WITH much of the world embroiled in soccer frenzy at the moment it’s interesting to look back and wonder why the sport rarely rates highly in country Australia.
Here in the south-west soccer is one of those sports that has history of bursting onto the scene with much fanfare and thriving for a while before apathy seeing it wane again.
We’ve seen soccer associations come and go, sometimes taking in Mount Gambier, other times stretching as far as Colac.
If memory serves correctly, 60 or so years ago soccer was the only organised sport in Western Victoria played on the “Day of the Lord”.
Councils generally barred competitive sport from their ovals on Sundays. With Aussie Rules holding the Saturday slots the round-ball game was restricted to playing on this “day of rest”, usually on a private ground.
In continental Europe, with Saturdays being half-workdays, sport and leisure were Sunday activities, starting after the Lord had been praised in the morning.
South-west clubs then operated with little sponsorship help. Fancy uniforms were some years off.
Port Fairy, for some homes games, wore the Seagulls reserves purple and gold footy jumpers used the day before, and before they were washed.
Some months players had to bring handmowers to the showgrounds before games to cut sidelines and much of the pitch.
THE earliest reference to a competition so far found in our library dates back to 1955, for the formation of the Western District Amateur Soccer Football Association.
This followed the post-war arrival in the area of mainly Brits, Scots, Italians, Greeks and Dutch.
The teams, during the times before it was fashionable to be offended, were commonly called the Poms, Geordies, Dagoes, Wogs and Clogwogs.
With WW2 still a fresh memory, some players not long out of army service from their former country and perhaps retaining resentments, the occasional onfield “blue” wasn’t unknown.
Discipline, presumably, wasn’t enhanced by the associations of the day often having but basic rules and regulations.
In 1960 our district association played an inter-league “friendly” against Mount Gambier.
Unhappy with the referee’s performance, after the game one angry individual bailed up both the ref and opposition team in the change-rooms for quite some time with a knife.
That was an extreme example of how seriously some ethnic groups took their culture on the soccer field.
As we know, due to supporter violence, decades ago state soccer moved from allowing teams to operate on nationality lines.
IN 1954 teams came from Port Fairy, Warrnambool, Terang and Colac. Mortlake joined the association in 1955.
In subsequent years some of these towns dropped out, but Portland, Hamilton, Glenthompson and two more Warrnambool teams came in.
Around 1972 district soccer seemed to go into recess. Warrnambool got off the canvass in 1975 but was forced to travel to the Geelong/Ballarat areas for games.
By 1979 there was a small league for just Warrnambool-based teams.
Unlike most other sports soccer clubs were often established to offer social support for people new to our country.
Glenthompson has a great example.
Once staffing at the town’s brickworks was such that the company fielded its own team in the Western District Amateur Soccer Football Association.
The business then employed many immigrants, especially Italians.
In 1958 controversy erupted. The Glenthompson team had finished fourth, after Portland, Port Fairy and Warrnambool.
To ensure a win in the second semi-final against top-placed Portland, the brickworks imported a car-load of top players from the metropolitan area.
This was considered poor form by Port Fairy, already in the grand final. They said they would refuse to take the field if this “stacking” was condoned.
There were no rules to the contrary, so Port Fairy was disqualified leaving Warrnambool to play Glenthompson for the flag.
The brickworkers (minus imports) fell just short.
IN 1959 Hamilton was premier of the now titled South-Western Soccer Association defeating Warrnambool 3-2 in the grand final.
This team consisted solely of migrants living in Hamilton and district, with two players each from Coleraine, Balmoral and Macarthur.
Eight of them came from Holland with two from Scotland and one from England.
The association that year consisted of five teams: Warrnambool, Dennington, Port Fairy, Portland and Hamilton.
Home games were played at Pedrina Park on Sunday afternoons.
After another recess Hamilton soccer rose from the dead in 1980.
The following year the fledging Hamilton United (the Rams) entered the once more renamed Western District Soccer Association and won the flag.
The club, which was formed just the year before, capped its first season of competition with a clear-cut two-nil victory over Warrnambool City in the season decider.
Not long after organised soccer was on the back-burner again.
Today Hamilton is the envy of district competitors boasting a great surface and lights.
Considering the cost and level of use proper changerooms are unlikely any time soon.
As the Hamilton Raiders they play in the South-West Victoria Football Association against Warrnambool, Corangamite and Stawell.
There are junior sections doing quite well, helped by some schools encouraging this code.
Like often in the past some weeks senior men teams struggle for numbers.
That’s this year’s Hamilton senior reserves team at the top, taken last September after their last game against Wolves.
Left, earlier in the season, is Raiders coach and one of Hamilton soccer’s main drivers in recent seasons, Leroy Perez, making the play.
