Against the Run of Play: The Emergence of Australian Soccer Literature

The creative writing thematising soccer in Australia, Australian soccer literature, is a marginal literary genre, though it is not as marginal as many critics and discussions would have it. Drawing on materials spanning from the late nineteenth century until the present, this paper examines the diversity of themes and sources found in Australian soccer literature. It attempts to establish a historical narrative based upon the extant texts, and in this context the paper unearths long-forgotten passages, often hidden within larger texts dealing with other issues. In short, this paper adds to the threadbare coverage of Australian soccer literature in the fields of Australian literature dealing with sport, as well to bibliographical listings found in critical works dealing with Australian soccer. While noting the apparent isolation between the various works of Australian soccer literature, this paper also notes the broader trends that the majority of the works contribute to.