Episode 76 - Heather Reid, Marion Stell and "Women in Boots"

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No Ian Syson in the studio tonight, or even via Zoom, and no co-host rustled up either. What is Paul to do other than channel his 2015 uni lecturer self? So Paul puts on a brave face, and dives into what else, but a monologue on trying to identify a problem seemingly ignored by most people practicing the art/hobby of Australian soccer history - that it's not just the game's institutions who ignore or pay mere lip service to Australian soccer history - the great mass of Australian soccer lay community also does the same.

There are great amount of approaches and motivations for those undertaking historical work to do with Australia, almost none lacking validity or nobility... and yet, what's the end game, other those of us engaged in this process looking at each other's work, and mostly failing to engage the Australian soccer community outside our particular interest group?

How do we connect with a culture that seems to exist - and contentedly so - without the burden or gift of knowing of Australian soccer? What if Australian soccer is successful, and popular, without ever needing to resort to deep or even shallow discussions or references to its own history? What is the role of the rare amateur and (rarer still, professional) Australian soccer historian, and their efforts to tell stories, compile statistics, collect memorabilia, and curating archives?

Paul finishes up by wondering if what is really needed for the great mass is not history, but a myth - a unifying story (whether real or not), that allows Australian soccer's participants to feel connected to something (a story, rather than a history) that's bigger than themselves. How you would even concoct such a thing now, when everything is disparate and fractured, is left for another time. 

In the middle segment Paul chats with Marion Stell and Heather Reid about their book Women in Boots: Football and Feminism in the 1970s, which is a predominantly oral history of the first generation of international Australian female soccer players. In the discussion Paul, Marion, and Heather discuss:

• The research methods involved, including oral histories (with all their potential pitfalls), as well as the scrapbooks maintained by the players and their families.
• The twin stories of Australian and New Zealand women's soccer, which grow separately and intersect throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
• The influence of migration -and specifically Englishness - on the fledgling women's soccer scene, for both better and and for worse.
• The often humiliating fundraising efforts required to enable the players to travel interstate and overseas.
• The patronising, sexist, misogynistic, and homophobic media coverage
• The awareness or lack of awareness of the feminist political movements of the time among the players, and their response to it.
• The poor training, funding, facilities, etc doled out to the women.
• The nature of personal relationships - including the frequency of which male coaches and personnel around women's football, who became involved with female players; but also the attitudes to lesbianism within the women's football scene.
• All this, but also much more, including the ordeal of women footballers simply trying to find a suitable pair of soccer boots in the 1970s, and the way many of them came to cherish their pair of boots.

Paul closes out the episode by having a brief chat with FNR producer and presenter Josh Parish about the announcement from SBS that the network will be shutting down its The World Game portal and brand. Paul and Josh discuss the history and influence of the The World Game; the decline in SBS' football offerings over a number of the years; the unknown fate of the portal's archive of reportage and commentary; and the effects on football journalists and the Australian soccer public of having one less outlet solely dedicated to soccer.