1985: Live Aid, Back to the Future, and Australian football in a slump

1985. The year of Live Aid, of Back to the Future, of the television debut of Neighbours. It was also the year of a barely acknowledged but significant event—the creation of the Internet's Domain Name System (DNS), without which, you'd struggle intolerably to navigate to this webpage and read this article. In the forty years since, Australian football has experienced mixed fortunes, with each incoming generation of administrators telling us how great things are going to be moving forward. There's no doubt, though, that football is in a better state now than it was forty years ago, when the 1985 season was in a slump.

A national competition has existed uninterrupted now for 48 years. Before the A-League, we had the National Soccer League, or NSL, which laid the foundations for the national league system we enjoy today. However, the 1985 NSL season was perhaps one of the most ineffaceable of all.

Celebrity players such as Kevin Keegan drifted in, permed mullets fluttering in a warm breeze, to play a few games for a bag of cash before disappearing again with muttered suggestions that they had somehow given positively to the game's long-term development in Australia. There were also qualifying games for the FIFA World Cup in Mexico, which would be shown on our cathode-ray tube televisions the following year, 1986. There was also an infamous and shameful incident, known as the Pratten Park crowd riot, to comprehend.

In 1985, the NSL was split into two "Conference" leagues: North and South. This division was not new. It had been introduced the previous season when the competition expanded, almost certainly beyond its means, from 16 to 24 teams (the NSL later reverted to a single division for the 1987 season and, at that point, also reduced the number of participating clubs to 13). Each conference had 12 teams, with the top five from each entering a 10-team Finals Series.

The front cover of the official book on the 1985 NSL season.

The northern conference was comprised entirely of clubs from Australia's easternmost state, New South Wales, with one exception in Canberra City. Eight of the 12 clubs in the southern conference were Melbourne-based, with the additional four being West Adelaide, Adelaide City, Brisbane Lions and Brisbane City. The last two were the most geographically northern-based clubs in the national system.

It was felt that a conference system would increase crowd numbers (because there would be more local derbies) and would reduce financial strain on clubs (because there would be fewer travel and logistical costs).

Crowds of less than 1,000 people were recorded attending Melbourne derbies at both Green Gully and Preston Makedonia, and a mere 238 spectators attended Green Gully's 4-1 home win over Brisbane City.

In terms of marketing and broadcasts, no domestic company took major interest. The national airline of Greece, Olympic Airways, carried the naming rights for the league. Meanwhile, the knockout cup competition was named after the Dutch electronics firm Philips.

As for bringing the game into people's lounge rooms in the days before YouTube and 8K Ultra television, SBS had three timeslots for football, including a "Match of the Day" television program presented by Les Murray. However, this was broadcast on a Sunday at 10:30 pm, long after many of the younger viewers and greatest potential captive audience members would have been tucked up in their beds on what was a school night.

The Philips Cup

The competitive season kicked off with the first round of the national cup competition on the weekend of the 3rd March 1985. Thirty-two teams were entered into Round 1 of the "Philips Cup". These were the 24 teams that made up the NSL North and South conferences, joined by eight top teams from the respective state leagues.

The opening rounds were regionalised encounters with teams playing within their state vicinity. The exception being the ACT teams—Canberra City and Inter Monaro. They both crossed the border into the New South Wales town of Queanbeyan, where Canberra City beat Rockdale Ilinden 3-2, after extra time, and Inter Monaro thumped West Woden Juventus 9-1.

There were Cupsets in Adelaide where state league side Adelaide Croatia beat Adelaide City 1-0, thanks to a Frank Timor goal. Croatia then knocked out the city's other NSL side, West Adelaide Hellas, in Round 2 with another 1-0 win. This time, courtesy of a Paul Blute goal.

In the same round, Preston Makedonia beat Green Gully 3-1, and Sydney Olympic were victorious over Canberra City at St George Stadium in a game that went all the way to penalties. In the fourth tie of the quarter-finals, Newcastle Rosebud United won their match against Brisbane Lions 1-0 courtesy of a Joe Senkalski penalty at Adamstown Oval.

Preston Makedonia and Sydney Olympic were the two winners of their semi-finals. They went on to play out the final at Sydney's St George Stadium on 11th August 1985. Referee Don Campbell oversaw proceedings in a match that Preston led for most of the tie. Socceroo, Gary Cole, opened the scoring for Preston in the 13th minute when Olympic's Alex Lambropoulos was robbed of possession at the edge of the penalty box. Cole's shot was unstoppable as it flew into the roof of the net.

A top-class save by Preston's goalkeeper, Gary Meier, from a Steve Smith header, kept the score at 1-0 through til the interval. However, two other Socceroos scored for Olympic in front of just over 6,000 spectators. Marshall Soper, pouncing on a loose ball in the box, equalised in the 80th minute. Peter Raskopoulos, in the 82nd minute, scored from outside the penalty area to win the cup, 2-1, for Sydney Olympic.

According to the Australian football archive OzFootball, the Sydney Olympic side, coached by Manfred Schaefer, lined up as follows: Gary Meier, Martyn Rogers, Graham Jennings, Jim Ziras, Alex Lambropoulos, Stuart Johnston, Peter Raskopoulos, Peter Katholos (George Haniotis 87), Marshall Soper, Simon Ogun, Mark Koussas (Chris Polias 67).

Preston Makedonia, coached by Bill Murray, were listed as: Phil Traianedes, Graham Heys, George McMillan, Ian Dobson, Robbie Dunn, George Petrov, Zoran Ilioski, Sean Lane, Con Opasinis, Steve Smith and Gary Cole.

The National Soccer League (NSL)

Round 1 of the league competition kicked off on the weekend of 9-10 March 1985. In an era when only two points were awarded for a win, Sydney City narrowly edged out Sydney Croatia for the Northern Division premiership. Marconi, Sydney Olympic and St George completed the top five finalists.

South Melbourne were more comfortable winners of the Southern Division by four points from Brunswick Juventus, with Heidelberg in third, and Melbourne Croatia and Preston Makedonia making up the final five top sides. Both Brisbane teams and both Adelaide teams missed out on finals football.

NSL Finals Series

In the discombobulating way we often like to do things in Australian football, the Finals Series consisted of, firstly, Elimination Semi-Finals, then Preliminary Semi-Finals, followed by Minor Semi-Finals, then Major Semi-Finals, then Preliminary Finals. Even the final itself couldn't possibly be a single game and a grand occasion.

Now concentrate. In the southern conference, Preston knocked out South Melbourne. But they were, in turn, knocked out by Brunswick Juventus in the conference final game. Brunswick defeated Heidelberg United before the South Melbourne game and then overcame Preston to qualify for the final.

In the northern division, Sydney City topped the table with Sydney Croatia in second, followed by Marconi, Sydney Olympic and St George. Sydney City then navigated their way to the final as the northern division representatives.

Brunswick Juventus won both forgettable Grand Final games 1-0, with Fabio Incantalupo scoring one goal in each of the two games. Several current clubs claim to be the continuation of Brunswick Juventus, but none appear to have legitimacy; they all either folded or merged with other clubs to create new entities.

Brunswick Juventus' Fabio Incantalupo (right) holds the 1985 NSL trophy. (Image source unknown)

The 1985 Player of the Year was awarded to Graham Honeyman of West Adelaide. The moustachioed midfielder had started his senior career, aged just 16 in 1970, with East Fife in Scotland and had also had a spell under Jim McLean at Dundee United in the 1970s before moving to Australia. Coach of the Year was awarded to Eddie Thompson, who would later manage the Socceroos in the early 1990s and would narrowly fail in qualification for the 1994 FIFA World Cup after defeat, over two legs, by an Argentina side that included Diego Maradona.

Referee of the Year went to Don Campbell, and Oscar Crino won the curiously titled “Most Entertaining Player of the Year”. Quite how a player qualified for this, let alone won it, is unexplained.

Visiting teams and players

Red Star Belgrade played a four-match series with two games in Melbourne, one in Sydney and one in Adelaide. Vasco de Gama, Udinese and Tottenham Hotspur also played the Australian national team in May and June.

Individual players have always been keen to appear in Australia, too. A combination of a generous appearance fee, a lot of attention and nice weather appealed to many. A genuine interest in developing the game in Australia would have perhaps ensured that some players remain for more than a handful of matches. In 1985, Kevin Keegan, for example, played just a few games and Ossie Ardiles, just one.

Kevin Keegan's name (fourth from bottom) as it appeared on grainy TV images broadcast by SBS in 1985. (Image: The Locker Room Facebook)

Keegan was arguably the biggest name to play in 1985, appearing for Blacktown City. Lucas Gillard, co-author of the most extensive account of visiting guest players in the book Be My Guest, mentions that "in addition to Keegan in 1985, Celtic legend David Provan played 5 games for Sydney Olympic and Spurs' Ossie Ardiles also made an appearance for St George against Marconi in a 1-0 home loss in front of 4,380 spectators".

Perhaps the most significant impact player, in terms of on-field success, was Davie Provan. The Celtic legend scored five goals (including two braces) in five games for Sydney Olympic. Gillard adds that "Provan is a great story…. Olympic were going nowhere that season until he showed up and kick-started their run, which took them ultimately to the NSL Cup win".

Over in Western Australia, Trevor Brooking played eight games for Kelmscott and former Matildas coach, Tom Sermanni, was playing for Canberra. To be fair to Sermanni, he's still here and actively working in football, so his stint in Oz has lasted well over 40 years.

Pratten Park riot

There was a blight on the game in 1985 when fans stormed onto the Pratten Park Oval, a Sydney sporting ground since 1912, during the match between Sydney Olympic and Sydney City Hakoah. The game was abandoned in the 33rd minute after Olympic's Marshall Soper was sent off after clashing with Gerry Gomez of Sydney City. Gomez's initial tackle on Soper was nothing short of assault, for which Soper retaliated. Both were yellow-carded, but minutes later, Soper received a second yellow for a further retaliatory challenge on Gomez and left the field just as several hundred fans made their riotous entry.

Olympic were fined $10,000 for the commotion. This amount threatened to put them out of business. Meanwhile, the two players involved in the initial altercation were fined $1,000 each. Mainstream media had a field day, almost to the point of weird enjoyment, and the incident remains one of the most appalling scenes in the Australian domestic game.

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The Socceroos

Yugoslav-born Frank Arok coached the mid-1980s generation of Socceroos. The squad included the likes of John Kosmina, Alan Davidson, and Dave Mitchell. Four players made their national team debuts in 1985—Robbie Dunn, Jeff Olver, Graham Arnold and Tommy McCulloch. It was a significant year for the national team as the campaign to qualify for the 1986 FIFA World Cup came to its conclusion on a mild December night in Melbourne against Scotland.

The matchday programme for the first leg in Glasgow between Australia and Scotland. (Image: David A Grant)

Qualification took place over two legs, with the first game played on a cold, wet night in Glasgow. The Socceroos lost 2-0 in front of over 62,000 fans on 20th November 1985. Goals from West Ham's Frank McAvennie and the late Davie Cooper ensured the Scots took a two-goal advantage to Melbourne. However, the return leg ended in a 0-0 draw with the Australians bowing out at the last hurdle again.

Arok, who coached Australia in 89 senior internationals between 1983 and 1989, never took the Socceroos to a World Cup, but that might have been different if the game's governors heeded his forward-thinking tactics. After the 2-0 defeat on a cold and wet Glasgow night, it was Arok's idea to play the return leg in Darwin—at noon—to make their visitors as uncomfortable as possible. In an interview decades later, Graham Arnold said, "The ASF (Australian Soccer Federation) didn't listen to him. 'No, no, we need big crowds, we need the money. ' We didn't think that way in those days, to take the opposition to somewhere they'd be uncomfortable, where they didn't feel right. We ended up playing them down in Melbourne on a beautiful winter's night. We drew 0-0, we got knocked out. After the game, [Graham] Souness and that were saying, 'How hot's this place."

John Kosmina (left) and Graeme Souness (right) shake hands at the centre of Melbourne's Olympic Park in December 1985. (Image source unknown)

Australia's starting line-up for that second leg ironically included three Scottish-born players in Robbie Dunn, Kenny Murphy and David Mitchell. Dunn and Zarko Odzakov only became Australian citizens the week before the qualifying matches with New Zealand in September.

Australia starting XI for the game versus Scotland in December 1985:

Terry Greedy (GK, St. George), Alan Davidson (unattached), Graham Jennings (Sydney Olympic), Charlie Yankos (Heidelberg United), David Ratcliffe (St. George), Robbie Dunn (Preston Makedonia), Jim Patikas (Sydney Croatia), Kenny Murphy (South Melbourne), Oscar Crino (Anorthosis Famagusta), David Mitchell (Eintracht Frankfurt) and John Kosmina (Sydney City).

Alex Ferguson managed the Scotland team after the tragic death of the great Jock Stein. Graeme Souness captained them in his 50th appearance for Scotland. However, Kenny Dalglish, Steve Nicol and Gordon Strachan, all of whom played in the first leg at Hampden Park, did not make the trip to Melbourne for the return leg.

Scotland starting XI, December 1985:

Jim Leighton (GK, Aberdeen), Richard Gough (Dundee United), Maurice Malpas (Dundee United), Graeme Souness (Sampdoria), Alex McLeish (Aberdeen), Willie Miller (Aberdeen), David Speedie (Chelsea), Paul McStay (Celtic), Frank McAvennie (West Ham United), Roy Aitken (Celtic), Davie Cooper (Rangers).

This game concluded the 1985 season, but it is worth mentioning that this year was also one in which the FIFA Under-20 World Cup (or World Youth Championships) was held across the Soviet Union. Australia had qualified as Oceania representatives, and the squad featured a 19-year-old kid from South Melbourne.

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