The Tracks We Travel

Cultural Supporter Pathways in Australian Soccer

Greg Page

It's a cold winter morning at the end of May and I'm on the 635am V-Line broad gauge from Bungambrawatha to Naarm (Albury to Melbourne). I haven't caught a broad gauge Victorian train for years. It takes me back to my teenage years when we'd excitedly catch the train down on a Sunday to spend a wonderful day in Melbourne, mostly dashing from one record shop to the next. I wasn't into books so much back then. Well, I was, but the local Albury bookstores were probably enough for me. I was a bit of a snob and enjoyed the 20th century classics. Our local stores were adequate for these.

Today's Saturday morning train is full of Collingwood supporters. They must be playing today. At the MCG? I don't care. In my mind I thought, 'I should have worn my Sydney FC shirt.’ Just to counter this extremely dominant Victorian cultural narrative presence in front of me. I grew up with this, this is Victoria!

At least, I used to think this way. I've given up a bit now with soccer. Culturally. I mean, I still go to matches, I'm still a Sydney FC member, but now I can see the A-League changing again. There will probably be promotion and relegation; they'll probably get rid of the salary cap; and they'll probably abolish the finals. Even then, ultimately, it won't be enough. I really thought the introduction of the A-League would be the great leap forward. I was wrong. I'm disappointed. I've come to a wider realisation about the culture of this sport in Australia. Everything is about supporter pathways.

Supporter pathways

Culturally, Association Football in Australia is many separate sports. The only thing which hangs them together are the use of the same rules on the field. I know enough about other people's cultural supporter pathways (CSPs) to realise many of us see our sport very differently. In almost incompatible ways.

I'll explain by giving my own CSP. I 'found' the sport in 1979 when mum dumped me off at pre-season training with Albury United at Jelbart Park in Lavington. I knew virtually nothing of the game then. I was just one of many kids who signed up in the minor hype of the 1974 Socceroo World Cup qualification. Virtually the only thing my white, Anglo parents knew of the sport up until then was that it was an Olympic sport in Melbourne in 1956.

I played and played and fell in love with this strange game. So, weekends we played at Jelbart, Myrtleford, Wangaratta, Diamond Park in Wodonga, and many other places. Great days. Cultural connection outside of that? Well… the World Cup was shown on the ABC every 4 years. Match of the Day was also shown every weekend. That's where I found 'my' Chelsea FC (they weren't so good back then. I can even remember that last relegation in 1988.) The FA cup final was the only live match we ever saw. And, very, very rarely when the Socceroos played someone.

The Socceroos? They were our only local team. Full of players we rarely saw and had never heard of. No-one from our league ever played for them. So they were another team from somewhere else really. And the NSL? Absolutely zero. No-one ever spoke about it and it may as well have been the New Zealand national league for all we understood. I repeat: my CSP had nothing whatsoever to do with the NSL.

As I got older we had a tiny bit of exposure to the wider Australian soccer world. I used to make the Riverina rep teams (Albury, Wagga, Griffith) and once one of the parents took us all to a Sydney Olympic home match at Lambert Park on our way passing through Sydney. That was 1982. It was interesting, but what did it have to do with us? Coming back to Albury no-one knew what the fuck we were talking about when we described our experience.

One of the kids from our league, a goalkeeper from Myrtleford called Steve Mautone, went off to play in bigger teams. The Vic state teams, 'Melbourne clubs' (had no idea who) and, eventually, a start for West Ham in the English Premier League. Last time I checked, he was the goalkeeping coach at Melbourne Victory.

Albury didn’t receive SBS until 1994. So when the NSL began to be broadcast on the ABC around 1990 it was a big deal. I'd left and gone off to University in Canberra by then. I had stopped playing and gone all gothic, highbrow and arty by then too. Meh, it was a phase.

Because of that ABC coverage, though, I did begin to take an (arm's length) interest in the NSL. I happened to be in Melbourne on the day of the 1991 grand final at Olympic Park. So I went. I also went the following season to my one and only match at Middle Park. South Melbourne versus Preston. I wore my Socceroos 'jungle shirt' to that. That probably got a few stares. What was I meant to do? I was trying to fit that place into my CSP.

There were many experiences after that. Canberra Cosmos at Bruce, Sydney Olympic at Belmore, the Wolves at Bardon park. And the Socceroos! Following Chelsea was a dream as they kept getting better, becoming a big club. Even before Abramovic arrived. But, mostly, it was Albury United at Jelbart.

When the A-League came along I jumped. At last! I've been a Sydney FC supporter ever since. The A-League wasn't perfect but it was much better, for me, than anything I'd experienced previously. I always hoped it would be the 'solution'. But it isn't. It isn't because of my realisation of everyone's wildly divergent CSP.

For some people, their CSP is an 'Albury United' who also happened to be playing in the NSL! They may also have had players who went on to play for the Socceroos. So, for them, the A-League would have seemed like the end of an era. They're mostly interested in their club. Often that club centres around their community. Me too. That's good. They want their club back up where it belongs. Where it used to be.

Then there are others whose CSP is their overseas club. This could be Liverpool. Or Chelsea. Or even Barcelona. They may have their local club they play for. They might even stick around after their game to watch the Seniors. Or Ladies team. Their interest after that may be very limited. The A-League? It's 'shit'. So is the NPL. So on.

Then there are those whose CSP is solely the big overseas leagues. They love the game but are 100% disconnected from the local game. Even the Socceroos! I'd say these are the majority of supporters of Association Football in this country. I had high hopes for the A-League attracting these people. But, aside from maybe coming to see Dwight Yorke or Alessandro Del Piero, they simply aren't interested. I am firmly of the opinion that nothing will budge them.

So, located within strong CSPs, we all have our own separate soccers. That's why I'm just putting my head in the sand and focusing on my CSP: Albury United (local), Murray United (NPL), Sydney FC (national), Chelsea (foreign) and Socceroos (international). Oh, and the National Indigenous Football Championships in Nowra every November.

So I'm looking at all these Collingwood people on the train and envying their linear, rigid and traditional CSP. Our game can't beat them. Still… there must be an alienated Fitzroy supporter on the train somewhere. I wonder what they make of it all.