Australia’s football history with Asia didn’t just begin in 2006 when admitted to the Asian Football Confederation.
The Australian football story stretches back more than 150 years through the presence of Australians at the birth of the modern game in England. British migrants established football in Australia and the game grew with the arrival of more immigrants who became players, spectators and officials.
But when the time came for the Australian game to find its own identity, and to express it through its national team, the Anglo-Australian relationship failed.
Instead, it was Asia that played a key role in the development of Australia’s national team in its first two decades – and Australia played a significant role in Asia. Links with Asian neighbours suggested other ways to make progress on the international stage.
While Australia flirted with FIFA and Olympic football, it was clear London still called the shots. Australia’s football stagnated while top Asian teams reached new heights.
Trevor Thompson’s book Playing for Australia – the First Socceroos, Asia and World Football compares Australia’s experience with other paths taken by football’s leading nations in the Asia Pacific region, and gives an account of big matches, tournaments, and key players on and off the field in Australia and Asia up to the Second World War.
When it comes to balancing Australia’s football history with geography, it’s not an issue of being British, European or Asian, but forging a uniquely Australian identity.
Innehållsförteckning
Introduction
1. Australia’s International Roots
2. The Game Begins
3. The Chinese Connection
4. Lee Wai Tong
5. Empire Cousins
6. The Gods Themselves
7. East indies and the Philippines
8. The Boom Goes Bust
9. Set Sail for Asia
10. Have Ball Will Travel
11. Tom Traynor and Ernest lukeman
12. New Ambitions
13. Return to Java
14. The Australian Championship
15. Maurice Vandendriessche
16. The Asian Championship
17. Crusing the Pacific
18. Asia in Berlin
19. Japanese Glory, Korean Shadows
20. The English Rollercoaster
21. Asia in Paris
22. India Steps Out
23. Palestine and the Gathering Storm
24. Australia’s Early Stars
25. Where Do We Go Now?
Acknowledgements
Author Bio
Om författaren
Trevor Thompson has reported on football in Australia since the 1980s when he wrote and presented a documentary for Radio National on Australia’s national football competitions. He covered the National Soccer League for ABC Radio’s Grandstand program for over ten years and wrote a weekly review of A-League matches for ABC Online.He covered the World Youth Cup for Triple Jay in 1993 and went on to report on Australian World Cup qualifiers for tournaments between 1994 and 2006. He reported from the World Cup finals in Germany in 2006 and South Africa in 2010. His history of football in Australia, ’One Fantastic Goal’, was published in 2006.
He produced and presented Match Night Asia, a weekly program on Australian and Asian football, for Radio Australia in 2007, and wrote about Asian football history for the Asian Cup 2015 website.
He has been a freelance contributor on football for BBC’S Radio Five Live, CBS Radio, and Radio New Zealand.
Trevor Thompson was born in England and spent the Saturdays of his childhood watching Newcastle United at St James’ Park. His last game as a suburban player was for Arncliffe Scots in a grand final win in the St George Association’s over-35s league.
In a long career in journalism, he has also been a specialist reporter on communications and industrial relations as well as sport. He served for more than ten years as Chief of Staff in the ABC’s Sydney newsroom and has been heavily involved in the training of young journalists.
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