Download and listen to this episode here.
We begin the show by noting that, unfortunately, due to New South Wales opening its borders to Victoria on November 23rd, Ian and Paul will not be able to make an appearance at the Football Writers Festival.
Then we move onto a perfunctory clean up - Mark Boric, George Cotsanis, Tony Persoglia.
Then a discussion led by Ian about researching Australian women's soccer and other women's codes, especially with regards to an old search he conducted on Trove many years ago.
Our guest this week is Andy Harper, former professional footballer in the National Soccer League, and latterly a commentator and author. Harper joins Ian and Paul to discuss the problem with the search for grand and/or unifying narratives in Australian soccer. Our discussion is prompted by Andy's dissatisfaction with Principle II of FFA's XI Principles For the Future of Australian Football - especially with regards to its focus on the faulty assertion that Australian soccer has always been multicultural, as well the constant desire to reset the narrative of Australian soccer in search of 'fresh starts'.
In a lengthy discussion, Ian, Paul, and Andy also discuss these and other matters within the scope of Andy's recently completed doctoral thesis (completed via publication), which utilises Weber's theories on legitimacy to argue that soccer's problem of a lack of cultural and institutional legitimacy is ingrained into Australian culture. The chat takes in discussions about Britishness, Australianness, different forms of legitimacy and how are they gained and lost; and the self-interest, short-term thinking, and niche interests portrayed as being reflective of the greater good. It's all a bit highbrow!
But don't take Paul's mangled summary for it, listen to it yourself!
Unfortunately, 100 Years Ago Today did not go ahead this week - but we think the extended chat with Andy was worth the sacrifice.
No comments:
Post a Comment