The recent ugly spat between Craig Foster and Robbie Slater has once again drawn attention to the most taboo subject in Australian football – that is, the ethnic stereotypes that dog the game.

Let me start by saying that I’m not here to provide a critique of Craig or Robbie’s position. Rather, I’d just like to give my own opinion on the issue.

I’ve had good and bad coaches of many nationalities.

Making sweeping generalizations about anyone’s ability to do a job based on their nationality is just plain ignorance – simple as that.

Coaches are good coaches if they can improve players and generate positive results.

Sir Alex Ferguson is probably the most successful manager in modern-day club football. He’s Scottish. Should we all employ Scottish coaches?

The highest ranked team in the world is Spain. Why not employ a swathe of La Liga influenced coaches then?

A recent poll listed the following coaches as the leading club coaches currently in club football:

Pep Guardiola, Andre Villas-Boas, Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson, Jurgen Klopp, Roberto Mancini, Oscar Tabarez, Massimiliano Allegri, Rudi Garcia and Luciano Spalletti.

Sure, any such list is subjective, but this list is as good as any. Any trends to identify? Certainly, the Latin countries are very well represented. For what its worth, the Brits make one appearance with no Dutch sneaking in.

So far, the A-League has seen a German (Pierre Littbarski), a Scottish-born Australian (Ernie Merrick), a Czech (Vitezslav Lavicka) and a domestic born Australian (Gary van Egmond) win the title.

What does that tell us? Nothing, other than that nationality is irrelevant; it is the ability to get the best out of their playing group which counts.

England, incidentally, is ranked 4th in the world. Apparently, this is not good enough for some. Perhaps the gap between the 3rd ranked Dutch and the English is bigger than the famous Channel which divides England from continental Europe!

Moving onto players, imagine if George Weah (Liberia), Ryan Giggs (Wales) or George Best (Northern Ireland) were not allowed to play because they were from what were deemed by the football cognoscenti as being inferior football nations?

What technical coaching do the fabulously talented South Americans from the favelas or barefoot African boys receive? Nil. Zero. Nada, Zilch.

Australia’s migrant history is littered with different nationalities and if there is one lesson we’ve learned through time, surely it’s that we can all learn something with each other.

Our top domestic coaches all have different ethnic backgrounds. Aurelio Vidmar is of Italian/Slovenian extraction. Gary van Egmond has Dutch blood. Ange Postecoglou was born in Greece. The current AIS caretaker coach, Phil Stubbins, grew up in England.

Seriously, who cares?

Football is the world game; we all own it – not the Brazilians, Dutch, Italians, British, or anyone else.

I’d like to finish by quoting Ben Buckley’s column on this website, in which he said:

“Football's greatest strength in the Australian context is its inclusive nature. We welcome people from all walks of life and all places on the globe, on and off the field.”

Perhaps its time that football in Australia started to practice what it preaches.

 
Comments (15)
 
JW, it's topical because of Craig Foster. Not talking about it won't mak eit go away. Ross is right to embarrass the likes of Fozzie by highlighting the obvious xenophobic undertones to his silly rant against Magilton. If anyone should go, it should be Mr. Europhile, Fozzie, and take Dr. Evil (Les) with him too. Easier solution may be just to give them the jobs they want at Fox, then we could all kiss and make up an dthey wouldnt feel the need to chase headlines to try and make themselves relevant so often.
Hamish  |  
1 Feb 2012 10:48 AM
 
 
Ross, I don't really know why it is necessary to keep talking about this. If we really do regard football as all-inclusive, both on and off the field, then let's just get on with the game and stop talking about where we, and the game, have come from. When I go to support my A-League club, I don't care a jot where the players, officials and spectators come from, what religion they are, what their 'culture' is, their 'colour', or what language they speak. I just want to enjoy the game and see football grow in this country. It's actions that count, not words, and the time for talking about all this stuff is long gone.
JW  |  
31 Jan 2012 05:15 PM
 
 
Sometimes we over annalize the game .Thers two teams (22players) theres a park With Spaces in it . Now play the game .
Tam  |  
31 Jan 2012 11:58 AM
 
 
Robbie Slater got it all wrong and this article is only highlighting the ridiculous rant of Robbie Slater's. I am defending Craig Foster in this as his comment was grossly misunderstood and taken out of context by Slater. Craig is no racist, any fool can see that, he was discussing cultural football philosophies. Now Slater had publicly condemn the appointment of Francis Awaritefe as a Football technical director for the of Melbourne Victory club. A well qualified person, an ex professional footballer who represented Australia at national level (Socceroos). Can it be said that Slater's condemnation of Francis was based on his colour? Of course not; so how is it that Craig's opinion of Jim Magilton was based on him being a white Briton that was the absurdity of Slater's accusation. Shame on him and he should apologize to Craig Foster immediately. And while he is at it an apology to Francis wouldn't be out of order as well..
QsAF  |  
31 Jan 2012 10:35 AM
 
 
Well, I see the point you are trying to make; however, you cannot deny that for the most part the A-League has been largely coached by British Islanders. This is not racism or discrimination, this is simply stating a fact. And it is fair to say that people who have picked up their football education elsewhere tend to carry with them the sytle they learned. Mourinho's teams play with flair and finesse yet physical like most Portuguese teams, Guardiola's Barcelona play a very Dutch style of football brought to Catalunia by Johan Cruyff, who was Dutch. What Craig Foster argues, as I understand it, is that most of the British managers brought to this very Australia of ours could not cut it in their homeland's second tier. I think these are not the people to bring our football to the heights we rightfully want, because in Australia we are all about sporting excellence. Bring on people from wherever you want, as long as they know their football and bring something to A-League that will make us want to pay $400 for a ticket to watch out teams compete in the AFC; or to fork out $120 per month for a poor paid TV service just so we can watch our own league. We will not need to spend a lot of money as a league if we have better procurement. The talent is out there, all over Australia and all over the world, waiting for a chance to have a go. Let us be a bit smarter, let us give them a fair go and benefit our league in the process.
Chris  |  
30 Jan 2012 10:28 PM
 
 
Ross, the Dutch are actually ranked at 2
Kane  |  
30 Jan 2012 09:18 PM
 
 
Ross, totally agree mate. Let BEN OF BNE go and read a few more books and pick technicalities in a personal opinion. Irrespective of what background the coach is from, I would love the A-League to make sure that every coach who comes to coach in Australia, undertakes a compulsory coaching program that they must undergo prior to gaining a license to coach an A-League side. During that program, the aims and playing ethos of the A-League should be clearly spelt out as well as the Australian sporting culture (ie. no diving, we play to win, we love an attacking flair to our game,we do not like cheats, we are fair minded sports people etc). Most important of all, we need to create a unique Australian style that can help us win an Asian Cup or even a World Cup.
topcatjim  |  
30 Jan 2012 04:29 PM
 
 
Ross, whilst I agree with your distrust of stereotypes there have been very different cultural styles developed in football over the last 100 years. Whilst these suffer from the inaccuracies of any generalizations, they are also part of the rich cultural diversity that is reflected in football. It is possible to describe Dutch, Italian, British or Brazilian approach to football whilst recognizing that these are fluid and that of course people are not cookie cutters and won't all be the same just because they have the same cultural background. You could equally argue that these days with so many players pla ting out of their own countries, some of that previously rich diversity is becoming homogenized.
Bela Guttman  |  
30 Jan 2012 02:46 PM
 
 
great article Ross
ben  |  
30 Jan 2012 01:57 PM
 
 
This is an extremely worthy debate to be having right now, but damn, Fozzie is so much more eloquant. There's not a lot of digging or depth to this article. At least Ross has his heart in the right place!
Sam  |  
30 Jan 2012 12:54 PM
 
 
Random points do not an argument maketh. But I do conceed you noted that this is just your opinion, and many opinions are just that - random points than lead to an irrational outcome. To correct some of the errors first - you omitted Ange in your list of HAL winners, the list of the top coaches you used is only at club level (when surely many of the best coaches are coaching at national level), you assert that good coaches improve players and generate results..(which has been an outdated belief for some time now..... Generalisations are just that - and it is easy to pull out a few exceptions to disprove the rule as is the case in this article. This is a school-boy argument. The point is that countries and/or continents (let's say localities) DO have specific footballing cultures and styles. It is interesting to note that in an article denying locality style you refer to the "fabulously talented South Americans" to disprove the argument. This is a large (and dare I say humourous) contradiction. I suggest you go and read "Football against the Enemy"- an award winning book on national and continental football culture - and revise your views. P.S. Settimo, it's Ross not John.
Ben of BNE  |  
30 Jan 2012 10:51 AM
 
 
reminds me - we need the world cup to end with a charity game every 4 years - a few days after the final as an exhibition game played between a World x1 from players who participated in the world cup finals and performed well and a world x1 made up of players from countries that did not qualify! Much better than some of the boring finals we have experienced every 4 years and all for charity - it means we get to see some fantastic players on the world stage and maybe a coach too from a non fashionable/inferior country!
buddy  |  
29 Jan 2012 06:50 PM
 
 
Well said- hopes Craig Foster reads this
Tiago  |  
29 Jan 2012 04:34 PM
 
 
Wow...I'm agreeing with John Aloisi. It really is 2012!! :)
Settimo  |  
29 Jan 2012 03:20 PM
 
 
Well said sir. Spot on.
BillK  |  
29 Jan 2012 01:13 PM
 
Poll
Which will be the Qantas Socceroos' toughest game?