Blog: What Happened To The Class Of '74?

THE MEN responsible for Australia's first ever appearance on football's greatest stage have largely been paddled away with the wisdom of a Darren Lehmann reverse-sweep, living out their lives in various corners of the continent with little attention paid to them.

Talk to the likes of Rasic (well...he does most of - no, all of - the talking) and Alston and they will speak of a lack of recognition past and present of their efforts and contributions to the development of football in this country. Chances are, they aren't the only ones with such sentiments.

To many, the message is played out of a broken record.

So what if the FFA value history about as much as Denzel Washington values ethics in Training Day? (Which I've been inclined to watch every day for the past week of my life for its sheer quotability.) Isn't it the same history that we've tried to distance ourselves from given the emergence of ‘new football'?

Inevitably, despite the fact that the Socceroos were never plagued by the ‘E' word as the NSL once was, their players originated from and had strong ties to that landscape.

Does it demand a delicacy in the way that we approach the game's past? Should certain details - both international and domestic - be omitted in the name of product image and marketability?

The reality is, cries for recognition from past players, figures and fans could so easily be satisfied by the most simple of gestures.

With regards to the Socceroos, there is a startling lack of input from past players about the direction of the game, whether it be on or off the pitch.

There are endless stories about the snubbing of former national team members behind the scenes, particularly during the early days of the FFA regime (specifically, the 2005 qualifier against Uruguay) but the media too have played their part in allowing national treasures to rot.

Where in countries such as Italy the opinion of former greats are valued and prominent within media quarters, they are non-existent in Australia.

When was the last time a player from the 74' squad shared his opinion on a qualifying campaign on national television or major media outlet?

Is it that fans, perhaps, have simply forgotten about their former idols?

Surely the prominence of the late Johnny Warren's ideologies tugged at historical heart-strings everywhere.

The question remains: where have our former greats gone?

My question of the week (Technically my second after the above sentence...whatever...I make the rules...): If Denzel Washington was cast as a Socceroo, who would he play?