Ethnicity and Soccer

Ethnicity and Soccer: The effect of non-English speaking immigrants on the establishment of soccer in Canberra in the 1950s and 1960s.

Nick Guoth

Abstract: Soccer in Canberra as a sport had died prior to the war. The advent of Australia's new immigration policy after 1945 saw a solid influx, over the next two decades, of non-English speaking Europeans to Australia and through their input they assisted in the re-emergence of soccer as a main sport in the region. From the Baltic states to the Southern Europeans of Greece and Italy, the change to the Canberra landscape was quite dramatic; soccer was one that benefited significantly.

In the days prior to the second world war ethnicity evolved around that of Scottish and non-Scottish when dealing with the sport of soccer in the region. In all the records of those who played soccer up until 1933, there was only one non-British player even though a number of Italians and others were working in the district.

When Australia opened it's migration policy, after 1945, to include those from a larger number of non-English speaking backgrounds, many moved to Canberra to help build the Capital during the construction boom of the period. Yet this did not create the harmony that was hoped for.

Familiarity was essential to post-war immigrants. Australian culture was alien to new arrivals and Australians were at best indifferent to immigrants and sometimes antagonistic to the newcomers. A long-held Australian distaste for anything not British also helped drive immigrants