Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame?

In looking to add more profiles of VABFA/VSF/FFV Life Members to add to the Biographies page of this blog, I had another look through the Hall of Fame section of the FFA website.

Nothing ever surprises me in terms of neglect of the history of the game in this country. Even still, I was taken aback by the lack of detail afforded to many of the individuals apparently "honoured" by their induction into the Hall of Fame. It is supposed to be an honour, but with so little respect afforded to many inductees the use of the term is questionable.

Let's go back to the inaugural 1999 induction:

There is no picture or profile for any of the first sixteen names listed. It is not like many of them are from early last century either, some are still involved in the game today. The 1974 Socceroos fare best, with recent efforts to make amends for years of shoddy treatment ensuring all their profiles are complete. For many others, the FFA has neglected to properly salute them on their own Hall of Fame page. Surely in the SIXTEEN years since they have been inducted some basic research could have been conducted?

List of inductees not properly honoured:

1999

George Smith (No image, no text)
Cliff Sander (No image, no text)
John Perin (No image, no text)
Frank Parsons (No image, no text)
Jeff Olver (No image, no text)
Gordon Nunn (No image, no text)
Sergio Melta (No image, no text)
Gary Marocchi (No image, no text)
Allan Johns (No image, no text)
Tom Jack (No image, no text)
William "Bill" Henderson (No image, no text)
Jack Evans (No image, no text)
Michael de Bruyckere (No image no text, while he Anglicised his Christian name to "Mike" if we have William "Bill" Henderson it should probably be Sjel "Mike" de Bruyckere)
William Coolahan (No image, no text)
Jim Armstrong (No image, no text)
Ron Adair (No image, no text)
John Nyskohus (No image)
James McNabb (No image)
William Maunder (No image)
Frank Laughran (No image)
Bob Lawrie (No image)
Ron Wright (No image)
Sir William Walkley (No image)
William Thomas (No image)
Ron Smith (No image)
Martin Royal (No image)
Peter Nikolich (No image)
Des Miles (No image)
Graham McMillan (No image)
Frank McIver (No image)
Zoran Matic (No image)
Jack Logan (No image)
Brian Leferve (No image)
Tony Kovac OAM (No image)
Tom Grimson (No image)
Keith Gilmour (No image)
Pam Gilbert (No image)
Harry Croft (No image)
Donald Campbell (No image)
Fred Barlow (No image)
Eric Worthington (No image)
Laurie Schwab (No image)
Julius Re (No image)
Sam Papasavas OAM (No image)
Dieter Klose (No image)
Brian Corrigan (No image)
Ian Brusasco AM (No image)
Giacomo "Jim" Bayutti OA (No image)
Michael Weinstein AM, BEM (No image)
Vic Tuting MBE (No image)
Robert Telfer (No image)
Theo Marmaris MBE (No image)
Arthur Gibbs (No image)
John Walter Fletcher (No image)
Harry Dockerty (No image)
Tony Boskovic (No image)
Connie Selby (No image)
Sir Arthur George AO (No image)

2000

Alex Gibb (No profile)
Kevin O'Neill (No profile)
Chris Bambridge (No image)
Don Sutherland (No image)

2001

Bill Vojtek (No image, no profile)
Cecil Drummond (No image, no profile)
Leo Baumgartner (No profile)
Gary Byrne (No profile)
Robert Dunn (No profile)
Ken Murphy (No profile)
Doug Rennie (No image)

2002

James Wilkinson (No profile)
George Harris (No profile)
Branko Buljevic (No profile, how about start with 1974 World Cup Socceroo)
Siri Kannangara (No image)
Rodney Woods (No image)

2003

Wally Savor (No image, no profile)
Percy Lennard (No image, no profile)
William "Bill" Henderson (Seems to have been inducted a second time, still not good enough to get his image or profile added)
Colin Bennett (No image)
Steve O'Connor (No image)
Roy Crowhurst (No profile)
David Harding (No profile)
Betty Hoar (No image)
Les Murray (No image, it can't be that hard for the face of football media)
Joseph J Honeysett (No image)

2004

Todd Clarke (No profile)
Ian Gray (No profile)
Peter Thorne (No image)
Jane Oakley (No image)

2005

Mike Petersen (No image, can they not get Ange Postecoglu to take a pic on his phone?)
Alec Cameron (No profile)
Craig Johnson (No profile, can they not borrow his book?)
Bruce Morrow (No profile)
Roger Lamb (No image)
Vic Dalgleish (No image)
Phil Murphy (No image)

2006

Peter Sharne (No profile)
Ernie Campbell (No profile)

2007

Steve Blair (No image, and he even has a website with a great collection of Aussie soccer photos)

2008

John De Witt (No image)

2009

Tony Vidmar (No profile, his brother got image and profile with his induction the previous year)


Neglecting those honoured in the past is nothing new, I have already previously covered it regarding the issue of VSF/FFV Life Members. The state of the FFA Hall of Fame on their website is embarrassing.

This is the standard the FFA should aspire to: AFL Hall of Fame

When they can't even offer basic profiles for all Hall of Fame members, one can only laugh at the regular calls from eminent journalists for a National Football Museum. What are the odds they could make a decent fist of that? A shrine to themselves, maybe, a proper historical museum, no chance,.