ABSTRACT
Soccer, ‘our wicked foreign game’, is not the main code of football in any state in Australia, but is probably the second in most states if measured by spectator attendance or participation.[ 1 ] In Victoria, Australian rules is number one, while in New South Wales, rugby league is the dominant code. The phenomenon is not unique to Australia. None of the white dominions of the old British Empire or the former British colony, the United States, has soccer as its main code, with the exception of South Africa where the non-white population has taken up Association Football.[ 2 ] In most of these countries soccer is characterized as a migrants’ game, even though many of the migrants playing or watching the game are of second or later generations. Explanations for the secondary position of soccer in Australia ought therefore to be compared with those for these other countries, and if we seek a comprehensive explanation of this phenomenon then the Australian story ought not to vary too much from those applied to the others, unless it can be clearly shown that Australian experience and conditions were indeed different.[ 3 ] This essay concentrates on the domestic experience in Australia, with a view to introducing and outlining some of the issues which might be drawn into an effective international comparison.
