Adelaide United epitomises the South Australian identity of regional passion and imported glitz, writes Joe Gorman
On any given weekend, you’ll find Adam Butler perched on the sideline of an Adelaide football ground, peering through the lens of his Canon DSLR camera. He dedicates Friday nights to women’s matches, Saturday to the men and Sunday to processing photos for publication.
For almost two decades, his photographs have provided a visual record of the growth of the game in one of Australia’s most important football cities. They also chart the development of South Australia’s unique football culture, a beguiling mix of parochalism and external influences, and the football talent that seems to be flowing as a result.
Watch Adelaide United take on Melbourne Victory on Channel 10, 7.15pm AEDT, Saturday.
The first thing you’ll notice from Butler’s photo albums is the city-wide improvement in Adelaide’s football facilities, as dustbowl fields give way to radiant green artificial turf pitches. Zoom in closer and you’ll see that he has taken the first snaps of South Australia’s stars of tomorrow.
Butler shot Craig Goodwin at Adelaide Raiders, Ryan Kitto at West Torrens Birkalla and Nikola Milusenić at White City. He’s got stunning photos of Sydney FC striker Elvis Kamsoba winning the 2016 Adelaide African Nations Cup with the local Burundi side. There are pictures of baby-faced Jordan Elsey, Awer Mabil, Louis D’Arrigo and Riley McGree playing for Adelaide United’s youth team.
“I remember watching Alex Chidiac as a 15-year-old and walking away from that game thinking she is the most talented player – male or female – that I’ve seen,” he recalls.
Butler began taking photos of local football in 2003, the year Adelaide United was formed during the final season of the National Soccer League. Back then, he saw photography as a way of linking new fans back to the community. “I was trying to create a connection between the supporters of Adelaide United and the supporters of the local state league clubs,” he says. “But I fell in love with the local game, and I’ve been doing it ever since.”
Butler insists that he is an insurance broker with a hobby, not a professional photographer. “The heart and soul of the clubs are still volunteers, and that’s why I don’t mind being a volunteer,” he says. Still, the game clearly sees value in his work. His photos provide much-needed colour to Football South Australia’s competition coverage and end of season montages. Every so often, he captures moments that are priceless.
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In 2008, Butler traveled to China with Adelaide United to shoot club legend Richie Alagich’s final professional game. The signed match-worn jersey that Alagich handed him in gratitude is now one of Butler’s prized possessions. In 2012, he shot Brazilian import Cássio Oliveira’s first game as an Australian after Cássio and his family became citizens at a special ceremony at Hindmarsh Stadium.
Years later, when Alagich’s son Ethan and Cássio’s son Bernardo broke into Adelaide United’s youth team, Butler was there on the sideline, camera at the ready. Now, the two teenagers are training with the A-League Men’s team after making their senior debuts in the FFA Cup.
Ethan and Bernardo are part of a wellspring of South Australian talent sweeping across the A-Leagues. Last season, 28 players in the Men’s competition were born or bred in Adelaide – more than Melbourne, even though Melbourne has four times the population of Adelaide. Most of those players either play for Adelaide United or got their first start with the Reds. According to Football Australia statistician Andrew Howe, the average age of Adelaide United Men’s starting lineup last season was 25.7 – the youngest of any club since 2014-15. Sixteen of those 26 squad players were born or raised in South Australia.
In the A-League Women, too, Adelaide United has invested in locals such as Matilda McNamara, Chelsie Dawber and Emily Hodgson. Two of the Reds’ brightest young players from last season, Charlotte Grant and Dylan Holmes, have since secured overseas moves and call-ups to the national team.
As a general trend, the A-Leagues have gotten younger and more local since the coronavirus pandemic. In Adelaide, though, the turn inwards was already in motion before COVID thanks to a forward-thinking front office cognisant of the fact that success will only be truly meaningful if it is driven by South Australians.
Although the club is foreign owned, the CEO is Nathan Kosmina – son of Adelaide United legend, John – and the Director of Football is Vito Basile, a proud South Australian who has returned home after spending a decade working with the Socceroos and Matildas. Basile took over the role from former Reds player Bruce Djite, who recently departed the club to become CEO of the Committee for Adelaide, an apolitical think tank which provides a voice for the city and the state.
In Djite’s view, Adelaide United has gone through three iterations. The first was from 2003 to 2010, when the club was coached by locals John Kosmina and Aurelio Vidmar and stacked with South Australians. During the next iteration, from 2011 to 2019, the club was primarily managed by foreigners: German Marco Kurz, Dutchmen Rini Coolen and Geertjan Verbeek, and Spaniards Josep Gombau and Guillermo Amor.
The third iteration, which is currently underway, is a return to the club’s roots. In June 2020, United appointed local identity Carl Veart as head coach. Veart, in turn, brought in ex-Football South Australia Technical Director Ayrton Andrioli as Head of Youth Football. Both men have been at the coalface of youth development and possess an encyclopedic knowledge of local talent. “As a coach, I think it’s important that we show there is a path for young players to play in the A-League side,” Veart said recently at an Adelaide United fans forum.
While Ethan Alagich is signed to an NPL contract and Bernardo Oliveira is on a scholarship deal, in many ways the two local boys embody the promise of Adelaide United’s “More Than Football” mission statement. As Djite observes, the club strikes a balance between parochialism and cosmopolitanism. As much as the fans want to see locals come through the ranks, there is always room for a few quality foreign players – especially if they buy into the Adelaide lifestyle.
“I know, during all my time there, that Adelaide United is at its best with some foreigners but with a strong South Australian focus,” says Djite, pointing to the growing number of former Reds players who have since made Adelaide their home, including Argentinian pair Marcos Flores and Marcelo Carrusca and Brazilians Cássio and Cristiano. “I think, as an A-League club, we’d have the most foreigners who come to Australia and end up staying and becoming citizens.”
The Alagiches and the Oliveiras are both, in their own ways, migrant success stories. The Alagich family, whose ancestors hail from Croatia, have been in Adelaide for four generations. The Oliveiras, from Brazil, have settled in Adelaide after Cássio arrived as a journeyman footballer in 2007.
It was Richie Alagich, United’s no-nonsense right-back, who took the flying Brazilian left-back under his wing. Both men ended up playing more than 100 games for the club. “Cássio and I got on really, really well; we just clicked,” says Richie. “I always tried to engage with the foreign players who came to Adelaide United, because I was fascinated by their stories and where they’d come from.”
Ethan and Bernardo first played together as children at Port Adelaide Pirates, with Richie as coach. They mingled in the corporate boxes at Hindmarsh as their fathers played together in the A-League. Their families had barbecues together. “As a little kid, I’d always see the colour red and I felt that Adelaide United was part of our family,” says Bernardo.
The boys grew up with different pressures. Ethan, the son of a club icon and nephew of a former Matilda, has been talked about as a future player from the moment he could walk. Bernardo, who arrived here at the age of three, oscillates between feeling Brazilian and Australian. Brazil, says Bernardo, “is in my culture and in my blood.”
But Adelaide is home, and when Bernardo was presented an offer to return to Adelaide United from Melbourne City’s youth team, he jumped at the chance. “It was a no-brainer, and I haven’t seen Bernardo happier in the last three years,” says Cássio. “He comes home from training happy every day. I think everything was meant to be.”
Of course, Bernardo and Ethan will need to be patient, and there is no guarantee they will make it. This season, Adelaide United have a strong squad with locals Stefan Mauk, Craig Goodwin, Ryan Kitto, Kusini Yengi, Louis D’Arrigo and Mohamed Toure mixed in with experienced foreigners such as Michael Jakobsen and the Spanish trio of Juande, Javi López and Isaías.
But fans like Adam Butler are already buzzing at the prospect of two sons of club legends turning out for the Reds. For Butler, who has followed the club from the very beginning, there is a genuine sense of pride in watching players that he’s photographed progress from the local leagues to the big time.
“I love the opportunities that Adelaide United are giving to locals,” he says. “Cássio was one of my favourite players and I’ve got a lot of respect for the Alagich family, so I hope Bernardo and Ethan both follow in their dad’s footsteps.”
Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory
Saturday, December 11 2021
Venue: Coopers Stadium
Kick-off: 7.45pm AEDT
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