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When the first wave of wogs came to Australia in the 1950s and 60s, the vast majority clustered together in places where the climate was familiar and there were enough friendly faces from back home to ease the transition.
By and large, that meant the big cities.
The wogs, of course, brought with them round balls. Soccer balls, they were called back then.
Clubs were soon formed. South Melbourne, Sydney Olympic, Marconi, Adelaide City. These were Australian football’s pioneers.
It naturally follows that ever since, the game has always been focused on the metropolitan areas, because that’s where the wogs went and where the trendy new-dawners who have carried the A-League into mainstream consciousness now reside.
As a result of its historic spread, football has never truly embraced regional areas.
The reasons why are understandable, but there’s no reason why that can’t – or shouldn’t – change now.
After all, the FFA itself recognises there is a potential development goldmine in the bush, where – to put it rather bluntly – there are far fewer entertainment options on offer for kids. Unless you really, really like picking oranges.
The first edition of the National Curriculum declares “large cities are much less effective, per capita, at generating talented athletes than are regional localities.” There is research that suggests the same is true in parts of Europe and South America.
This is consistent with what is known as the ‘Wagga effect’, a theory that accounts for the disproportionate amount of elite sporting talent that has emerged from the sparsely-populated regional areas of Australia.
Why has Wagga Wagga, for example, been able to produce so many sporting greats like Wayne Carey, Michael Slater, Paul Kelly and Peter Sterling? Insane strike rate for a city of around 60,000, right?
The theory goes that out in the bush, where there’s less people, youngsters are generally exposed to senior sport earlier than they would in a big city.
Meanwhile, the FFA is ploughing through the state leagues, this week sorting out the National Premier League-related mess down in Victoria. Finally.
But while it’s mostly good news for the grassroots in Melbourne that the political standoff is over, the bush has silently copped the raw end of the stick once again.
The NPL backflip comes too late for the consortium based in Wodonga, which claims there is now not enough time for them to get everything up and running for a 2014 start. It is likely the same in nearby Shepparton, a rare country stronghold for football.
There was initial resistance from Melbourne to the idea of a regional presence in the NPL, so it’s worth watching this space.
In Western Australia, despite ambitions for it to happen, no regional teams will be part of next year’s inaugural NPL season. All the NPL clubs in SA and NSW are metropolitan. Queensland is the sole exception to the rule.
Until some bright spark invents a teleporter or a high-speed rail network happens, distance will remain a legitimate obstacle and a regrettable reality of Australia’s geography. But if the AFL and NRL can find so many stars in the bush, surely football can do better.
Granted, plenty of Socceroos have come from regional areas, like Frank Farina, Josip Skoko and Steve Corica. But imagine how many more could follow if football was to become ingrained in everyday life to the same extent as the stereotypically ‘Australian’ sporting pursuits.
There is one other place in the bush that bucks the trend – Griffith, a city of approximately 25,000 in the middle of southern NSW, where your correspondent currently makes his home.
You may remember it from the second season of Underbelly. Many have unfortunately only heard of it for that reason.
Were it not for the miracle of irrigation there would be literally nobody here. But the establishment of the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area in the 1910s provided a lure for many to start new lives on profitable farms in purpose-built towns, transforming a desert into an oasis of opportunity.
Amongst those who took the lure were many migrants from southern Italy, most of whom moved straight to the mini-Calabria of Griffith and surrounds.
Positioned almost equidistant to Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, this place really is one-of-a-kind.
It is said around 70 percent of people here can lay claim to Italian heritage. That’s obviously where the city’s mafia ties come from. But that background also brought with it culture, and football.
There are clubs here with decades of rich history, as much pride as you’d find in any of the exiled NSL sides, and one rivalry so heated and brilliant it could lay an honest claim to being one of Australian football’s best-kept secrets.
Venture inside the clubrooms and the locals will regale you with stories of uber-talented players who never reached their true potential – some because they never wanted to leave the comfort of home, but many who never got a break at the top level or were not exposed to the right coaching in their key formative years.
No doubt there are countless similar tales told in Mildura, Rockhampton, Shepparton and Coffs Harbour. So imagine what could be possible with a little more help to bridge the gap for those who are already so dedicated.
And they are dedicated. They travel for tens of thousands of kilometres a year, all for the love of football.
It’s great to see that Melbourne Heart will host an A-League game in Albury next year, and the word is FFA chief David Gallop will hold one of his trademark town hall meetings to discuss the myriad issues that plague bush football while he’s there.
That should just be the start. While the FFA continues reform of the game at all levels, it will be missing a trick if rural areas are thrown into the too hard basket – especially when so many other sports are making the exact same mistake.
For all we know, the next Australian superstar could be practicing stepovers in an orange grove right now – and they deserve as much of an opportunity as any kid from the big smoke.
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