Episode 34 - Paul Hunt and early Tasmanian soccer; Weston Bears and Max Luchessi

Download and listen to episode 34 here.

In this episode we note that Mark Boric has a new secondhand A3 scanner, which as per Mark's nature, has already been to put good use.

Paul discusses some updates to his cultural map, including overseas additions, as well as the ultimate indication of mainstream acceptance of soccer - being asked to the grand opening of a Bunnings Warehouse store.

In 100 Years Ago Today, we visit Newcastle, Albany, and Ipswich, covering politics, grounds, reporters and the persistentence of the club vs district issue.

After the break we chat with Paul Hunt, who recently graduated with honours from Deakin. Hunt's honours thesis was on Tasmanian soccer before 1915, and throughout our chat we cover a number of the themes that Hunt's thesis covers. This includes:

• The difference between a moment (scattered games) vs a continuing culture (leagues and organisations) 
• The impossibility of knowing if there was any soccer played in between 1881 and 1897
• Methodological problems of having to challenge established texts and narratives, such as Chris Hudson's A Century of Soccer 1898-1998, especially when it comes to an era that's poorly documented.
• The space left behind in Tasmanian soccer in the 1890s, by Australian Rules' moral collapse due to gambling, violence and corruption, and the way it allowed other sports (including soccer) to briefly flourish.
• What kind of people played soccer in Tasmania before 1915, including the centrality of military, religious, and British participants.
• The effect of the Boer War on the 1898-1902 competition, in effect the first (known) time that a war had derailed the growth of Australian soccer.
• Emphasising that there were people other than the Honeysetts instrumental to the re-emergence of Tasmanian soccer.

In our final segment, Ian Syson talks about his trip late last year to Newcastle and Adelaide, where his focus ends up on storied Hunter club Weston Bears, and on its great coach (and Adelaide City playing great)  Max Lucchesi who Ian interviewed in Adelaide. Oh, and Ian finds pit village clubs and fields like the ones he grew up with in England.