The Sad State

I don't really want to write posts critical of the management of the game all the time, but what is the alternative? If you accept poor standards, you are just as complicit as those who deliver them for the sad state of affairs we find ourselves in.

A sad state it is indeed. When two Directors step down from the Board on the same day, in the same week as another CEO is turned over we are in a similar condition to the state of Denmark circa the 1500's.

To me this poses many questions. Why? What is going on? Who is to blame? Is the Board of the FFV dysfunctional? And more and more, why aren't more people demanding answers? Without any real scrutiny, it is not hard to see why the situation seems to be getting worse rather than better.

In an age when journalism increasingly seems to involve rehashing official press releases (no different to Year Seven students changing a few sentences around when copying their homework from someone else) perhaps I'm being optimistic to expect any better.

Without delving into innuendo, what we do know for sure is that:

FFV CEO Mitchell Murphy has resigned

His tenure was hardly longer than that of the previous interim appointment, Peter Gome.

FFV Director Kimon Taliadoros has tendered his resignation

From his candidacy statement we know he wanted to focus on governance. Are things that bad that he wants to disassociate himself from them after a relatively short time on the board?

FFV Director Aldrin De Zilva has also tendered his resignation

This is less surprising. Given that he is facing charges of misconduct from an Under 13's NPL fixture one may have thought that he would have been temporarily stood down immediately pending the hearing for that matter.

What adds to the intrigue in this case is that he had reported concerns about the disclosures of the financial situation of the FFV to Consumer Affairs Victoria and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. That has given the conspiracy theorists plenty to work with.

Without a media prepared to investigate or ask the hard questions, who knows when we will get any answers? The FFA has only ever proven to put in token interest in the problems of the game at the lower end of the food chain. These issues are secondary to shifting as much Socceroos merchandise prior to the World Cup as possible. No one there must care about grass roots football. As long as Timmy Cahill's fashion gear isn't made in dodgy Asian sweatshops, there's no real scandal that would concern them.

On twitter a few weeks ago I sarcastically expressed concern that Zagame's should be the naming rights sponsor of the NPLV junior leagues.

@nplvictoria @ZagamesHotels It's good to see junior kids being exposed to gambling and drinking at a young age
— Mark Boric (@MarkBoric) April 17, 2014

Though billed as a family restaurant, it was the connection to gaming venues that raised my eyebrow. A week later an AFL player is arrested after a fight involving security guards in which crutches were allegedly used as weapons at their Caulfield venue. There is currently no naming rights sponsor for the senior NPLV Leagues. Even if the sponsorship deal did not meet the expectation for naming rights of the senior competition, why you wouldn't have given a chain associated with gaming and alcohol the naming rights for the senior league rather than risk the junior competition being linked with drinking, gambling and violence baffles me.

I'm also taken aback that the South Melbourne television crew should be made to assemble a scaffold gantry themselves for their fixture at Werribee this week. I would have thought that if a venue didn't meet requirements, the hosts would feel more obliged to assist in overcoming any deficiencies. Throwing someone some pipes and parts and saying "there you go" does not come up to scratch in my opinion. Especially when you have some clubs being docked points for upholding the letter of the law in terms of fielding junior teams. The old saying is "rules are rules". Under the FFV it seems that some rules matter, and others don't. How's the governance on that?

Finally, it was good to see the FFV get involved in the DON'T STAND BY. STAND UP! campaign against racism. I suppose they don't have anyone there anymore who refers to "you people" in reference to ethnic clubs?

Transparency, Or The Lack Thereof

Back after the first week of the NPLV season, the contributor known as Kiss of Death on the South of the Border blog uncovered the fact that Trent Rixon should have served a suspension in the opening round. In light of the revelation in the post from March 17 it is interesting to see how the matter was handled.

If Northcote City did indeed seek clarification of his status from the FFV prior to fielding him in the game against Melbourne Knights and were told he was eligible to play, it is fair enough no action was taken against them. However it should be incumbent of the FFV to be transparent and explain what occurred. Given the player was not on the team sheet the following round, can we assume it was because he was serving the suspension that week?

An explanation should have been given, it is hard to trust an organisation that sweeps things under the carpet.

Speaking of trust, we can't trust people not to cheat in junior football. Every child must have an ID card (with photo) in the hands of the match official before they can take the field. It is strictly NO CARD, NO PLAY.

In the high stakes NPLV, however, the FFV is yet to share with the public the Player Points System information of the competing clubs. A transparent body would provide a list of each the players registered for each club and their individual points values so everyone could see how clubs stood.

We have players clearly listed on FFV documentation as being suspended playing without any apparent sanction. We have a new PPS which we can't check is being fully adhered to. Then we have kids being treated like criminals if their parents/club haven't been up to date with their paperwork. Seems to be the wrong way around to me.

I'd rather let the kids play and be more stringent on the supposed professionals and elite.

The old Box Hill

The above is a photo (click on it for larger version) of Box Hill Soccer Club from the 1928 season. The establishment of the Box Hill club began in 1922-23 with a team playing sporadic friendly matches. In 1925 the club was admitted to the new Fourth Division of the Victorian Amateur British Football Association. It was a successful season, the Championship clinched with ten wins out of twelve games leaving the club four points ahead of Brighton.

It was a barnstorming start for the pioneers of football in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, who took out the Third Division Championship in 1926. Eleven wins from fourteen games saw them finish two points clear of runner's-up Werribee United.

The following year was that of the District League schism. Box Hill were part of the District League, recognised as the official premier competition in Melbourne football. With one result missing (a game between Box Hill and St Kilda) my records have them level on points with Footscray Thistle and South Melbourne, four points behind Prahran City, the Champions. The inscription on the back of the above photograph lists the club as being runner's-up in the District League of 1927. With the weakest of the three teams on goal difference, a draw in the missing game would give them that position. Alternatively the game may have never been played and it maybe "equal runner's-up" would have been more accurate.

It may well be the latter, as it also lists them as being runner's-up in the District League Southern Division the following year. My records have them level with South Melbourne (but with an inferior goal difference), eleven points behind the Naval Depot who took the Championship.

With the split between the District League and Melbourne District Association resolved, 1929 saw Box Hill competing in the new Second Division, finishing fourth behind Caledonians. Winning the Second Division in 1931 led to a stint in the First Division which ended with relegation in 1935. The club competed through the early years of World War II until going into hiatus from 1942.

Returning to action in 1945 in the expanded top flight, steady improvement each year culminated with Box Hill taking out the First Division Championship in 1948. It would be a mainstay at the top level until 1962.

In the 1928 photo, there are only ten players, perhaps because "selfies" hadn't been invented yet. At the time the club was playing on a ground at the corner of Springfield and Dorking (then Doncaster) Roads in Box Hill North which literally was a cow paddock during the week.

The next picture is of a letter (with neat letterhead) from Box Hill to the Moorabbin City club regarding the possible move of R.Rigby between the clubs. It is from the Olympic year of 1956 when the club finished seventh in the First Division won by Juventus on goal difference from Hakaoh.

The old Box Hill went through an early 1980's revival before a downturn in fortunes eventually led to a merger with Clayton Inter. A further merger with Bulleen which formed Bulleen Inter Kings in 1997 saw the link to Box Hill disappear. Junior and women's clubs continued to play out of the Wembley Park ground, and a merger between them and Southern Suburbs in 2011 saw senior men's football return to the district with the formation of Box Hill United.

Random Research Musings

After two days in which I arrived at the SLV newspaper reading room at 10.a.m and didn't leave until just before 6.00 p.m. closing (without any food, drink or toilet breaks) in a week and then trying to make sense of my appalling note-taking, I may as well share what little discoveries I made.

Deciding to work back in time for a change I had a look for reserve's league champions, League Best and Fairest and Top Goalscorers from the early and mid 2000's. Gave up on that pretty quickly as it was futile. It's stuff that should already be available on the net but to to incompetence it isn't. For another day.

I then moved on to mid and early 1990's Cup Finals of the State League, Provisional League, Amateur League and Armstrong variety. A bit more success here. Found the line-ups for the 1992 Dockerty Cup Final, as well as the score from the curtain raiser, a 1-1 draw between the Victorian state team and South Melbourne Hellas.

1991 saw a play-off between the NSWPL and VPL champions. It was Sutherland v Brunswick Juventus over two legs. Both won 1-0 at home (home city in the case of Juve who used Northcote's John Cain Reserve) leading to a penalty shoot-out won 4-3 by Brunswick.

Always a bittersweet moment finding a Cup final line-ups but no record of the substitutions made. That was in the case of the 1990 Dockerty Cup Final. Melbourne Croatia only had two on the bench, whilst Brunswick Juventus had the full five, with Charlie Egan at least being brought on being gleaned from one match report.

OzFootball has the South Melbourne line-up for the infamous 1988 Dockerty Cup Final, but not that of Melbourne Croatia. Which is of main interest being the Final is infamous for seeing winners Croatia stripped of their win on protest after bringing on Frank Valentic as sub when he was under suspension from a Youth league game apparently. Did not find their full line-up or substitutions.

Found enough scores from 1954 to finalise the Third Division table. Almost enough to do the same for the Fourth Division, though that picture is muddied by Shell and Slovakia both pulling out, and Victorian Colts being added halfway through the season.

A puzzle stubbornly refusing to be solves is the Third Division of 1951. One score missing, Coburg v Olympic from June 30. I know Coburg won, because going on promotion/relegation the next season they must have secured the two points they needed to jump from fourth to second. The Coburg Courier has the score from the week before and after, but not that week.

Still don't have full line-ups for the 1958, 1959 and 1970's Dockerty Cup Finals. I must say the The Sun's Morrie Buckner was the worst of the old time correspondents I've come across. One match report barely mentioned a single player amid his whinging about the pitch and weather.

Since then I've had a look at some missing goalscorers from the OzFootball records), as I still think that working out a lineage of Top Goalscorers for the VSL/VPL back to 1960 is possible. As of now, there are seven goals unaccounted for in 1964. Will need to go back to see if there are any details around on the replayed game of Alexander 1 Melbourne 3 on Wednesday September 9. As it stands, Mike Mandalis of South Melbourne Hellas heads the list on 16, with all of South's goals accounted for. This puts him two clear of Frank Soffels from Willhelmina, who have one goal missing, so he has him covered. Jimmy Malloy of Melbourne sits on 13, and a hat-trick in that game would have him share honours, and it may be possible because he did most of his scoring in braces or hat-tricks that year.

I've found the missing scorers for 1967, and it was a climactic finish tallying the goals. Tony Hughes of J.U.S.T. scored twice in the final round to draw level on 19 with Jimmy Armstrong (Hakoah) and Attila Abonyi (Melbourne) who went head to head at Middle Park. Abonyi scored the only goal of the game to clinch the Golden Boot.

In 1961 four games from the Public Holiday Monday round on April 3rd remain elusive in terms of goalscorer details. And I mean elusive. Tried the Italian paper Il Globo, as Juventus played Richmond Alemannia that day, but they only covered the subsequent Saturday game in their next issue. Tried the German newspaper Neue Welt and would you believe it there was a "this issue is missing" slide on the microfilm for the relevant week, the only one on a reel covering two years worth of the paper. A tally of the goals sees Alex Beattie of J.U.S.T. on top with 21 goals, again with all their goals accounted for. Joe Haasz is the only one who can catch him, sitting on 19 and with both goals in Slavia's 4-2 loss to Moreland that fateful day still unknown.

Interstate Soccer Carnivals

Firstly, a link to the file of what I have found out about the old Interstate Soccer Carnivals, timely given some were staged over Easter long weekends:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/218337478/Interstate-Soccer-Carnivals

The first Interstate Soccer Carnival was staged by the New South Wales State League in 1932 at various grounds in Sydney and Newcastle. Five states competed, namely New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and Victoria. As with the N.S.L. in the future, the tyranny of distance proved too far to see Western Australia included.

New South Wales topped the table and then crushed South Australia in a Grand Final. With the game progressing well in two major centres of Sydney and Newcastle, the depth at their disposal was critical. For example G.Smith, after scoring five goals and then another in his first two appearances was replaced by Alf Quill who came in and knocked in four goals in his first start.

The traveling teams struggled with a tough schedule, with Victorian team manager Harry Bingham making a comeback in goal for their last game after an injury to George Sheppard (more about him in another blog).

The next Carnival was held in Adelaide in 1936, though it is not included in those covered in Jack Pollard's Soccer Records. Perhaps it was considered unofficial, as only three teams, New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria took part?  In any case, New South Wales defended their title by winning both their games.

A clearly more unofficial event took place in Adelaide again in 1948. Featuring the hosts and Tasmania and Western Australia, it was the Sandgropers triumphant 6-2 over Tasmania in the Grand Final.

The first official post-WWII Carnival took place in Melbourne in 1952. Staged at Olympic Park and Toorak Park, Victoria were crowned Champions after heading the table from New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia. Legendary New South Wales centre-forward Reg Date was top scorer with seven goals.

1954 saw six states meet in Adelaide again, with New South Wales once again to the fore. Western Australia and Victoria followed on the table ahead of Queensland. The struggling hosts finished ahead of only lowly Tasmania.

The 1956 Melbourne Olympics saw Carnivals put on the backburner for a few years, until a 1960 gathering back in Melbourne again. Once again Victoria flourished as hosts, heading the table ahead of three rivals, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia.

In 1962 the Carnival approach was abandoned for a National Championships, with four states playing each other once across the country. This saw New South Wales head the table to meet runner's-up Queensland in a two-legged Grand Final. South Australia came third whilst Victoria finished on the bottom, losing all three of their games. New South Wales defeated Queensland 3-1 in Brisbane before winning 4-3 in the second leg at the Sydney Sports Ground to seal a 7-4 aggregate win.

The Carnival concept was further expanded into a National Championship for 1963-64. Northern New South Wales were included with the six states. Staged across the country, everyone played each other once over the course of two years with the champion determined by final ladder position. New South Wales once again took honours, with Victoria runner's-up. It would prove to be the final Interstate Carnival or National Championships to be conducted.

The Victorian State Team

The following is a link to the file of what I have gathered on the history of the Victorian state soccer team:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/218055373/Victorian-State-Soccer-Team-History

Beginning in 1883 with a clash against New South Wales, the early games were in fact colonial representative teams. Federation in 1901 saw interstate football replace intercolonial football.

Matches missing full details are italicised. Random notes are in bold.

To start with, I looked at the list of results for interstate matches published in the VSF Yearbooks of the late 1990's. There is also a list of interstate matches contained in the book Jack Pollard's Soccer Records. So I'm pretty sure that in terms of games against other states, there is a solid framework of the history even if there are still plenty of details to be filled in.

For games against touring club and international teams, I've used what can be found on OzFootball and in the pages of the aforementioned Jack Pollard's Soccer Records. These are not complete, and additional information about fixtures has come from a search of the Trove online archives (great prior to the mid-1950's, not so good after that) as well as going through (incomplete) collections of Soccer News, Soccer Action, Soccer World and snippets in some VSF Yearbooks.

Having a look at interstate Federation websites, they have as little to offer as the FFV's. I believe there are books on the history of football in Tasmania and Western Australia, and perhaps these may have some information to add to the details of the fixtures and scores we already have.

If anyone has any information they can share, please get in touch. Share the link to the blog around, I'm sure a lot of the former Victorian players out there would love to have a tangible record of their efforts playing in the famous navy blue shirt it was an honour to wear.

Finally, a couple of videos which feature the 1995 home game against South Australia. Michael Zappone is featured in a rare commentary role, the venue being Box Hill's Wembley Park.

Historical Diversions

Although I try to multitask, there are many diversions as I try to compile that Statistical History of Victorian Football. Some of them are further historical diversions, for as well as trying to find the final league tables for all the senior men's competitions over the course of time, I've started compiling several other records.

One is a list of all the games played by the Victorian state team, as well as line-ups. I reckon "Victoria Before Victory" is a decent book title, but I'm a fair way off ever being able to start a project like that. The Victorian state soccer team's fixtures fell into a few different categories. Originally, there were random matches against other state teams, beginning with New South Wales in 1883.

There were also games against touring club sides, as well as touring national teams. Sometimes that line was blurred, with club teams billed in advertisements and reports as national teams. One such instance was the 1949 tour of Hajduk Split, who were almost exclusively referred to as "Yugoslavia" in the media. It wouldn't have been any more than another decade before an act like that would have led to riots.

A new category of state team games began in 1932, when the first Interstate Carnival took place in Sydney and Newcastle. Over the course of a week New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania met and played each other once. The top two teams then played off in a Grand Final, which saw New South Wales take the championship with a 6-1 win over South Australia.

So on Friday I began compiling a record of the Interstate Carnivals. This was while I had the Adelaide United v Melbourne Heart game on the television, the computer speakers giving me the brilliant NPL Live Cast radio commentary of Bentleigh Greens v Pascoe Vale. The computer screen had tabs open for three football forums, the Trove Australia  and Ozfootball websites and the files for the Statistical History, Victorian State Team History and Interstate Carnivals History.

Oh yeah, and Twitter. It was nice to have my name pronounced correctly on the Live Cast coverage when they read out a tweet. Paul Mavroudis (or is it Mavaroudis?) couldn't say the same after his tweet about the incorrect pronunciation of Greek names was aired. Made for some banter.

The Victorian state team played against some of the greatest names in the history of world football. Bonnetti, Osgood, Tambling, Stepney, Stiles, Best, Charlton, Toshack, Yashin, Hoddle, Perryman, Conti, Carlos Alberto, Beckenabauer, Chinaglia and Neeskens are just some of the galaxy of stars I've uncovered so far.

The Victorian state team didn't taste Carnival success until a 1952 edition on home soil. It was a four team contest staged at Olympic Park on a Sunday and Toorak Park on a Saturday and Monday, The Vics won all three of their games to finish on 6 points. There was no Grand Final in this series, with New South Wales being runner's-up on 4 points, Queensland placing third with 2 points and South Australia failing to pick up a point with three defeats.

Next week in separate posts I will share the files for the Interstate Carnivals and Victorian State Team and take a further look at some interesting discoveries.