Footballers at the Front: France and Belgium
Following the withdrawal from Gallipoli in December 1915, the Australia Imperial Forces re-grouped in Egypt. At the sprawling Tel el Kebir camp, located between Cairo and the Suez Canal, soldiers spent long days marching and drilling, cleaning their kits, attending lectures and preparing in general for new deployments in France, Belgium and the Middle East. […]
Frederick Moore, the English FA and the First Laws of the Game
When Frederick Moore entered the gas-lit upstairs room of a London inn in late 1863, little did he know he was about to witness the birth of football as we know it. Moore had made his way to the Freemason’s Tavern, near Covent Garden, to attend a meeting “for the purpose of promoting the adoption […]
Team Spirit Behind Under-13s Nationals Success
It’s Saturday 7 September, 1974, and the final whistle sounds on the Under-13 National Championship. The bumper crowd rise to cheer the West Australian squad who are celebrating a hard-fought 1-0 win over New South Wales in the tournament final played at the Velodrome in Mount Hawthorn. The sixteen players have written themselves into the […]
Olympic’s “Band of Brothers” Snare Historic League Title
Kingsway Olympic secured their first major trophy in the most dramatic of style on this day 46 years ago. Heading into the final round of the 1978 season, Olympic trailed league leaders Spearwood Dalmatinac on points and goal difference. Given no chance of making up that ground, they decided to buck the odds and toppled […]
1980: AC Milan Unsettled by State Team Late Show
Italian giants AC Milan arrive in Perth shortly ahead of a blockbuster friendly against Serie A rivals AS Roma at Optus Stadium. It will be the second time the nineteen-time Italian league champions have played in Perth, their previous visit being the final game of an end-of-season tour of Australia 44 years ago. On that […]
Footballers at the Front: Gallipoli
When Australia entered World War 1, interest in the 1914 football season was at an all-time high. The Division One title race had become a three-way tussle between Training College, Claremont and Thistle with just a handful of games remaining. And beyond the league were the traditional post-season Challenge Cup and Charity Cup knock-out competitions […]
The Story of Western Australia’s First State Game
It can be argued that first international game of football played in Australia under British Association rules took place at Fremantle Oval on Monday 24 March, 1902, when Western Australia squared off with an England team composed of visiting Ashes cricketers. The game came about through the progressive thinking of Alec Peters, secretary of the […]
Pele and a World Tour That Was ‘Better than Playing with Elvis’
By the end of his career, John Coyne was a Socceroo who played in the UK, US and Australia – but for a few glorious weeks in 1975 he was teammates with Pele, who dubbed him ‘Crazy John’. Tom Smithies reports for keepup.com.au Even now you can hear the slight disbelief in John Coyne’s voice, […]
Remembering Perry Lakes Stadium
More than 800 athletes representing 35 nations came together 60 years ago this week to compete at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Perry Lakes Stadium was the Games’ centrepiece, a purpose-built venue in Floreat featuring a 5,000 seat grandstand and open air perimeter seating for a further 25,000 spectators. On November 22, 1962, […]
