The day that Frank Lowy took his ball and went home

I might be ten years late to comment, but I agree. A book would be warmly received.

Roy My Uncle is Keith Jones, he is currently "home" in Wales for a holiday and I have been listening to his stories about his footballing experiences, he is very knowledgeable and his memory is incredible. He recently turned 75 and I'm sure he could fill in a few gaps and also provide some photographs (I know he has some super 8 reels as well). Contact me via the website (editors will provide) and I can provide you with his email address if necessary. Thanks.... Andrew.

I am not here to voice an opinion on the executive talents of Harper and/or Foster, or anyone else out of the picture at the moment. However, it would seem to me, the prime requirement for a successful chief anywhere would be the ability to handpick a team which covers ALL the qualities required to run a large and successful organization ... and then let them do their work within the parameters set in their job descriptions. That is what Lowy's job should be, not the daily arbiter of every single thing in the roof body. What does he do instead? He surrounds himself with yes men.

Midfielder, does FL put any of his own money in?

Agree strongly re JON!

Fascinating! The same complaints about him now as he was making then!

Dear folks Thanks to all of you who have responded to this post, particularly those of you with such excellent inside knowledge of Hakoah, Brisbane, the NSL and so on. Bill Murray and I are finishing off our history of the game at the moment and both finding that what we don't know far exceeds what we do know, despite the fact that we have been at it for more than ten years. Alec Duncan died the other day. He was probably the oldest Australian representative until then. He was 92. We know that he had a couple of caps, but his grandson assures me they have photographs of several Australian teams in the 1940s through to the 1960s in which he is in the frame. Mind you if Bill and I wait until we have sorted out all the puzzles the book will never appear. It is provisionally entitled A Game of Two Halves, since he is responsible for the drafts of the first part, while I am doing the second. Thank you all again. Roy Hay

Brilliant JB! I have some similarly toe-curling stories about being a player in a few "semi-professional" clubs and some of the wheelings and dealings and outrageous decisions that just seem like fantasy land when I think about them today. For example, a good mate of mine played for a club who would regularly pay their players in cash. The payments would be made at a large garbage tip at a pre-designated spot surrounded by walls of garbage. The player was handed an envelope and if the money was "short", there wasn't much the player could say, as he still had to find his way out of the tip!

Apaway - Thank you for the kind words but to be honest if one was to do as you ask and put one's experiences of that time on to paper it would not be deemed truthful for it's content would border on the incredulous.Let me cite a little case that may help to clarify that statement.This story also contains an idea that I'm not so sure could not be used today in Western Sydney, that thorn in the FFA's side. Back in 1976 a meeting was called by the State governing bodies for all local clubs to attend a meeting to discuss a national football league,the Philips League. We were told it would take $50,000 to enter and that ruled out every club in the room except Brisbane Lions. At this juncture Brisbane City's (Azzurri) delegates got up and en- masse walked out of the meeting stating categorically they would never consider playing in such a competition.(nb) After the meeting,and still with only one interested party, Lions, I was approached by the president of St George(Hellenic) and asked what could be done about the "vacancy". After hours of discussion it was decided to try and amalgamate the thinking of every First division club in Brisbane to get behind the idea of a Brisbane United. It was envisaged that each club would take a financial stake and ,because dual registration could be had, the players in BU could actually be picked from these 10 clubs thus supplying a pool of 150 players to choose from. A meeting was called and from 7pm till 2.30am the idea was bandied around and finally agreement was reached and a formal entry was to be entered.You can imagine the effort that went in to making this happen with 10 clubs Three weeks later the acceptances were to be announced and it was formally announced that Brisbane Lions and ---------- wait for it------- Brisbane City, would play in the national league. Now he background to this strange occurrence was mixed to say the least,but in those days top positions in State bodies were not full time and the then President worked for the Brisbane City secretary,while the ASF delegate who had direct lines of communication to headquarters, had also served on earlier Azzurri committees, plus the last club to agree to the "United " suggestion was the "parent club" of the state President. No one was ever able to find out what had happened to get the recalcitrant Brisbane City to change their minds in three short weeks,but it did happen.Such was life in football politics. The idea I spoke of could probably be discussed by clubs playing in the greater West Sydney area for most, if not all ,play their games in winter and if they have some strong leadership they could quite easily do what was done in this case and come up with the idea of a "Western United" to represent them in the HAL.Maybe the suggestion will help. Once again thanks for your kind words. jb

Jbinnie and Peter You two have GOT to get together and write a retrospective on football "back in the day." This has been a fascinating insight into the growth of the game, the political machinations and the early days of the Phillips Soccer League. As a former Sydney City player, who once got turfed from the Hakoah Club after a pool session for having wet shoes, I have been riveted by this blog. And of course, you both realise that Hakoah Football is alive and healthy in the NSW State League?

Peter Scott When is in relation to this article i.e. about the NSL & Sydney City Hakoah. I'll have to take your word about crowds in the sixties as there appears to be no reliable evidence(that I can find) online.

Also, Dave Maclaren. He tried to change the style Hakoah fans enjoyed and failed because of it. It was a clash of cultures.

Aha, Soccer World. That is where I remember you from :) I also recall Martin, Red and Keith. Used to cover football for Soccer Action and the Jewish News for many, may years. If you want to see lots of phtots from the old days, look for my page on Facebook, then look among my photo albums. http://www.facebook.com/ScottInternationalManagement#!/profile.php?id=1197686031 Happy browsing!

Peter - Good to hear back.When Dave & I started negotiations over the player it naturally came out that he had been a coal-miner in his native Fife in Scotland &, as I had also worked in the coal mines back there as a fitter, there was an instant rapport struck up between us,a strange fellowship, but nevertheless a very real "bond". After negotiating was over, a rather tall elegant individual entered the room & was introduced as one Dave McLaren who immediately protested as to why arrangements had been made without his input. In his broad Fife accent Davie Marnoch immediately, in no uncertain manner, put him in his place. It came as no surprise to me that McLaren didn't last too long at Bondi. The name Binnie is not a common name in Scotland but perhaps you are remembering a player who I think was on Hakoah's books for a short time. I also did a bit of writing for Andrew Dettre, writing Brisbane NSL match reports for him in his "Green" paper,Soccer World ,so maybe you saw the name there. Good to know Alan Marnoch is still going strong,he was a good centre half & if you see him you can mention I still keep in touch regularly with the goalkeeper Martin Coe who was the player I sold to Hakoah. Back further I did play at the same club as Red Edmonds & Keith Jones,two Welshmen who moved to Hakoah,pre NSL days. Cheers jb

QSAF i would rejoice in the resignation of Ben Buckley in replace of a Goat. He is there to negotiate the tv deal but if he continues his way there will be no tv deal to negotiate. Frank is wise and it is time for him to announce a successor. The FFA as i see it, do not have a a strategy in the short term let alone the long term. Fosters philosophy should be taken and welcomed on board at the FFA. If only they would listen.

I should add, that it was a great deal more than simply who turned up at games, Futbanous. If you read through my earlier contribution again, perhaps you will discover that for yourself. The death of a football club hangs in the balance on the basis of many factors, not simply the attendances at some matches. In Hakoah/Sydney City's case the dire attendances at the later stages were the direct consequences of the overwhelming personality and control of one man. By the same token, the bumper crowds enjoyed during some periods in earlier decades were the result of the vision of other strong men, but these men did not wish to act as a one man band. They involved, embraced, listened to what the fans, members, their market wanted. As did Frank Lowy at one time, before he got pissed off by Arthur George outmaneuvering him. If anyone thinks there was anything else in the mixture leading to Hakoah's demise, they are kidding themselves. Especially in the light of the fact, there was a group ready, willing and able to take over from him, but wasn't allowed to. It is a VERY ugly story.

I really WAS trying to place you, as I did remember the name Binnie :) I recall, that APIA tried to screw the NSL and actually stayed out of it at the start. Alex Pongrass was a good friend of mine. We used to jog/walk together in the early mornings around Rose Bay. Alex was a super guy, full of ambition for football in Oz. So was Frank at that time. The difference was, Alex stayed the same till the day he died and never would have sacrificed his club for the sake of a personal vendetta. They died a natural death, as their community had one big boost in 1957, nothing later. In the meantime, Hakoah had several waves of potential fans arrive on Australian shores - the Russians, the South Africans, in huge numbers. The South Africans, especially, established their own sports operations, the Monasg club in Sydney. They had nothing else to join, to identify with. As for Dave, well, I haven't thought about him for so very long, but son Alan is a buddy of mine since around three, or four days after he arrived in Australia. Alan's daughter Nathalie was a friend/mentor of my daughter Maggie in their Sydney school, way back when ... Who was the coach Dave put in his place?

Depends when, my friend. In the 60s, early 70s, had crowds as big and better than just about any club except Olympic (when they arrived in Div. 1).

Peter -Interesting contribution apparently straight from the horse's mouth so to speak. You filled in many small blanks in my thoughts as I have never been close to the actual inside running of the Hakoah club, but the political shenanigans going on at that time among what is usually,but wrongly,called "ethnic" clubs actually beggared description. I am always amused by reporting from that time for it can be vague at the least and sometime even appears to be unobtainable now,almost as if it has been knowingly deleted from the records. One thing always makes me smile. Around 1972/73 I sold a player to Hakoah and part of that deal was that the Hakoah team would come to Brisbane and play a friendly match at Perry Park,all expenses for the trip to be paid by us,3 mates of mine backed by a second hand car dealership.This arrangement was worked out by Dave Marnoch and myself and it was amusing to see Dave,a real hard-nose, put Hakoah's new coach (an import from England) in his place when he objected.Anyhow the game went ahead,Hakoah flew up on a Sunday morning, had a light lunch, played the game which they won 2-1,and returned to Sydney on a later plane that evening.The game broke even on costing.We very quickly had a call from St George's coach Mike Johnston, who asked if they could participate in the same deal.No problem and they visited on the same terms.Again the costings broke even. ---Now I ask you here to note the first 2 clubs to enjoy this arrangement---. Tommy Anderson then rang and asked for the same deal for Apia and this was fixed but 2 days later he rang to cancel (for no apparent reason) but within 2 weeks Apia had come to Brisbane to play Azzurri (note the name) at their home ground.For obvious reasons that ended our experiment though we did get Rale's Australian squad up to play our club side. (That did not go down well with the QSF) Back to those "first" 2 clubs to participate. Look up Wikipedia and it states quite clearly "the dream of Alex Pongrass ,St George and Frank Lowy, Hakoah, to have a national football league" was under threat. Make you wonder??? Good read Peter. Thanks.jb

Peter Scott How could I be misinformed if I went to matches? I'd been to enough football matches by then to make an informed guess on the make up of crowds. The crowd figures themselves do not indicate that many thousands turned up only a small amount. I lived in the Eastern suburbs from where I was standing(outside the Jewish community) it was definitely not a way of life for most people living there. You may be right about the inside story on Frank Lowys dealings with Hakoah I'm a football fan. not a politician. But don't try & indicate that it was a way of life even for Jews in the Eastern suburbs,crowds state otherwise.