O/S GrassrootsThe 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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