Episode 8 - Vanessa Lucchesi; Adelaide City archives; 100 year old clubs; AFRA

We received our first not-entirely solicited
 call-in during this episode.

Download and listen to episode 8 here.

This episode begins with cleanup and promotion of book launches, followed by discussion about the existence of extant 100-year-old clubs across the country, and the reasons why some areas are comparatively rich in centurion clubs compared to others.

Then we get our first ever unprompted call - from Vanessa Lucchesi - who has done an honours thesis on ethnic football clubs in post-war South Australia. Vanessa also looks after and researches the archives held by Adelaide City. The discussion expands to include segments on ethnicity; the history of Adelaide City; and the scale of the club's archives.

We then return to our discussion of 100-year-old clubs; the attempt to resuscitate the Dinmore Bushrats as a continuation of the tradition of the historical (but defunct) club; the messy attempts by South Melbourne to claim elements of its own history and the soccer history of the local area it has previously rejected; Moreland City's attempts to claim a cultural continuity back to 1916, through several splits and mergers; comparisons with the continuity at South Hobart; we ask the question why did pre-World War 2 clubs survive and thrive in some areas, despite the arrival of ethnic clubs; and that analysis which enables a dominant single narrative to emerge is impossible, because the experience and history of soccer varies significantly across Australia, and that even if there are administrative and financial centres, in cultural terms the application of a sense a hegemonic history is impossible to assert.

In the episode's very wide-ranging final segment, Ian brings up his idea of establishing the Association of Football Resources in Australia (AFRA), a proposed body which would oversee the protection and preservation of Australia's soccer resources and archives.

We run out of time during this episode to do a proper 100 Years Ago Today segment, but you can chase up what was meant to be on that week's segment here.