Football people not only acknowledge differences but celebrate them. Every day, in every way, football in Australia represents diversity, cultural diffusion and education.
As a result it has always held a unique place in Australian society. The multicultural face of the world game has long set it apart from other codes, because football fitted cheek-by-jowl with the changes to Australian society brought about by the mass migration of non-British Europeans after World War Two.
Football gave solace and expression to these communities. Football was and is the sport with which Australia could greet the people of the world and which has absorbed the entirety of our migrant mix more than any other. It has welcomed the many and helped to knead the complexities of history and politics.
It has always had to be flexible, agile and resilient to survive the slings and arrows hurled at it at times. But that has made for a sport that is, at least in relative terms, less conformist and more able to accommodate difference, something traceable in football’s DNA.
Former Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou describes this in his book “Changing the Game” where, as a Greek migrant who loved football, he was motivated by his father’s example of taking the road less travelled in his new cultural surrounds.
Football allowed Ange, through and with his father and the extended family of South Melbourne Hellas folk, to not conform to the heavy expectations of unilateral assimilation. Many other communities did the same. Football exploded, with a distinctly multicultural face, from that point forth.
My own time in football has been exactly this story, growing up in Sydney’s North Shore monoculture in the 70’s and 80’s. Save for Bill Chronopoulos and Greg Hatzidis (whose mum was English), we were all colonial kids.
The outlier in this environment was Imre Panda, father of our teammate Roland, a Hungarian who sought refuge in Australia from Cold War Europe. Nothing of my football history can be remembered without including Imre. He was a cultured man, spoke four languages and dressed so finely, yet his sideline antics were utterly and diametrically opposed to the “normal” way of doing things.
He was often banned from the sidelines by the local authorities. He would fulminate, leap with joy, bellow “sen-ti-mental’ and cheer, all in consecutive sentences, arms waving, scarf flying. At the time we thought it all quirky and humorously distracting. But actually, he was my first, in-person contact with real, deep football passion. Watching football, Imre was artistic expression personified. As 8-year-olds he told us about Puskas, and the 1953 mauling of England, at Wembley, by the Magical Magyars. It was he who took us to the Sydney Sports Ground in 1981 to watch the Young Socceroos beat Argentina in the World Youth Cup. There I was, a white-bred kid from Sydney’s north shore, watching and cheering-on the wave of Australia’s demographic change as it swept before me.
I am eternally grateful for Australia’s football, because it took me out of the bubble of my youth. It has been the most fantastic personal experience. And I believe it has been the most fantastic experience for our country.
We can indulge in and celebrate its A-League and W-League (and Socceroos and Matildas) fully in the knowledge that no other sport represents the breadth of Australia’s many faces as football does.
Look at the numbers – 107 different countries have been represented in both leagues over the journey. All of the world’s continents. The emergence of players with African descent. The next wave of south, central and west Asians. The pathway for refugees. The stories are manifest, and manifold.
Of course, more needs to be done. And diversity isn’t limited to multiculturalism. Football must continue to lead the way on issues of Australia’s indigenous people, gender equality and opportunity, identity diversity and the ability-disability spectrum.
But, in football, Australia has a golden opportunity. And we, as football’s custodians, must embrace this ongoing challenge. Together, in harmony, we are a powerful force for a positive Australia.
