Into the Wind: an Exploration of Australian Soccer Literature
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Into the Wind: An Exploration of Australian Soccer Literature Paul Mavroudis, BA (Hons) A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy College of Arts & Education Victoria University Melbourne, Victoria December 2017 Abstract This thesis explores the genre of Australian soccer literature by way of a close textual analysis that draws on the inter-related literary theories and practices of genre and reflexivity. It contends that this marginal literature pertaining to a still relatively marginal sport might counter-intuitively provide an excellent framework for examining key aspects of Australia that are frequently missed in scholarly analyses, as well as popular discourses around what it is to be Australian. More specifically, this thesis argues that Australian soccer literature provides vital insights into the rich, complicated, intersecting, and continuously changing lives of the individuals and groups that make up Australia. In short this thesis demonstrates the important role played by Australian soccer writing and its contribution to Australian soccer culture. In addition, the thesis details how Australian soccer literature ties into, reveals, and complicates Australian notions of identity, ethnicity, and gender, among other aspects of Australian cultural life. The thesis begins with a discursive overview of scholarly perspectives on sport and culture that gives a sense of what is at stake in writing about sport, paying particular attention to the frequent tensions and antipathies that exist between sport and literature. Then follows a literature review which situates sport and literature in global and Australian contexts, as well as analysing what constitutes Australian soccer literature, and how this has been categorised in the past. The ensuing methodology chapter defines Australian soccer literature, how it is collated, what is absent, and the difficulties of finding obscure materials. The methodology chapter also analyses the different writers who are included in this genre, including their soccer backgrounds, their motivations for including soccer or not including it. The bulk of the thesis then follows, with chapters four through eight analysing the ways in which ethnicity and gender are discussed in the various primary texts. Chapters four, five and six discuss the nuances and subtleties of ethnicity as they are explored in Australian soccer literature, with a particular focus on the depiction of Anglo-Celtic Australians, British- Australians, and those Australians not considered part of mainstream Australian identity. Chapters seven and eight consider matters of gender, focussing on the striking lack of direct participation by women in Australian soccer, and the ground- breaking and yet still often conservative world of girls and young women as depicted in Australian soccer literature. ii Doctor of Philosophy Student Declaration I, Paul Mavroudis, declare that the PhD thesis entitled “Into the Wind: The Rediscovery of Australian Soccer Literature” is no more than 100,000 words in length including quotes and exclusive of tables, figures, appendices, bibliography, references and footnotes. This thesis contains no material that has been submitted previously, in whole or in part, for the award of any other academic degree or diploma. Except where otherwise indicated, this thesis is my own work. Signature: Date: 8 January 2018 iii Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................................... ii Doctor of Philosophy Student Declaration .................................................................. iii Contents ..................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments ...................................................................................................... v Glossary .................................................................................................................... vii A Necessary Preface .................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Everywhere But Nowhere (A Marginal Game Via a Marginal Field) ......... 7 Chapter 2: Literature Review .................................................................................... 41 Chapter 3: Methodology ........................................................................................... 81 Chapter 4: Anglophilia, Anglo-Celtic Conformity, and Disruption ........................... 129 Chapter 5: “This Very British Pre-occupation” ........................................................ 163 Chapter 6: Negotiating Belonging in Australian Soccer for “Ethnic” Australians ..... 197 Chapter 7: Everywhere in the Background: Women in Australian Soccer .............. 246 Chapter 8: “Nothing is a Boys-Only Game Anymore”: Girls Playing Soccer........... 279 Chapter 9: Conclusion – Where to From Here? ..................................................... 310 References ............................................................................................................. 318 Appendices ............................................................................................................ 341 iv Acknowledgments A thesis is an isolating experience, but it is not completed in isolation. Therefore it is only fair that I show my appreciation to those who have helped me complete this thesis. Thank you to my family for providing an environment where I have been able to pursue my scholarly efforts to the fullest degree. I would also like to thank my friends, especially fellow Victoria University alumni Rebecca Ciezarek, Natalie Day, Trevor Donoghue, and Scott McCulloch. Special thanks to Grace Schirripa from Victoria University’s Graduate Research Centre for accommodating all my peculiar and often late requests for assistance. Thanks also to Lesley Birch and Anthony Love, for their support during some difficult moments. I would also like to acknowledge the support of Victoria University for the provision of a scholarship which helped me during the duration of the thesis. A project such as this is always in debt to the expertise of library staff, in this case at Victoria University, the State Library of Victoria, and the National Library of Australia. My thanks also to the staff at the AustLit database, without whose efforts this thesis would have been impossible to complete. Several scholars have been of great assistance. Roy Hay must be thanked above all others for his generosity towards young Australian soccer scholars such as myself. Thanks also to Greg Downes, Rob Hess, Lee McGowan, Bill Murray, and Bob Petersen. A number of soccer writers have provided important insights and moral support. Among these are Joe Gorman, for seeing the value in the works which make up Australian soccer literature, and Athas Zafiris who published my Heavy Sleeper v series on Shoot Farken. Thanks also to Sherryl Clark, Jason Di Rosso, Peter Goldsworthy, Lisa Heidke, Steven Herrick, Walter Pless, and Alan Whykes among many authors, for sharing their experiences of creating Australian soccer literature. To past teachers of mine including Roslyn Mills, Lyle Stebbing, Robert Sieminski, Sophie Peters, and Phil Dimitriadis: I hope that this thesis goes some way to fulfilling the promise you saw in me. Thank you also for your sense of pastoral care. Thank you also to Dr Eric Meyer for keeping a close watch on my one working retina. Finally, my supervisors. Dr Matthew Klugman understood what I wanted to say, and did his utmost to help me say it. Just as importantly, he broadened my intellectual horizons, making me a better scholar and a better person. Dr Ian Syson has been teacher, boss, colleague, editor, and friend. He probably wishes that he could have done more during the writing of this thesis, but he did enough when he plucked me from my self-imposed tertiary education exile in early 2007. I am grateful to both Matthew and Ian for everything they have done for me. This work is dedicated to the South Melbourne Hellas Soccer Club. vi Glossary Football – an umbrella term for team sports which, to varying degrees, involve kicking a ball in order to score points; also the shorthand used by various codified versions of football when discussing themselves. See the “necessary preface” section for the confusion created when multiple codes of football inhabit the same cultural spaces. Soccer – the code of football formally known as association football. Young adult literature – works of literature written for, and marketed to, young adult audiences. Australian soccer literature – creative works of literature which depict either in depth or in fleeting moments of: A) soccer as it is experienced in Australia, whether by Australian or non-Australian writers; B) soccer as it is experienced in countries other than Australia, as written by Australians. vii A Necessary Preface For Johnny Warren An Australian football (soccer) legend – Deborah Abela (2005a, p. i) It’s the same game. It’s just a name. – Paloma Mendez (Montagnana-Wallace & Schwarzer, 2007, p.) In Australia, there are few more highly contested terms than the word “football”. Defining what is meant by “football” matters because football and its meanings are important. More than most nations, Australia has defined itself by its sporting prowess, as well as its desire to both watch sport and participate.1 (Nicholson & Hess 2007, p. 28) Depending on the contextual