This is the blog post I've had the most difficulty in writing, and it's not just because the last time I did a book review was back at school in the late 1980's. I've struggled with how to deal with some things from a book which I largely admired and is clearly a work of great significance.
Roy Hay and Bill Murray's A History of Football in Australia: A Game of Two Halves is certainly a grand undertaking. A game with a poorly recorded history (particularly from it's own governing bodies) clouded with so many diverging political issues, it was never going to be an easy task to sum it all up in a manner that would satisfy everyone.
The chapter on the women's game towards the conclusion is a strong one. It's a lighter read than the heavy opening to the book which deals with the how the various forms of football were codified in the late nineteenth century. Once over this necessary introduction, the book soon delves into the various struggles of the game as it spread across the colonies. The hindrance of financial depressions and World Wars give way to migrant boom times and the expulsion from FIFA.
The book is tremendously well-researched, as one would expect from two fine academics. There are hundreds of notations. It touches on the "Code Wars" without becoming bogged down in them, which is no mean feat.
There are some great insights into the numerous breakaways from previous governing bodies and the early World Cup qualification campaigns. Throughout the book, there are some amazing photographs which really capture their time perfectly.
A famous quote, most often attributed to Winston Churchill, is that "History is written by the victors". With that in mind it is noteworthy that the Foreword of this book is written by Frank Lowy AC, Chairman of Football Federation Australia.
Does this mean there is a lack of balance and objectivity in sections of the book later on? One can certainly raise a few questions. In the chapter relating to the NSL it is noted that "The 1987 season began in controversy when Frank Lowy, who had been at loggerheads with the ASF about the direction the game was taking, pulled Sydney City Hakoah out of the league after the first round". It does not go on to expand on how destabilising the action was to the competition, or treat the act of spite (later it is written he "had learned and come to despise Australian soccer politics") in the same disdain later expressed at how Clive Palmer's ownership of Gold Coast United would come to an end.
Whilst much is written about the Crawford Report, no mention is made of critical elements to it yet to be implemented. Similarly whilst it is explained how the the voting structures for the State Federations were reformed to take power from top tier clubs and share it with bodies representing juniors, women's teams and refereeing bodies, little is mentioned of how the FFA no longer seems to have any elections.
The former Chairman of Soccer Australia, David Hill, though described as divisive is also portrayed rather favourably. In relation to the infamous draw with Iran which saw Australia fail to qualify for the 1998 World Cup, Terry Venables is labelled as being out-coached on several occasions. To be critical of the coach, should one be as critical of the man who appointed him? When Venables is described as erring in not bringing on Milan Ivanovic to try and hold the lead at 2-0, I can't help but think of Zoran Matic, Ivanovic's highly successful club coach at Adelaide City. The Serb Matic would have stood a better chance of being appointed Socceroos coach under any number of Croats that may have been Chairman than he did from getting the job from the famously Anglophile Hill.
Perhaps I'm making too much of these issues, but with this book likely to be the first foray into the extended history of the game in this country for many readers, it does need to be pointed out that it is just a version of history and that being definitive on such as subject is probably impossible.
Does it deserve to sit atop the pile of books about the game in Australia? It's a question, like many aspects of the sport here, that is a real political football.
I've only read the first part - Murray's section up to 1957 - and I've liked what I've read so far. The breakaways and battles for political control are shown as being played out again and again, with the lessons of the past being constantly forgotten by the winners of those battles. Still, it's useful that Murray demonstrates that battles over political control and competitive models are not just an 'ethnic' issue.
ReplyDeleteA good look at that is John Kallinikios 'Soccer Boom'
http://southmelbournefc.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/soccer-boom-transformation-of-victorian.html
When it comes to the political debates of the present era, it's probably easier to be objective about those days, rather than what's going on now, for whichever side of the ledger you fall on. Where some would see corporate and/or political opportunism in the way the most recent revolution had been carried out, others will look at the greater good, or the greater whole, and see a national league succeeding, multiple world cup appearances, more emphasis on womens soccer etc
Others will of course see that others have been left behind, that the Socceroos are becoming a placeholder team in the world cup, youth development stalled etc - and as you've rightly pointed out, the failure of Crawford to be implemented, even the far too common misnomer that Crawford said we should have the A-League as it came to be, explicitly leaving out ethnics - when that report was mostly about the governance issues at Soccer Australia, and the ethnic comments made by some members of the public who made submissions included in an appendix.
On Hill, the 'anglophile' notion is crucial, because it taps into not just the debates about multiculturalism taking place then and now, but also about the role of the English - or just as often, lack of - in the Australian game, and yet our willingness to give their culture - terrace, playing, commercial - precedence over all other forms of foreign football. (with the exception of the odd SBS talking head).
I think Murray does that in his section of the book, with the constant and mostly failed attempts to get English teams over - all the while the local Scots are dominating the local game as players and administrators.
We're going to need more books on Australian soccer to sort out all of this stuff. A fair and objective book on the NSL especially is of the utmost importance.
With a chapter titled "The second coming of Frank Lowy" I don't think anyone should have issue with the objectivity of the book being questioned.
ReplyDeleteSomething like that just adds to the messiah complex we have in Australian soccer. We constantly expect 'marquee' players and foreign touring teams to boost crowds, foreign coaches to get us to the world cup and get us playing jogo bonito at the same time - even the beatification of Johnny Warren (and his inner circle - now that Les Murray is going to retire, the process of forgiving him for being mates with Hargitay has already started).
DeleteAll it ends up doing is either stifling debate, or polarising it. Unfortunately, because most people are on the pro-reform ends justify the means side, taking the side of the current governors no matter what, pretty much any debate is seen as 'bitterness' - when often what lot of those people (me included, admittedly) is more complex analysis and discussion.
But where politics used to be a core element of Australian soccer discussions, especially on SBS, we've now devolved into something well, I don't know, because I don't even know about when their soccer panel programming is on.
'That' Clive Palmer interview on the TWG from a few year ago now, was like watching something from classic On The Ball. Have we really ended up in the situation where the journos and administrators are all mates like in the AFL?
On your last point, yes. Look at twitter and compare journos to the official Socceroos account, bar for giving away a few prizes you'd struggle to spot the difference. Be a publicist and you get in the inner circle and life is easier....
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