Australia at the time. And this is what he wrote:
‘The game of football appears destined to become as popular in this colony as it has already become in England, where it is now fully recognised as the national winter game. … Within the last year or two … football in England has received a great impetus, and clubs have been formed in various places, the movement having been warmly espoused by many University men, who have to a great extent shaken off their old prejudices, and are favourable to the formation of a universal code of rules, by which, in future, the game should be played. … The Football Association was accordingly formed, and set of rules drawn up, which by a very curious coincidence, are very nearly similar to those which were decided on at a meeting of representatives of football clubs, held at the Parade Hotel, near Melbourne, some 5 years ago. … and it is certainly creditable in every way to the judgment of the gentlemen then appointed, that the very rules they then decided on have subsequently been adopted by the members of the Football Association in England. Whether a stray copy (for the rules were neatly printed and got up) ever found its way home I do not know, but if not it is a strong argument in favour of our own code, that the football parliaments assembled on opposite sides of the globe, should bring the identical same result of their labours.’

Football 1870s style. The Graphic, December 1872, reproduced in The Rules of Association Football 1863, Bodleian Library, Oxford, 2006.

Our man, Free Kick, seems to be suggesting that the clubs which formed the Football Association in 1863 might have gained inspiration for their set of laws of the game from what was happening in Melbourne four years before. To me this is a bit far fetched, and a bit like the claims for Aboriginal or Irish influence on Australian Rules, or at least Melbourne Football Club rules, as drawn up in 1859. But when you read what the Europeans saw Aboriginal children doing you begin to wonder.
Early European settlers and travellers reported the existence of their games and sometimes provided extensive descriptions. Blandowski commented on the game he had seen, which is represented in Mutzel’s etching, ‘The ball is made out of Typha roots: it is not thrown or hit with a bat, but it is kicked in the air with the foot … The aim of the game: never let the ball touch the ground.’
It is beyond doubt that Aboriginal games which used a purposely-made ball existed. Since many of the references apply to the period before 1859, just what did observers have in mind when they used the word ‘football’ to describe what they saw? It could not have been the Australian game since this did not come into existence until then. My good friend, Ian Syson, points out that Blandowski’s description looks more like soccer than Australian rules, or rather the football exercise which we used to perform in our youth in Scotland called ‘keepy-uppy’, keeping the ball off the ground by use of feet and body not arms and hands. Those migrants who came from a Scottish or English background might well have seen and played a similar type of game in their youth, since the majority of reported observations come from people who did not attend English public schools or universities. There was a strong Scottish presence in the western district of Victoria, particularly around Warrnambool and Portland.
One problem with all this, of course, is that there is no real contemporary evidence that the English referred to Australian rules or that the Australians mentioned Aboriginal activities when drawing up their respective codes. So while these are interesting speculations, or myths if you like, it is worthwhile keeping up the search for information on both possibilities. Who knows we may be able to find connections if we look hard enough.

Rangers wins Goforyourlife Cup

By Roy Hay

Geelong Rangers won the Goforyourlife Cup by a single goal against Surfcoast on Sunday night. It was the first time that Rangers had triumphed in a Geelong pre-season tournament since 1987 and James Blackburn’s superb strike in the 57th minute conjured up memories of Willy Muir’s equally spectacular winner all those years ago. Rangers hit the woodwork in the first minute and twice more in the second half through Jonathan Ryan and Troy Hardy and it looked as if the Provisional League team would manage to deny its State League Division Two opponent. Then deep in defence Steven Tillinger launched a long ball forward. Blackburn held it up, beat his man and found enough space to fire a shot into the top corner of Barry Schroeter’s goal. The young keeper had no chance with that one. Ian Crane, Rorie Flanagan and James Brooks worked their socks off for Surfcoast, but Rangers had most of the possession and its game only broke down in front of goal.
In the third place match, Geelong overcame Corio by a goal to nil. Zoran Rstevski was brought down in the last minute of the first half and Nick Bosevski scored from the penalty spot. Bosevski had played as sweeper all through the tournament, but for this game he was moved into attack and he came closest to adding to Geelong’s lead with a header which just skimmed the bar from a corner by Chris Balaburova.

James Blackburn (centre) of Geelong Rangers in action in the Goforyourlife Cup. Photo Roy Hay

49ers and Barwon Heads take out Masters

by Roy Hay

Two of Geelong’s teams won gold medals in the Australian Masters Games tournament held at Bell Park last week.
The Geelong 49ers led by Steve Radojevic and Rod van der Chys won the over-45 age group while in a big upset Barwon Heads knocked off the highly fancied Australian Defence Force team in the over-35s.
In the semi-finals of the over-45s, the Gold Coast Beach Boys, who had a strong Geelong component in their line-up, probably played their best game to defeat Mount Gambier Force by three goals to one.
By contrast the 49ers had their worst outing, scraping through by a Mick Oppermann penalty kick in the 55th minute against the other team from Mount Gambier.
The final, on the main pitch at Bell Park, the Beach Boys dominated the opening exchanges, pinning the 49ers deep in their half and putting keeper Peter Duque and his defence under pressure.
But in the last ten minutes of the half the home team came out of its shell and Radojevic, Drago Skok and van der Chys had efforts on goal.
The breakthrough came a minute before the break when a tackle in the area resulted in a penalty kick for the 49ers, which Mick Oppermann converted.
Early in the second half, Rod van der Chys drove a shot past Everett Nelson in the Gold Coast goal, but a moment later the Beach Boys pulled a goal back when Geoffrey Taylor took advantage of an error and rounded the stranded Duque.
Both sides kept at it till the final whistle, but the 49ers held on for a narrow but deserved victory.
The ADF had won all its group games and downed Surfside by three goals to nil in its semi-final.
But Barwon heads also recorded a good win over Pressure with Mark Linney scoring a hat-trick in the five-two result.
In the final the locals showed both skill and physical resilience to win by two goals to nil.
In the other groups, BOBS took out the over-40s from PHE Voltaren Dependant and the Australian All Stars won the women’s competition.

Geelong 49ers winners of the over-45s Australian Masters football.
Back row, left to right: Peter Duque, David McMurray, Rod van der Chys, Mick Oppermann, Eddie Radojevic, Micky Svaljek, Damir Medic, Drago Skok, Eddie Kovacev. Front row: Steve Sodomaco, Peter Hey, Kenny Prior, Zed Dula, Steve Radojevic, Drago Perinac, Slobode Bosevski, Billy Munro. Absent: John Coutts, Joe Malesic. Photo: Roy Hay.

Goforyourlife Cup 20 and 22 February 2009

by Roy Hay

Luke Delmo (3) of the GRFA and Nathan Talbot (obscured) take on Michael Talevski of Geelong.

Geelong Rangers continued its march to the finals of the Goforyourlife Cup with a two-one win over North Geelong at Myers Reserve on Friday night. North introduced a number of senior players, while Rangers stuck to the players who have got it through the opening two games, with the addition of Drew Corry. Both sides lost players early in the game. Bojan Msljenovic limped off with a leg injury and James Blackburn had to retire after a head clash in the tightly contested first half. Rangers took the lead in the 39th minute after Drew Corry muscled his way past Michael Radojevic out on the right and his cross was headed on by Troy Hardy for substitute Alister Scott who grabbed his third goal in as many games. Just over a minute later Joanthan Ryan’s deep cross was headed home by David Ellis. North scored its first goal of the 2009 competition when Matthew Demo fired past Lyndon Malesic, but North could not add to its tally and Rangers were deserved winners.
In the early game, Bell Park held Corio scoreless until the 26th minute when Pero Prodanovic’s pass was picked up by Nenad Joldzic who had time to turn and slot the ball past Joe Fiala. Both sides made and missed chances and Park came closest when youngster Liam Page shaved the upright in 56 minutes. Eight minutes later Joldzic seized on a loose ball and made a run at the Park defence. As it retreated he kept going and finished with a fierce shot which gave Fiala no chance.
On Sunday, Surfcoast made sure of a semi-final spot after a three-nil win over Hoppers Crossing. It took half an hour of a see-sawing game before Ry Hernan got the break through with a powerful shot into the corner of the net. Two late goals by youngster Jack Taylor saw the Coasters home. Taylor is a real talent, but his impetuous and clumsy tackling earned him a yellow card and is something he will have to curb if he is to make progress in the game.
Geelong needed a three-goal or better margin against the Geelong Regional Football Association to turf Bell Park out of second spot in Group A. Andrew Longo’s shot from outside the area gave it a sniff off a result in 30 minutes, but when Nathan Talbot’s persistence resulted in an equaliser for the GRFA in 40 minutes, that target seemed far away. The match turned on a penalty six minutes later converted by Andrew Longo. Cedo Rakic crossed for Zoran Rstevski to make it 3–1, but in doing so Rstevski pulled a muscle and had to limp off. Geelong refused to give up and Chris Balaburova powered home a free kick with only eight minutes to go to give Geelong the outcome it wanted.
In the semi-finals next week, Geelong will face favourite and host club Geelong Rangers, while Corio will take on Surfcoast.

Australian Masters Games 2009

By Roy Hay

The Australian Masters Games for 2009 kicked off at Bell Park Sports Club in Geelong on Saturday with 17 teams competing in four groups, men’s 30–35, 40–45, over 45 and women.
Geelong 49ers opened with a three-one win over MG Force from Mount Gambier. Mick Oppermann powered in a header from a cross by Rod van der Chys in the seventh minute to settle nerves in the home team. Two quick goals after the interval, the first by van der Chys from the penalty spot after Steve Sodamaco had been fouled in the area, and the second a neat lob over the keeper by Oppermann, secured the result. Mount Gambier scored a neat goal with three minutes left to play when Lou Ferguson received a pass through the centre of the defence and gave Peter Duque no chance with a precise shot.
In the second match in this group the Melbourne Latinos, drawn largely from Brunswick Juventus ranks, drew one-all with the Gold Coast Beach Boys. With 70-year-old Everett Nelson in goal the Gold Coast went ahead in only three minutes when a move along the right goal line involving three attackers resulted in a goal credited to John Kubina. Mario Mantella brought the Latinos level nine minutes afterwards with a header over Nelson. Both sides had several chances after that but it finished one-all.
In the 40–45 group two matches were played, with Castlemaine Gold Spice beating BOBS by two goals to nil, both scored by T Cooper. PHE Voltaren Dependant had a three-nil win against Melbourne Latinos’ younger group. Michael Hof, G Redpath and R Braithwaite scored for PHE.
Finally in the 30–35 group, ADF with goals by G Gillard and K Naughton accounted for Barwon Heads for whom Mark Linney scored, by two goals to one.

Massacre at the dome

by Roy Hay

It was a St Valentine’s Day massacre at Telstra Dome on Saturday night when Melbourne Victory trounced Adelaide United by four goals to nil in the second leg of the major semi-final of the A-League.
The Victory team and fans celebrated with what my colleague Alan Clark calls the ‘satellite dish’, the trophy for the team which finishes on top of the league after the home and away rounds. But the victory party almost overshadowed by later events.

Victory with the trophy

After the match, Adelaide City imploded as coach Aurelio Vidmar lashed into the politics of the club which he claimed lay behind what he described as a disgraceful performance on the field. In an unprecedented attack by a coach on the culture of his club he said ‘Everyone is involved’ and ‘in this pissant town you will never win anything until you get rid of that crap’. He refused to name the people responsible and kept returning to the claim that everyone is involved. ‘Things happen very quickly in football clubs. If someone is not happy with something they will do everything they can to fracture it.’ Vidmar’s outburst is certain to place his continued tenure of the role in question and probably only a clear-cut win over Queensland Roar next Saturday in the Preliminary Final will save him.
Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick would not comment on the Adelaide situation but at the end of his remarks he said that Vidmar was an excellent coach and had done a great job with the club. He and skipper Kevin Muscat wanted to concentrate on what the Victory had achieved in the comprehensive victory.
Carlos Hernandez started despite only arriving in Melbourne from Costa Rica, where he played for his country in a CONCACAF World Cup qualifier on Wednesday, via Atlanta and Los Angeles on the morning of the game. But the attacking midfielder was desperate to play and the Victory physios had him in good shape. He helped set up striker Archie Thompson for the first goal after ten minutes, then thumped home the second in 24 minutes after a high-speed exchange of passes with Tom Pondeljak and Nick Ward. Then a beautifully weighted pass released Danny Allsopp for the third goal just before half-time. His cross found Pondeljak at the far post for another goal three minutes after the break and so he came off to a rapturous reception, his work done, on the hour. Victory continued to press but did not add to its tally, while Michael Theoklitos pulled off a couple of superb finger-tip saves to deny Adelaide even a consolation goal. In a petulant and very short-sighted last fifteen minutes Cassio Oliveira was sent off for a second bookable offence and three other Adelaide players picked up yellow cards which may rule them out of matches to come.
Victory did not have a bad player on the night and the commitment of everyone to trying to increase the lead and prevent Adelaide scoring was exemplary. It is to be hoped that Adelaide United can find some of that spirit before it takes on Queensland Roar next week end, but for the sake of the game and the fans it would be preferable if the Roar gets through to the grand final. Otherwise we might have a repeat of the kind of drubbing that Victory inflicted two years ago when it claimed its first title.

Go-for-your-life Cup

By Roy Hay

Host club Geelong Rangers ensured qualification for the finals of the Goforyourlife Cup, sponsored by the Victorian government, at Myers Reserve on Friday night. Provisional League club Surfcoast held Rangers scoreless in the first half despite playing against a strong wind on a very bumpy pitch. Sixteen minutes into the second period Rangers got a free kick on the edge of the area and young keeper Barry Schroeter will have learned a lesson, when he only put four men in the wall then took up position behind it and virtually invited Scott Davison to fire the ball into about a quarter of the goal, which he promptly did. Six minutes later James Blackburn and substitute Juma Wade combined to allow another substitute Alister Smart to spring the offside trap for his second goal in successive matches. A Blackburn cross was flicked on by young Smart for Davison to nod home his second and Rangers’ third in 63 minutes. Surfcoast looked lively in the first half with Rorie Flanagan and Billy Bunce stretching Rangers on occasions, but the team fell away after the interval.
In the early match Bell Park took command early on against the combined side from the Geelong Regional Football Association and the fourth member of the Nelson clan, Liam, took advantage of a back-heel by Eric Lawrence to put his side ahead after only five minutes. When Rodney Antoine looped a first-timer over GRFA keeper Adam Ball a minute after half-time it appeared that Bell Park would cruise to an easy win. But Charles Fitzpatrick’s GRFA side led by the perpetual motion machine Luke Delmo went on the rampage. Substitute Jordan Nelson sent over a cross from the right and it was flicked on for Delmo, whose flying header gave Joe Fiala no chance. That was in 43 minutes and four minutes later the Sunday leaguers were level as Delmo chased a loose ball, gathered it, rounded his man and drove home the equaliser. Ian McTavish had a chance to put the GRFA ahead but shot just wide, while Park also had opportunities but the match ended in a two-all draw.
On Sunday the Geelong branch of the referees’ association donated $350 to the bushfire appeal, adding to the gate takings from last week’s round of matches.

The Go-for-your-Life Cup, sponsored by the Victorian government, kicked off in Geelong on Friday night with two intense but ultimately scoreless games.
The combined side from the Geelong Regional Football Association held Corio, while Provisional League Division Three team Surfcoast upset North Geelong, who play in Division Two of the State League. All teams gave starts to a number of young players as they tried to find out what talent they will have at their disposal for the upcoming league campaigns. But the GRFA bridged the ages by having three generations of the Nelson family in their squad. Seventy-year old evegreen Everett Nelson was back-up keeper, while son Darren came on for the last half-hour and grandson Jordan played an excellent full game for the Sunday leaguers.
GRFA coach Charles Fitzpatrick was surprised when a number of the players who have trained with the squad over the summer dropped out at the last minute and he had to draft in replacements. But those who took the field did not let him down, creating a number of chances and clearing their lines effectively most of the time in the face of Corio’s attacking threats led by Nigel Madzikander with Steve Luczo powering in headers as he came up from defence for set pieces. Pero Prodanovic’s skills stood out in the sometimes frantic midfield action.
In the second match it was expected that North’s youngsters marshalled by Michael Radojevic would be too strong for Surfcoast but in fact the latter had the better of the play for substantial periods. Billy Bunce had three efforts which flew over the crossbar, Jack Taylor was a constant threat in midfield and Ian Crane should have sealed the points with a late run through a North defence weakened by the sending off of Andrew Diantino for his second yellow card. Referee Mitko Nikolovski allowed the game to flow, permitting a number of strong challenges to go unchecked. Marko Devcic had North’s best attempt with a fierce free kick which was just tipped over by the outstanding Barry Schroeter. Former Surfcoast keeper, Tom Dunn had an excellent debut game for North, including the last minute stop to deny Crane.
On Sunday night the games were overshadowed by the news of the devastating bushfires and the organising committee followed the precedent of Ash Wednesday 1983 by donating the gate takings to the support of those who suffered on this occasion.
In the early game, tournament host Geelong Rangers overwhelmed a youthful Hoppers Crossing team by six goals to nil. Jumo Wade opened the scoring in the ninth minute. Tournament all time top scorer Troy Hardy made it two five minutes later then forced Hoppers’ defender Chris Harding into conceding an own goal shortly afterwards. James Blackburn powered through for the fourth goal and Alister Smart, one of Ken Smart’s two sons in the Rangers line-up got the fifth just after coming on at half-time. David Ellis came up from the back to head home the sixth in 54 minutes.
The second match saw the upset of the tournament so far when Bell Park from Division Two of the Provisional League swept Geelong aside by two goals to nil. The first was a free kick driven in by former North Geelong player Marinko Pausak, and then Eric Lawrence turned his defender and thundered a shot across keeper Alec Kitanovski into the top corner. Jasmin Ikanovic had several shots on target for Geelong but found veteran keeper Joe Fiala unbeatable on the night.

Go-for-your-Life Cup 2009

by Roy Hay

Geelong’s pre-season competition has a new sponsor, the Victorian government, and the tournament will be called the Go-for-Life Cup. The format will be similar to that of the long-running Geelong Advertiser Cup which became established as the best non-metropolitan competition of its kind. This year eight teams will take part in two groups of four. After a round robin in each group the winner in each plays the runner-up in the other for a place in the grand final. The clubs which finish third and fourth in the groups play each other to determine the other finishing positions.
Geelong is the defending champion, having defeated Hoppers Crossing in the final last year by three goals to one. In the semi-final it had its closest game only beating Geelong Rangers on penalties after a scoreless draw. This year Geelong has a new coach, Scott Millar, who has coached the reserves and young players at the club for the last three years. He replaces Bobby Stojcevski whose team imploded in the latter rounds of the State League after a brilliant start. Millar will give his young charges every chance of emulating last season’s achievements.
North Geelong retains former Melbourne Knights’ star Vinko Buljubasic as coach and he can call on former national league colleagues Adrian Cervinski and Ante Deak to lend experience to another young squad. North has been the most successful club over the years and will be aiming to restore its pride with at least a finals appearance in 2009.
Geelong Rangers hosts the competition at Myers Reserve this year. Rangers won promotion to Division Two North West of the State League last season under Robbie Noggler. The former Australian Futsal representative has welcomed back David Ellis to strengthen the defence and Ronnie Clayson, Troy Hardy and Scott Davison will spearhead the dark blues challenge to win the title which has eluded them since 1987.
Bell Park, once a powerhouse in Geelong football, is seeking to return to the glory days and has appointed former Young Socceroo Robert Spasevski as senior coach in succession to Eddie Dorris. Peter Bradley will be his assistant and Park also has a number of good young players challenging for senior call-ups this season. There is a similar story at Hoppers Crossing where club stalwarts Joe Vella and Gus dos Santos have taken over as coach and assistant respectively. Peter Wilkinson says Hoppers will use the competition to test the quality of their playing staff, but does not rule out another finals appearance.
Corio has Ismail Ali at the helm in 2009 and the popular former keeper will get the best out of his squad. Another stalwart of the game Lindsay Falzon, who played in Ballarat, Bell Park and at Geelong Rangers, has taken the reins at Surfcoast. The Torquay based club surprised many by a very successful first season in the Provisional League last year, establishing itself in the top half of the league. Again it will be a young team which will represent the club and it will be looking for its first win in the competition after making its debut last year.
Finally the Geelong Regional Football Association combined side will be coached by one of Geelong’s most talented players of recent times, Charles Fitzpatrick. The former striker reports that he has been pleased to see a wide range of Sunday league clubs represented at training. Though last year was disappointing, the GRFA’s predecessor the Western Victoria Soccer Association nearly always caused upsets in the Geelong Advertiser Cup and Fitzpatrick will be out to do so again.
Corio, Bell Park, Geelong and the GRFA form Group A, with Geelong Rangers, North Geelong Hoppers Crossing and Surfcoast in Group B. the Cup kicks off on Friday night at 6 pm, with Corio versus the GRFA, followed by North Geelong against Surfcoast at 7.20 pm. On Sunday it is the turn of Geelong Rangers to take on Hoppers Crossing and then Geelong plays Bell Park. A feast of football in front of large and knowledgeable crowds is guaranteed.

The Gaffer still going 50 years on

Geelong Advertiser, Wednesday 19 November 2008, p. 47.

by Roy Hay

It is 50 years since Sir Alex Ferguson pulled on his boots as a 16-year-old and made his debut for Queen’s Park in the Scottish Second Division against Stranraer at Stair Park, known locally as the Clayhole. The ‘Spiders’ lost two-one but the boy scored with ‘a smashing drive’, though a perceptive reporter noted he was ‘a bit slow’. He went on to play with St Johnstone, Dunfermline Athletic and then signed for Glasgow Rangers in 1967. Earlier that year he came to Australia with a Scotland squad denuded of the players of the Old Firm, Celtic and Rangers, and Leeds United.
Celtic was to win the European Cup on 25 May in Lisbon, the first British club to do so, while Rangers contested the Cup Winners final against Bayern Munich on 31 May, and Leeds United, which had Billy Bremner, Peter Lorimer and Eddie Gray in its side, was in the final of the European Fairs Cup, the predecessor of the UEFA Cup. Criticism in Australia of the omission of these players was understandable but somewhat myopic. When the tour was planned it could hardly have been predicted that three of the six finalists in the top European competitions would include two from Scotland and one from England, even though England had won the World Cup the previous year. But the Scottish Football Association downgraded the status of the tour, and refused to award full international caps to the players taking part, something that still rankles with Ferguson because that is the closest he got to a full international cap as a player.
Three games were played against Australia, all resulting in Scottish victories, with Ferguson scoring the only goal in the first match at the Sydney Showgrounds on 28 May and both goals in the two-nil win at Olympic Park on 3 June. The intervening match was played in Adelaide at Norwood Oval and Ray Baartz got Australia’s only goal of the games, but Jim Townsend and Willie Morgan scored for Scotland. Ferguson was playing for Dunfermline Athletic when he left on the tour which took in Israel, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Canada, but at the start of the next season he signed for Rangers. When he left Rangers in 1969 he joined Falkirk, after turning down a move to Nottingham Forest.
Ferguson’s last season as a player was in 1973–74 at Ayr United, where he played 18 games and six as a substitute, scoring nine league goals. At Ayr he came under the influence of the ebullient Ally MacLeod, later to manage Aberdeen and Scotland, a path Ferguson himself was to follow on Ally’s recommendation. MacLeod handled spiky characters splendidly and got the best out of a collection of players who lacked the brilliance of some previous Ayr United teams. George ‘Dandy’ Maclean and Ferguson were two of his entertainers with whom he had some immortal struggles. He and Ferguson—‘a real barrack-room lawyer’—had some blazing rows, but professional respect and slightly bizarre senses of humour kept them going.
Ferguson got his first taste of management at East Stirling, but within three months he had moved to St Mirren, where he won promotion to the Premier Division in 1977. He was sacked from that job in 1978, but when Billy McNeill returned to Celtic from Aberdeen that year, Ferguson became manager of Aberdeen. In eight years he won the Scottish Premier League three times, four Scottish Cups, the UEFA Cup against Real Madrid in the final in 1983 and the European Super Cup the following year. That record led to his joining Jock Stein as assistant manager of Scotland and taking over when the big man died of a heart attack after a match against Wales in 1985.
So Ferguson was in charge of Scotland against Australia in a two-legged qualifier for the World Cup. Scotland beat Australia by two goals to nil at Hampden Park on 20 November 1985 with goals by Davie Cooper and Frank McAvennie. Despite some shenanigans involving Mo Johnston and McAvennie, the Scots held on for a scoreless draw in Melbourne in the second leg on 4 December. Ferguson wrote in his autobiography, ‘The game was no triumph for us but the 0–0 result was perfectly satisfactory … the truth is that Jim Leighton ensured our passage to the finals with four outstanding saves.’ The day after the game, the CEO of the Scottish Football Association, Ernie Walker, told Ferguson that Mo Johnston had been banging on his door in the middle of the night, stark naked and with a similarly disrobed female in tow. Johnston did not go to Mexico with the Scottish team!
The next move for Ferguson was to secure his managerial status when he replaced Ron Atkinson at Manchester United in 1986. The initial years were not propitious for the then trophy-starved club. Many argue that had Mark Robbins not scored a critical winning goal against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup in 1990 Ferguson’s tenure would have been cut short. United won the Cup that year, and the first of ten Premier League titles in 1993. A Cup and League double followed in 1994, then the incredible treble of League, Cup and European Champions League with two goals in injury time in the final against Bayern Munich in 1999. That year Ferguson came back to Australia with a full strength United team though the matches were overshadowed from an Australian perspective by a severe injury suffered by Simon Colosimo in the second game at Stadium Australia in Sydney on 18 July. United striker, Andy Cole, was blamed for that by the locals, and Carlton’s plan to sell the young Colosimo for a large sum to a European club was aborted and the player’s career was blighted for the best part of two years.
After flirting with retirement in 2002, Ferguson rebuilt United to win back-to-back Premier League titles in 2007 and 2008 and a second Champions League title in 2008 on penalty kicks against Chelsea in Moscow. That was on the 50th anniversary of the Munich air crash which had destroyed Sir Matt Busby’s United ‘babes’. Fergie is still firmly in control at Old Trafford and once again is in the process of reconstructing a team to challenge for more silverware. Whether he is the greatest manager ever in British football is something that can be argued about, but for longevity and resilience and the capacity to change with the seismic shifts in the economics and culture of the modern game he has no peer. Beleaguered British prime minister Gordon Brown could do worse than put this long time Labour supporter in the House of Lords as Lord Ferguson of Govan, where he might sort out the nation as he has done football.

Flagging the fans offside

Geelong Advertiser, 29 October 2008, p. 17.

by Roy Hay

It may turn out to be a storm in a teacup but the proposed and then rescinded banning of Eureka flags at football matches involving Melbourne Victory was an own goal for the code. As the fans themselves point out, the Eureka flag was flown at the very first Melbourne Victory games and has been there ever since, even if now it is less evident than Victory and Blue and White Brigade and other banners. Questions arise about whether the Football Federation of Australia instructed security at Telstra Dome to announce a forthcoming ban or whether this was an interpretation placed by the security company on the Spectator Code of Conduct which the FFA has introduced.
Sometimes one wonders whether the FFA realises how lucky it has been to have Melbourne Victory and its exuberant, noisy and boisterous fans. Even the club sometimes gives the impression that they are a necessary evil. But when they are not there in force Telstra Dome is a morgue. So the problem is how does the code encourage the atmosphere without the occasional incidents of unacceptable behaviour which occur? Here the responsibility comes back to the fans themselves on the one hand and the media on the other.
Victory fans have always prided themselves on their passionate but independent support for the club. They have never become an official part of the club organisation though they expect to be consulted by the club when changes are proposed to the arrangements under which they watch matches. Because they consist of a number of separate groups this makes getting their co-operation on contentious matters very difficult, so one can sympathise with the FFA, the club and the security organisations when they describe the problems they have faced in evolving acceptable policies and having them implemented. The fan groups are reluctant to be seen to be policing the behaviour of their members but the more they can do to inhibit violent or provocative activities the more they can ensure that the majority will not be treated unfairly by the authorities.
At a National Youth League game at the weekend, the referee drew the attention of security to some foul-mouthed abuse from a group of fans on the terracing. A couple of security people went over to the group and spoke to them and from then on there was no further incident. Obviously it is more difficult to achieve similar results in a crowd of the size of that at Telstra Dome for the A-League game against Sydney when a season-high 31,546 were present. But here too proactive work by police and security in general defused a number of situations, though some fans were uneasy at what they saw as heavy-handed action by some officials.
As for the media it is about time it dropped its premise that football fans are just an explosion of ethnic tension about to happen. Victory fans are drawn from all groups in Australian society and they are very largely members of the domestic population, not migrants as was the case in previous soccer booms. They are just as likely to be seen at footy or cricket matches as at the round ball code. So the very few incidents of unacceptable behaviour which do occur need to be treated as such and not the harbinger of a breakdown in society.

Blast from the past: Aussie fans at the World Cup '06

Fussball und Frankfurters

Goal Weekly, Monday 22 September 2008, p. 21.

By Roy Hay

It is only two years ago since Australia played in the World Cup in Germany in 2006, but already it seems like a significant part of our past. While the performances of the Socceroos were inspiring, the fans did their bit to make this an extraordinary occasion. There were roughly 60,000 Australians in Germany in June 2006, most without tickets, but there for the atmosphere and the off-field activities It was the largest outward movement of the Australian population since the Second World War. Books have already been written about the fans’ experiences by Tony Wilson and Jesse Fink.

It was fascinating to watch the ways individuals and families responded to the occasion. Most supported Australia, some barracked for the country of their heritage, others had a bob each way. Some of my Croatian friends cut up Australian and Croatian shirts and sewed half of each together to reflect that support.

At matches the Australian national anthem was sung with a fervour not seen and heard since previous World Cup qualifiers in Australia against Iran and twice against Uruguay in Sydney and Melbourne. Yet for the most part the fans were in enormous good humour and their chants reflected that. There was much less of the staple Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi that seemingly features at every major Australian sporting event. Instead there was more invention as when ‘You are red, you are white and you’re going home tonight,’ and ‘Your shirt looks like a tablecloth, da-da, da-da’, was sung at the Croatians, and ‘You only sing when you’re whaling’, at the Japanese.

In Kaiserslautern when a couple of fans tried to get those around them to join in offensive chants replete with crude language and racist overtones, one young coloured Aussie lad told them explicitly and clearly, ‘We are a multicultural society and don’t want any of that kind of thing here’. He clearly spoke on behalf of the surrounding Australian contingent, who collectively continued to ignore the drunken, would-be trouble makers who remained isolated throughout. Australian banners in the stadia showed that there was a clear mixture of old and new fans. Several were in non-English languages, particularly Greek, reinforcing the sense that Australia is a multicultural country, and many reflected the club loyalties of the various ethnic groups making up the diverse Australian fanbase.

In Australia the reception of the World Cup by the mass of the people was extraordinary. This was reflected in the media which seems to have underestimated the extent of popular enthusiasm. Large screens in major venues saw crowds of several thousands gather to watch matches. Federation Square in Melbourne was packed, with some people travelling from Geelong, 80 kilometres away, to watch matches on the big screen rather than at home or in a local hotel. Crowds in Federation Square for the four Australian matches ranged from 7000 to 12 000, with a similar number at Birrarung Marr. The games finished at anywhere between three and seven in the morning. After the Australia–Japan and Australia–Croatia games a significant number of those present at Federation Square, estimated at around 2000 on the former and 4000 on the latter occasion, marched to the steps of state parliament in Spring Street as if it were a political demonstration.

At the first march one man had a banner ‘Guus for PM’, and the parliament steps party lasted half an hour and included the singing of the national anthem. Sydney’s George Street was at a standstill in the mornings after games, with cars and pedestrians festooned with colours, shouting and celebrating.

Though the media had contributed to the build-up to the tournament and had done a great deal to promote interest and convey the extent to which the rest of the world had focused on it, the overwhelming impression is that members of the daily media were taken aback by the popular response. Many of those who had spent much of their lives denigrating ‘this foreign game’ admitted that they had not experienced anything, either in Germany or in Australia, to match what they saw and in which they became involved. Typical is the reaction of Gary Lyon, former Melbourne AFL player and now anchor of the Melbourne version of the Channel 9 Footy Show:

It has taken a trip to the other side of the world, to witness the most amazing sporting festival you could imagine, to see the true game of football through the eyes of those who have been championing it for decades as the biggest sport on the planet. … the World Cup is a seething mass of emotion where the passion generated by coaches, players and supporters is the closest thing to war without weapons that you are likely to find. The focus on the games reduces presidents and prime ministers to the same level as factory workers and school kids; that of the everyday sports fan.

This article draws on Roy Hay and Tony Joel, ‘Football’s World Cup and its fans—reflections on national styles: A photo essay on Germany 2006,’ Soccer and Society, 8, no. 1, January 2007, pp. 1–32.

Blast from the past: Clubs that are no longer with us, No. 3: Hakoah

Goal Weekly, Monday 28 July 2008, p. 11.

By Roy Hay

Hakoah, one of two clubs which represented the Jewish community in Melbourne, was founded just after the First World War in 1924. It joined the Victorian Amateur British Football Association in 1926. In the following decade it became a powerhouse in the game, winning the first division of the league in 1934, 1935 and 1938. It also won its first Dockerty Cup in 1935.

1935 Dockerty Cup final

Saturday, September 14, 1935
Hakoah 4 (Forrest 2, McIver, Lewis) Caledonians 3 (Johnstone pen, P Young, Gray)
Olympic Park, Melbourne. Referee: J Parker.
HAKOAH: Aguilera, W Yaffe, A Mackey, J Bowman, A Roth, Wise, Tom McCluskey, P Lewis,

Frank McIver, Orr, Forrest. Reserves: Molinski, Shepherd.
CALEDONIANS: Bob Morgan, George Weir, H Beats, Andy Mayne, S Weir, Jim Young, Peter Young,

J Paulsen, B Gray, Johnstone, D Hughes, Sampson, Kirkwood, Lyons.

Hakoah always had a nucleus of Scottish players in its ranks and during the Second World War when the number of teams participating fell, Hakoah joined forces with Scottish backed club Moreland and won the attenuated league in 1943 and the Dockerty Cup in 1945.
After the war Hakoah became independent once again and after some early struggles it got back into the First Division in 1952 and remained there until the State League began in 1958. The team in 1955 included Doenges, Vesovic, McIntosh, Harburn, Tom Jack, Harry Sutherland, Ressler, Sid Thomas, Joe Gottesman, H Rice and Piercy. Hakoah stayed in the top division until 1983.
Hakoah Sports Club was never only a football club and it had basketball, ice hockey and table tennis teams among others. In the league Hakoah was always competitive but in the post war years its highest finish was as runner-up on goal difference to the all-conquering Juventus in 1956. But its cup form was outstanding, winning the Dockerty Cup again four times in succession from 1953 to 1956, and reaching the final from 1959 to 1962 where George Cross was its nemesis, as Hakoah lost three finals out of four to its Maltese rival. But in 1966 and 1973 Hakoah won the Dockerty Cup again. In 1968, in the last year of the Australia Cup, Hakoah Melbourne reached the final where it lost to Hakoah Sydney by 6–1 over two legs.
The Reserve team showed the strength in depth of the club taking out the Armstrong Cup six times in 1956, 1958, 1964, 1970, 1975 and 1980. John O’Neil won the Rothmans’ Medal while at Hakoah in 1969 and David Baker did so twice in 1975 and 1977.
In 1972 Hakoah amalgamated with the St Kilda Club and in 1982 it joined the other club playing on Middle Park, the Greek-backed Hellas. By then South Melbourne Hellas was playing in the National Soccer League, and the St Kilda-Hellas-Hakoah combination maintained a presence in the Victorian State League. In 1983 the club appears as South Melbourne in the fixtures with long time club stalwart Kurt Defris as Secretary.
Melbourne businessman Jack Skolnik was president of the club in the 1950s and its early driving force, but Kurt Defris was a most influential figure. Born in Vienna he played alongside Max Gold, who later coached Rapid Vienna on its tour of Australia in 1955. Defris got out of Vienna as Hitler’s Anschluss brought Austria under Nazi control. He escaped to China, organising 60 football teams and more than 200 table tennis teams in Shanghai. He survived the Japanese occupation and then came to Australia, where his parents had settled, in 1946.
He quickly became involved with Melbourne’s Hakoah and the stories about his enthusiasm and his management style would fill a book, not just a column. He was the first ‘New Australian’, as continental migrants were called in those days, to manage the Victorian and Australian teams which he did in 1955. He was a long-serving member of the Victorian Amateur Soccer Football Association and its successor the Victorian Soccer Federation.
Hakoah in the 1950s continued to have a spine of Scottish (and English) players in its ranks, notably Tom Jack who captained Australia and Victoria, winning 14 full caps for his adopted country. Others included Harry Sutherland, Pat Clarke, H Rice and Sid Thomas. Later Scots-born stars included Socceroo keeper Jack Reilly. Another Scot, Harry Mowbray, played with Hakoah in Sydney.
By the 1980s the Jewish support for football was waning and even Sydney City Hakoah, a founder member of the National Soccer League, was withdrawn by Frank Lowy in 1987, never to return. Maccabi football club in Melbourne had already gone. It played in the lower divisions from 1951 to 1963. In recent years there has been a revival with Maccabi clubs fielding teams in indoor and outdoor football in New South Wales.

FFA wakes up to its history

Goal Weekly, Monday 30 June 2008, p. 11.

By Roy Hay

At last there are signs that the Football Federation of Australia is beginning to recognise that the game in this country has a history, and that the custodian of the sport in 2008 has a duty to understand and appreciate that history. In the early days, following the Frank Lowy take-over, you could accept that he and his cohorts wanted to make a break, to promote new football, not old soccer. Now that they are firmly established, they have the self-confidence to look back and promote the heroes and heroines of the game, who helped make its history.
The FFA has recognised the contribution of the Australian Football Hall of Fame, which was the result of the tireless work of Melbourne Olympic games representative, Ted Smith, Morwell Falcons patron Dom di Fabrizio and journalist Ted Simmons among others. Now the Socceroo Club brings together all those who have worn the green and gold at senior level for Australia. Before Australia took on China in Sydney on 22 June, commemorative caps were presented to Socceroo icons, Ray Richards, Doug Utjesenovic, Ron Corry, Alan Maher, Gary Manuel, Murray Barnes and Charlie Yankos, by another of their number, Ray Baartz.
In his opening remarks, Ray Baartz said the Socceroo Club members were keen to assist the growth of the game. They would give advice to young players considering going overseas. But he pointed to gaps which exist in our football history, including the lack of tradition in the game. The FFA does not have photos of many of the older players who have represented Australia, for example.
The first Socceroo to be recognised was Dragan (Doug) Utjesenovic. He was born in Serbia in 1946 and played with OFK in Belgrade, then came to Australia at age 23 in 1969 He played with JUST and Melbourne Hungaria, then had 10 years with St George Budapest in Sydney. Ray Baartz got a laugh by saying Utjesenovic was his hero when he was growing up. Ray is one year younger than Doug! Doug played every minute of every match in the qualifying rounds and the World Cup finals in 1973–74. In all he had 61 caps and scored two goals between 1972 and 1976. He retired at 34 and went on to coach Apia-Leichardt, Parramatta Eagles and Bonnyrigg White Eagles.
Ray Richards was another born in 1946, in his case in England. He came to Queensland to play for Latrobe, then Hollandia before moving to Sydney Croatia for a season, followed by a decade at Marconi. A tough, all-action midfield enforcer he played in all three matches in Germany at the World Cup in 1974, getting sent off in the final match against Chile. He gained 60 caps and scored 10 goals for the Socceroos.
Gary Manuel is less well known. Born in 1950 he had six games in the green and gold including the matches against Uruguay, Indonesia and Israel in 1974. He played for Prague and Pan-Hellenic in Sydney.
Ron Corry, was born in Sydney in 1941 and played 33 times in goals for the Socceroos. From Canterbury, he moved via Pan Hellenic to Sydney Croatia, where he was keeper from 1966 till 1975. Later he kept for Manly and Marconi, then coached Croatia, Blacktown and Wollongong in the National Soccer League, plus stints as goalkeeping coach with the Socceroos.
Alan Maher was another Socceroo keeper, born in 1950, and racked up 39 games for his country. His club career was spent with Sutherland and Marconi in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Murray Barnes received 51 caps, and scored 9 goals. He skippered the Socceroos in 1980–81 including the World Cup qualifiers when New Zealand topped the Oceania group and went to Spain. He played with Hakoah and with Sydney City in the NSL.
The final honouree got perhaps the biggest cheer of the night, Charlie Yankos. He racked up 86 caps and scored 11 goals including the ferocious free kick against Argentina in the 1988 Gold Cup and another against Israel. Captain of Frank Arok’s ‘mad dogs’ Charlie epitomised the determination of that generation of players. He played with Heidelberg United, then moved to APIA before a stint in Greece with PAOK Salonika in 1988–89. When he returned to Australia he had spells at Blacktown and Wollongong in the NSL.

Teams no longer with us. Footscray JUST

Goal Weekly, Monday, 2 June 2008

By Roy Hay

JUST, the Jugoslav United Soccer Team, was founded in Melbourne in March 1950 by Ivan Kuketz, a local hotelier and vice-president of the Brighton club where a number of recently-arrived Yugoslav players were playing. Kuketz had come to Australia from Europe in the 1930s and was of Croatian background. He was assisted by John Ivanovic. Harold Holt, then Minister for Immigration in the Menzies government, helped Kuketz to recruit players from Bonegilla and other migrant centres in Victoria, Canberra and New South Wales.
JUST had a swift climb to the top level in Victorian football. It won Division Three South in 1950. In 1951 JUST was the only unbeaten team in Victoria as it ran away with Division Two and won the Dockerty Cup for the first time. Inside forward Stevo Zakomarac was one of the stars of the early 1950s, representing Victoria against England in 1951 within a few months of his arrival. He had played with Radnicki in Belgrade before the war. Though there was always a strong core of Yugoslav players, JUST drew on talent from many countries. Spanish inside forward Jose ‘Pepe’ Cubero shared the Argus Medal with Bob Wemyss in 1956. Maltese recruits Lolly and Tony Vella also starred with JUST in the 1950s.
At the time Juventus was the dominant team in Victorian football and JUST became one of its main challengers. JUST reached the First Division for the 1952 season, playing at Yarra Park. Then it moved to Orrong Park, Como Park and the Melbourne Showgrounds before settling in Footscray at Schintler Reserve in 1961 following amalgamation with, or perhaps more accurately, a take-over of Footscray Capri. JUST won the Victorian Division One championship in 1957 by four points from Moreland, though it had the league sewn up much earlier and took its foot off the pedal in the last few rounds. This was the final season before the start of the State League in 1958.
JUST’s record was stunning. It won the State League in 1963, 1969, 1971 and 1973, the Dockerty Cup in 1951, 1963 and 1976, the Ampol Cup in 1955, 1956, 1957, 1960 and 1966 (1965 according to the VSF), the Australian Ampol Cup in 1960 and the State League Cup in 1973, 1974 and 1975. (or 1974,1975 and 1976 according to the VSF Yearbook 2000). It also won the reserves competition, the Armstrong Cup in 1968.
Rale Rasic arrived from Belgrade in 1962, thanks to the assistance of Tiko Jelisavcic who was player-coach at Yugal in Sydney. In his autobiography, Rasic describes the move as ‘going from living on the French Riviera to living in the Stone Age’. But JUST was welcoming and had a cadre of top class players including Frank Micic, Billy Rice, Jim Milisavljevic, Cec Dickson and later Tommy Stankovic. In 1963 JUST won the State League and the Dockerty Cup. In 1964 Rasic returned to Jugoslavia to do his national service, but also undertook a university degree, and came back to Australia when that was done in January 1966. He began his coaching career with JUST and then with the Victorian State team and in 1970 succeeded ‘Uncle’ Joe Vlasits as coach of the Socceroos.
In the 1970s the club continued to pile up championships and cups and Footscray JUST was a founder member of the National Soccer League in 1977 under its dynamic president Tony Kovac. In 1985 it finished in last place in the Southern Conference, when the NSL had been split in 1984. Saved from relegation, JUST bounced back in 1986 to record its best ever finish as runner-up to Brunswick United Juventus. In the finals series, JUST reached the Southern Division Grand Final going down by two goals to one against Adelaide City at Olympic Park. Jugoslav legend, Drago Sekularac was coach of the year in 1986. Ossie Latif was top scorer for JUST that year with 8 goals. But this proved to be JUST’s swansong. In the next two years it finished well down the table and in 1989 it came second last and was relegated.
JUST played in the Victorian State League as Melbourne City JUST in 1990. Ken Knight was Secretary. In 1991 it was down to State League Division One following the inception of the Victorian Premier League and it had been colonised by South Americans. Mr J Pacheco took over as Secretary and all connection with the Jugoslav/Serbian community was severed. In 1994 when in Division Three Melbourne City moved to Keilor Park Reserve, so the Footscray connection also disappeared.
Over the years JUST had many top class players including Ivan Pikl, Branko Buljevic, Slobodan Zoraja and Mendo Ristovski, while coach Pepe Dugina helped develop Socceroo stars including Oscar Crino and Alan Davidson.
My thanks to Milan Ninovic for assistance with this column.

The first World Cup attempt in 1965

Goal Weekly, Monday 12 May 2008, p. 11

By Roy Hay

Next month Australia will continue its attempt to reach the World Cup finals in South Africa with a series of qualifying matches against Iraq, China and Qatar. If it succeeds it will then go on to a second stage which will determine the four automatic places for the Asian Confederation, with the fifth placed team facing a play-off against the Oceania winner. So to get there Australia could face 18 matches in all.

In 1965 Australia had its first tilt at the World Cup and faced a very different scenario. Of the four countries in the Asia-Oceania qualifying group South Korea withdrew and South Africa was banned. So there was only one opponent, North Korea, and the two matches were played at a neutral venue in Cambodia (Kampuchea) in November.

The Australian preparation consisted of four weeks training in Cairns but only one practice match against local side Ingham. The last international match for the Australian team had been against Chelsea in May 1965. Meanwhile the North Koreans had played around 35 internationals in three years and the squad consisted of full time players and members of the services. Johnny Warren describes the culture shock faced by the Australians on their first visit to Asia and how much they underestimated their opponents. As he said, ‘it was like landing on another planet.’

The Australian squad of 20 players had 7 Scots, 5 English and 5 Australians, plus an Irishman, a German and Steve Herczeg from South Australia, whose birthplace I have been unable to establish. It is true that one of the English-born was John Watkiss who grew up in Botany alongside Johnny Warren. The coach was Tiko Jelisavcic from Jugoslavia who was player-coach at Hakoah in Sydney.

None of the players from overseas had established themselves at the highest level, though some had a little first team experience with good club sides. Both keepers, John Roberts and Bill Rorke were Australians and though Roberts was criticised for his performance in the first match against North Korea, he was the only one of that generation to go the other way and establish himself in English football with Blackburn Rovers, Chesterfield, Bradford City and Southend United.

Nigel Shepherd and Stan Ackerley were the full backs, with Pat Hughes, Billy Rice and Les Scheinflug at half-back, and the forwards were Geoff Sleight, John Anderson, Archie Blue, John Watkiss and David Todd. Les Scheinflug, who was to be Rale Rasic’s assistant in the successful 1974 campaign, was the skipper.

Several of the Australians had been affected by injuries or illness in the lead-up to the first game in the Olympic Stadium on 21 November 1965. A crowd of 60,000 packed the ground, cheering for the Koreans. The heat and the humidity were oppressive and the speed and physicality of their opponents took the Australians by surprise. An early goal to the marvellous Pak Do Ik was the only score in the first half, though Watkiss narrowly missed a chance just before the break. Then in a thirteen-minute spell, North Korea scored three times, before Scheinflug converted a penalty after Watkiss had been brought down. Two late goals to North Korea completed a 6–1 drubbing.

For the second match three days later, Jelisavcic made 5 changes bringing in Bill Rorke in goal, Billy Cook, Roy Blitz, Steve Herczeg and Jim Pearson. With more height in attack and a clear awareness of what they were up against, Australia took the game to the Koreans. After a quarter of an hour, the enterprise was rewarded when Blitz and Pearson set up Scheinflug for his second goal of the series. But the lead only lasted four minutes as Pak Seung Jin deceived Rorke with an effort from 20 metres. Just after half-time Korea went ahead though Kim Seung Il, and the same player completed the scoring late on.

There were several bizarre things about this whole episode. If Australia had won the second match, there would have been a play-off, because goal difference did not count in these matches. After the two qualifiers Australia went on to play a series of friendly matches against Asian countries and a Swedish team to help defray the cost of the World Cup expedition. Had these matches been played before, not after, it would have made sense and given the Australians much needed match practice and acclimatisation. So lessons were learned by from this disastrous effort, though it took another failed campaign before the success of 1974.

For North Korea qualification was just the stepping stone to its heroics in England where it defeated and thus helped eliminate Italy in its group and led Portugal by three goals to nil before Eusebio and his colleagues regained control to win by 5–3.

Italian teams in Australia

Published as 'The Italian Jobs'

Goal Weekly, Monday 5 May 2008, p. 11.
By Roy Hay

The mighty Juventus will play Melbourne Victory on 30 May bringing back memories of previous matches against Italian clubs on tour to Australia.

AS Roma was the first to arrive after the Second World War and it played two games at Olympic Park in 1966, setting the crowd attendance record for that venue variously put at 37,500 and 35,856 in the first of these. Either way it is the crowd record for Olympic Park. Roma won the first game by four goals to two after scoring in the first minute through Angelo Spanio, but when the Vics hit back with goals by Norm Gajda and Frank Micic, the crowd began singing ‘Arrivederci Roma’, before late efforts by Spanio again, Fulvio Francesconi and Victor Benitez swung the game back to the visitor. The second match attracted 15,694. Roma won by a goal to nil.

In 1976 Bologna arrived and played the Socceroos in Adelaide and Sydney. Australia beat Bologna by three goals to one at Hindmarsh in Adelaide, with goals by Richie Bell, Dave Harding and Atti Abonyi. The second match at the Sydney Cricket Ground was a scoreless draw. An Italian army team also visited in 1976 and it downed Australia 3–1 at the Sydney Sports Ground in front of 15,000 on 18 May.

Four years later AC Milan made the first of its two visits. Australia beat the Italian giant by two goals to one thanks to Gary Cole and Mark Jankovics at the Sydney Sports Ground on 18 May 1980. Tom Anderson described the Milan tackles and defensive methods as ‘crude, rude and downright dirty’. Jimmy Rooney captained the Australian team. ‘The wee man stood head and shoulders above them all’, according to the match report in Soccer Action. That year Milan was relegated to Serie B for its part in a match-fixing scandal.

Milan beat Western Australia 3–2, South Australia 3–1 and Victoria by 2–0 in front of 18,000 at Olympic Park.

It came back again in 1993 as Serie A champion and played two matches on successive nights in Sydney and Melbourne. Stunning displays by Mark Bosnich in goal could not prevent defeats through a Tony Vidmar own goal in the first match and strikes by Marco Simone and Gianluigi Lentini in the second at Princes Park. Referee John Fraser came in for criticism for carving nine minutes off the first half of the latter game, though some said it was done so Milan could catch the late night flight back to Italy.

Juventus has also been here before. In 1984 it arrived as the holder of the European Cup Winners Cup and played a three-match series against Australia. Iraklis, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and Glasgow Rangers also took part in the month long tournament. Australia drew one-all with Juve at the MCG, thanks to a powerful David Ratcliffe header from a Joe Watson corner, only for Giovanni Koetting to equalise late in the game. Australia went down by four goals to two in Adelaide in the second match, but bounced back for a stunning 2–0 win in Sydney with goals from Steve O’Connor and Marshall Soper. Antonio Cabrini was sent off just before half-time, but coach Giovanni Trapattoni said Australia won because ‘it showed more heart and wanted to win more than we did’.

Udinese was next to appear in 1985 taking part in a four team tournament with Tottenham Hotspur, Vasco da Gama from Brazil and the Socceroos. Australia defeated the Italians at Football Park in Adelaide by two goals to one. The games were played as double-headers and Udinese drew with Vasco at the MCG and beat Spurs 2–0 in Sydney. One of my memories of that tournament is of locked gates on the upper deck of the MCG in the week after the Bradford fire in which many people perished when exits were barred to fleeing spectators.

Sampdoria toured the Far East in 1996, downing Perth Glory by 3 goals to nil on the Australian leg of its journey. Kris Trajanovski, Geelong-born Socceroo, turned out for Indonesia against Sampdoria in front of over 100,000 in Jakarta, and marked England captain David Platt, during that tour.
An Italian women’s team visited in January 1999, playing two matches and winning the first on penalties despite being down to 8 players after three were sent off. The second saw a one-nil win to the Matildas thanks to Cheryl Salisbury’s strike in 19 minutes at Bruce Stadium.

The most recent Italian team to play in Australia was the Under-23 team which took part in the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. In the opening match with the Olyroos at the MCG before 93,252 Italy grabbed a late winner after an error by Hayden Foxe. A win over Honduras, and a draw with Nigeria got Italy into the quarter final, where it went down in turn to a late goal by Spain.

Brunswick United Juventus, our local National Soccer League club, went the other way, meeting Roma in Rome in 1985. That trip came as a bonus from the president, Tony Schiavello, for winning the NSL championship that year.

I am indebted to Andrew Howe, Egilberto Martin, Russell Lea, Nick Guoth, Denis Harlow, Richard Kreider, John Punshon and the contributors to the Ozfootball website for information for this article. Photographs by permission of Les Shorrock and John Punshon.

Soccer's Legal Guru

Geelong Advertiser, Thursday 17 April 2008, p. 39.

by Roy Hay

Geelong lawyer and soccer writer John Didulica has just won a key post as Legal Counsel for the Football Federation of Australia. In that role he will have an influence on the way the game develops and is administered in Australia and internationally. ‘As a lawyer, the challenge of sport is very tricky. It is never purely a legal role, you must always be asking yourself, what is the sport trying to achieve? There is a balance between understanding and applying the law in an environment where passion and emotion are involved in the sport,’ he said.
A star with North Geelong and later a top class National League and Victorian Premier League player until a series of knee operations ended his career, Didulica completed his law degree at Deakin University. After completing his articles with local firm Coulter Roche he branched out on his own, while acting as manager to his brother, Joey Didulica now with AZ Alkmaar in Holland, and becoming the legal counsel and later chief executive of the Australian Professional Footballers Association. It was there that he gained an intimate knowledge of player contracts and the statutes and regulations which are the nuts and bolts of the professional game. He was appointed to its international tribunal by FIFA, the governing body of world football in 2005. As if that workload was not demanding enough he took over the soccer column of the Geelong Advertiser. This year he was recognised as the Geelong Soccer Personality for 2008 for his contributions to the game.
Having re-established his legal practice, Didulica Legal, in Geelong and married Olivia Baric, Didulica was unwilling to relocate full-time to Sydney where the FFA has its headquarters. So he has negotiated a contract that will see him spend 3 days at week in the harbour city at least until July.
He takes up his role at a particularly exciting time for the game in this country, with World Cup qualification already under way, links with Asia developing through the Asian Champions League and the Beijing Olympic Games, in which the Olyroos will take part, and the A-League becoming firmly established as a flagship competition. Then there is the commitment by the Federal Government to a bid to host the World Cup in 2018.
‘I know what I would like to achieve for the game. It is important that the game is run as a business, but that is the means to an end. The values which must shape the game are those of fair play and entertainment. I admire the egalitarianism of the AFL and the application of those values to the administration of our code will help make the FFA a better custodian of the game,’ he said. In his new role, John Didulica will have a significant influence on the growth of football in this country.

Geelong and Newcastle: A study in soccer contrasts

published as 'Geelong must follow Jets into A-League'

Geelong Advertiser, Tuesday 26 February 2008, p. 35

By Roy Hay

On Sunday the Newcastle Jets won the third A-League Grand Final at the same time as Geelong’s leading football (soccer) clubs were wrestling for a spot in the finals of the local competition which has replaced the long-running Geelong Advertiser Cup. The contrasts could not have been greater in terms of playing standard and local organisation of the world game. Yet the two cities are not dissimilar in a host of ways so a look at the reasons why Newcastle has been successful and Geelong has not is instructive.

First however the similarities betwen the two cities. Both draw on a region of around a quarter of a million people and are located almost equidistant from the state capital and metropolitan centre. Both have strong industrial and commercial bases with extensive educational and service supports. Newcastle used to be a major mining centre which helps explain its historical development as a centre of soccer, almost independent of Sydney in its own Northern New South Wales hinterland. Geelong had its western district wool growing, a very different demographic structure and one much less conducive to the emergence of what was for many years an immigrants’ game. This difference more or less disappeared after the Second World War, when Geelong attracted thousands of migrants from Britain and Europe, who brought their soccer with them, while the significance of the mines around Newcastle declined relative to iron and steel and engineering. Both cities are homes to major teams in other codes of football. Geelong has the Cats in the AFL and the Newcastle Knights have been a powerhouse in Rugby League.

So objectively the two cities have similar potential as far as soccer is concerned but the outcomes have been very different. Newcastle has had a single team which is the focus of the local interest and involvement, even though the name has changed several times. The Jets succeed Newcastle United, KB United, and several other iterations at National League level since the 1970s. Geelong is completely divided along what are largely ethnically-based lines and only North Geelong, backed by the Croatian migrant community, has reached the Victorian Premier League, a long way below the national league. Yet Geelong, and particularly North Geelong, has produced a string of international and national level players including Edi Krncevic, Steve Horvat, Kris Trajanovski, Josip Skoko, the Cervinski and Didulica brothers, Adrian Leijer, Matthew Spiranovic and many more. Certainly enough to form a quality national league team had they all been available at the same time.

In the 1960s, the early 1980s and again in the early 1990s serious attempts were made to form a combined Geelong soccer organisation capable of supporting a team at national league level, but each time the strongest of the local clubs helped scupper the initiative believing that it could go it alone. Each time that club had some initial success then equally quickly fell away and the game went backwards.

The message is clear. The window of opportunity for the formation of a top-level soccer organisation in Geelong is open now for a brief period. The A-League will see the successful Melbourne Victory franchise come to the end of its exclusive period in two years. If the league is going to expand to 12 teams, probably the maximum possible given the available talent pool, then Geelong needs to have a viable proposition available within that time. Government money and interest is likely to be available, given the acceptance by the Rudd government of a bid by Australia to host the World Cup in 2018. This implies a serious development of the game at the local and regional level. Interest in the game has never been higher. For the first time this is driven by the domestic population, not a wave of inward migration, though that is helping to support grass-roots growth at the moment.

My fear is that the local clubs do not have the capacity or the will to be part of such an exercise and hence it will require, as it has in Newcastle, the intervention of an individual or a corporation prepared to throw its support behind the concept of a regional organisation. This will have to bypass what exists now as Frank Lowy and his colleagues did, again with large scale government support, in setting up what is now the Football Federation of Australia and its A-League.

Long road to glory begins

Geelong Advertiser, Thursday, 7 February 2008, p. 46.

By Roy Hay

They say the longest journey begins with a single step, and last night at a packed Telstra Dome the Socceroos took the first step on the long road to the World Cup in South Africa in 2010. A three-nil win over lowly Qatar may not be seen as an unexpected result, but it was critically important to get the campaign off to a good start. Before the game I spoke to one of the Qatari journalists covering the match, Karim Jaffar, a photographer who also writes for an Arab daily. He assured me that Qatar would not put a defensive wall of ten men behind the ball, but that they would try to take the game to Australia, despite the absence of three key players, including suspended striker Sebastian Quintana. But that plan never had a chance because the Socceroos grabbed a classic route one goal after only ten minutes through beanpole striker, Josh Kennedy.

A packed Telstra Dome yelled its collective head off, mixing not a little relief with the exultation. For new coach Pim Verbeek it must also have lifted the burden of gambling on a short preparation and no chance to get his European players together before the opening match. So when Tim Cahill headed a second following a corner kick, Verbeek got the next big cheer when he controlled a wayward ball on the touchline before flicking it to David Carney to take a throw-in. It was turning into that kind of night.

Those with memories of the qualifying game against Iran in 1997 were still a little toey about a two-nil scoreline. On that occasion Australia dominated the match until serial pest Peter Hoare made an entry and held up the game for ten minutes. The Socceroos lost momentum and two goals going out of the World Cup undefeated but on away goals. This time Australia got a third goal when Scott McDonald found Mark Bresciano for a close range finish.

At half-time the Qatari coach Jorge Fossatti, who was in charge when Australia overcame Uruguay in a penalty shoot out en route to Germany in 2006, put on two substitutes Messad Alim and Wissam Risk who livened things up for the visitor. Alim twice got through but could not find the net, showing that the Qatari failing in front of goal remains its biggest weakness. Australia weathered that period and strolled through the second half, creating the odd chances but keeping well within itself. An injury to Kennedy was the only sour note, and the Karlsrühe striker will hope that he can recover quickly to regain his place in his new team.

Verbeek left to a great reception, but the next games will be a tougher test for the Socceroos. The first step has been taken.