spot on agree, I tell the wife just that, were to blame when she carries on about our 3 in some shape or form lol......

Back on topic, no matter being a new wave dawnee or otherwise, some good stories on how you became a Real football devotee !
Better late than never as they say.

Reading some of these posts reminds me that even back all those years ago when you started school nearly all the kids from my area started playing sport by signing up to play football but by the end of primary school half would be playing rugby league, you don't see that transition to rugby league now, they mostly seem to be staying with the real football. 

LFC I do remember those lace up ankle boots and all boots only ever came in black and heavy waterlogged leather balls. I recall the pot holed grounds, playing on full size fields from u6 and if it rained and the ground was covered in water you still played with kids doing slide tackles everywhere. 

Similar story for me. Played as a kid but drifted away in high school. More of a cricket/Aussie rules fan for a long time but also followed the Socceroos but not the NSL.

I remember being distraught (who wasn't) after the 97 fail to Iran and again in Montevideo in 2001. Qualifying for the WC in 2005 and the start of the A-League got me fully hooked again even though there is no team in my area. 

Dont really follow the AFL anymore but still like the cricket.

I got into soccer when I was 13, through British and Dutch migrant friends.

When I started high school Aussie rules was compulsory and soccer was forbidden.

By the time I finished high school aussie rules was no longer compulsory, and the school had three soccer teams.

I was playing state league at 19. Played my last game at 44, but did a hamstring and my wife wouldn't let me play anymore.

First big game I saw was SA vs Everton at Norwood Oval in 1964. First saw the socceroos in 1967, vs Scotland "B". Alex Ferguson playing for Scotland, and Ray Baartz scored his first goal for Australia. I was at the Aust vs Uruguay match in Sydney in 74 when Ray Baartz was chopped out of the game. Saw Adelaide City's first NSL match, and Adelaide United first A League match etc etc

great history mate.
Remember the Baartzy incident well - I recall alll of us were in shock that occuring then the anger !
You reminded seeing "B" team, yep we used to see many as such and today pretty similar as not all the top players do the tours.

Just wow to the cycle of change/s and in some case's not reading the thread.......
So glad my schools never had afl, but we played Forcings Back - I thought that was similar to afl lol......
Gov schools had "sochka" in my day But Private ? not a chance, in NSW it was the Rugby bastion no way was wogball going to be accepted the sissy game.
I LOL now for having had my boys in mid end Private schooling Football has taken over so much its ridiculous, sure the bastions still have their place but the schools the boys have played against over the years (some huge rugby schools of the past) have so many wanting to play they have to cut off the amount of teams !
So thats such a positive - the Roos gaining massive recognition in 05 on, HAL ? as much as I was glad to see the big change Nationally I wasn't overly happy the banishment of the ol clubs but I had to move on but I keep supporting both.
The negative, our constant internal Governance barriers taking the game further ahead - I had dreamed waywayway back then that Football finally gain more traction and more so respect and by now it should have been really sticking it up afl/nrl.
This has occured in some shape and form but not in its potential totality - people used to or still lay blame the old regime of the NSL and isn't it typical of our game there is merit to that and TBH I hold the Lowys responsible in similar train of thought holding our game back further as well.......funny how what goes around comes around.

Thank god no rugby in SA... although the AFL mindset is probably even harder to break down.

The funny thing about Aussie Rules in SA was that nobody was all that fanatic about the local SANFL. The big event of the weekend was watching VFL replay on Saturday night!

I'm one of the "Iran game" generation of followers

Started Uni 1997. Went from Aussie Rules to an interest in football (lots of ethnics of campus compared to the white anglo country Victorian schools back then). Had alternate national teams (Italian heritage) because Australia was invisible (locally and abroad)

Saw the Iran game. Heartbreak. Started asking about the Australian game (ie- does Australia have their own EPL?)

Started following the NSL late 90s (adopted South Melbourne). By following I meant one or two hidden sports reports a year in 1 or 2 newspapers pre Google days (and you guys think the A League is hidden away. NFI!). The more I learnt about football, the more I hated the AFL (crush, kill, destroy! - insert Barassi image)

In the early 2000s I decided a reform was important and got behind it. Also fully got behind the Australian game. When the A League was announced I dumped the EPL (Arsenal was my club) and decided to exclusive follow the Australian game (Melbourne Victory was my team, but was more interested in the success of the game as a whole)

Then after season 6 the game turned to shit. Was more about popularity, metrics, etc... and developing the game was thrown out the window. Been a miserable bitter prick since

Now I neither follow the A League or the EPL, but my only interest is getting whats best for the game here. Once the A League is a proper competitive league then I'll go back to going to and enjoying games - even if my team loses every game and finishes last

I've always been puzzled by the people who claim that they couldn't find media coverage of the NSL.

My memory of it is that there was an hours coverage on SBS TV every week, and substantial previews and match reports in the daily papers every week.

There was also a magazine called "Aussie Soccer" which gave a good coverage, you could always see it in newsagents (remember them?!)

At a pinch you could actually attend a match, everyone knew where they were played.

I guess Melbourne must have been different, the AFL has a lot to answer for.

....and gets relegated !

This discontinued when channel 7 got the rights at around the time of the Iran game. One game a week played at midnight or 2am. The advertised game (usually match of the round) was often substituted for a nil all draw

The Herald Sun would feature NSL results in the weekly round up with very few articles if ever (and sometimes the scores wouldnt even be in the weekly round up). Channel 7 had a Sunday program featuring Farina (part of the deal of 7 paying half his wage) but there were very few NSL highlights. And the Soccer Australia website was terrible

And yes, this was regional Victoria. Things might have been different in other states but market saturation and anti competitive behaviour was what made the AFL the giant it is today. The irony is that now that we have the power of the Internet, duel codes no longer a sin, and several platforms for following the game, people are still hoping to get our game into one of 3 channels or 2 newspapers. Something that would have been nice 20 years ago but no longer relevant by todays standards

Edit: Oh, and as for SBS I wouldnt know to be honest - was barely able to get coverage in regional Victoria. Most of the world cup 98 was spent getting the lounge set up perfectly right down to the last subatomic particle so that the reception was at a stage where you could actually distinguish between the static and the ball. One sneeze and that was the end of the coverage

I was a massive fan of nrl and cricket although, a fan of the Socceroos too. The outreach that soccer/football has on the international landscape along with success of the Socceroos, led me to watch aleague and football abroad such as epl. I used to play the other codes as a younger person, I got into my 40's when my allegiances changed. Nowdays, my first preference is soccer or as I like to call it by its rightful name, football, makes sense.

The frequency that positive things are happening in aleague football, are happening at a rate I thought would Not happen for many years to come still.
The independence of the aleague, this is so massive its epic. Expansion of the aleague, a second division coming to realization within afew years, perhaps pro/rel even in the distant future.
  
Hopefully the salary cap either lifted alot higher or pulled altogether.
The epl are considering a really high salary cap I heard on an english soccer channel on radio one morning recently.
After the war at the front desk with the FFA for three years, sanity Finally prevailed. There is a freshness in the air with Australian football/soccer.
I hope FTA get involved very soon once they feel the fresh air too.

Country Victoria! That explains it...

My memory of the Channel 7 era is a bit hazy, but it was only for the last 4 or 5 years of the NSL wasn't it?

When SBS covered it, I can even remember seeing a complete 90 minutes of a match sometimes, as well as their weekly roundup.

We seem to have been lucky with our newspaper coverage in SA, The Tiser, the News and the Sunday Mail all had good regular coverage- previews, match reports and stories. I've got scrapbooks full of newspaper clippings to prove it!

Good thread topic again, MCG.

Fair play to you!


I followed the qualification path of the Socceroos when they first qualified for the World Cup in 1973.

I think the TV deal, and  moves by FFA in 2005, made me feel the HAL was for all the population more than the NSL.

14 years later, I feel more excluded than I did in 2005 in my home state regarding local involvement in the HAL.

The FFA Cup has been a welcome addition though.