The Search in Research

I never expected researching football history to be easy. Some setbacks are to be expected. A six hour stint in the State Library Victoria newspaper microfilm archives to yield just three new match results was a tad disappointing. I'd noticed Croydon results were often missing in the late 1920's. I suspected it was the tyranny of distance to the then outpost which meant results weren't getting through in time for publication rather than the games not being played.

Searching for a local paper, I uncovered the Ringwood Mail and Warrandyte Gazette. Local papers, coming out once a week, had much later deadlines. I found a great match report for a 2-0 win (Benson double) over Kingsville on Saturday July 20, 1929. It had the local team line-up and everything. Sadly, there were only two such reports for that season. Did the club publicists only sing when they were winning? It may account for such patchy coverage in those days.

It's not just the olden days where information may have vanished out of existence. Back in January I emailed the FFV requesting information from this century that was no longer available on their website (click on image to enlarge).

I got the level of service I've come to expect of the FFV i.e. poor. I shouldn't have been surprised, it's a fact of the history that I'm studying.

Who are you to doubt Ratko Crnic?

To me, that is the greatest wrestling promo (interview) of all time. The Rock, Chris Jericho and the various incarnations of Mick Foley were all better performers on the mic, but Bret Hart nailed this classic to perfection.

Maybe it's because I've always enjoyed the comedy of the absurd more than most. I always thought nominating Cotton Eye Joe by Rednex in every forum thread discussing the greatest song of all time far funnier that it probably really is. Building up the perpetual loser that El Dandy as a legitimate contender strikes a chord in that regard.

The Hitman's eye rolling can top any teenager's sarcasm. Mocking Booker T by using "aks" instead of ask is gold. Claiming Mean Gene Okerlund is trying to "tear these guys down" when calling Psicosis "Hypnosis" and following up with "whatever" when corrected is brilliant. Works on another level as well, considering it was obvious WCW was continually tearing the Mexican luchadores down. The "he's a high flyer of the highest magnitude" line reminds me of the Fistful of Yen sequence from The Kentucky Fried Movie, and that just doesn't happen often enough.

Even Bret's stutter in delivering the "who are you to, to doubt El Dandy" line works. Is he incredulous the superbly earnest Mean Gene is not buying it?

Now the only thing that packs so much gold into one package more than this are the ads placed in Soccer Action in the 1980's by prospective coaching superstar Ratko Crnic. And there's two packages! As well as a rare case of not being able to determine which is better, the original or the sequel, because they are both so damn good.

So who are you to doubt Ratko Crnic? He was born for football. The authorities wanting badges and credentials try to tear him down, but that's because he has the secret to success that they don't. And is there a more random line of genius anywhere ever than "My dream is to see England at the top in world soccer". Not in this universe.

A Missing Folklore

It's not that Australia doesn't have a rich football history, it's just that it is poorly documented. 

Part of that comes from living in the shadow of more popular codes. Some of it is because of the various political schisms over the years. For instance, when the breakaway ethnic clubs established the State Federations, scant regard was given to the records of the bodies they had superseded. More recently there is a tendency to be ashamed of our history, wanting to lock it away in the attic like The Simpsons did with Bart's evil twin Hugo.

In the pre-internet age, reading about football was pretty limited. There were weekly newspapers covering local competitions with overseas results, and Shoot! magazine which would arrive on our shores three months after original publication. Second hand bookshops were a good source of British books about the game, many of which followed a similar structure.

Most football fans will know a bit about the history of the clubs they follow, the great eras and players. In Britain, this extends to a larger folklore of the game that is still maintained by followers of the modern game. The staples of this are repeated in the many guides and histories of football contained in those books. 

There is the White Horse Cup Final, Bert Trautmann going from German prisoner of war to winning the Cup Final for Manchester City playing with a broken neck and the tragedy of the Munich Air Disaster. The name of Sir Stanley Mathews, the Wizard of the Dribble, lives on generations long beyond anyone who actually saw him play. Enormous goalkeeper William "Fatty" Foulke, Dixie Dean's amazing goalscoring, Herbert Chapman's great Arsenal side, the Tottenham Hostpur double winning team, Real Madrid dominating the early years of the European Cup and Ferenc Puskas destroying England at Wembley are known by all. 

Beyond Joe Marston playing in the F.A.Cup Final for Preston North End and the 1974 Socceroos, Australian football folklore is almost non-existent. Throw in three random names and Reg Date and ask a fan to name the Australian football legend, are you likely to find more than 25% of them getting the answer right? I'd highly doubt it. Can any name a single Australian footballer from pre-WWII? 

It's a sad situation, sadder still if it is never improved upon because of a need to dishonour the past in order to make the present seem greater. 

The Puzzle of 1915

When I started researching the history of organised football in Melbourne, it quickly became apparent that I was attempting to complete a jigsaw puzzle in which some of the pieces were missing. Sure, some were hidden, and could be found by having another look under the couch. It was the ones long since swallowed up by the vacuum cleaner that are gone for good which mean it may be a case of completing the puzzle as best you can and hoping it still looks reasonable.

The 1915 season was one with crucial pieces missing, at least in terms of the Second Division standings. The First Division was covered well enough by the media of the day, especially the multi-sport newspaper The Winner. Division One, split into Section A and Section B, had final, completed league tables published. With most scorers listed, it appears Kilty of Northumberland and Durham United who top scored in Section A with 11 goals. In Section B it was Forbes of Burns who led the way with 6 goals, which may be short-changing him as there is one game in which they scored they goals which are unaccredited.

Division Two, which contained some reserves ("A") teams of Division One clubs, was less well covered. It's only by checking Friday evening editions of The Herald and the reports from "Spectator" that we can get some clarity. They contained fixtures and refereeing appointments for the next day's games, as well as the previous week's results. Being nearly a week after the games were played, it is safe to assume if a result was not listed the game was not played. It's an assumption you can't make with results published on a Saturday evening or even a Monday in an era before telecommunications as we know them today were not commonplace. "Spectator" was clearly a nom de plume of a V.A.B.F.A. official, also including information about and from council meetings.

A few weeks after Windsor defeated Brunswick United 2- on May 29, "Spectator" noted the game would have to be replayed after a protest was upheld over Windsor fielding an ineligible man. It's these notes that become more vital as the number of players enlisting for military service in World War I continued to rise. On July 30th he informed Cambrian United and Northumberland and Durham United A were abandoning their remaining fixtures because they had run out of players. On August 13th he announced Sandringham and Brunswick United were also forced to do the same.

It has allowed me to compile a disorderly looking table. Season summaries announced that Spotswood A were Second Division Champions, and the table agrees which is good. All that remains now is how to deal with the abandoned fixtures, once what they were is figured out (the abandoned games were not listed in the Friday night fixtures). It is not stated how they were handled, but with Sandringham being in Division One we can see theirs were dealt with as forfeits, which at the time saw their opponents being awarded the two points and goal difference being unaltered. Maybe I will just leave them as they lie, which is as shown below (click on image to enlarge):

I'm Not A Racist, But....

During the week an item on the FFA Cup website heralded the arrival of a new club called Shamrock Rovers Darwin. Quite how this club formed by Irish backpackers conforms within the FFA's National Club Identity Policy (NCIP) rules is quite bewildering. Unless you accept that the FFA is selective in how it applies it own rules, that is.

Is incorporating the entire name of a club from overseas a loophole which other clubs can utilise? Is it possible to see the return of South Melbourne Hellas Verona, St Albans Dinamo Zagreb or Richmond Alemannia Aachen?

It comes just a week after the controversial NCIP was again called into question during the A-League's "Erase Racism" round, as covered in this piece by Anthony Colangelo on The New Daily. So does the FFA merely pay lip service to eradicating racism? Does it perpetuate racism with the NCIP? If the NCIP is not racist, is the selective manner in which it is enforced racist?

How do you defend something like the NCIP and the whitewashing of Australian football?


I'm not racist, but for the game to appeal to all we can't have ethnically-aligned clubs.

I'm not racist, but British and Irish cultures are part of Australia's culture, not like these other ethnic groups.

I'm not racist, but ethnic football clubs held the game back for years and need to be eradicated.

I'm not racist, but names like O'Neill, Buckley and Gallop can take the game further than people with names who sound like they run fish and chip shops and milk bars..

I'm not racist, I loved the diverse fan groups at the Asian Cup. But they need to assimilate properly to be a part of Australian football.


Is it racist?

The 1935 Dockerty Cup Final

Whilst listening to some items that Radio Sport National posted on Soundcloud to mark the 90th anniversary of their original incarnation 3UZ, I recalled coming across mentions of radio football broadcasts whilst searching the Trove archives.

A search soon revealed that radio station 3AR covered the 1935 Dockerty Cup Final from Olympic Park. Commentary came in between coverage of races at Moonee Valley that were called by Jim Carroll.

That year's Cup Final was one of the all-time classics, and a re-match of a titanic struggle from the previous year. In 1934 the Final saw Caledonians and Hakoah draw 4-4, before the Scots took the trophy with a 3-2 victory in the Replay. This denied Hakaoh a League and Cup double.

The states preeminent sides would meet in the Final again a year later. Once again Hakoah were the League Champions, with Caledonians having finished Runner's-Up. Caledonians has preceded Hakoah as League Champions in taking the 1933 title. As usual there would be no shortage of goals, with Hakoah claiming the double with a thrilling 4-3 triumph (as covered here in The Argus).

Despite taking an early lead, Hakoah had to come from 2-1 down at the interval. They fell further behind after the resumption, before a burst of three goals in twenty minutes capped a remarkable comeback in front of a crowd estimated as 2,000 people.

The Hakoah team was one of the strongest sides seen in Victoria to that point in history. Aku Roth, Frank McIver, Alec Forrest, Alf Mackey and Johnnie Orr would all represent Australia at some stage.

The 1935 season saw Frank McIver top the goalscoring charts for the third year in succession, with a whopping 45 goals. Ten of those came in a 17-1 crushing of Melbourne Thistle in June. He was still a prolific scorer ten years later, netting five goals in a game at Como Park for Prahran A as they defeated R.A.A.F. Laverton 12-0 in April 1945. With records sketchy at best during World War II, it still appears certain he was leading scorer again in 1942 and 1943. He would become Secretary of the Latrobe Valley Association, and when coaching at Moorabbin City in the early 1950's would still turn out for the reserve team if they were short of players.

Club captain Aku Roth was also still going strong a decade later, playing for the Hakoah-Moreland combine which came into being during World War II. P.Lewis had emerged to prominence in the great Naval Depot side of the late 1920's. Alec Forrest had been the league's top goalscorer in 1930 for St Kilda before his move to Hakoah. Forrest, McIver and Alf Mackey all played in the Victorian team which defeated India 4-2 at the M.C.G. in 1938, McIver notching a brace and Forrest also getting on the scoresheet.

The Caledonian side was nearly as illustrious, many of whom would form the nucleus of the mighty Nobels team of 1939-40. The Weirs, Youngs and Grays were all prominent in representative games, along with H.Beats and J.Paulsen.

The 1935 Dockerty Cup Final was certainly the pinnacle in the battle between two dominant and highly decorated club teams that had taken Victorian football to a new level.

A Quick Look at the 2015 FFV Board Elections

FFV Board Elections are upon us, and I thought it would be interesting to have a look at those nominated and their candidate statements as found on the FFV website.

Now it is very easy to say the right thing, a different thing altogether to identify problems and propose solutions. Throw in enough buzzwords , make sure everyone knows you are thinking of the women and children, and you can say a lot without making any sort of statement at all.

One of the things I would hope not to see is delving into New Football/Old Soccer rhetoric. Issues within the game need to be looked at on their own merits.

I would like to see an improvement in the relationship between the FFV and clubs. It always pains me when people claim clubs put their interests ahead of the game. There can be no doubt that the biggest self-interest group in football are junior parents. The numbers do not lie.

Before I make a few comments on the various statements, I will state what I know about the candidates.

There are two candidates for the position of President.

The first is Jeff Doyle.

I know the name from his playing days in the 1980's though I wouldn't be able to point him out in a team photo.

He's obviously proven to be very successful in business, and not being overly involved in the game since his playing career ended makes him a "cleanskin". Following some turbulent times, that can be seen as desirable. Countering that is that he was nominated by the current board, so there may be a link there to say he may be as much about maintaining the status quo than providing any revolutionary change in direction.

I would like to hear more about the issues he sees with the game in regional and country Victoria. Was he happy with the process in how NPL teams for those areas were implemented or would he have done things differently.

The second candidate for President is Kimon Taliadoros.

I watched Kimon as a player in the NSL and for the Socceroos, and know of his previous involvement on the FFV Board. I follow him on Twitter, he does not follow me.

There are things in his statement that appeal strongly to me. He talks about the game's lifeblood being the goodwill of what can be summarised as "stakeholders" and realises that this goodwill has been tested and needs attention. He appears to have involved himself in many facets of the game.

Jason Charles is the first of four candidates on the ballot for a position on the board.

Cannot say I knew anything about him until reading his statement.

I was interested in his views on the effectiveness of the Junior Standing Committee. I share his concerns about the cost of junior participation and the FFV's wage bill. Questioning if the FFV is really in tune with who it services and represents also resonates with me.

Nicholas Tsiaras is another candidate for the board.

I follow Nicholas on Twitter, and he follows me. We are familiar with each others as posters on Soccer-Forum.net and I have met him two or three times at games.

Expresses many of the same concerns raised by Jason Charles, only a little more vigorously. Nominated by Zone Representatives, not the current Board, there is no doubt he is strong candidate for those advocating a change in the way the game is run.

The third candidate for the board is Tal Karp.

I know her name as a player and as previously having had roles at the FFV.

Her statement reveals broad football experience and very solid credentials. I would like to know more about the "particular concerns of stakeholders" she refers to as part of the greater understanding of the FFV's legal issues she gained in her previous roles and how she would address those concerns.

The final candidate on the ballot is Tony Ising.

I follow Tony on Twitter, and he follows me. We are familiar with each other as posters on three or four internet football forums. We have played in around half a dozen social kickabouts together, and I dined with him in a large group at the 2009 A-League Grand Final.

An important point in Tony's statement is:

Our game’s development is as much about attracting referees, assistant referees, club marshalls, coaches, club administrators and armies of volunteers as it is about developing elite players.

I would like to hear his ideas on how to go about addressing this issue and a bit more detail in how he would implement his vision.


Below are past posts relating to FFV issues:

http://melbournesoccer.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/anyone-for-surfing.html

http://melbournesoccer.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/the-sad-state.html

http://melbournesoccer.blogspot.com.au/2014/05/transparency-or-lack-thereof.html

http://melbournesoccer.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/still-big-swindle.html

http://melbournesoccer.blogspot.com.au/2014/02/the-great-football-swindle.html