‘It’s Bigger than the Olympics’: changing Australia through football and the 1974 FIFA World Cup

Abstract

In the 1970s, Australian football finally had the impact that its early promoters predicted. Fuelled by waves of British immigration, the game was changed by a post-war generation from Europe. Australia began its World Cup quest with two misses in the 1960s, before qualifying for the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany. The campaign, based around an Australian team dominated by overseas-born players, coincided with the election of Gough Whitlam’s socially progressive federal Labor government with a commitment to move away from Australia’s mono-cultural past. The fortunes of these two campaigns intertwine in surprising ways. The Australian sporting landscape, long the preserve of rival football codes and Olympic success, began to change. Marking the fortieth anniversary of Australia’s first World Cup appearance, this essay re-examines issues of nationalism and inclusiveness in the light of recent global debates on the rights of overseas-born players to represent their adopted country.