A Note On The Forgetting Of Australian Football History - with guest writer Gweeds

Hi everyone, our friend Gweeds of the more than serviceable blog The Accidental Aussie sent us an email earlier this week to add his five cents to some issues I raised in my rundown of an interview with Ted Smith. He raises some interesting points I feel are especially pertinent, with particular emphasis on Australian's society's latent (though I'd be less inclined to treat it so benignly) xenophobic attitudes towards soccer and migrants - points which I've raised intermittently on certain forums, and which in actuality Ted himself touched upon not just in our interview but also in his chapter of Our Socceroos, a passage of which I'll quote before letting Gweeds have his say.


'Why is it that people look so fondly upon their favourite little Italian, Greek or Chinese restaurant, yet I play Wog Ball with those restaurateurs and, for some reason, our sport has never been looked upon in the same light?


Hi Paul,

I wanted to contribute to the latest post on 'South of the Border' but alas I don't have a google account, and as I found this out after I have written it :) I may as well email it to you anyway!

Cheers

Guido

The usual issues of the forgetting Australian soccer history came up as well.

That paragraph tells so well what I feel as well. Unlike (I think ) yourself I am part of that group of football fans that was somewhat alienated by the fact that teams had strong links to a particular social group (despite being Italian myself) and really got into Australian football with the advent of the Carlton Soccer Club and now with Melbourne Victory.

However the more I get involved with Australian football my belief that its history must be acknowledged and highlighted gets stronger. There is no doubt that the 'ethnic' element in the sport had its negative sides (ie some unsavoury clashes between fans, but more damaging the bad administration of the Labozzettas and Scarsellas in the Soccer Australia days) but it must be asserted that without many groups supporting their teams through the years mainly in their free time football in Australia would not be where it is now. You have just have to look at many of the players forming the backbone of the national team to see how the 'ethnic' teams have contributed to the sport.

I also think that football is one of the few areas where people can be latently xenophobic without being accused of political incorrectess. The fact that the code is perceived to be foreign because it is played and followed by people of Non English Speaking Background demonstrate the belief that being 'Australian' has to conform to a narrow set of behaviour and beliefs. So a Silvagni is seen as a 'true aussie' because he plays aussie rules, while a Trimboli may not be seen in the same light because he played football.

But I also take your point that 'The New Australian migrants didn't seem and don't seem too interested in remembering what came before them on the soccer field', because as you say this re-enforce the idea that football is somewhat an import together with tiramisu and espresso coffee, something exotic and nice but not an integral part of Australian sporting culture (interesting to note that 'foreign imported games' such as rugby and cricket do not get the same treatment).

I believe that it was important for the FFA to have a break with the past, because even if unfairly, the perception of 'soccer' in the mainstream had to change. But I hope that one day after the FFA got over it allergy towards anything that is perceived to be 'old soccer' and recognise the contribution and the history of the past. But as long as we don't have football people who can competently manage the Association, and we have to resort from administrators from other codes, I can't see this happening.

The perception of football as a marginalised sport is changing. But part of that is to show that it is not a 'foreign; sport and it is part and parcel of Australian culture.