'Legends' are worthy of long, overdue debate
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday October 24, 2009
There was a lot of grey hair and more than a few paunches, when Football Federation Australia unveiled the latest inductees into the Hall of Fame at a function alongside the banks of the Yarra River this week. But if age has caught up with some of the great contributors to our game, the respect remains. While much has been (deservedly) made about the great divide between "new football" and "old soccer", the great irony is that the current hierarchy has done more to reward those who created the game's history than any of its predecessors.The Hall of Fame, established in 1999, has become the main forum to recognise past achievements. In truth, it has sometimes been a bit too generous in handing out the accolades in the rush to make up for more than a century of neglect. In future, it's likely to be much more selective. And as the Hall of Fame evolves €“ hopefully into bricks and mortar instead of a virtual reality €“ a new category will be introduced in time for next year's 130th anniversary. Yes, that's right, organised football in Australia is 129 years old. In fact the FFA, including its many previous guises, is one of the 10 oldest associations in the world.While this week's announcement on a new category for the Hall of Fame €“ the Football "Legends" €“ didn't generate much comment, it is perhaps the biggest single development in terms of recognising the game's often uncharted history. The AFL also has its Legends, while rugby league has its Immortals. So, too, should football have it's pantheon, and over the next year the FFA will be inviting the public to make suggestions online about who deserves to be elevated to a true great of the game.It's a worthy debate, and long overdue. So who's in contention?James "Judy" Masters had the good fortune to be born in 1892 in Balgownie, the NSW South Coast mining town (now a suburb of Wollongong) that nine years earlier had formed a football club, now recognised as the oldest in Australia. Masters, a centre forward, also captained the Socceroos, scoring 12 goals in 13 appearances from 1923-27.Al Quill was born in the inner-Sydney suburb of Ultimo in 1910, and made his first-grade debut as a 17-year-old for nearby Pyrmont. Quill scored four goals in his first four games. Four years later, he moved to Newcastle, and spent the remainder of his career playing with Wallsend. He retired at the age of 39 after scoring an Australian record of 868 goals, including 78 in the 1937 season.Quill later became a coach, and one of his proteges, Reg Date, went on to become another legendary goal scorer, once attracting an offer from Manchester United. Date grew up in Wallsend, and captained the Socceroos against South Africa in 1947, but there was controversy when he was dropped for subsequent tours to New Zealand (1948) and South Africa (1950).Perhaps our most famous postwar footballer was Joe Marston, the first Australian to play in an FA Cup final at Wembley (1954). Marston, a defender, captained and coached the Socceroos, and has been recognised by having the player of the match in the A-League grand final named in his honour.More recent candidates for "Legend" status include: John Watkiss, who played for the Socceroos from 1965-73; Johnny Warren, a former Socceroos captain whose media work after his retirement laid the platform for the profile the game receives today, and; Ray Baartz, who signed for Manchester United as a 17-year-old but left after one season because of homesickness, and scored 18 times in 48 appearances for the Socceroos.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald