Great Links

Since coming across the amazing Soccer Nostalgia blog, I've been searching for other sites which may contain more historical magazines, programmes or yearbooks. Sadly, most are foreign and not of much assistance in further researching Australian football history. Still, they are a brilliant read/view nonetheless.

For mine, the true gold in Soccer Nostalgia are the Full Magazines and Match Programmes blogs. Well worth seeking out via the menus.

Here's a quick sample:

Full Magazines Part 11

Match Programmes Part 3

Some of the pictures in the 1960's French magazines (like Miroir du Football, and Football Magazine) are truly exceptional.

Along the lines of what Paul Mavroudis and South of the Border have done, but going back a lot further in time, is the Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats blog. It has some real vintage annuals, guides and yearbooks that can be downloaded from here.

It would be great if our governing bodies could supply us with the means to do similar, but sadly it appears any such documents going back that far have been lost in the mists of time.

Miles McClagan's flickr album is another amazing treasure trove of programmes and magazines. It's the kind of site you can get lost for days in.

Football Programme Covers is another brilliant flickr collection. 

There are several club-based sites with programme cover collections, including Tottenham Hotspur, Wrexham, Leeds United and West Ham United. 

Feel free to provide similar links in the comments section below.

Soccer Action is Here!

Or more precisely, here.

Soccer Action Volume 1 Number 2 - February 11, 1976.

Work has begun to put my entire Soccer Action collection online. It will not be a quick process, but at least one issue will be added each week. I've been inspired by the amazing Soccer Nostalgia blog and a recent interaction with the great Damian Smith.

The reason it will be a slow and steady process is quite simple, it is boring and time consuming. To get the papers down to a size that will work with my scanner, I go to Officeworks and use their copiers to reduce from A3 to A4. I then scan them into PDF's at home, before uploading to Google Drive. For items that I borrow from others and can copy into my collection, this process is more exciting. For the items I've had in my possession for years and gone through many times over, it is not exciting at all.

So we begin with the second issue, plus the four editions I already had in the History Documents section. I do not have the first edition, which contained a hot take piece by Billy Vojtek on ethnic names which set the agenda for debates which continue to rage. This second issue contains a response to that column by Fred Habbe.

Also inside are columns by Tom Anderson, Tony Boggi, Brian Green, Billy Vojtek, Peter McKenna (the VFL player) and Rale Rasic. As well as the unique musings of Knut Werner, which deserve a new audience. Rasic writes about future AFL Hall of Fame member Tony Charlton, a great broadcaster.

Early issues cover the formation of the NSL and all the political machinations that entailed. I will add new issues in chronological order, but should I feel like doing more than one a week, the second may be from later editions.

Read, save, share and enjoy.

An Update on the Biographies

Several large updates have been made recently in the Biographies section of the blog. The aim is to provide some sort of information on anyone every awarded Life Membership of the State's various governing bodies over the years, be it the Victorian Amateur British Football Association, the Victorian Amateur Soccer Football Association or the Victorian Soccer Federation/Football Federation Victoria.

For the first two bodies, details of Life Membership will always remain sketchy. In the VSF/FFV era living Life Members are often listed in the Yearbooks/Annual Reports yet it is possible some may have slipped through the cracks.

The current state of play shows one known VABFA Life Member (Harry Dockerty). I have information on 3 of the 8 known VASFA Life Members. In the VSF/FFV era there is information on 75 of the 121 known Life Members. I know a little about some of those without information attached to their names, but am endeavouring to find more substantial profiles for them.

If anyone can assist, please get in touch at markboric@bigpond.com

The Biographies can be found via a tab at the top of the blog or via clicking here.