What do you think?
Rate this book
The Death and Life of Australian Soccer
In The Death and Life of Australian Soccer, journalist and historian Joe Gorman explores the rise and fall of Australia's first national football competition and shows how soccer came to practice and embody multiculturalism long before it became government policy. Drawing on archival research and interviews with players, supporters and club officials, he tells the incredible and oft-unknown stories of Australian soccer: how Charles Perkins rose from the soccer fields of Adelaide to the halls of administrative power, all the while becoming Australia's best-known Indigenous leader; how the Whitlam government embraced the first-ever Australian team to qualify for a FIFA World Cup; and how soccer played a role in creating the Australian Institute of Sport. Gorman also takes an unflinching look at the issues in the world game, from globalization, assimilation and violence to unionism and privatization. With rare intimacy and detail he explains how a long-forgotten journalist and the nation's leading soccer statistician quietly recorded it all over decades. The Death and Life of Australian Soccer is a fascinating and timely account of the first Australian sport to truly galvanize every ethnic, regional, metropolitan, gender and political group across the country. It examines the myths and legends of Australian sport and offers new ways of understanding the great changes that shaped the nation. This is more than a book about soccer – it is the riveting story of Australia's national identity.
420 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 26, 2017
13 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 25, 2017
The Death and Life of Australian Soccer (2017) by Joe Gorman is a marvellous history of Australian men’s soccer leagues since World War Two.
Australian soccer or football is an odd beast. in a country with four national codes of football it has, for decades, been the most played but least watched code. In addition, after being played mainly by some British migrants the game changed radically with the surge in post war migration.
For many people with a wog name, like myself, the game is tied up with identity. There are memories of going to games with parents, there are memories of watching games in places that were known through family stories. And yet, it was clear that some teams were not really for you to support. Gorman captures the issue with real skill. He also looks at the issue of ‘which team do you support’, Australia or the team of your ethnicity.
The book starts with post WWII immigration and the story of Andrew Dettre, a Hungarian immigrant who wrote for Soccer World and later worked in the Whitlam government.
There is a chapter on Canberra City, a club which was a prototype for A-League type teams that are without an ethnic base that represent a whole city. As a child I went to Canberra City games. The book gives the team quite a bit of praise. Remembering the actual games it’s generous.
The pre-NSL soccer days and then the formation, rise and fall of the NSL gets a lot of attention. Gorman looks objectively at the quality of the ethnic clubs such as Marconi, South Melbourne, Melbourne Knights and Sydney Croatia but also goes into detail about the crowd violence, particularly between the Croatian and Serb teams.
The rise of the A-League and it’s success is very well dealt with. Gorman writes honestly about how the quality of the football in the first years of the A-League was definitely worse than in the NSL. But he also appreciates the numbers of supporters and the depth of support for some of the new teams. The book also has the failures of a number of the new A-League teams. The A-League still has some of the financial issues that have always dogged Australian soccer.
Gorman writes quite a bit about The Socceroos, their qualification for the World Cup in 1974, 2006 and 2010. The portrait of Johnny Warren in particular is very good and really quite touching.
About the only thing the book doesn't include is a look at the difficulty of running Australian sports teams in general. The NBL has more former clubs than current clubs, the AFL has moved many teams to avoid them folding, the NRL has merged clubs and Rugby Union is now abolishing teams. It's worth considering this when saying how badly run a lot of soccer teams are.
The book does note that soccer is the most played game in the country. Gorman also does provide some discussion of the success of women’s soccer in Australia. About the only thing missing from the book is a bit more discussion of how many Australians did, for a long time, watch soccer, it just wasn’t Australian. From the 1980s onwards SBS had soccer on TV and before that Match of the Day was on Australian TV for years. From the late 1980s SBS also had Italian Soccer. SBS also had finals of the Champions’ League and Europa League and their predecessors. Today there are kids growing up who love soccer but don’t actually go to many, or any games but do follow Messi, Ronaldo and co. It’s not ideal, but it does involve playing soccer and watching soccer.
Overall the book is really fascinating for anyone with an interest in Australian soccer. Gorman has done great research and written a book that highlights the issues for soccer in Australia. Hopefully Les Murray, the great SBS soccer presenter, got a look at the book before he died. He would have been really impressed.
Australian soccer or football is an odd beast. in a country with four national codes of football it has, for decades, been the most played but least watched code. In addition, after being played mainly by some British migrants the game changed radically with the surge in post war migration.
For many people with a wog name, like myself, the game is tied up with identity. There are memories of going to games with parents, there are memories of watching games in places that were known through family stories. And yet, it was clear that some teams were not really for you to support. Gorman captures the issue with real skill. He also looks at the issue of ‘which team do you support’, Australia or the team of your ethnicity.
The book starts with post WWII immigration and the story of Andrew Dettre, a Hungarian immigrant who wrote for Soccer World and later worked in the Whitlam government.
There is a chapter on Canberra City, a club which was a prototype for A-League type teams that are without an ethnic base that represent a whole city. As a child I went to Canberra City games. The book gives the team quite a bit of praise. Remembering the actual games it’s generous.
The pre-NSL soccer days and then the formation, rise and fall of the NSL gets a lot of attention. Gorman looks objectively at the quality of the ethnic clubs such as Marconi, South Melbourne, Melbourne Knights and Sydney Croatia but also goes into detail about the crowd violence, particularly between the Croatian and Serb teams.
The rise of the A-League and it’s success is very well dealt with. Gorman writes honestly about how the quality of the football in the first years of the A-League was definitely worse than in the NSL. But he also appreciates the numbers of supporters and the depth of support for some of the new teams. The book also has the failures of a number of the new A-League teams. The A-League still has some of the financial issues that have always dogged Australian soccer.
Gorman writes quite a bit about The Socceroos, their qualification for the World Cup in 1974, 2006 and 2010. The portrait of Johnny Warren in particular is very good and really quite touching.
About the only thing the book doesn't include is a look at the difficulty of running Australian sports teams in general. The NBL has more former clubs than current clubs, the AFL has moved many teams to avoid them folding, the NRL has merged clubs and Rugby Union is now abolishing teams. It's worth considering this when saying how badly run a lot of soccer teams are.
The book does note that soccer is the most played game in the country. Gorman also does provide some discussion of the success of women’s soccer in Australia. About the only thing missing from the book is a bit more discussion of how many Australians did, for a long time, watch soccer, it just wasn’t Australian. From the 1980s onwards SBS had soccer on TV and before that Match of the Day was on Australian TV for years. From the late 1980s SBS also had Italian Soccer. SBS also had finals of the Champions’ League and Europa League and their predecessors. Today there are kids growing up who love soccer but don’t actually go to many, or any games but do follow Messi, Ronaldo and co. It’s not ideal, but it does involve playing soccer and watching soccer.
Overall the book is really fascinating for anyone with an interest in Australian soccer. Gorman has done great research and written a book that highlights the issues for soccer in Australia. Hopefully Les Murray, the great SBS soccer presenter, got a look at the book before he died. He would have been really impressed.
November 25, 2017
Rating = 9/10
I recently heard the author being interviewed about the book and could not believe that he is around the same age as I am. His use of language, story telling and journalism skills make me feel like I should go back to school.
Never have I felt more in-tune with the story that is Australian soccer. Gorman explores Australian soccer in an objective way that makes me question many of my beliefs around the game. As any good book should, I suppose.
Aspects of the book have been tied together with a writing style that I found very entertaining: the interviews, the ties to Australian politics, the individuals profiled and of course, the multiculturalism.
Naturally, don’t take my short review here as any true reflection as to the quality of this book. There’s not many books that, once read, I put down and think to myself that I’m glad this was written and that it’s important others read it too. The Death & Life of Australian Soccer is one of these books.
Some interesting quotes and tidbits
• The Socceroos were the first Australian sporting team to line up and sing Advance Australia Fair before a game. The game was in April 1974 against Uruguay – our last game on home soil before competing in the 1974 World Cup.
• A quote from Ange Postecoglou about Ferenc Puskas: “I spent a lot of time chatting about football with him. I loved it. He was so much more open than the previous coaches, who were so regimented and structured”.
• Alan Davidson collapsed during a game for South Melbourne and nearly died. Ange Postecoglou replaced Davidson. This was Postecoglou’s senior debut for the club.
• every match that ended in a draw.
• Aloisi’s goal celebration after scoring the penalty that sent Australia to the 2006 World Cup was inspired by a famous goal from Chris Kalantzis in the 1986 NSL Final.
• Jade North was the first Indigenous captain to win a national league title when Newcastle Jets won the A-League Grand Final in 2008.
• “…soccer is still the only Australian sport that can galvanise every possible ethnic, regional, metropolitan, gender and political group from Perth to Sydney, Darwin to Adelaide, Cairns to Hobart.”
I recently heard the author being interviewed about the book and could not believe that he is around the same age as I am. His use of language, story telling and journalism skills make me feel like I should go back to school.
Never have I felt more in-tune with the story that is Australian soccer. Gorman explores Australian soccer in an objective way that makes me question many of my beliefs around the game. As any good book should, I suppose.
Aspects of the book have been tied together with a writing style that I found very entertaining: the interviews, the ties to Australian politics, the individuals profiled and of course, the multiculturalism.
Naturally, don’t take my short review here as any true reflection as to the quality of this book. There’s not many books that, once read, I put down and think to myself that I’m glad this was written and that it’s important others read it too. The Death & Life of Australian Soccer is one of these books.
Some interesting quotes and tidbits
• The Socceroos were the first Australian sporting team to line up and sing Advance Australia Fair before a game. The game was in April 1974 against Uruguay – our last game on home soil before competing in the 1974 World Cup.
• A quote from Ange Postecoglou about Ferenc Puskas: “I spent a lot of time chatting about football with him. I loved it. He was so much more open than the previous coaches, who were so regimented and structured”.
• Alan Davidson collapsed during a game for South Melbourne and nearly died. Ange Postecoglou replaced Davidson. This was Postecoglou’s senior debut for the club.
• every match that ended in a draw.
• Aloisi’s goal celebration after scoring the penalty that sent Australia to the 2006 World Cup was inspired by a famous goal from Chris Kalantzis in the 1986 NSL Final.
• Jade North was the first Indigenous captain to win a national league title when Newcastle Jets won the A-League Grand Final in 2008.
• “…soccer is still the only Australian sport that can galvanise every possible ethnic, regional, metropolitan, gender and political group from Perth to Sydney, Darwin to Adelaide, Cairns to Hobart.”
December 3, 2017
Australian soccer history has been dominated for many years by the Johnny Warren autobiography 'Sheilas, Wogs & Poofters'. It was an intensely personal and broadly optimistic story from and about the Anglo-Australian who arguably served as the first and foremost evangelist for the world game here in Australia.
Since that book was published the subject went a little quiet, however in the last few years there has been a spurt of quality efforts from the likes of Adam Peacock, Roy Hay & Bill Murray. However none of them, nor indeed has Johnny Warren's book done for football what 'The Death and Life for Australian Soccer' has. Joe Gorman has effectively written THE bible of understanding Australian soccer as it was post-WW2 and as it is now.
How has Gorman done this? Firstly, he writes with a style that is passionate, erudite, personal, inquisitive and fast-moving. He moves from grandiloquent themes of nationalism, culture, economics to highly personal statements about what the game's advocates think about the sport, or how soccer was played, all with effortless skill. Gorman asks the reader to keep up to speed with his narrative, introducing a cast of real-life characters that spin in and out of orbit, then will transition to describing how a NSL player or match with a journalist's inquisitiveness and a novelist's turn of phrase.
The structure of the book, particularly when it focuses on how post-war Australian society and the immigrant community met (and at times recoiled back from each other) at soccer pitches around this country in the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s, is brilliantly worked. By focusing on Andrew Dettre, a (sadly) neglected voice for Australian soccer, Gorman has found an intellectual and romantic entry point into understanding and explaining the multiplicity of threads that makes up Australian soccer history. Then, by joining this into a broader examination of Australian culture and racial identity, Gorman has made the kind of leap beyond the narrow confines of a sporting history into something that addresses who we are, how do we understand ourselves, what it means to be Australian.
Never afraid of describing the minutiae whilst trying to deconstruct wider themes, Gorman brings the reader along an intellectual and emotional journey. Thankfully it avoids the dry dispassionate date-ridden history of an academic monograph, whilst also never falling into the trap of soccer loving puff piece or rage filled rant. He is reasoned in his love of the sport and what it means, but also not shy of saying what many soccer advocates (NSL bitters and A-League plastic alike) don't want to hear.
I could say a lot more about this book, and may do in other internet fora. However for now the key point I'd like who ever reads this review to take away is this:
You will never find a better book about Australian football, about Oz Sokkah
Since that book was published the subject went a little quiet, however in the last few years there has been a spurt of quality efforts from the likes of Adam Peacock, Roy Hay & Bill Murray. However none of them, nor indeed has Johnny Warren's book done for football what 'The Death and Life for Australian Soccer' has. Joe Gorman has effectively written THE bible of understanding Australian soccer as it was post-WW2 and as it is now.
How has Gorman done this? Firstly, he writes with a style that is passionate, erudite, personal, inquisitive and fast-moving. He moves from grandiloquent themes of nationalism, culture, economics to highly personal statements about what the game's advocates think about the sport, or how soccer was played, all with effortless skill. Gorman asks the reader to keep up to speed with his narrative, introducing a cast of real-life characters that spin in and out of orbit, then will transition to describing how a NSL player or match with a journalist's inquisitiveness and a novelist's turn of phrase.
The structure of the book, particularly when it focuses on how post-war Australian society and the immigrant community met (and at times recoiled back from each other) at soccer pitches around this country in the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s, is brilliantly worked. By focusing on Andrew Dettre, a (sadly) neglected voice for Australian soccer, Gorman has found an intellectual and romantic entry point into understanding and explaining the multiplicity of threads that makes up Australian soccer history. Then, by joining this into a broader examination of Australian culture and racial identity, Gorman has made the kind of leap beyond the narrow confines of a sporting history into something that addresses who we are, how do we understand ourselves, what it means to be Australian.
Never afraid of describing the minutiae whilst trying to deconstruct wider themes, Gorman brings the reader along an intellectual and emotional journey. Thankfully it avoids the dry dispassionate date-ridden history of an academic monograph, whilst also never falling into the trap of soccer loving puff piece or rage filled rant. He is reasoned in his love of the sport and what it means, but also not shy of saying what many soccer advocates (NSL bitters and A-League plastic alike) don't want to hear.
I could say a lot more about this book, and may do in other internet fora. However for now the key point I'd like who ever reads this review to take away is this:
You will never find a better book about Australian football, about Oz Sokkah
May 8, 2020
As much a story of football in Australia as a study on multiculturalism in Australia in the 20th century.
As an Australian without ties to an 'ethnic' club from the old NSL, I was one of those who found it difficult to connect with the NSL and welcomed in the A-League with open arms. Reading this book gave me a far greater appreciation for those who have come before us in promoting football in Australia - and who have been left behind.
My hope is that Australian football can reconcile with 'old football'. This book however is a thorough examination of the challenges that come with that. All of which is just sad, as we are losing (have lost?) a great part of Australia football history with the demise of the ethnic community clubs.
As an Australian without ties to an 'ethnic' club from the old NSL, I was one of those who found it difficult to connect with the NSL and welcomed in the A-League with open arms. Reading this book gave me a far greater appreciation for those who have come before us in promoting football in Australia - and who have been left behind.
My hope is that Australian football can reconcile with 'old football'. This book however is a thorough examination of the challenges that come with that. All of which is just sad, as we are losing (have lost?) a great part of Australia football history with the demise of the ethnic community clubs.
October 16, 2017
A very good summary of Australian football through the ages. And while it does tend to err on the side of nostalgic preaching at times, it does somewhat strike a conciliatory balance towards the end.
It is pretty worrying, though, that even though this book was released this year, it's probably already in need of a couple of more chapters to bring it up to speed with the current craziness of the world game in Australia.
It is pretty worrying, though, that even though this book was released this year, it's probably already in need of a couple of more chapters to bring it up to speed with the current craziness of the world game in Australia.
December 7, 2018
Gripping and concise, a fantastic overview of Australia's quickly-forgotten yet incredibly rich football history. A must read for passionate Australian football followers and anyone looking to understand the cultural, political, migratory and social struggles faced by Australia across the 20th century amidst the context of a booming migrant population.
A fantastic achievement by Gorman.
A fantastic achievement by Gorman.
November 15, 2018
The best thing about this book is not soccer/football related at all. Rather how it illustrates the reality of a non English upbringing in Australia. The story of Mark Vodka realising how Australian he was in Croatia was an eye opener.
February 18, 2021
This book is honestly a must read for anyone who cares about Australia. I cannot speak highly enough of the effor that went in to producing this book, nobody could do this without a true love for the game and the culture that underpins soccer in Australia.
#prorel4aleague
#prorel4aleague
September 2, 2018
Absolutely loved it! I keep looking out for Joe and Guiseppe at Bar Sport now.
June 7, 2019
A must read for football fans in Australia
January 3, 2020
An extremely interesting read on the state past, present and a gleam into the future of football within Australia. I enjoyed the perspective of this book and am extremely grateful for the time and energy to summarise the history of the sport. This book has left an impression on me, I am left to wonder how that impression will develop with time.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews