Episode 64 - Non-English language materials on Trove

Download and listen to this episode here.

We begin this week by noting that not only is the Football Writers Festival on in Sydney in just a week and a half's time,  but that FNR will also be streaming the event - more news on this as it comes to hand. 

Mark Boric is close to accomplishing a significant milestone - his quest to archive every edition of Soccer Action.

Massive praise coming Tony Persoglia's way from Ian, for helping salvage from digital oblivion some of Ian's articles for Football Victoria from back in the day. Here's hoping that the refreshed FV History page is the sign of better things to come.

Also, the State Library of Victoria is set to reopen on November 19th, which is good news for those who want to get back in there and research - although one suspects there will be space and time restrictions announced closer to the reopening date.

We look at Paul Hunt's struggle to find details of a Tasmanian cup final from the past decade, which allows Paul Mavroudis to go off on his incrementalist tangent again. 

Thanks to Trove aficionado Tim Sherratt, we've become aware not only that non-English language Australian papers are coming online onto Trove, but also that Tim has also set up a map site which allows to see what Trove newspaper materials cover different parts of Australia. 

(Paul adds a gripe about the National Library of Australia's refusal to participate in sharing his decades in the making breach of copyright)

This week we also acknowledge Greg Page's posting of this wonderful Reg Date frame at the Queen's Wharf Hotel in Newcastle.

In our main segment this week, Ian takes up the task of looking through non-English language materials on Trove, focusing on recently uploaded materials from the German and Italian collections. For the German language, Ian tries to figure out what the correct terminology would be for the word football in German, and how the relevant German language press would differentiate between soccer and other football codes.

For the Italian part of the discussion, we look at early Melbourne Italian club Savoia, and some of its participation in 1930s Melbourne soccer, including its 1933 founding, and participation in 1939 in the Northern Juniors competition, and a match report from that year. But we also look at some of the surprising items which get reported - like this table soccer tournament at Footscray's Capri cafe in 1957.

Paul also ponders about the future of non-English language uploads to Trove, and the problems that may arise - including the scanning and text recognition of compressed type non-Latin scripts (whether Greek or Cyrillic or Chinese), as well problems with scripts with ample use of diacritics; but also how useful will languages with significant changes to orthography and vocabulary be to contemporary researchers without those skill sets

In 100 Years Ago Today, we look at a lonely grave site for a pioneering early Queensland player;  skip quickly through the never ending Newcastle season; take a quick glance at hospital fundraisers; celebrations for the end of the junior season in Fremantle; and still in Western Australia, a junior Australian rules body complains about not only the soccer threat, but the lack of support from the most senior Aussie Rules body in the state.

Episode 26 - David McGaw; national team match programs; Reg Date; Les Clisby

Photo of the John Perin statue sourced by Dimitri Peppas.

Download and listen to episode 26 here.

Episode 26 starts off with Ian's 60th birthday spectacular.

The "Mark Boric Express" has been updating his blog with more things, as per usual. The "Paul Mavroudis Amble" has also had an update, featuring additions to Paul's South Melbourne Hellas match program archive, but also a couple of additions to his much less impressive than Mark's document archive.

In the map update segment, Paul Hunt makes note that the reason there are no Tasmanian markers is because he doesn't seem to be able find anything fitting the criteria. There's also some discussion about the overkill of naming items in Murwillumbah soccer - see this work in progress document on the history of Murwillumbah soccer.

Then there's some chat about the half-forgotten story of the wax statue of Adelaide City champion John Perin, with a photo provided by Dimitri Peppas (whom Paul mistakenly calls Dimitri "Pellas"; very embarrassing error).

Ian then muses on the notion and value of biography with regards to Australian soccer history, and his continuing realisation that his slavish devotion to rejecting the "great man in history" theory may have been limiting. This leads to a discussion on Reg Date. and a cross-code charity game of rugby league and soccer which Reg Date starred in.

Then we had a chat with David McGaw, a Novocastrian with a penchant for collecting Socceroos and other Australian national team match programs. We discuss form, content, and the irreplaceable tactile mnemonic aesthetic of match programs, and the lengths it takes David is also hoping to revive the practice of FFA providing match programs at Socceroos games. (for a selection of Australian national team match programs, see Mark Boric's national team program page). For copies of The Score fanzine, see here for volume 1, and here for volume 2.

We finally get to 100 Years Ago Today, which segues across to discussion of footage of Australian soldiers playing soccer during the Second World War, and the exploits of soccer playing pilot Les Clisby.

Episode 23 - Ian's Newcastle trip; Paul's map of Australian soccer cultural map

Download and listen to episode 23 here.

Paul begins the show by reminiscing about how good the NSL's disregard for punctual kickoff times.

We note that Mark Boric has been uploading match programs, including material provided by Graeme McGinty. Also credit to George Cotsanis for uploading some interesting videos, much of which would not have been seen in decades... and the discussion goes back to reminiscing. Even for a history show, that's a lot reminiscing.

And then Ian begins talking about his trip to Newcastle. First, there was the launch for John Maynard's revised Aboriginal Soccer Tribe.. but a lot of people who should have been there weren't.  Then Ian got chauffeured up to Newcastle from Sydney by Todd Blackwell. And then Ian spent the weekend being driven around everywhere by David McGaw. The overwhelming effect was how deep soccer's roots were in Newcastle.

Then Ian went to the Northern New South Wales grand final, and noted the differences between the styles in soccer support between Newcastle and Melbourne... a discussion about the difference between interest and intensity... and how much passion is too much. (For the blog by South Hobart blogger Richard Rants, see this link) And what do grand finals mean and what are they worth compared to finishing on top of the table?

The next day Ian went to the library, but apparently libraries are boring now according to Ian. More fun was catching up with Newcastle soccer historians and historian adjacent people... and more musings on belonging, and the material and cultural conditions which can create that relaxed sense of belonging.

Then Ian talks about meeting Bob Heppelwhite, a West Wallsend stalwart, who regaled Ian with a tale about playing against Reg Date, and Ian missing the chance to tap in old stories of Australian soccer.

After the break is a big announcement from David Eland, CEO of Northern NSW Football, and Greg Groombridge - an offer of a cash reward for anyone who can help find the whereabouts of the Merewether Advance roll of honour.

Then 100 Years Ago Today with the thrilling conclusion to the 1919 Victorian league season.

And finally, the birth of Paul's Australian cultural map project.