In many ways, football and relocation have always been intertwined in Australia. From its foreword by British migrants in the late 19th century and the go-up of postwar ethnic clubs to the dissuasiveness of the phrase “wog-ball” and the jubilation of the 2006 squad full of first and second-generation migrants, football and migrant communities have been indivisible bedfellows
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It is a link that remains now as strong today, with the Socceroos squad announced for the 2022 Football World Cup feature players from Bosnian, Croatian, Turkish-Cypriot and South African backgrounds. And in a trio of players with South Sudanese background – Awer Mabil, Garang Kuol and Thomas Deng – the Socceroos have a novel generation of Diaspora players to reflect both changing face of the squad and of the country.
Their inclusion by Coach Graham Arnold reflects both their go up to prominence – Kuol, for example, lately secured a move to Premier League side Newcastle United – and the increased variety of the playing pool at youth level.
Considering the latest poll results show almost half of Australians have a parent born abroad – and just under a third are born abroad themselves – it would be imprecise to call the squad diverse. They are, and forever have been, a mirror reflection of Australia.
This group of players reflects the reality of the ethnic makeup of Australia improved than competing sporting codes, politics and the media. It is a point ambitious home by Craig Foster, the former Socceroos captain and current human rights campaigner, who says it, is far from surprising to see unreliable communities represented in the squad.
Football in their heart
The Australian male national team has reflected the altering face of the country for 100 years. And if you go during all of the different iterations and decades, and for Football World Cup squads, you see the face of Australia’s migration, he tells Guardian Australia. Today, we now see our new African-Australian Diaspora start to be reflected during the team, and it is wonderful to see.
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Asked why Australian football is so intensely intertwined with migration, Foster takes a instant, reflecting on community who came to Australia with football in their heart.
Of all of the sports that Australia’s settler communities most love, overpoweringly, the majority of them come from football loving countries, he says. When the majority of immigrants come to Australia and settles into life, one of their huge passions they want to bring to life is to be concerned, or to form their own clubs, in relationship football. It’s the world’s biggest sport.
Australia, and Australian football, is better for its diversity.
It is a faith shared by many in the football landscape, chiefly at youth levels, where coaches see the vanguard of change. Craig Carley, a senior coach at Goulburn Valley Suns Football Club and a preceding coach of Kuol, says he has witness the face of football changing, and he believes it will only lead to a better Socceroos squad.
I can surely see a shift – football is changing, it’s becoming more varied, Carley says. And I think it’s just luminous for the sport. What we see locally is only going to advantage everyone, certainly the Socceroos as well. With the move, it creates a wider pool of players, and these players are starting to be recognized for their talent. It’s amazing and inspirational for other young players.
Charley believes the process that has diversified the Socceroos – of players from person in exile backgrounds climbing the ranks during the childhood systems – would only lead to an improved squad. But he adds that there is a key high-priced factor: the cost of youth football, chiefly if a player reaches higher levels because the National Premier League, Australia’s second tier
Australia would be ranked a lot higher in the world
I think Australia would be ranked a group higher in the world if they gave more varied players opportunities, he says. It is been a massive challenge, and I have no hesitation at all that it has impacted the national team selection. We should have a far more varied team, and I think in years to come, the team will change.
I think this issue has been completely detrimental to the senior team – there is just so much talent that’s been missed because players can’t go to training or games, cannot get the right gear, and won’t get the right opportunities.
The frustration at costs as an obstruction to development is a ordinary one, particularly for coaches like Charley who see the potential directly. Paul Giordano, desk of the Azzurri Sports Club and Adelaide Blue Eagles, where Deng started his playing vocation, says he has seen lots of talent go to
People pay a lot of money to play this sport, which, particularly for new immigrants to this country who want to play the sport, becomes high-priced, Giordano says. The problem is not getting them to the top; it is getting them in at the bottom.
Once you are identified as a good player, people recognize that and they are willing to help. But it is that first step. If you turn around and say, well, you can play junior squad, other than the fees are $900 or $1,200, or $1,500 that initial step might just be too much. People can not afford that.
I’m so proud to see the face of the game changing’
Despite these challenges, the game is motionless changing at a rapid pace, and Giordano has seen it occur up close. He has seen his club and many additional around Australia have to change their names and de-ethnicise. He remembers when, in 1996, Soccer Australia prearranged clubs to remove all symbols of European nationalism from club logos, playing flooring, club flags, stadium names, and letterheads.
.Garang Kuol fires home from the punishment spot to score the first of his two goals for middle Coast against Macarthur.
Socceroos form guide: on-fire Garang Kuol signs off before Football World Cup with brace
It was like trying to erase our history, and I know our club amongst many was very upset by the state of affairs, that you had to condemn the name of your club. That is how we became the Blue Eagles,”Giordano says. Like with anything, we want our history recognized.
The decision was made in an effort to broaden the reach of football, to access mainstream Australians, bearing an underlying assumption that the migrant communities who built up football were not part of mainstream Australia.
To Giordano, any success in Australian football is always owed to some degree to migrant communities, chiefly the postwar wave of migrant from southern and Eastern Europe who formed the bedrock of foot balling infrastructure in Australia.
They are the Greek, Bosnian, Italian, Macedonian, Croatian and Serbian communities who blaze the trail for other Diasporas, who then set the stage and paved the connection between the Socceroos and migrant communities.
But they have not been without their controversy, most recently at this year’s Australia Cup final, when a few fans of Sydney United 58 FC, an old NSL club, chanted songs with fascist links, booed during the Welcome to Country and performed Nazi salutes.
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