Perth Voice Interactive

THIS week the City of Vincent Local History Centre continues the story of soccer in Vincent with a focus on the tumultuous post-war era.

IN the 1950s, the mass migration of post-war Europeans changed the face of soccer in Western Australia.

The number of metropolitan teams and divisions increased, and the players and spectators came from a more diverse range of migrant origins.  

The Daily News reported in 1953 that ‘New Australians’ had established 10 new teams in the WA Soccer Association competitions across several divisions.  

Other new teams representing migrant communities included the Windmills (Dutch), Kiev (Ukrainians), Athena (Greek), Pannonia (Hungarian), Sokol and Cracovia (Polish), Tricolore (Italian) and Azzurri (‘The Blues’) who started playing in 1948 at Dorrien Gardens in West Perth. 

Named after the Italian national soccer team whose traditional team colours were royal blue, Azzurri quickly became a powerhouse first division team.  

Soccer games were played on Saturdays at parks and ovals around Western Australia, including Dorrien Gardens and Woodville Reserve in North Perth. 

The new teams were praised for raising the standard of play with their soccer skills and dynamic style of play which attracted growing number of spectators. 

While soccer was gaining attention, it also sometimes attracted controversy.  

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, occasional altercations took place on and off the pitch involving the referees, spectators and players affiliated with so-called ‘New Australian’ teams.  

Tensions erupted most spectacularly at a game between Azzurri and North Perth in 1952 in what a local sportswriter described as “the most heated controversy soccer has known in WA‚Äù (The Daily News, 30 July 1952).  

The incident happened during a semi-final for the Charity Cup at Dorrien Gardens on 21 June 1952. 

Azzurri was leading 1-0 when North Perth goalkeeper Ken Day became “engaged in a fracas‚Äù with an Azzurri spectator who attacked him during play, forcing him to fight back in self-defence. 

Police removed the spectator and the referee sent Day off the field for fighting with the spectator. 

With no one in the goals during the final minutes of the game, Azzurri scored twice to win 3-1.  

North Perth lodged an official protest with the WA Soccer Association which over-ruled the referee’s decision and insisted the game be replayed.

This attracted criticism from local referees and soccer enthusiasts who believed it set a bad precedent for overruling referee decisions and was an unfair attack on ‘New Australians’.  

The game was replayed in September and resulted in a draw. It was then replayed again on neutral ground at Perth Oval on 4 October 1952.  

After months of simmering tensions, in front an unruly and brawling crowd of 5000 spectators, Azzurri beat North Perth 3-1 to take out the 1952 Charity Cup.  

Throughout the 1950s, rivalries continued between the various old and ‘New Australian’ teams with reports of hotly contested matches and sledging of players on all sides. 

Many of the new wave migrant teams and players argued that the WA Football Soccer Association were biased against them.  

Frustrations with the old-school administration of the game reached breaking point in 1960 when eight clubs (including Azzurri, Cracovia, Tricolore, Olympic, South Perth, Swan Athletic and Windmills) formed their own new semi-professional league with new administration under the Soccer Federation of Western Australia.  

From the late 1960s, the Soccer Federation of WA had their headquarters in Leederville underneath the grandstand at Lake Monger Velodrome (later called Litis Stadium).  

The Federation’s records from the 1970s show that it leased the pitch at Leederville to the School Girls Soccer group and the Women’s Soccer Association, ushering in a new era of soccer that included women.  

Learn about the origins and history of women’s soccer in WA in our next story.