The Death and Life of Australian Soccer

(Paperback)

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In The Death and Life of Australian Soccer, journalist and historian Joe Gorman explores the rise and fall of Australia's first national football competition and shows how soccer came to practise and embody multiculturalism long before it became government policy. Drawing on archival research and interviews with players, supporters and club officials, he tells the incredible and oft-unknown stories of Australian soccer- how Charles Perkins rose from the soccer fields of Adelaide to the halls of administrative power, all the while becoming Australia's best-known Indigenous leader; how the Whitlam government embraced the first-ever Australian team to qualify for a FIFA World Cup; and how soccer played a role in creating the Australian Institute of Sport. Gorman also takes an unflinching look at the issues in the world game, from globalisation, assimilation and violence to unionism and privatisation. With rare intimacy and detail he explains how a long-forgotten journalist and the nation's leading soccer statistician quietly recorded it all over decades. The Death and Life of Australian Soccer is a fascinating and timely account of the first Australian sport to truly galvanise every ethnic, regional, metropolitan, gender and political group across the country. It examines the myths and legends of Australian sport and offers new ways of understanding the great changes that shaped the nation. This is more than a book about soccer - it is the riveting story of Australia's national identity.

Reviews

'Forget the clichs - the giant was never asleep. Soccer has always played a pivotal role in Australian life. These are beautiful stories, beautifully told.' Santo Cilauro

'Joe Gorman's remarkable book is packed full of the characters, passion, failure and success that define Australian soccer and its place in our proud sporting culture.' Tracey Holmes

'Joe should be congratulated on a magnificent achievement. Piecing together the kaleidoscopic threads of Australian football is a huge challenge and, in keeping with the way the game is played at its best, Joe's performance is laced with both poetry and a forensic understanding of detail.' John Didulica, chief executive of Professional Footballers Australia

'An engaging cultural history of soccer in Australia. Joe Gorman's ability to draw out the rich stories of the sport's past is unparalleled. His deep knowledge and compelling writing give voice to the people and communities who built the game; those who are interwoven into its very soul, away from the bright lights of the A-League.' David Squires, Guardian cartoonist

'This book is like reading the history of Australia through football. Joe Gorman sketches how post-war migrants, refugees, and Indigenous Australians have used the game to assert their identity as Australians on their own terms. Gorman has illustrated that football, at various times, has been critical in shaping the nation's social and cultural policy and what it means to be an Australian. A fascinating and insightful read, easily the best book I've read on the topic.' Francis Awaritefe

Author Bio

Joe Gorman is a soccer writer and historian. He writes regularly for Guardian Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald, and has written columns for Sports Illustrated (USA), New Matilda, The Roar, Penthouse Australia and SBS. He has discussed Australian soccer on ABC radio and television and for Al Jazeera. He has also written about food and culture for Overland and the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, and worked as a copywriter for ReachOut and the Asian Cup Local Organising Committee. In October 2014 Joe was appointed editor of the quarterly journal Leopold Method, which showcases the best long-form writing on the characters, history, tactics and business of Australian soccer. Joe was at the centre of a major investigation for Fairfax Media in December 2014 on Perth Glory breaking the A-League salary cap. The articles prompted an investigation from the Football Federation of Australia which is still underway.