Our beautiful yet imperfect Socceroos are 100 years old

On Friday 17 June 2022, the Socceroos turn 100.

An Australian representative team played against New Zealand in Dunedin on June 17 1922, with earlier matches having featured state sides and not a fully endorsed national 11.

That team was to morph into the one we now call the Socceroos, after that specific moniker was placed on the national team in the early seventies (despite some conjecture around its precise first usage).

Curiously, it was the first football match that featured numbers of the backs of players, something FIFA took a further 28 years to make the norm at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. One can only imagine the task of commentating matches without the aid of numbers to identify players.

It took FIFA some time, but they eventually saw the benefit of such a requirement and caught up with the progressive Anzac thinking featured in that historic match.

I will not mention any details of that first encounter, the ones that followed on New Zealand soil, nor the return matches in Australia a year later. Aside from the fact that fans flocked to the games and that those pioneering moments of Australian football had an enormous impact on eventual FIFA membership, close and lasting relationships with Asia, and the dream held by many Australian-based footballers of one day representing their nation at the Summer Olympics.

Of course, history tells us that all of the above has played out over time, inspired football fans across the country, and seen the Socceroos become a respected team in international competition.

While securing trophies has been a challenge rarely overcome, the world now knows, unlike its attitude towards the game Down Under in 1922, that Australia does indeed play football – and pretty well at that.

The 100-year anniversary could well have slipped by unnoticed, if not for the work of two men determined to retell and archive Australian football in a way that will hopefully see it last eternally, adding contextual layers to a story that every fan should appreciate.

Former ABC newsroom chief of staff Trevor Thompson, and author and history academic Nick Guoth have spent the recent COVID-plagued years collecting the facts of those early matches and compiled them in a book entitled Burning Ambition: The Centenary of Australia-New Zealand Football Ashes.

On Tuesday, I was privileged enough to attend a gathering at the Quarryman’s Hotel in Pyrmont, Sydney, where journalists, writers, fans and VIPs celebrated the launch of what looks a stunning visual and textual recount of the historical birth of a team that continues to drive most of us to the point of desperation year after year.

Rale Rasic was there, taking the microphone and speaking eloquently of the pride and passion that the Socceroo brand instilled in him, even as a young man given the challenging task of coaching the Aussies at their first-ever World Cup in 1974.

The Warren family were represented by Johnny’s nephew Jamie, media professional Stephanie Brantz moderated a Q and A session with the authors, while passionate supporters Christine Whyte, Michelle Prasad and Texi Smith joined authors Carlos Bielli, Greg Werner and Gregory Stock in an engaged and considerable audience.

Panel at the Socceroos 100 years event (Photo: Stuart Thomas)

As volunteer doorman for the evening, I had the pleasure of chatting with them all, yet was blown away by a discussion with the son of a personal hero, former Olympic track and field athlete and 1952 100m sprint finalist John Treloar.

His son, John, is a charming man and along with the other attendees, representative of just how broad Socceroo support remains, despite the odd media barb suggesting otherwise.

Thompson and Guoth have used their keen historically focused eyes to capture a moment that changed Australian sport forever, one that continues to inform our connection to the Socceroos and provides a concrete understanding of just how far Australian football has come from the days when the game seemed an afterthought to most Australians.

I have my copy of the text, with a long bus ride home from the event providing the perfect opportunity to sink my teeth into it.

At the risk of sounding like a salesman, Burning Ambition is available to buy now at Fairplay Publishing and all good book stores, and I thoroughly recommend the read, not only for the history but also for the clarity in the recollection of the events.

As our Socceroos embark on yet another challenging quest to qualify for World Cup participation, the chance to reflect on where it all began seems apt.

Here’s hoping we are off to Qatar in a few months’ time, with the memory of the first Socceroos clear in our minds and fuelling our passion for our boys.