David Weiner is the author of the young adults’ book The Goals That Changed Australia – Stories From the Biggest Stage on Earth. This is why the former editor of Fox Sports Football and Optus Sport and Director of Content at the A-Leagues thought the story was missing from the shelves and had to be written.
One night, after reading a book about Ronaldo or Messi or Haaland or Mbappe or Kane or Ibrahimovic or who knows who else for the umpteenth time, my seven-year-old quipped: ‘hey dad, you should write one of these’.
The list of players on offer doesn’t seem to end (all the way down to the likes of Kieran Trippier, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang etc!) – and it was at that point I thought: where do our Socceroos and Matildas get a look-in?
‘Okay, sure. I will,’ I replied. The timing couldn’t have been better. I’d spent the start of this year assuming I would avoid football for a while after leaving a toxic environment in the industry, but it didn’t matter which turn I took, there was no escape.
And, I quickly discovered, I didn’t want one either. One turbulent turn was not going to derail a lifetime passion.
So, I opened an exercise book and spent the next month scribbling. Before I knew it, copious coffees and pens later, there was a draft. It was cathartic, reflective and soothing.
And soon, it became my tribute to the modern history of our national teams telling the story of the Socceroos and Matildas – two teams that have brought me, and millions of others, so much joy.
(Photo by Omar Vega/Getty Images)
The read is very glass-half-full (although parents, you can read between the lines at times) and I make no apologies for that, because it is supposed to be aspirational and because I wrote it at a time I was yearning to rediscover my own joy in football.
This process made it pretty easy to do so. These were the intoxicating moments we all lived through. The peaks, be it as fans, or in other guises. So many great moments. The ones you wait for throughout your football journey, and when they come, they’re everything.
It is such a great story. Sure, plenty of lows, what ifs, how could we haves and if onlys. But that’s life, and football mirrors so much of life’s roller coaster. Relish the highs and learn from the lows (although Australian football doesn’t seem to quite always learn, does it?). And like so much of the story of the sport in our country, ours is an under-told yarn.
A few people have asked: why a kids book? Hunting around, it seemed apparent that these stories have simply not been chronicled like this before. I don’t expect most kids at school to care or want to know what happened in a game 20 years ago, but suddenly there’s a cohort that do not know Uruguay, or even Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou, or think World Cups just happen.
I’ve told it in a way that, I hope, simply makes it an entertaining story, turning our history into a relevant, accessible and interesting tale for kids today and more importantly, bringing richness to the experience of supporting or being interested in the Matildas or Socceroos by understanding how we got here.
It is also full of meaningful anecdotes that transcend the match details to introduce great characters, teach life lessons and provide inspirational nuggets readers might be able to relate to.
It paints a tapestry of our country to a cohort starting to form their own understanding of their world. Is there a better window to the world than football, and a more direct route to our country for the world, than through football?
I chose to write one longish volume for a few reasons. One, in 2024 it is important to view our journey as a united football family – not separating males and females. We support our national teams. Why support the Matildas and not the Socceroos, or vice versa?
(Photo by Chris Hyde – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Football has made important strides in equality and has often led the way. The way children perceive this is important. Seamlessly moving from one World Cup to the other, structuring the book by years, was a symbolic but important part of the approach.
And ironically, there’s arguably more interest in the Matildas angle than the Socceroos right now, which magnifies the strides made, outlined in the chapters on the Matildas’ early years.
Secondly, reading is a hugely enriching and important thing for our kids and teens; to find something on a topic that resonates with them only helps that cause. But, even though each chapter is worthy of its own book, the reality of our market is we are not the UK when it comes to football so, let’s introduce the story in one exciting book targeting a generation which plays the game in record numbers and consumes it ravenously. Build it (or write it) and they will come?
There is charm, romance and the mythical in following global football, even more exciting when you place our country in the drama – hopefully this book takes local heroes in an already popular sport, shows the doors football can open and makes those heroes more accessible and relatable to.
That’s also part of the reason I chose this topic, of all the many possibilities – Australia’s two national teams anchored around their World Cup appearances truly showcases football as box office, but the journey getting there, from our own backyard, is relatable. And, it provides a great plot!
Football is everywhere for our kids and their mates but part of the problem for our local game is children don’t have easy access to rich material – be it digital, traditional, visual or whatever – on Australian football (ie: the heroes and players whose paths they will emulate or watch in person in their own backyard, not those who are otherworldly) because my generation, or more particularly, the generation above, have not embraced the possibilities.
Just look around the media market. Writing this book was a different route for me to do something about the lack of storytelling in this area and, I hope, inspire those young readers who are ready to be captivated by our story.
While 2023 showed how willing Australians are to be seduced by the global game and our stars who succeed in it, the story is so much deeper, titillating and absorbing than one month or one team – and so, the idea of the book evolved to provide our new fans and potential ones with both a sense of the excitement, a better appreciation of the story and characters and in the Matildas’ case, shine a light on the pioneers who never got to enjoy the spotlight currently beaming on their successors.
While Cortnee Vine’s penalty took football to a place it has never been, I hope those who read it will now understand how we got there. And like me, by the end of it, will have fallen even deeper for our beautiful but crazy game.
The Goals That Changed Australia is best suited for ages 11 and above, published by Fairplay Publishing, and available online or in stores.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
The hunt for the next Matildas coach could drag on beyond February's international window with Football Australia determined to take its time to appoint…
If an experimental Matildas team's 6-0 thrashing of Taiwan was Tom Sermanni's final game in charge, then the interim coach will depart his post…
An experimental Matildas line-up has returned to winning ways in unconvincing fashion with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Taiwan. The Matildas looked set to…
The Matildas are ranked number 15 in the world and probably heading further south. Yet you would not know it considering the reaction following the matches.
Previous coaching staff maintained a consistent starting line-up of experienced players in major tournaments.
