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O/S Grassroots

The history of Australian football is, in general, a reflection of Australian society. The early days of the game saw the miners of Scotland & northern England as the backbone of many clubs in the Hunter,Illawarra & Ipswich but as the game spread into everyday working society the factory workers, locally born, took up the game in numbers and by the time of our first international the Australian team was filled with home grown players.
​It wasn't until the post-war immigration boom that the European influence in our game came to be. Players from Italy, Greece, the Balkans, Central & Eastern Europe and South America joined the "10-pound Poms" in transforming our game into the more elegant game we know today. Many of these "new Australians" found their way into the national team, but their early footballing experience was very different to what the players here grew up with. For them, school teams & street football played an integral part of their learning experience & GrassRoots clubs as we know them today were few and far between. The British club apprentice system also played a part in shaping the careers of a number of players. Many more players like Atti Abonyi & Gary Byrne who spent their younger days overseas had a more organic football experience consisting of street & schoolyard football and it wasn't until arriving in Australia that they met an organised form of the game and to this end they have have nominated a local Australian club as their GrassRoots club, as it was here they received their first coaching and real game time.
While not complete, this list is an indication of where these players came from before becoming the players we are so proud to call Socceroos. 


Musselburgh Union/Newton Grange - Gibb #1
Iona Swifts - Adair #119
Fleet Air Arm/Coventry City - England - Mather #122
Elliot Albion - Scotland - Thomas #138
Manchester Utd/Baguley Youth Club - England/Scotland - Ackerley #164
Refrew HS - Scotland - Anderson #165
Hanover 96 - Germany - Scheinflug #170
Barnsley/Royston/Normanton - Sleight #172

Greenock Morton - Scotland - Hughes #167, Pearson #178
Smeaton Boys Club - Scotland -  Marnoch #186
Queens Club - Rhodesia - Van Blerk #190
Arsenal/St.Eunans - England/Scotland - Keith #192
Wolsey Primary/Croydon Tech - England - Richards #199
ADO FC Den Haag - de Lyster #202
Newton-le-Willows - England - Lloyd #203
Trinity Secondary - England - Alston #205
Cambridge Uni Press - England - Denton #212
Inverurie Loco Works - Scotland - Reilly #214
​Westerton PS/Northfield HS - Scotland - Irvine #220
Spittal Rovers - Scotland - Ainslie #221
Butterburn Youth Club - Scotland - Rooney #223
DOSK Drnis - Yugoslavia - Buljevic #227
Sauchie Juniors - Scotland - Hogg #228
OFK Belgrade - Yugoslavia - Utjesenovic #233
William Temple Secondary/Blackpool FC - England - Ollerton #235
St.Matthews Primary/St.Francis Xavier Liverpool - England - Harding #236
Newbiggin Hall BC - England - Henderson #278
Wimbledon FC - England Hall #13
Kirkland High - Scotland - Watson #281
Thrybergh Schools - Boden #284
Preston North End - England - Yzendoorn #291
Glasgow Boys Brigade - Scotland - Paton #302
San Lorenzo - Argentina - Crino -#311
Bradford City - England - Ratcliffe #319
Holy Cross Primary/Our Lady High School Croy - Scotland - Egan #320
Vardar Skopje - Zarko Odzakov #331
FK Polet Sivac - Yugoslavia - Ivanovic #372
Manchester Utd - England - Brown #378
Chelsea Boys Club - England - Awaratefe #396
Red Star Belgrade - Yugoslavia - Despotovski #468
Torpedo Nikolaev - Ukraine - Rukavytsya #535
Barnham Trojans FC - England - Smith #552
Sloga Doboj/BSV Beckum - Djulbic #556
SV Schwechat - Jeggo #601






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