Episode 72 - visiting the Footscray Historical Society

Download and listen to this episode here. 

Banter. You can skip that bit, it goes for about five minutes.

Then Ian gets annoyed about academic and academic adjacent books on Australian multiculturalism by sociologists, multicultural theorists, and historians, which ignore sport almost entirely. For shame.

We note the passing of Socceroo Alan Marnoch, and the low-level of record keeping and cultural memory within Australian, when it comes to paying proper dues in things like obituaries for notable persons involved within Australian soccer. And some words on former Melbourne Croatia/Knights coach Mirko Bazic, who also died during the week. And Mark Bosnich does a nice thing for one of Australian soccer's oldest living national team players, Alan Garside.

Then a little bit on Paul's favourite topic, sporting statues, and two new ones which have appeared in Melbourne recently. Paul has some concerns, and it's not necessarily what you might think. Or it might be, but you'd have to listen to find out. But basically, getting soccer statues up at Olympic Park might be more complicated culturally than people would want to admit.

After the break, Ian and Paul talk about their visit to the Footscray Historical Society, and the kinds of questions that visit threw up about how to use such organisations for soccer research. We talk about:

• The kinds of places these historical societies were originally set up for, and what they may have been expanded to include.
• The ideal of becoming a member if you plan to use the relevant society's resources on a semi-regular basis, to cut down costs.
• The particular mix of antique and modern databases used by historical societies, including for answers to questions they have answered before.
• The kinds of resources (newspapers, photographs, maps, etc) which would be easier to access at such a group, rather than at a location such as a state library or public records office.
• Likewise, the kinds of newspapers that are available in bound volumes, not available yet on Trove.
• The living local knowledge which exists in the form of the volunteers; but also the ingrained, hardwired biases of the volunteers (at least in Melbourne) which makes them not understand soccer at all.
• The inconvenient (for non-pensioners, the non-unemployed, etc) opening times.
• The likelihood that you won't find a lot of soccer information, at easily.
• And just look at some of the images of Footscray Thistle that Ian found in the Footscray Historical Society's database.

Then to 100 Years Ago Today, where we begin in Buderim and its surrounds; then to Newcastle and a meeting; down to Sydney, and a financial report from the Metropolitan Soccer Football Association; a Western Australian journalist watches a soccer match involving the Rubaul Malays, in New Britain.

And finally, a piece on soccer in Narrogin (in south-eastern Western Australia) by Stephen Bowes, and the ebbs and flows of the game's populairity in the region.