Episode 79 - Dylan Arvela and Woonona's 2020 championship

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Interminable married couple banter. Some news on the Merewether soccer Anzacs honour board. Then Ian follows up on his research on Footscray Thistle player and Victorian representative George Macaulay, which included meeting George's children, and taking scans and photos of Macaulay football memorabilia - including medals and member ticket booklets. We try to figure out where one of the photos with a scoreboard "G.B.P." on it - Paul thinks maybe the Motordrome. Ian tries to sum up what we've learned about Macaulay and the people he played alongside, and how he seemed to be lost to local soccer - and the ways in which the pre-WW2 soccer culture doesn't necessarily follow through to the post-war period. Also, how Melbourne soccer seems afflicted by a lack of depth, and a lack of native-born players to help carry the culture into second and third generations.

After the break we chat with journalist Dylan Arvela, about his book  A Drop in the Ocean: the story of Woonona's Illawarra Premier League championship, (available for purchase via Amazon). which covers the titular club's unexpected 2020 title run. Among the things we discuss are the history of Woonona, and its comparative lack of success; the current power balance within Illawarra football; what football was like under Covid conditions; what's more important, a league title or grand final win; is it a championship or a premiership?; how different clubs value different titles in terms of importance; the nature of the rivalries of Wollongong soccer; a dramatic final day of the league season; and what else Dylan has lined up to write next. 

(also Paul gets to talk about driving around Wollongong's northern suburbs soccer grounds with Travis Faulks).

We finish with a brief edition of 100 Years Ago Today, where finally we have some news of the Melbourne season, and we finish off with the segment's first ever reference to the Northern Territory, with the arrival of the Geranium in Darwin.

Episode 73 - Paul Nicholls' 20 matches for the 20th century

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This begins with banter encompassing Paul being sick the week before, a scam that Ian and Paul during their time working at uni, and Ian's look at Patrick Skene's new book n rugby league player Olsen Filipaina. Oh, and a comment by Skene that the soccer community is not supportive of people taking the plunge writing important soccer books. That's followed by a promotion for Dylan Arvela's new book about Woonona's 2021 championship success. 

Then more on Footscray Thistle, including updates on a previous post by Ian, including information sent to him by descendants of some of the players in the photo, including leading Victorian player of the 1920s and 30s George Macauley. Some chat also about "lost 'insert suburb/locality/town'" pages on Facebook, which inevitably have little soccer content.

Then Footscray Park bingo and shenanigans with 'footy' posts. And some chat about a heinously mythmaking plaque in Ararat honouring the 'founder' of Australian Rules football, Tom Wills. Paul lets the audience know about how a recently established club in Port Fairy was educated about the history of soccer in the region by a former player from the 1950s Port Fairy.

After the break it's time for 100 Years Ago Today, beginning in Melbourne, and musings about Caledonian society involvement in the game; then across to Albany, with more Thistles and Corinthians... is there something in the existence of clubs named Thistle and Corinthians across the country? Then into a James George Beaney digression, with nothing to do with the segment. 

Back to the segment - in Brisbane, there's a huge increase in numbers and Brisbane and Ipswich, leading to the formation of a second division, and the barest hints of an unnamed professionalism and its effects on recruitment. 

Finally, we get to this week's guest is Paul Nicholls, who wrote an article for Fairplay's Play On magazine's December edition, picking 20 games for the 20th Century. To avoid contemporary biases, Paul limited himself to two games per decade, and this we scamper through his list to look for how he came up with his list. We look at:

• trying to look at the history of the game in Australia as an outsider
• important pre-NSL games, and the importance of pre-NSL era as a whole
• women's games
• the obsession with England
• district vs club debates
• novelty matches like Western Australia vs England cricketers
• Iran '97
• Paul Mavroudis' quibbles with certain selections
• the problems with trying to sort out any list from the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of soccer matches played during the 20th century in Australia.
• Trying to look forward and back at the same time.
• the lack of obvious legacies for many of the selections
• balancing the obvious with the obscure

Episode 11 - Tony Persoglia & OzFootball

Download and listen to episode 11.

We begin this episode arguing or not arguing about whether there was any tension on the show the previous week.

Then a nod to the nascent scanning and uploading collaboration between Greg Stock and Mark Boric, which initially at least beefed up the NSW related contents on Mark's blog.

We segue into a discussion on the eminent football historian Tony Collins, and a particular episode of his own Rugby Reloaded podcast series (don't let the name fool you - the series contains material on a wider variety of football codes), which discusses the problems of trying to claim "historic firsts". 

Ian moves on to talking about his love-affair with Queensland soccer historian Garry McKenzie, and a piece written by sports writer John Harms about soccer in Goombungee.

Then the birth of the 100 Years Ago Today sting. Oh, and the relevant segment continues as normal, including having to read the paper to find out which train to take in Perth to get to a game.

Aussie soccer stats nerd Tony Persoglia could talk the leg off a chair
 - which is fine by us if he's talking about Australian soccer history.

We then interview Tony Persoglia, a statistician and historian who's mostly based around OzFootball. Tony has worked on OzFootball for a long time, and he takes us through the process of OzFootball's earliest days, the technical obstacles, and the nature of the gradually mainstreaming of the internet. 

Tony has also been working on a revamped version of the Victorian club database, a revamped version of Victorian league results and tables, Victorian players, and a new project detailing every player - men and women - who have played a topflight game in Australian. 

The discussion also covers the logistical and ideological issues with collecting stats and recording history in Australian soccer, especially with regards to the paucity of federation help at either state or national level - and the difficulty of sourcing women's national league stats. We also pay credit to John Punshon, one of Australian soccer history's most unsung heroes.

We finish off the show with a quick chat about Ian's "First Kicks" project.