Melbourne Soccer: Highs and Lows of History Research

Melbourne Soccer: Highs and Lows of History Research: After two successive Sunday's at the State Library of Victoria looking through on newspapers on microfilms, more steady progress has bee...

South of the Border - a South Melbourne Hellas blog: Graeme Hocking and the story of his local club

South of the Border - a South Melbourne Hellas blog: Graeme Hocking and the story of his local club: Recently one Graeme Hocking wrote to club historian John Kyrou, to talk about his time as a schoolboy footballer for South Melbourne United . . .

Gift of a soccer ball

This is a strange one: a soccer ball gifted by the West Bromwich Boys' Brigade to the Ooldea United Aborigines' Mission. Who knows what became of the ball and the uses to which it was put but it really is a striking photo. And those hats . . . .

News, Saturday 5 May 1951, page 2

Football and its fans: A delicate balance

by Roy Hay

Football fandom, like sporting performance in general, involves a delicate balance. When you are coaching youngsters to play the game, you want them bursting out of their skins to achieve the highest level of performance on the field, but yet you expect them not only to obey the laws of the game but recognise and respect its spirit as well. So too with fans. Without them there is no atmosphere. Australian football is privileged and lucky to have thousands of youngsters who are prepared to sing, chant, shout and jump about for ninety minutes at games around the country.

This has not come about by accident and while the football authorities deserve much of credit for the changes they have made in the organisation of the game, most of it belongs to the fans themselves. All the evidence suggests that they were desperate to have teams which they could support whose ideology was inclusive and whose locus was ‘a geographical expression’ in Australia not something that could be portrayed as foreign. Hence they poured out in numbers to support Melbourne Victory, Adelaide United, Perth Glory, Sydney FC and now Western Sydney Wanderers and give the A-League something which its predecessor struggled to obtain—a dynamic demographic based on the domestic population, not just the most recent cohort of immigrants.   

There is no chance that this new style of fandom will be satisfied with the sedentary enjoyment of the qualities of the game by the majority of those who are drawn to A-League games today. Without the ‘active support’ Australian games would be like those of some teams in the English Premier League, characterised as ‘Highbury the library’ or the ‘Prawn sandwiches brigade’ at Old Trafford as castigated by Roy Keane. But these fans are very demanding. They expect high levels of equally committed performance by those who wear the colours of the teams they support. They are protective of each other in face of critical attacks in the media. They are noisy, boisterous and as offensive as sledging cricketers or the Barmy Army or, for that matter, Australian Rules barrackers. Many of them also attend footy matches regularly.

The Melbourne Victory supporters consist of a number of distinct groupings. The largest by far was the Blue and White Brigade which was there when the club began in 2005, even before the league season kicked off. Unlike many of the fan organisations at other A-League clubs, the BWB and other supporter groups are not part of the Victory club but want to influence its policies. They do not accept formal responsibility for policing their peers, though they try hard to influence behaviour and collective support. Victory has been at loggerheads with another group of its active supporters, the Northern Terrace Collective. A loose amalgam of different sections this element of the attendance professes to want to fill their end of the ground with active supporters. The club however wants to cordon off and control entry to the active support area at roughly its current size so that room is made for the accommodation and protection of other less vocal and active fans.

The activities of the active supporter groups also provide cover for more nefarious behaviour by others whom both the fan groups and the football authorities would like to do without. So Football Federation Australia also has to be careful. Its proposed penalty of a suspended three points deduction from Victory or Wanderers offers a free kick to anyone or any group which wishes to foment an incident at a game or in the lead up to or aftermath of one. This is not beyond belief. Examples have occurred in the past where people associated with one club provoked incidents at the home ground of another resulting in penalties for that organisation. Moreover, it is not clear what the clubs could have done to prevent the incident in Bourke Street which preceded and may have been the catalyst for the events at AAMI Park on Saturday night when Melbourne Victory met Western Sydney Wanderers.

In the stand at AAMI Park the other night when the firecrackers went off there was a brief moment when you wondered whether this was something much more serious. The thought of a terrorist attack briefly crossed my mind before it became clear that there was a flare and firecracker episode. That was worrying enough, having been in the press-box at a Victorian Premier League grand final when a projectile flew past the open window at eye level traveling from one end of the stadium to nearly the other and striking a young girl at the conclusion of its trajectory. So the notion of stamping out flares and firecrackers and anti-social behaviour at A-League games is laudable and to be supported, but it needs to be associated with measures to encourage the self-expression of the active fans without whom the football experience would be much poorer. Right to the end of the comprehensive defeat by Brisbane Roar on Saturday night, the active fans kept up their vocal support as others left the ground.

When Victoria had its own World Cup

Roy Hay and John Punshon, with a contribution by Ted Smith

Not long after the Second World War the influx of migrants from Britain and Europe with their love of football generated a new excitement for the game in Victoria. In 1949 Jock Parker, the president of the Junior Association of the Victorian Amateur Soccer Football Association (VASFA), organised a competition involving teams representing Great Britain, the Commonwealth, Italy, Yugoslavia and one simply called ‘New Australians’. The next year he broadened the scope and announced he was going to have Victorian Olympic Games, played on the small Olympic oval, hence the name.[1] He expected teams from the four home countries, Italy, Israel, Malta, Greece, Yugoslavia, Australia and the Rest of the World would take part. By June that year he had entries from a combined Great Britain team, Australia, Italy, Greece, Malta, Yugoslavia, Israel and ‘New Australians’ drawn from countries not otherwise represented.[2] The Olympic idea had been dropped and the matches were referred to as Sunday International Games. J O Wilshaw was afraid the tournament might cut across the state selection process and even lead to a breakaway as happened in the later 1920s.[3] Yugoslavia based on the highly successful JUST team came through to beat Australia by four goals to one in the final on 17 September 1950.[4] A trophy worth £100 ($200, but probably ten times that in today’s money) for the competition was presented by D H Laidlaw, the president of the Ringwood club. Thereafter the tournament was often referred to as the Laidlaw World Cup.[5]

Brighton raised the question whether the Laidlaw Cup was encouraging the payment of players and banned its players from taking part in the World Cup in 1952. It also hinted at the beginnings of a breakaway.[6] The claim was indignantly denied by Jock Parker, who pointed to the support to the juniors with 60 per cent of the total takings going to them.  The balance went to the competing teams in the final, so there were resources available to reward players.

In 1951 and 1952 Scotland won the tournament. In 1951 their opponent in the final was Yugoslavia. JUST had gone through the league season undefeated and since, once again, they provided nearly all the Yugoslav team, the loss to Scotland was the only one incurred that year in a competitive match.[7] JUST had played the final of the Dockerty Cup the day before, 29 September, and beaten Brighton 1-0, so it was asking a bit to expect even that team of brilliant players to back up against the Scots the next day.[8] No doubt the Scots called themselves world champions, as their equivalents in the United Kingdom did when Denis Law and Jim Baxter orchestrated a victory over England the year after they won the FIFA World Cup in 1966.

In 1952 the Scotland-Italy final was drawn and went to a replay, which the Scots won by two goals to one in front of around 7,000 people.[9] There was crowd trouble at the end of the game, which led to a move by VASFA to take over the Sunday tournament. ‘Mr. H. J. Dockerty, council member, said: "There can be only one governing body. If the council is 'weak kneed' enough not to control it, then the game will not continue to progress. … "There is only one Soccer Association in Victoria, and it must accept complete control." Mr. F. Lang said: "Full national teams attract full national supporters, and a national feeling always comes to the surface. Here is the basis of all our trouble."’[10] But, judging by events the following year the council did not follow up its intended take over.

Meanwhile it was the issue of what happened to the money paid to the teams which caused more controversy. Did it finish up remunerating players? Bill Fleming pointed out that Olympic selection was at stake.[11] VASFA decided to take over control of the Sunday games but also ‘unanimously adopted a suggestion by Mr N. Rothfield, vice-president, to appoint a committee of business men who would guarantee employment for soccer players coming to Victoria, subject to their producing adequate evidence of their playing ability. The council appointed a special sub-committee to contact business men to make a survey of jobs available.’ It is not clear if this ever eventuated in Victoria, but this is the underlying issue leading to the FIFA ban in 1960. If it could be argued that people were coming to Australia for employment and playing football as amateurs then, so it was hoped, you might get round FIFA requirements about transfer fees for high quality players.

The 1953 tournament was brought to a halt by a fracas at the game between Italy, largely players from the Juventus club, and Ireland on 12 July. Ireland was leading 4–3.[12] The Italians walked off in protest about refereeing decisions and the crowd assaulted the referee. There was a media firestorm. The VASFA Council threw the book at Juventus and ended Sunday International matches at its meeting the following week.[13] Suspending Juventus rather than the team which had played in the Laidlaw Cup was a major embarrassment for VASFA, since it later transpired that they did not know who the Sunday International Committee members were in order to proceed against them. Nevertheless the following year, Soccer News in a lead article on Polonia remarked that they held the Laidlaw World Cup having defeated England four-nil in the final.[14] So it appears the tournament was revived before the end of the 1953 season. The Sporting Globe reported dissatisfaction on the part of the ‘International’ Sunday Soccer Association that VASFA had not lifted the ban, given that Juventus had won its appeal against the fine and suspension of players.[15] In December John Oliphant, Chairman of the Sunday International Committee nominated for the VASFA Council, but Bill Fleming thought it unlikely that he would be accepted since he had been an active referee in 1953.[16]

In early 1954 VASFA finally sat down with the Sunday International Committee and hammered out a compromise which allowed the tournament to proceed.  It was effectively a take-over by the state body. Four of the five members of the SIC were to be members of VASFA Council, and the SIC was only allowed to organise the World cup games. The distribution of monies was also spelled out, with VASFA taking 45 per cent of the net takings.[17] There was no explicit mention of the juniors for whom Jock Parker had started the competition. Jock Parker had an article in Soccer News in 1954 bemoaning the fact that the tournament he had started to provide support for the juniors was now devoted to raising funds for the clubs.[18]

By September 1954 the tournament was down to the semifinals where Czechoslovakia, sponsored by the Slavia club, met Australia and Italy took on Poland.[19] In 1954 Czechoslovakia won the Cup beating Italy in the final by two goals to nil, and it reached the final the following year only to go down to Italy by six goals to one.[20] That was Italy’s first win in the Laidlaw World Cup, though it was a perennial finalist reaching the last game in 1952, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958 and 1959, and winning again in 1960.

Holland came out on top in 1956.[21] Italy beat Australia by three goals to two in the semi-final at Middle Park on 29 September. Italy got the winner very late in the game.[22] Holland downed Poland also by three-two and went on hammer Italy five-one in the final. The Dutch squad
included: Van Egmond, Peet, Cor Mathyssen, Remmers, Bakens, Olifiers, Peter
Schipperheyn, Luyten, Huygen, Sjel (Mike) de Bruyckere, Teuben.  Reserves:
Steenbergen, Sinnema.

Australia in the Laidlaw Cup at Olympic Park in 1957. Back row, left to right: Bobby Cotterell, Ian Petherick, Andre Waitzer, John McIvor, Brian Thomas, Angus Drennen. Front row: Ross McKenzie, Graham James, Ted Smith, (unknown), Jackie Wilson. The unidentified player was from South Melbourne United. Photo: From Jackie Wilson, courtesy of Ted Smith.

Holland downed Poland also by three-two and went on hammer Italy five-one in the final. The Dutch squad included: Van Egmond, Peet, Cor Mathyssen, Remmers, Bakens, Olifiers, Peter Schipperheyn, Luyten, Huygen, Sjel (Mike) de Bruyckere, Teuben.  Reserves: Steenbergen, Sinnema.

England had its first win in 1957. In the final England went a goal down to Yugoslavia, but fought back in the second to win 3–2.[23] In 1958 it was the turn of Malta which got up against Italy in a five-goal thriller.

Malta won the Laidlaw World Cup in Victoria in 1958 before 9000 spectators with the this team: J. Borg, Vince Muscat, P. Zammit, Tony Vella, F. Damato, J. Debono, F. Catania, E. Azzopardi, D. Catania, Lolly Vella, M. Cachia. Soccer and other Sports, 19 September 1958, p. 1

Scotland won the tournament for the third time in 1959 after nearly being put out by Croatia and only getting through after a replay. 1960 saw Italy win its second tournament downing Yugoslavia in the final.

By now attention was switching away from the World Cup to the fight between the Victorian Soccer Federation (VSF) and VASFA for control of the game in Victoria and the tournament was held for the last time in 1961. Poland won for the second time, defeating Holland in the final. Sixteen teams took part that year. Nearly 9,000 turned up for the first round match between Malta and Greece, which had to be replayed after a successful protest by the Maltese that the Greek goal came about after referee George Harrison played too much extra-time! The replay was goal-less, but J Falzon scored the decisive one in the second replay. Germany, Poland, Holland and Scotland reached the semi-finals and R Gronowski scored the only goal of the final in extra-time.

It might have been expected that when the VSF came out on top the national teams competition would flourish once again. But that did not happen. The Federation Cup and the state and national Ampol Cups became the focus and the Australian Soccer Federation and the VSF agreed as early as December 1961 that ‘throughout Australian Federation circles there would be no more games played between sides bearing national titles, such as in the World Cup Series played here in Melbourne’.[24] These games in the Sunday International League had been organised by the old Association, so the decision may be seen as little more than belated revenge, rather than a considered act of policy, for it was to be breached many times in the future. However, when the decision was being considered in 1962, it is fascinating to find three pillars of VASFA – Harry Dockerty, Charles Walker and Morrie Buckner – lined up in support of the international games, and Theo Marmaras, the Chairman of the VSF, arguing that ‘After all this is the Commonwealth of Australia, and I do not think it wise to perpetuate the differences in nationality here’.[25]

Reminiscences of the Laidlaw World Cup and other games by Ted Smith

Ted Smith remembers ‘My first game for “Australia” (sponsored by South Melbourne United) was aged 16 whilst still at Preston playing at the Old Olympic Park before the fire. In those years we had Angus Drennen, Jackie Wilson and sometimes Ross McKenzie—as per that photo—the remainder was Aussies—including the James Brothers and others from South Melbourne, topped up by Andre Waitzer, an Austrian and Brian Thomas (son of Bill, a pillar of VASFA) Kiwi, both from Brighton.

Then at St. Kevins College oval (while I was still at Preston) we beat Scotland, which included Pat Clark, Dave Stoddart and various other Victorian and Australian internationals—the memory is still hazy.

Later matches at Olympic Park where we lost a Semi Final to Italy in the last minutes.

Again later we beat Poland with John Bedford scoring in his first game. (He was still at Box Hill). I was at Hellas then in 1961 and John joined me as the two Ozzie Greeks and we won the State League Championship in 1962.

I remember two Games at Middle Park when there were no stands at all, only the Bike Track—one against Malta when a gale was blowing down the field. I can’t remember the score though.

The second was against Ireland (sponsored by Moreland) when I arrived too late on Sammy Kyle (who later joined Moreland ) and was confronted by an ‘angry ant’ Frankie Loughran who wanted to  extract immediate revenge against me, who had played with him for many years for Moreland, Victoria and Australia. [Editor’s note: Ted was never booked in his career, but in addition to this incident there was another game in which Alec Barr’s report concluded: ‘Moreland’s new left winger, Ted Smith, did not show up in the hurly burly of senior soccer, and will have to curb his temperament if he is to be a success.][26]

The other memory was watching the final won by England, with four Moreland players— Don Innard, David Oxton (who scored a cracker just clipping the near post) both Victorian representatives, Norm Hobson and Don Hodgson, both Socceroos, (not sure whether they were before or after this match though).

Another was the Scotland–Italy match when the supporters didn’t appreciate the ‘aggressive’ Scottish tactics and showered them with missiles as they were leaving the field.[27]

A bit rambly but fond memories of this competition, particularly when I was starting my senior career at Preston from 1951 (16-years-old) to 1953.

***

Some puzzles remain. Roy Hay talked to Fritz Schwab, father of Laurie, and he said that he had recruited a group of young German players, including Adolf Windt from Geelong, to play in and win a world cup in Victoria.[28] The Richmond Allemania website also makes the claim that Richmond won the local world cup in 1958 and the Laidlaw Cup in 1960.[29] In neither case is there any sign of a German overall victory in the world cup series between 1951 and 1961, however. This needs to be further investigated.

There were other club-based competitions over the years that drew on the success of the Laidlaw exercise. For example, in Geelong there was the New World Cup, sponsored by the Dutch newspaper Nieuive Wereld which also ran in the 1950s. There were similar competitions in South Australia and Western Australia. The All Nations Cup run by the Knox City club in Melbourne continues the tradition today. So the Laidlaw Cup was not unique, but it was one of the most impressive while it lasted.

References

---

[1]           Soccer News, 13 May 1950, p. 5.

[2]           Soccer News, 24 June 1950, p. 7.

[3]           J O Wilshaw, ‘Soccer split may develop,’ Sporting Globe, 12 July 1950, p. 00.

[4]           Soccer News, 16 September 1950 p. 6; 23 September 1950, p. 4. JUST won the Third Division South without defeat in 1950.

[5]           I am indebted to John Punshon for supplying me with copies of his detailed research on the results and participants in the Laidlaw World Cup.

[6]           Bill Fleming, ‘Soccer split denied,’ Argus, 13 May 1952 p. 8.

[7]           Sporting Globe, 10 October 1951, p. 15.

[8]           Information by email from Milan Ninovic, 4 April 2012.

[9]           Sporting Globe, 8 October 1952, p. 15; Bill Fleming, ‘Scotland wins cup,’ Argus, 13 October 1952, p. 8.

[10]          ‘Council will run soccer,’ Argus, 21 October 1952, p. 9.

[11]          Bill Fleming, ‘Soccer risks amateur status,’ Argus, 11 November 1952, p. 9.

[12]          Age, 13 July 1953, p. 13.

[13]          ‘Sunday soccer out,’ Soccer News, 18 July 1953, pp. 1–4. VASFA was embarrassed because it could not find out the membership of the Sunday International Committee to hold responsible for the incident, and hence picked on Juventus, which was subject to the rules of the Association. Ken Moses, ‘Why keep it quiet?’, Argus, 25 November 1953, p. 22.

[14]          ‘Laidlaw Cup starting’, Soccer News, 12 June 1954, p. 6; ‘Polonia’, Soccer News, 19 June 1954, p. 1.

[15]          Sporting Globe, 8 August 1953, p. 11.

[16]          Bill Fleming, ‘Soccer has problem,’ Argus, 12 December 1953, p. 44.

[17]          Bill Fleming, ‘“World” soccer to go on,’ Argus, 21 April 1954, p. 24.

[18]          Soccer News, 10 July 1954, p. 3.

[19]          Soccer News, 4 September 1954, p. 4.

[20]          Alex Barr, ‘Italy takes Soccer Cup’, Age, 26 September 1955, p. 16.

[21]          Sporting Globe, 17 October 1956, p. 2.

[22]          Ted Smith, email 27 March 2012.

[23]          Geoff Bardsley, ‘Moreland’s Soccer Cup win ends great year,’ Sporting Globe, 9 October 1957, p. 5.

[24]          Age, 11 December 1961, p. 0. ‘A national register of players in the Federation will be compiled to prevent illegal transfers and the poaching of talent between the States.’

[25]          Soccer Weekly, 28 June 1962

[26]          Alex Barr, ‘Changed decision aids soccer win,’ Age, 3 May 1954, p. 14.

[27]          Ted Smith, emails 27 & 28 March 2012.

[28]          Conversation at the wake for Helen Schwab, his daughter-in-law, Stevedore Street, Williamstown, 26 March 2012.

[29]         Richmond Allemania website, http://www.richmondsc.com.au/content.aspx?file=7584%7C12586h, accessed 27 March 2012.

Feminine in Firenze

Greg Downes is gallivanting around Europe. He put this report on his blog. It tells a nice story about women's soccer in Italy.

While enjoying a lengthy stay in Florence I decided to put my women’s football hat on and throw my support behind the local women’s team (Associazione Calcio Femminile Firenze). As luck would have it the home ground is only a short driving distance from where we are living. The home ground is called the Stadio Comunale San Marcellino. A small stadium with a capacity of only 1,000.

Game day started wet, cold and not very inviting. I had planned the visit to the soccer but was now having reservations, as it was only 5 degrees and raining. However after a morning trip to the Greve markets (in Chianti) the weather started to clear and we headed off to the ground. The stadium – if you could call it that is situated in the outskirts of Florence, tucked away amongst the homes and businesses of suburban Italian life in the municipality of Bagno a Ripoli. While the ground itself was netted off to secure surrounding properties the pitch was good, flat, well grassed and dry even after solid rain. It promised a fast and open game.

Game time finally arrived and with that both teams, Firenze and Como 2000, along with the referee and linesmen all ran out to centre field together. Never seen that before. A moment’s silence was held for what reason I couldn't understand and then both teams shook hands and withdrew to their respective sides of the centre for kickoff.

Image from the game. Sourced from ACF Firenza site.

In short I was impressed. Both teams threw themselves into the game, and the level of skill displayed with ball control, passing and tactical quality was high. If this was the level of skill displayed by two teams in the bottom half of the points table, I wondered how good the top teams played. The final score finished with Firenze running out winners after an early goal down, 5 goals to 1. The game was exciting, tough and very entertaining and it was a shame that only a small crowd of about one hundred supporters, mainly family and friends, turned out to support the two teams.

While numbers were low, some things remain the same no matter where you are in the sporting world. I was standing under the grandstand waiting to be served at the bar when an elderly Italian lady approached me. She didn't recognize me from the usual crowd and wanted to introduce herself. While we both spoke poor Italian and English respectively she managed to express to me that she was a grandmother (Nonna) to one of the local players and was very proud to be here to watch her play. I could only agree in my broken Italian and said that I was very pleased to be here as well. She nodded and left to join her family. I was left with a smile on my face and a feeling of being a welcome visitor to the game.

More action from the game.

It was at this point I began to think about how this league would compare with the W-League back home in Australia. Why were the crowd numbers so low?

The Serie A league for women has been around for approximately 30 years in its current format. The 2013/14 season includes a total of 16 teams representing a cross section of the country. The W-League on the other hand is a baby in comparison with its establishment in 2008! I realize crowd numbers alone is not a true indicator of a league’s success however I was amazed at the low numbers present when at home the W-League is averaging close to 1,000 plus and growing. I was also secretly hoping that as I was new to the league – one game did not make a season.

Team crests from Women's Serie A discussion board.

I do not proclaim to be an expert on women’s football in Italy, but from what I have read the game is not professional, is not generally supported and is not recognized by a male dominated sporting culture.  Although this situation is similar in most football playing nations, most are starting to emerge from culturally and male dominated pasts to take their place in the sporting framework. This does not seem to be the case here. But I am not here to judge only to enjoy the level of enthusiasm and participation of women playing football.

We both left the ground happy to have been involved, rugged up against the cold breeze and looking forward to getting home to a warm fire.

As we were driving home my wife turned to me and said, “ That was great! Seeing that the ground is so close we should come back and support the team at all of their home games.”

Looking forward to it already. At least I can add to the attendance averages.

Check video footage of the game here.