The Death & Life of Australian Soccer

In The Death and Life of Australian Soccer, journalist and historian Joe Gorman explores the rise and fall of Australia’s first national football competition and shows how soccer came to practice and embody multiculturalism long before it became government policy. Drawing on archival research and interviews with players, supporters and club officials, he tells the incredible and oft-unknown stories of Australian soccer. The Death and Life of Australian Soccer is a fascinating and timely account of the first Australian sport to truly galvanize every ethnic, regional, metropolitan, gender and political group across the country. It examines the myths and legends of Australian sport and offers new ways of understanding the great changes that shaped the nation. This is more than a book about soccer – it is the riveting story of Australia’s national identity.

Joe Gorman is a soccer writer and historian. He writes regularly for Guardian Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald, and has written columns for Sports Illustrated (USA), New Matilda, The Roar, Penthouse Australia and SBS. He has discussed Australian soccer on ABC radio and television and for Al Jazeera. He has also written about food and culture for Overland and the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, and worked as a copywriter for ReachOut and the Asian Cup Local Organising Committee. In October 2014 Joe was appointed editor of the quarterly journal Leopold Method, which showcases the best long-form writing on the characters, history, tactics and business of Australian soccer. Joe was at the center of a major investigation for Fairfax Media in December 2014 on Perth Glory breaking the A-League salary cap. The articles prompted an investigation from the Football Federation of Australia which is still underway.