LET me tell you about the blackest day in Australia’s footballing history. I know, because I was there.

Frankly, I have had a gutful of revisionist historians trying to spin what I regarded as largely a grab for cash into something more noble.

For Socceroos players to “strike” on the eve of a major tournament — as certain players tried to do in Riyadh before the 1997 Confederations Cup — was a shameful act. It should not be celebrated or held up as an example for the way pay negotiations should be handled now.

To set the record straight, I am one of the individuals “that did not show courage” in Riyadh as Craig Foster cares to remember it.

I would have thought the minority who refused to put a price tag on the Socceroos shirt were the men who stood for a principle — the one that says your country comes first. To suggest otherwise is the height of hypocrisy.

I am not against any individual or team earning what they can from the game.

Players have a short shelf life and they are entitled to a big piece of the pie. That was the case in 1997 — and it’s the case with the Western Sydney Wanderers at the FIFA Club World Cup.

What I can never agree with is putting a gun to the head of a club or national federation by using a major tournament as leverage. That was the stand taken by Mark Bosnich, Ned Zelic, Steve Horvart and myself in 1997.

media_camera Robbie Slater in action for the Socceroos in 1997.

Personally, I think the Wanderers players are entitled to 50 per cent of what the club earns by being at the Club World Cup. That is fair and reasonable. However, it should have been negotiated weeks ago. What has the Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) been doing since the Asian Champions League final?

I believe the threatened boycott has tarnished the Wanderers’ Asian Cup triumph — one of the greatest moments in this country’s domestic footballing history. That’s really sad.

But for agitators to compare the situation of a club dispute to a player representing his country is way off the mark.

Your club is your paymaster and with the right timing you should be able to ask for better conditions.

On the other hand, none of the Socceroos rely on international matches as their regular pay check and the money generated by internationals is needed to grow the game from juniors,

to the Matildas, domestic leagues, national youth teams and, of course, the Socceroos.

Going back to 1997, a few players felt we had let the country down by losing to

Iran and failing to qualify for the 1998 World Cup in France. I certainly didn’t think, under that environment, that it was appropriate to militantly or aggressively ask for more money.

That’s why I took the stand I did.

Others disagreed regarding the threatened boycott of the Confederations Cup as a gift or stand for future generations. Frankly, to me that is simply sanctimonious piffle.

It’s no secret that Foster and I fell out over the events of 1997.

The truth is I left two clubs so I could represent Australia, I paid my own airfares to come back to play for the Socceroos and I put back into the game here by investing my own money into the Northern Spirit.

To suggest I didn’t have the courage to stand up for Australian football is insulting.

We all made calls and attended meetings and acted in different ways.

I’ll stand by my Socceroos record.

I’ll stand by my country.

Every game was a privilege and an honour to wear the gold shirt. I could never go on strike while representing my country.

Sadly, others didn’t feel the same way.