The story of Melbourne Hungaria (not very SM Hellas related)

So I went to Melbourne Museum yesterday to check out Melbourne SC: The First Twenty Five Years, the cover of which you can see on the right. Why the interest in Hungaria and what's the relevance to South? I'll get to the latter toward the end of the entry. But as to the former question, since finding about this now extinct club a few years ago, I've been intrigued. They are seldom ever spoken about by the reminiscing Victorian soccer fan. They don't have the same historical/cultural resonance in Victorian and Australian soccer as do their Sydney counterparts St George Budapest, nor did they match St George's success. And yet in their short existence - the club went out of business at the end of 1987, just five years after this booklet was published - they did make an impact on the local scene.

Hungaria's most notable playing product was Attila Abonyi, the Socceroo striker who was at one time the national team's all time leading scorer. While the club had one Victorian State League second place finish (1970), and three third place finishes (1960, 1966, 1972), undoubtedly the club's most successful year was 1967. They not only won the league title that season, but went on to win the Australia Cup as well, beating APIA Leichhardt 4-3 in the final.

Possibly a photo of a young Ernie Tapai playing
for a Victorian state youth team.

Unfortunately, the bulk of the booklet's text is in Hungarian, with only advertisements (almost all small businesses, or pro forma congratulatory pieces from supporters) and a small portion at the end in English. There are many photos, but apart from player names (often surnames only) there are usually no other identifying details. The format is largely a year by year almanac style account, with an interesting deviation in the middle dedicated to junior players and even a women's team of some sort, before returning to the yearly summaries.

Despite a strong early 1970s period, the club had only a small community to draw upon. After being relegated from the state league in 1975, the club bounced between the Victorian second and third divisions for the next decade. and it appears that the lack of a permanent home ground didn't help matters. 

In the late 1950s, they played out of Elwood Reserve/Elwood Park in Elwood, before spending time at Port Melbourne's JL Murphy Reserve, Olympic Park, McDonald Reserve in Gardiner, Elsternwick Park, and even the St Kilda Cricket Ground (aka the Junction Oval, which was also used by Juventus; that venue was rejected as a possible home ground by South in the late 1970s/early 1980s, but that's another story)

The stability issue is perhaps undermined a little by the fact that Hungaria spent the entire period of 1969-80 at Middle Park Stadium, making them the third longest tenant behind Hellas and Hakoah in the ground's post-enclosure era. From 1981 until their final move to Williamstown, they played on one of the adjacent fields to Middle Park, Oval No.7. The last 12 pages of the book, in English, focus mostly on the future that the club's board had in mind.

The board, perhaps surprisingly considering the trends that were already in evidence among ethnic clubs at the time, had some seriously lofty aims. The main find for me is that the club managed to apparently secure some land in Williamstown (near the Rifle Range), and had plans to build both a new ground with a small grandstand (seating 300), as well as a social club. The intention was to supplement their soccer income in order to make a tilt at getting into the national league. Sound familiar?

Neither Melbourne Hungaria's plans for a boutique suburban ground, nor their aim of reaching the National Soccer League came to pass. As usual, apologies for the poor quality of my photos.

The grandstand and social club never got built, as a visit to JT Gray Reserve in Williamstown can attest to. The amenities in the shadow of the oil refinery are limited to the portables that used to be at Paisley Park. Why Hungaria's plans never happened I'm not sure, though we can take an easy guess. Diminishing crowds, diminishing interest, diminishing money. After having made it back to the state league in 1986, they got relegated immediately. In 1987, they got relegated again, and that was that. See the link Mark Boric has provided (in the comments) to a 1985 feature article on the club -

Is there a warning there for us? Without getting too melodramatic I think there is. I think we have some advantages in comparison - a good junior wing, stable enough existence at a home ground, enough corporate and pleb support to keep us going nicely for the time being. But Hungaria's plans and subsequent demise demonstrate the absolute necessity of getting this lease deal done. Not for the sake of some possible attempt at a national league return, or even for the money, but for the sake of the club itself. Here's hoping the movers and shakers are getting closer to finalising the deal.

Update
In the 1952 VASFA handbook (which you can download from here, courtesy of Mark Boric), there is a Hungaria listed as due to play in the fourth division. Unlike its successor team, which played for most of its existence in a completely white strip, except for a one red and one green horizontal stripe, the 1952 Hungaria kit is as listed as being a red shirt, white shorts, green socks.

Unlike other clubs however, there is no home ground listed - the only reference I can find to their existence in The Argus on Trove is in the round 1 results for 1952. Their match against the RAAF side is listed as not having been played, with no reason being given, unlike in other games where ground (for example) is listed as the reason for no game being played.

After checking with fellow Victorian soccer historian John Punshon, it appears that they pulled out early on, and teams due to play them got a bye. This was noted in the 'Secretary's Notes' section of the April 26 1952 edition of Soccer News.

Interesting piece from Neos Osmos

Soccer growing in pre-WWI Melbourne.
An interesting long piece from the Argus (29 June 1914), speaks to the popularity and growth of soccer in Melbourne immediately prior to the First World War. The author acknowledges crowds of sometimes between two and four thousand down at Albert Park. By comparison the weekend after this piece was published 3,568 spectators turned up at the MCG to see Geelong hammer Melbourne, though this figure does seem to represent a lower crowd than usual.

It's written by an outsider, one brought up on Australian rules but who is sympathetic to the game. Clearly he sees soccer as a migrants' game, even though locals are starting to get involved. Victoria's strength in a recent intercolonial game against NSW was very much determined by its being made up of experienced migrant Scottish and English players as against the callowness of the native born from NSW. Soccer is seen to be technically skillful, a "pretty" and "clever" game lacking the corruption of professionalism that has poisoned the "Australian game". Moreover, it has a referee who tends not to interfere and is respected.

This latter point leads to the fascinating implied claim that Australian rules is a bastion of corruption and match-fixing.

Thinking about it in today's terms the piece reads like a Greg Baum/Richard Hinds feature (without the sarcasm and bad faith) commissioned by the editor after the regular soccer writer has failed to notice that something pretty interesting is going on down at Albert Park. The usual soccer fare of derisory team lists, basic results and no write-ups, or brief ones -- (when possible, when space is available, when people are interested, 'We're not publicists, you know') -- are shown up by this sustained and positive piece.


"SOCCER" FOOTBALL.
GROWING POPULARITY.
A PLAYERS' GAME.

Organised by a few enthusiasts from England, who found the Australian game, even as it was played several years ago, not at all to their liking, British Association football now draws from 2,000 to 4,000 people to Middle Park every Saturday. That the internal growth of the Victoria Amateur Football Association now affiliated with the governing body in England, has been equally steady is shown by the fact that there are 22 clubs in Victoria, with a roll of about 500 playing members, while New South Wales has 130 clubs. Most of those who are satisfied to stand in the open all the afternoon, threatened by batteries of artillery and stray horses, were keen followers of the game before they reached Australia, but there is a growing percentage of local "barrackers" who come down as curious sceptics, and soon find themselves fascinated by what is one of the prettiest and cleverest games in the world to watch. A game that will attract 100,000 Englishmen must necessarily have some good features, and these are beginning to be more and more recognised by many who are disgusted at the present condition of the Australian game. It might be thought that some of the supporters are won by the prospect of a free show, but no suggestion of that can be found in the appearance of the men and women round the side lines. To a great extent it is a family outing, and renewal of home ties.

Men who have seen the game at its best laugh when asked how the standard of play here compares with that in England, but the things that are done with the ball at Middle Park are eye-openers to followers of League football. The principles underlying British Association are the prevention of handling of the ball and the reduction of rules, and consequenty interference by the umpire or referee, to minimum. The playing area is smaller than ours, and there are only eleven men a side, who stand all in their own half of the ground at the kick-off and play largely in their places, the attack being made by the five forwards—centre and inside and outside left and right. The goalkeeper is the only player allowed to handle the ball, and he may not run with it. This formation and the use of a spherical ball make the game clean and open. Passing becomes a feature of the play, and even the mediocre player seems able to direct the ball to any angle with any part of the foot, toe, or heel while running. Naturally, the round ball is easier than the oval to deal with but the precision with which it is got under control from the air and 'dribbled' along a few inches in front of the feet at top speed is only less surprising than the use made of the opposite end of the body. Meeting the ball on the full a player will "head" it across to the wing with the front of his skull farther than an Australian would pass with his hand. A man prominently connected with a sport once as popular as football, but killed by corruption, was keenly interested in the play on "Saturday, and speculated as to the result if first-class League players acquired the same control over the ball as these amateurs. As he spoke an incident capped his remark. The ball flew high to the wing. A man "headed" it back. An opponent headed it out again and a fellow of the first smothered it with his foot as it landed, and swung it hard towards the goal.

After the skill of the players the insignificance of the referees part is the most striking feature. Imagine a league umpire in boots and blazer, walking about the centre of the ground most of the time! The only penalties he has to inflict are for handling the ball or the man, charging in the back, tripping and kicking, and "offside." But when he speaks he speaks with authority. Any player can be ordered off the ground. An incident on Saturday showed the spirit of the game. A player was tripped and he turned and kicked his opponent. Shouts of "Play the game" came from both teams and as the referee merely warned the kicker and gave a pen- alty against him, a burly spectator growled. "And he didn't order him off. No wonder the game doesn't get on in the colonies".

Still, it does get on and its supporters even prophesy that it will solve the problem of universal football. Australians are not yet excelling as players, for their speed is counteracted by a lack of restraint. That is why Victoria won all four matches against New South Wales recently. One has only to listen to the shouts of the players and the keenest supporters to discover where they hail from. But they hold that the morals of the game will win a way for it. Already the round ball has made its appearance in school playgrounds. The prime advantage claimed for British Association is that to achieve corruption one must buy most of the team. The referee has so little to do in comparison with the Australian umpire that he is a valueless asset.

SATURDAY'S MATCHES
LEAGUE.
Division I

Albert Park, 3 goals (Anderson, Cox, Campbell), beat Burns, 1 goal (Johnston).

St. Kilda, 1 goal (Slade), drew with Preston, 1 goal (Phelps).

Prahran, 1 goal (G. Brown) beat Thistle, nil.

N and D, 2 goals (Bell, Madden), beat Birmingham, 1 goal (Allen).

Yarraville, 0 goals, drew with Spotswood, 0 goals.

Division II

Hawthorn, 2 goals (J. Turnbull, T. Turnbull), drew with Burns A, 2 goals (Monk, Rawles).

Burns were fully expected to take 2 points out of Albert Park, but the latter team have improved considerably in the last few weeks, and have well deserved their victory 3 goals to 1. The Park won the toss, and kicked with the wind, the game being only five minutes old, when Liversedge crossed the ball, and Anderson opened the score with a shot which struck the bar, and turned into the net. Burns continued to act on the defensive for the rent of the first half, there being no further scoring. In the second half, the wind had dropped, but Burns soon took up the attack, but failed to score, and the Park, getting away the ball was crossed from the left, Cox making no mistake with the shot. Burns, who badly missed Ruddiman, now seemed to fall to pieces, and it was not long before the Park increased their lead. Campbell netting from some distance. A quarter of an hour from the end, good work bv Anderson for Burns brought up their only goal. Johnson accepting a pass, scoring with a cross shot, the game ending as stated. For the winners, Kelly, Cox, Liversedge, and Fraser were the best of a well-balanced team, the pick of the Burns team being, Jones, T. Anderson and Bellis.

Saturday was quite a day of surprises, Prahran gaining their first League win of the season at the expense of Thistle, who are at present the leaders in the the for premiership. The only goal came from G. Brown, who was entrusted with a penalty kick, for which he gave Russell no chance of saving. For Prahran, Calversley in goal was very safe, Luker and Earthey also doing well in defence, with Mark Caulfield at left full back in his best form, George Brown being easily the best of the forwards. Thistle seemed to have quite an off day, Bottomley being the best of the forward rank, whilst Goodson played his usual sound game.

St. Kilda were another team who were expected to win easily, but though Preston were without the services of Robson, Bailey and Purcell, they managed to make a creditable draw of 1 goal each. Slade, who, since his promotion to the first team, has been the most consistent scorer, was again successful in finding the net, but S. Lowe was badly at fault when be allowed Phelps to equalise, as he should have saved without difficulty.

Yarraville visited Spotswood, a goalless draw being the result, the visitors being unlucky in losing Joey Grieves, who was carried off with a broken ankle. For Yarraville, Dowser was not up to his usual form; but Hamilton, Stranger, Gardiner, and Blackburn all did well, the most outstanding player of the Spotswood side being Charlie Grieves.

Birmingham received a rare setback in their chances of the premiership in being defeated by N. and D., who had the best of a good game, Robinson (in goal) being brilliant as usual.

Syson vs Lynch!

The Age's chief soccer writer Michael Lynch (left), has his undies snapped by academic Ian Syson (centre), as part of a fledgling annual tradition in which local soccer fans take Lynch and The Age to task for not publishing material about the Victorian Premier League. South of the Border creator Paul Mavroudis (right), looks on, characteristically unamused by the spectacle.

This entry is also known as why Twitter sucks, and The Annual Disaffected, Bitter, Semi-Literate, Quasi Intelligent VPL Fan's Snapping of Michael Lynch's Undies.

I don't like Twitter and therefore I don't use Twitter. The website sucks and 160 characters is a daft number to choose. 255 is a much better choice.

Of course, if like me you don't have a smart phone, it's probably utterly pointless.

And besides, I like to waffle on, see where my muse leads me.

But epic manifestos on my self-diagnosed depression and where to get a good and cheap feed in Melbourne on a Sunday evening aren't for everyone.

And some of you like to consider yourselves as more technologically savvy than this blog, and more power to you in that regard.

So if you're one of those people with the attention span of a newt, then I suppose something like Twitter is your friend, and you may be interested in the stoush being played out between The Age's 'sokkah' writer Michael Lynch and academic (and sort of friend of South of the Border) Ian Syson, about why the VPL doesn't get more coverage in The Age.

Is there anything new here, in comparison to the last time we had this conversation? Nah, but it's become an annual ritual which we like to think we've played a part in establishing courtesy of an angry email I sent a few years ago after our last grand final win, but which is now lost because it was on my Bigpond email account and I'm on TPG now, and I didn't have the foresight to save it.

Why was it via Bigpond? Because I reasoned that The Age would probably automatically filter out my hotmail and gmail attempts at reaching them. All of which should be a footnote, because the arguments being employed are still much the same.

• We don't cover second tier sport.
• There's not enough interest/it's only followed by a few hardcores.
• I would love to do it, but there's limited space.
• I'll try and get something online next year.
• The Age is about selling papers and entertaining people, not informing them.

To which this year there's been a couple of new additions

• We (Fairfax) have a deal with the FFV to get stuff published in local papers.
• Coverage of Victorian soccer is the best it's ever been!

There are obvious responses to all these things, which have been covered before (see the above links and the Michael Lynch tag on this blog) as well as in this current mini-fracas, but to save time, let's go over them one more (last?) time.

• The Age does cover second and third tier sport, when they report on VFL, VAFA, District Cricket etc.
• There would be VPL crowds that would easily match or cover an equivalent VFL, VAFA, District Cricket fixture.
• The notion of limited space is a crock. Ghostwritten articles by AFL players which probably no one reads are somehow more important and integral than a VPL grand final?
• When it comes to the internet and getting more content on there, next year never seems to arrive for our daily newspapers. 
• Yes, yes, we know that we can follow our teams in the free suburban papers. But that goes for the aforementioned aussie rules and premier cricket competitions as well, and yet they still get press coverage in the dailies.
• Unless one counts the coverage of the Victory and Heart as part of the tally, coverage of Victorian soccer is non-existent in The Age.
• It is easy to prove that soccer coverage was more extensive just by looking up old papers. Was it as well written? Probably not. Was it to the point and did it cover the main details of the weekend's action? In quite a few cases, yes.
 

I don't think anyone in their right mind is asking for wall to wall coverage of the competition, merely acknowledgement of its importance relative to the other junk that they cover, as well as a cessation in the bullshit they peddle about why the VPL does not get coverage in their paper. That's what I want at least. If they discarded all the other lower tier sport, then there'd be one less bit of hypocrisy for the cynics, who perhaps see this as just another part of the australian rules conspiracy, to aim at.

The Age may be operating in a global field, but it is a Melbourne paper which should accurately reflect the things which are happening in this city, and not merely favour those things which are the enclave of a few Old Boys, nor use their professed parochialism solely as an advertising tool and not as a deeper operating philosophy. Yes, I've walked past your ads at Spencer Street Station, and no, I don't believe what they're telling me.

Then again, with so much of their material operations being outsourced away from Victoria, are they even a genuinely local enterprise any longer? Who the hell cares, as long people are entertained by what they read in preference to being informed about their world; because the logical conclusion about selling papers and giving people what they want to read, is that you eventually stop giving people items that they should be reading.

I'd wager that there's plenty of people out there who already think that The Age has headed down the path of treating it's readership in an increasingly condescending manner. Me, I just hope to see everyone here again next year, so we can give this ride another whirl.

I went up to Villier's Terrace...

No, nothing to do with the Echo and the Bunnymen song. Yesterday Ian Syson and I sought out pioneering Victorian football journo Fred Villiers. Fred had been at a number of papers (Argus, Sporting Globe to name just two), as well as on radio and a lengthy spell on World of Sport. Fred's getting on in years, and his mind and memory are slipping... I would easily say it was the most difficult interview that I've had to do, and was not any easier on Fred either. Questions, comments, memories, references to friends vanished and gone, often nameless, all looped and repeated upon themselves... so while we couldn't get full access to the goldmine that was Fred's football life, we did come away somewhat humbled nevertheless, as well as informed by those things Fred could recall.

Amongst those things were Fred's pushing for soccer coverage in the papers he was working on... with the proof being in the pudding with circulations rising whenever the round ball game was included. The young men he recruited to report on the games, and who got paid twice over, once for their print reports and once for their radio work. His struggles within the 'mainstream' sporting media, and against those who hated our game... Jack Dyer in particular received ratbag status while others, like Lou Richards, were more indifferent to the game.

An interesting theme has started developing perhaps about cultural gatekeepers... we covered this earlier with our first interviewee, women's soccer pioneer Betty Hoar, who said the ability of women and girls to break into established clubs was dependent on the main stalwart, worker, diehard, however you'd like to put it, being either for or against women playing. Likewise it seems, in the media, newspaper editors and culturally important people like Dyer hold large sway over how their minions will behave... and what they say goes. So no second tier sport in The Age really means no second tier soccer, but heaps of second, third, fourth and fifth tier aussie rules. Jack Dyer ripping into soccer and giving Fred a hard time repeatedly on the show means that acceptance from the wider public, who hold Dyer up as a paragon of Australian values (especially masculine and sporting wise), is near impossible to attain.

Fred also showed us some of his photos, taken before he came to Australia in the late 1940s. Few had anything to do with football (there was one photo of the team he played for in England), but there were some taken from a position in the crowd, of such people as the late Queen Mother, Princess Elizabeth, Wallis Simpson, Edward VIII, Neville Chamberlain.... in my opinion some remarkable shots, taken with a photographer's eye for the moment. It's sad that we had to meet Fred at this time, and not earlier - but it was better late than never. I'm certainly richer for the experience.