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| Soccer in Australia | |
|---|---|
 The Australia national team playing at the Melbourne Cricket Ground | |
| Country | Australia |
| Governing body | Football Federation Australia |
| National teams | Men's (U-23, U-20, U-17, futsal) Women's (U-20, U-17, futsal) Beach soccer |
| First played | 1880, Parramatta |
| Registered players | 970,728 |
| Clubs | 3,868 |
Soccer (association football, also known as football) is a popular sport in Australia. The sport has a high level of participation in the country both recreational and professional. Football Federation Australia (FFA) is the national governing body which organises the A-League, the FFA Cup, the Australian national team, and the nine state governing bodies of the game, among other duties. Modern soccer was introduced in Australia in the late 19th century by mostly British immigrant. It has since become one of Australia's most popular sports. The first club formed in the country, Wanderers was founded on 3 August 1880, while the oldest club in Australia currently in existence is Balgownie Rangers FC, formed 1883. Australia has close relation with both the OFC and the AFC. Australia, a founding member of the OFC, moved to the AFC in 2006.
History
Early records of the sport being played in Australia date as far back as the 1830s. A variant of the sport (written as "football") was played in 1832 between "a large batch of youngsters (who) were eagerly engaged in playing at football, on Hyde Park", in Sydney. Another variant of the sport took place at the Woogaroo Lunatic Asylum, located in Wacol, on 7 August 1875, when a team of inmates and wards men from the Asylum played against the visiting Brisbane Football Club; the rules of the match clearly stating that the "ball should not be handled nor carried", was a reference to the British Association Rules.
A match was recorded to be played in Hobart on 10 May 1879, when the Cricketer's Club played a scratch match under the English Association Rules which were adopted by the club. The following month, on 7 June, the Cricketer's took on New Town in the first recorded inter-club match. The game was a return match to one played on 24 May by the clubs, under a variant of the Victorian rules; to prevent the disadvantage faced by the Cricketers, the clubs agreed that Association rules would be adopted in the return match.
The first recorded match played under the Laws of the Game was contested between the Wanderers club and the Kings School rugby team at Parramatta Common on 14 August 1880. The Wanderers club was founded by John Walter Fletcher in Parramatta 1880, as the first soccer club in Australia. Later, in 1882, Fletcher formed the New South Wales English Football Association (also referred to as the South British Football Soccer Association), Australia's first soccer association and one of the first to be established outside the United Kingdom. The oldest existing club is Balgownie Rangers, founded in 1883, which still competes in the Illawarra regional league.
The first inter-colonial game was played between Victoria and the neighbouring colony of New South Wales at the East Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1883. In 1884 both Queensland and Victoria formed their own associations, respectively the Anglo-Queensland Football Association (later to become the Queensland British Football Association in 1890) and the Anglo-Australian Football Association. The Western Australian Soccer Football Association was formed in 1896; the South Australian British Football Association in 1902; and a Tasmanian association about 1900. In 1911, the first Australia-wide governing body was the Commonwealth Football Association. This body was soon superseded when the Australian Soccer Association formed in 1921.
Soccer served as a cultural gateway to introduce new European arrivals during the 1940s to Australian culture.
While Australians overwhelmingly played and watched Australian rules football or either code of rugby, soccer was highly popular with the various British and Southern European immigrant communities, all of which expanded rapidly during the 1950s and 1960s: Croatian, Greek, Italian and Serbian communities gave rise to most of the largest clubs. At the time, the game served as a bonding force within those ethnic minority communities, and as a point of identity amongst them and the wider Australian community. A similarly increasing number of British migrants also retained an interest in the sport. Johnny Warren, who was a member of the Australian national team at their first World Cup appearance, in 1974, entitled his memoir Sheilas, Wogs, and Poofters, giving an indication of how Warren considered the wider Australian community viewed "wogball" in the 1970s.
Participation
According to FIFA's Big Count, a total of 970,728 people in Australia participate in the sport, with 435,728 registered players, and 535,000 unregistered players. These numbers were higher than the equivalents for other football codes commonly regarded as more popular in Australia, such as Australian rules football, rugby league and rugby union.
Competitions
Since 1977, the league system in Australia has involved one national top tier league controlled by the national body and many leagues that run below within each state, with no promotion or relegation between the two.
League competitions
Main article: Australian soccer league systemThe National Soccer League (NSL) was established in 1977, as the first national top tier soccer competition in Australia, with teams based in five (eventually six) states. In 2004, the NSL was disbanded and replaced by the A-League. The first season of the new league began in 2005. As with the men's national competition the women's W-League replacing the long dormant Women's National Soccer League as the women's national top tier league in 2008. The A-League National Youth League was also launched in 2008 to provide a national youth development league for A-League clubs.
In 2013, the National Premier Leagues (NPL) was established as a national second tier banner of the sport, underpinning the A-League. The NPL consists of the premier league competitions within each state-based federation (currently eight) in Australia. The eight champions of each league competes in a finals series at the conclusion of the regular season.
Cup competitions
The FFA Cup is Australia's national cup competition. Previous national cup competitions include the Australia Cup.
As well as the national FFA Cup, each individual state also has its own cup competition run by their respective state federations. Some restrict the participants to only the top flight or semi pro clubs whilst others have more open entries via invitation or qualifying rounds.
National teams
National football teams of various age groups represent Australia in international competition. Australian national teams historically competed in the OFC, though since FFA's move in 2006, Australian teams have competed in AFC competitions.
The Australian men's national team is a four-time OFC champion and AFC Men's Team of the Year for 2006. The team represents Australia at the FIFA World Cup, the AFC Asian Cup, the FIFA Confederations Cup and the AFF Championship.
The Australian Under-23 team is a three-time OFC champion. The team represents Australia at the Olympic Games and the AFC U-22 Championship.
The Australian Under-20 team is a twelve-time OFC champion. The team represents Australia at the FIFA U-20 World Cup and the AFC U-19 Championship.
The Australian Under-17 team is a ten-time OFC champion. The team represents Australia at the FIFA U-17 World Cup and the AFC U-16 Championship.
The Australian futsal team represents Australia at the FIFA Futsal World Cup and the AFC Futsal Championship.
The Australia Paralympic team represents Australia at the Paralympic Games.
The Australian women's national team is a three-time OFC champion and one-time AFC champion. The team represents Australia at the FIFA Women's World Cup, the AFC Women's Asian Cup and the Olympic Games.
The Australian women's Under-20 team is a two-time OFC champion. The team represents Australia at the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup and the AFC U-19 Women's Championship.
The Australian women's Under-17 team represents Australia at the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup and the AFC U-16 Women's Championship.
The Australian women's futsal team represents Australia at the Women's Futsal World Tournament.
The Australian beach soccer team represents Australia at the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup and the AFC Beach Soccer Championship.
Media coverage
Pay television is the predominant outlet for both domestic and international soccer in Australia. Some games can also can be heard on local radio stations. The anti-siphoning list which controls what must be kept on free to air television in Australia includes only the FA Cup games. The A-League will be added to the anti-siphoning list, but not until 2014 in order to prevent a breach of contract on the part of FFA.
Following a A$120 million, seven-year broadcasting deal between the FFA and Fox Sports, Fox Sports had exclusive rights from 2007 to all Socceroos home internationals, all A-League and AFC Asian Cup fixtures, FIFA World Cup qualifiers through the AFC, and all AFC Champions League matches.
In 2013, FFA signed a joint A$160 million, four-year deal with Fox Sports and SBS for the A-League.
Since 1986, SBS has held the exclusive Australian broadcast rights to the FIFA World Cup, and the television network will continue to hold the rights to the competition until 2022.
References
- "To the Editors of the Sydney Herald". The Sydney Herald. 30 July 1832. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
- "Football. FOURTH MATCH OF THE SEASON. BRISBANE CLUB V. WOOGAROO ASYLUM". The Queenslander. 14 July 1975. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
- "FOOTBALL NOTES". The Mercury. 12 May 1879. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
- "NEW TOWN V. CRICKETERS". The Mercury. 9 June 1879. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
- "NEW TOWN V. CRICKETERS". The Mercury. 26 May 1879. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
- ^ "Timeline of Australian Football". New South Wales Migration Heritage Centre, Powerhouse Museum. 2006. Retrieved 4 December 2006.
- "Balgownie Rangers Soccer Club – Club History". 2006. Archived from the original on 24 August 2006. Retrieved 4 December 2006.
- "interstate soccer 1883". trove.nla.gov.au. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
- – Brisbane Courier 16 April 1914
- Bloomfield, John (2003). Australia's Sporting Success: The Inside Story. UNSW Press. ISBN 978-0-86840-582-7.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Anastasios Tamis (30 May 2005). The Greeks in Australia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 103–. ISBN 978-0-521-54743-7. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
- "Australian Football – Post 1974". New South Wales Migration Heritage Centre, Powerhouse Museum. 2006. Retrieved 4 December 2006.
- "COUNTRY INFO Australia (AUS)". FIFA. Retrieved 31 August 2013.
- "Participation in Exercise, Recreation and Sport" (PDF). Australian Government. 2011. p. 68. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
- "Why not one national league?". Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
- "A brief history of the NSL (Part I)". theroar.com.au. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
- ^ "New national soccer league launched". smh.com.au. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
- "The Australian Womens National Soccer League". ozfootball.net. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
- "Youth league set to kick off". foxsports.com.au. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
- ^ "National Premier Leagues". footballaustralia.com.au. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
- "FFA Cup set for 2014 kick off". Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
- "Broadcasting Services (Events) Notice (No. 1) 2004" (PDF).
- "Socceroos games to be added to anti-siphoning list". Sportbusiness.com. Retrieved 26 July 2011.
- "Historic deal to secure Football's future". 3 May 2006.
- ^ "SBS / FOX Sports in broadcasting deal with FFA". http://www.tvtonight.com.au. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
{{cite web}}: External link in|publisher= - ^ "SBS to broadcast FIFA World Cups in 2018 and 2022". theworldgame.sbs.com.au. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
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| Soccer in Australia by state and territory | ||
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| Australian Capital Territory |  | |
| New South Wales | ||
| Northern Territory | ||
| Queensland | ||
| South Australia | ||
| Tasmania | ||
| Victoria | ||
| Western Australia | ||
| Sport in Australia | |
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| By state/territory | |
| Team sports | |
| Individual sports | |
| International competitions | |