Soccer Australia's premier football code from the beginning

[MarkA]

Well we have made it to the World Cup for the second time and its only taken since 1974!

I was wondering what if footballers from our major codes had been soccer players instead of the stars they were/are at present, how we would have fared in the past? If RL RU and AFL had been only minor sports then the top players from the past in those codes would have played soccer.

How would past Australian teams fared if players like RL players Fulton, Gasnier, Lewis, Langer, Meninga, Miles, Geyer, Lamb etc and AFL players like Diakos, Carey, Matthews, Hudson, God, etc had been soccer players. God help the Brazilians and anyone else if Barry Hall or Chris Close or Eric Grothe or some other tall strong and skillful player who would not care if they maimed you was running at them!

How many World Cups would we have won and how would our success changed Australian society? Would beless or more xenophobic? More or less tolerent?

 

[mishery]

Meninga

Playing soccer? You have seen the man, right?

 

[Odin]

doesn't this belong in the asb forum? had to be said

 

[Will Ritson]

Mal Meninga and Wally Lewis up against Gary Lineker! Ha ha.

In the late 1890s, early 1900s when rugby league was in it's first few years after breaking from union, a number of high-profile English clubs were poached by the Football Association and switched codes to soccer, the best examples being Leeds United (Holbeck RLFC), Stockport County, Bradford City (Manningham RLFC) and Bradford RLFC (split into a RL and a soccer section, the RL section becoming known as Bradford Northern, now Bradford Bulls; the soccer section as Bradford Park Avenue).

You could have a similar situation in Australia, especially NSW and QLD, with the rugby clubs turning to soccer instead of RL as a way to deal with professionalism. You'd have to have the same happen in NZ as the "All Golds" of 1907 wouldn't be able to bring RL to NSW. Can't comment on AFL though.

 

[Alcuin]

Well we have made it to the World Cup for the second time and its only taken since 1974!

But now you've moved to the Asian Federation, you will qualify for the next seven world cups, no worries.

As for your WI, It's not a few extra players that make the difference, it's either a bit of luck (the time you went out 0-0 and 1-0 to Argentina with Mark Bosnich in goal, or the time you were 2 up against Iran in the second leg then lost out when Iran equalised and won on away goals)... even when you didn't have the luck, if Australia had been in the Asian Confederation from 1974, or if the Australasian federation had an automatic qualifier, you'd've got through every time since 1974 except for 1978 (when New Zealand qualified).

 

[MarkA]

My point is that some AFL, RU and RL players have the correct build and speed and skill in the air or on their feet to be acomplished soccer players if they had played the game from childhood instead of their respective codes.

So if from early times soccer had been the major code and therefore these players would have played soccer, then a distinctive Australian style combined with a plethora of stars would have made Australia a powerhouse of the game. Rivaled only by Brazil we could have won at least as many World Cups as they did or even more.

Alcuin, I did not mean a few extra players I used them as off the top of my head examples. I meant players of their calibre would be available throughout the whole period of World Cup history. The fact that soccer is the third code in this country and we lost out through some bad luck indicates it would have been a very different story if it had been our main code.

If we had been very successful then our contact with the rest of the world would have been very different. Would it have been a more tolerant view of other ethnic groups or not? Would we have seen ourselves as a more independent nation if our national sport had been an international sport instead of cricket where England was our only real opponent for decades?

 

[CalBear]

The Australian state, robbed of it's National Sport & Identity, fails to thrive. Due to lack of interest, Home Rule & Independence is never achieved. The world, denied the travel dollars of the Australian tourist, suffers tragic loss of natural habitat & decent bars throughout the Pacific Basin

Plus the number of cool white hats sold each year drops noticeably.

 

[Rmered]

Immigrants from Europe in the 1950's would not be seen as different, rather they would be accepted with open arms, as the unifying link of sport would bond the two groups together.
Italians, Greeks and Hungarians would not be seen as Wogs, but as potential recruits to the local leagues.

Sadly, TV Comedy would suffer and not be what we know today as there would be no reference to "Leave your money on the fridge, wog" and no "Wogs out of Work".

In regard to players, some of those mentioned would have made the highest level at soccer, others would be working in factories and/or offices today.
I would suggest Laurie Daley would be regarded as one of Australia's greatest ever sporting identities, along with Gary Ablett and Ron Barassi.

Blokes like Meninga, Barry Hall etc would have chosen other sports, perhaps boxing, as their bodies wouldn't have stood up to the pace of the game at an early stage in their development, and their temprement wouldn't have stood up to the non-contact aspect of the game.

 

[MarkA]

OK Rmered maybe not big Mal or Barry Hall, but certainly others. Laurie would not have been as iconic (sorry had to use it in the Aussie sporting context) as say Bob Fulton or Reg Gasnier or Wally but most certainly Ablett and Barassi and I think Matthews too.

Look at the size of many soccer players who make the grade overseas and even in Australia and even players like Miles and Geyer would not be considered too bulky. Do not forget players would not need to bulk up on steroids either so their physical size would be different.

 

[Rmered]

Would Leigh Matthews have knocked out as many players behind play had he been playing soccer?

I'm from Melbourne, so I don't know all the historical rugby players, though I have read that Daley is one of those blokes that's good at every sport he plays.

I think it's fair to say we'd be better at it than England. Let's face it, any sport we're serious about we're better at it than England.
So I guess that places us about 10th best in the world.

 

[Tyr]

Australia wouldn't be a dominant power I'd guess. They aren't as poor as South America and lack as big a population (thats why SA does so well- its poor however unlike Africa doesn't have a war every 5 minutes).
Australia would probally end up like a even more pathetic England (what with a smaller population less densly packed)- every competition they get all excited thinking they are going to win and every year have to come up with excuses as to why they failed.

 

[Will Ritson]

every competition they get all excited thinking they are going to win and every year have to come up with excuses as to why they failed.

If only it were regularly like that it rugby league **sigh**

 

[Gremlin]

Perhaps you'd call the game football like the rest of the civilized world as opposed to 'Soccer' ???

 

[Saladin]

In the late 1890s, early 1900s when rugby league was in it's first few years after breaking from union, a number of high-profile English clubs were poached by the Football Association and switched codes to soccer, the best examples being Leeds United (Holbeck RLFC) ...

Nitpick -- Leeds United didn't exist at this point. The Leeds Club until 1919 was known as Leeds City and it was expelled from the Football League for some kind of corruption or malfeasance. Like the Leeds RL team and Leeds Utd did until the 1960's, Leeds City wore the city colours of yellow and blue.

 

[Saladin]

Perhaps you'd call the game football like the rest of the civilized world as opposed to 'Soccer' ???

Interesting side note -- the only part of the world to use 'soccer' rather than football is the English speaking world. Rather ironic, considering football's point of origin

 

[Saladin]

Observationally, based on 35 years living in Oz, rugby and AFL were both far too deeply entrenched in the local cultures *prior* to your PoD for this idea to fly --- The then VFL and SANFL were both established and thriving prior to 1880, for example

 

[Will Ritson]

Interesting side note -- the only part of the world to use 'soccer' rather than football is the English speaking world. Rather ironic, considering football's point of origin

And that still includes many parts of England, such as Cumbria, where Association Football is often refered to as "soccer", while other sports, such as rugby league, are often refered to as "football".

 

[Tyr]

And that still includes many parts of England, such as Cumbria, where Association Football is often refered to as "soccer", while other sports, such as rugby league, are often refered to as "football".

eh?
Are you sure about that? I've a friend from Carlisle and he never calls rugby football.