The Old Testament

It's fair to say when I first came across the book Jack Pollard's Soccer Records I considered it the Bible of Australian football history. For it was the first real book covering the topic. It is not without errors, and I'm not convinced the A-Z encyclopedia method was the best way of going about it, but it sure is something to treasure.

Over the years I've bought three editions, one from a second hand bookshop for $12 which I still possess. Another couple I picked up for under $5 at Op Shops, one I gave to Pave Jusup and another I either gave to George Cotsanis or is still in the box of "swaps" I have in the garage. Even though I had one, for those prices I thought it would be a crime not to buy them.

The other week when speaking to Greg Stock over the phone about what he should send me for scanning and uploading to this blog's archives, he suggested it, also bringing up the issue of copyright. Now if anyone ever got upset about a breach of copyright on this blog, I'd be in a bit of trouble. My only argument is everything I put up is long out of print, and sharing items on here is hardly depriving anyone of any income. I would like to think that sharing a largely hidden, inaccessible history to redress the marginalisation of the game by the media for over a century means anyone with an issue over copyright should really be prepared to look the other way and let it go.

Hopefully what I and others put up on this blog will allow the next generation to surpass previous efforts in writing about and honouring our football history. In Jack Pollard's Soccer Records we have the Old Testament. One day we will hopefully have a new New Testament, a complete Bible for the football worshippers.

Anyway, here it is, Sid Grant's masterpiece,

Jack Pollard's Soccer Records

Expansion!

Expansion is on the agenda, of the blog not the A-League, that is.

Thanks to the ongoing contributions of George Cotsanis, Ian Syson, Damian Smith (in conjunction with the late Kevin Christopher) and Greg Stock, and the faithful reliability of the old HP Officejet Pro 8610 the library within the blog continues to grow.

The main areas of growth are within the Australian Soccer Weekly Archive. At the moment at least half a dozen new issues are added weekly, but there is still a long way to go before everything I have is scanned.

Everything below the blue page on the pile on the left has been scanned. On the pile on the right those below the blue page at the bottom and above the upper blue page have been scanned, So still a long way to go.

Thanks to Greg Stock we now have a Soccer Weekly News Archive. Soccer Weekly News was the NSWSFA magazine, and it predates any publications emanating from Victoria. Greg is also contributing NSWSFA and NSWSF Yearbooks and Handbooks, which can be found in the  Yearbooks and Annuals Archive within the History Documents page. To complement the 17 volume History of Soccer in New South Wales series of Sid Grant and Harry Hetherington, Greg has also provided Sid Grant's book The History of Coalfields Soccer, which can be found in the Books section of the History Documents Archive.

Also in the Book section is Laurie Schwab's The Socceroos and Their Opponents, scanned by Todd Giles ( @nfhistory on Twitter ). It's a book that probably surpassed Jack Pollard's Soccer Records as the great Australian football history tome of it's day.

Ian Syson recently provided me with some photocopies for scanning, which saw several more VASFA and VSF Yearbooks and Handbooks added to the Yearbooks and Annuals Archive. There were some also some early 1960's issues of Soccer News and the renamed (for one year only, Soccer Weekly) that are now in the Soccer News Archive.

There are also programmes coming through from Greg, so keep an eye on on the Programmes Archive for updates.

The History of Soccer in New South Wales

It seems the appalling lack of decent record keeping in Australian football is not a nationwide phenomenon. Thanks to Greg Stock sending me a USB full of pure football history porn, I've seen the work of Sid Grant and Harry Hetherington in documenting NSW football history, and it is breathtaking in it's detail.

I haven't really had a chance to go through it, as there is so much there plus I've had to do a bit of work to make it more shareable. Using www.ilovepdf.com I converted hundreds of single jpg images into pdfs at 20 a time, then merged those pdfs into larger ones to produce the following 17 volumes.


History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 1

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 2

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 3

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 4

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 5

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 6

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 7

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 8

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 9

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 10

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 11

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 12

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 13

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 14

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 15

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 16

History of Soccer in New South Wales Volume 17

Sid Grant was the man behind Jack Pollard's Soccer Records, the first book to chronicle the game in Australia to a wider audience.

The book, of course, is only a small glimpse of the records he, and later Hetherington, kept. Final tables, results grids, goalscorers, appearance records, they are all there. It's an incredible volume of work, and anyone wanting to research the history of the local game can now freely do so online.

The links will also be permanently added to the History Documents page.

Enjoy!

New South Wales Soccer Football

The scope of the archiving on this blog of football documents expanded beyond merely Melbourne Soccer a fair while ago now. Recently I was contacted by Greg Stock, one of the powerhouses behind the OzFootball.net treasure trove of football history. He has sent me a bunch of scans (and one lot of photocopies to scan myself) to add a whole batch of New South Wales Soccer Football Association material to add to the Yearbooks & Annuals Archive. They can also be found in the list below:

New South Wales Soccer Football Association Annual Report 1921

New South Wales Soccer Football Association Annual Report 1922

New South Wales Soccer Football Association Annual Report 1923

New South Wales Soccer Football Association Annual Report 1924

New South Wales Soccer Football Association Annual Report 1926

New South Wales Soccer Football Association Annual Report 1927

New South Wales Soccer Football Association Annual Report 1937

New South Wales Soccer Annual 1933

New South Wales Soccer Football Association Handbook 1942

New South Wales Soccer Football Association Handbook 1947

Now I've only had the time to really get much of a look at the one I scanned, the 1947 Handbook, and what a masterpiece it is. Sid Grant sure knew how to compile records, the detail is immense. There's a huge pictorial section, all well labelled. Compare it to the simple fixture list that is the 1948 VASFA Handbook provided to me by Tony Persoglia earlier this week, and, well, there is no comparison.

It's great to be able to share these with fellow researchers and fans of soccer nostalgia. Thanks Greg and Tony for your ongoing work in preserving the game's history.