tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782415769184117544.post8693847511888350699..comments2023-11-06T11:54:31.103+11:00Comments on Neos Osmos: How the West was WonIan Sysonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14381094556560006623noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782415769184117544.post-15456951183828320342013-06-10T21:32:38.531+10:002013-06-10T21:32:38.531+10:00Hi Daryl. The book is currently being written at t...Hi Daryl. The book is currently being written at the moment, so it will be a bit longer before its finished.<br /><br />Will have a few you tube presentations up at www.facebook.com/glorynslyears for the Australian Society for Sports History Conference. One is looking at the interactions in North Perth, Leederville and Mt Hawthorn from 1923-2004 and then placing it into regional differences in other parts of the city. How there has to be a viewing of Perth's sporting culture as a collection of different villages.joined by conurbation today. <br /><br />Perth Azzurri's 1948-1998 book is a cracking account of how they challenged the football culture of the state, just as Glory does. <br /><br />That's the best book I'd recommend. <br /><br />Another interesting account is Stoddarts article on Perth's sporting culture until 1927 in the New History of Western Australia. I do think after doing this presentation its a bit more complex than what he declares it to be. But it is a well written review of how the culture is in the state. <br /><br />I am no expert into Western Australian sporting culture either, I don't think there is anyone out there that is. From what I read in a few of the articles in Trove there is a perception that Fremantle are much better at football and their crowds are much higher than in Perth.<br /><br /> There is also many many soccer teams that are created within the Perth city in terms of soccer and continue to grow even with Australian Rules being established, with only one team out of Fremantle. <br /><br />If you go onto Trove there are some fascinating insights into the parochialism and debates between Fremantle Australian Rules officials and Perth Australian Rules officials. <br /><br /><br />Chris Eganhttp://www.facebook.com/glorynslyearsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782415769184117544.post-24221805741726545132013-06-09T20:58:31.422+10:002013-06-09T20:58:31.422+10:00Hi Chris, I don't profess to have your insight...Hi Chris, I don't profess to have your insights into the history of sport in WA. As you say, regional differences are bound to have been important. According to the following web site, which focuses on the involvement of what may have been the first Aboriginal player in WA footy (I'll use that term to distinguish from Association football, or as Ian prefers to put it, soccer), "APRIL 29, 1885 was a key date in the history of football in Western Australia. It was then that the original Fremantle football club decided to adopt the 'Victorian game' over rugby" http://www.sportingpulse.com/assoc_page.cgi?c=1-5545-0-0-0&sID=222369 So the leadership of Fremantle seems pivotal. Curiously, the "official historian" of WA footy contends that Perth soon became the epicentre: "In the 1880s, a Perth-based elite briefly controlled the game before Fremantle businessmen with electoral aspirations supplanted them in the 1890s". This is from the book blurb "Behind the Play: A history of football in Western Australia from 1868", which I just noticed after a web search. Partly because the colonial history of WA sport is so under-researched there is plenty of confusion. No doubt your own work on Association football will contribute significantly to our knowledge. For readers interested in your work, what do you recommend we read? Daryl Adairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07609932440368989697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782415769184117544.post-56935005304082278952013-06-09T18:52:09.226+10:002013-06-09T18:52:09.226+10:00From the preliminary research I am doing at the mo...From the preliminary research I am doing at the moment Daryl, it seems as if making substantial statements about what Western Australia's interest was is pretty hard. <br /><br />It seems Fremantle is very Victorian Rules Football orientated, with rivalry and debates between Fremantle and Perth on how the competition should be ruled. Perth is much more rugby/soccer orientated. <br /><br />I wouldn't be surprised if it was Fremantle's success that pushes Australian Rules clubs in the Perth area to move to this code as the reports from the newspapers suggest crowds, interest and sporting skill was better in the port city than it was in Perth. <br /><br />This is sort of substantiated by 1897 the Victoria Pavillion stand was far bigger than any other spectator facility in the WA colony. <br /><br />We also have to look at Fremantle less bound by sporting code wars then Perth. Australian Rules Football clubs in Freo were looking out for all codes at Fremantle Oval, which can be noted by them accomodating cycling with the placement of the Victoria Pavillion. <br /><br />Perth is much more focussed on class based sporting rivalry, Stoddarts chapter on it in the New History of Western Australia is a great account of this. <br /><br />We have to regionally look at Perth's sporting culture/code wars because of the deep diversity in how sport is seen. You can see this theme continuing today. Chris Eganhttp://www.facebook.com/glorynslyearsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782415769184117544.post-9815259269921397842013-06-08T21:37:30.336+10:002013-06-08T21:37:30.336+10:00Hi Ian, thanks as always for posting intriguing ar...Hi Ian, thanks as always for posting intriguing articles about soccer history. I'm not as convinced as the the author of the letter seems to be that the "Victorian game scarcely had a footing" in the early 1900s. Even a scant look at Aussie Rules history in WA suggests otherwise. The rise of what he also calls the "home code" (though thankfully not the Indigenous code) is, of course, regrettable to someone with his heart in soccer. It seems as though footy was well promoted and resourced, which if anything is a commentary about the failure of soccer to do the same. In this case, at least, we can't blame a cashed-up AFL for "imposing" itself on others :-) Cheers, DarylDaryl Adairhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07609932440368989697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782415769184117544.post-29317576268990284232013-06-07T18:38:07.134+10:002013-06-07T18:38:07.134+10:00Ian great letter. Very interested to see this. Pe...Ian great letter. Very interested to see this. Peaks and troughs are somehow natural. Just read quite a bit of Perth Azzurri's book today and they said Glory's arrival in 1996 was a 'saviour' for the code in this state, that the games interest was at a dire level. <br /><br />Same seems to happen in different eras. Like the state's economy, soccer in Western Australia seems to be boom/bust. chris eganhttp://www.facebook.com/glorynslyearsnoreply@blogger.com