At the grassroots level, Australian soccer has more young players than any other sporting code.

Paradoxically, Joe Gorman has found that the professional league in Australia is still struggling to find an identity, for reasons which have little to do with the sport.

Joe has written a history of our first national football competition, including an early engagement with Asia, the reasons behind crowd violence, and how the game formed a professional league.

He also reveals a tale of two men integral to the sport; a visionary journalist, and the nation’s leading soccer statistician, who were quietly recording the story over many years.

What happened to the early soccer clubs tells a history of Australia that's not really heard anywhere else.

Further Information

The Death and Life of Australian Soccer is published by UQP

Music at end of RN broadcast

Little Martha, Duane Allman