Whether you’ve followed football for years or jumped on board during the hysteria surrounding the recent Man U and Liverpool visits here’s a quick fix for sounding like a long-time know-it-all.

au.fourfourtwo.com asked football historian Ian Syson to roll back the years and give us his Top 10 facts every Aussie should know about the game they love.

Yes, he wanted to include another 700 but you have to start somewhere…

1. Where it began
The first recorded game in Australia was not the Wanderers versus Kings School in 1880, although that was the beginning of regular competition. A year earlier games were played by the Cricketers FC in Hobart. Four years before that, in 1875, the Woogaroo Asylum, near Ipswich in Queensland, played association football against Brisbane FC. Of course if you’re keen to ignite an all-in history war between the codes just slip “Harrow football” into the conversation – what looks very like proto-soccer was played in Adelaide in 1854.

2. Mining for talent
In 1888, arguably the best team in Australia was neither NSW nor Victoria who played in regular competition. Instead, it was a bunch of shale miners from the tiny NSW town of Joadja who had the disconcerting habit of thumping all-comers. As it turned out, the Scottish workers brought to the Southern Highlands to mine shale oil for kerosene proved none-to-shabby with a football. The Joadja Creek Southern Cross Football Club showed their class with a 5-2 demolition of Victoria who in turn downed NSW a few days later.

3. Stumping the Poms
For many Ashes tours during the first part of the 20th Century, the coda was a game of association football against a Western Australian selection, which the English cricketers tended to win. Sadly the tradition died out between the wars but could it be revived with some insistent prodding? Certainly it may be our only consolation if Perth Glory can give the likes of Broad, Swann and co a shellacking after the Poms thump us in the summer.

 

4. War recruits
Contrary to popular belief, football was particularly strong in rural Australia and, prior to World War I, spread like wildfire on the back of substantial immigration. Vibrant competitions emerged in places like Mildura, Geraldton, Wonthaggi, Goulburn, Warwick and others only to be nipped in the bud by the Great War. Football contributed to the ANZAC war effort as players enlisted in their droves, helping to explain the game’s development lag during this period. A football match played at Gallipoli between allied troops was cheered on by a crowd of hundreds.

 

5. Women make their mark
When the FA refused to allow professional clubs in England to host women’s games the prohibition spread quickly.  But our girls proved resilient and matches continued in Australia from the late 1800s and throughout the 1900s. The Advertiser of Adelaide reported in September 1921: “More than 10,000 persons witnessed the first ladies’ football match in Brisbane, played on the cricket ground yesterday under the Soccer code. Ladies representing respectively North and South Brisbane were given a flattering reception as they tripped onto the field… and although hard falls were experienced at times, the services of an ambulance lady, who sat on the touchline, were not required.”

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