When David Weiner’s seven-year-old son started reading football books, the author was delighted to share his lifelong passion for the game with the next generation. Until he realised that the only books on offer were about international stars. Great, he thought, but where are the books about our incredibly talented Australian players?
After a bit of digging around, Weiner realised there wasn’t much for kids and teenagers to learn about the development of Australian football. So, after finishing up a 17-year stint in various jobs in the football industry, he pulled out an exercise book and started jotting things down.
“I had a lot of useless facts in my head, and I thought I better do something with them,” he laughed, when chatting to The AJN. But, he said, there’s also a romantic reason that he sought to write The Goals That Changed Australia, and that’s his son.
“The reason it’s a kid’s book is absolutely inspired by my seven-year-old who has learnt to read, essentially through kids’ football books. But they were all overseas – Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar. And it got to the point where I was like, where are our stars and our connection to the game?”
Weiner explained that while you can dream of the heights of Messi, kids in Australia are going to follow an Australian path, and they need to see this reflected in their literature.
For Weiner, his career was bookended by two incredible goals that truly did change the landscape of Australian football – the 2005 John Aloisi penalty against Uruguay which saw the Socceroos qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup for the first time since 1974 and Cortnee Vine’s perfect penalty to take the Matildas into the quarter-finals for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Two iconic moments in Australian football history.
As Weiner writes in the book, “mark down the date: August 12, 2023. It’s down in the calendar like November 16, 2005.”
Throughout The Goals That Changed Australia, Weiner weaves the backstories of the players with the ultimate aim that kids see themselves in these sporting heroes. Sure, Aloisi scored that unbelievable goal, but did you also know that he simply practised that kick in his backyard as a kid?
“The story is written deliberately aspirational. The moral of the story is that kids can do it too, these are stories they can relate to. You’ve got girls from the bush who have made it, boys who were part of junior teams and ended up playing in the Premier League, kids that had injuries,” Weiner explained.
This concept is sprinkled throughout the book, culminating in the last chapter which is aimed at the children reading it.
Weiner writes, “These heroes are not from PlayStation games or YouTube. You can follow and be them, because they were once where you are now. Many even play professionally here in our own backyard; so close, you can almost touch them.”
Just like kids will remember where they were when Vine scored, adults remember exactly where they were in 2005 for Aloisi’s goal.
Plus, he said, he has combined the two national teams. As he explained at the book’s launch, you don’t support the Socceroos or the Matildas, you support Australia. And that means getting behind both the male team and the female team. “You support the game,” he said, pointing out that it was the success of the Matildas in 2023 that served as the inspiration to write the book.
At each age, the reader will take something different from the stories.
“There are some kids who are going to consume the results, others are going to want the facts and some people will love the trivia that they can share with their friends,” Weiner pointed out.
Weiner acknowledged though that trying to make a goal that was scored more than 20 years ago interesting for kids was a tricky process.
“It dawned on me that the equivalent was me being told about something that happened in the ’70s,” he laughed. “Why would I read that? While it’s a non-fiction book, I’ve written it as a narrative. The colour makes it a bit more accessible for kids.”
Indeed, even adults will love to reminisce. Just like kids will remember where they were when Vine scored, adults remember exactly where they were in 2005 for Aloisi’s goal.
Throughout the book, there are also lessons that readers can take on board.
“They were all overseas – Ronaldo, Messi, Neymar. And it got to the point where I was like, where are our stars and our connection to the game?”
“There are a lot of breakout vignettes on all the key characters throughout the years who had to overcome adversity or do whatever they needed to do to get where they are,” Weiner told The AJN. “Part of the book is that everything has a bit of a life lesson. What do you do when you lose? What do you do when you’re subbed off? There’s something meaningful here to take away beyond the goals.”
And, as Weiner points out, these are lessons that extend beyond the sporting arena.
“I firmly believe that you can learn a lot about life through sport,” he said. “There are moral lessons, practical lessons, geography – where the teams travel – the evolution of how females have been treated in a professional environment. There’s all sorts of different things in the book, and everyone can take it a different way.”
David Weiner in conversation with Niav Owens at the launch for The Goals that Changed Australia
Weiner said it was a lot of fun going back through his memories, stories and videos to reflect. He did a lot of research, dug up his old articles. Although, he pointed out that a lot of the information was still very fresh in his mind – whether that’s a good or bad thing, he’s not sure.
Ultimately, he hopes the book shows readers that while football has a long way to go in Australia, it has come so far. Weiner said it was especially important to explore the history of women’s football in Australia. Particularly when looking at the fact that while the Socceroos were qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, being flown in a chartered plane and having all their expenses paid for, the Matildas were wearing old Socceroos kits and doing publicity stunts to raise money for their tours.
“I think it better appreciates the heroes we have today, and hopefully gives justice to the heroes of yesteryear, who didn’t always have the platform that the players have today.”
The Goals That Changed Australia is published by Fairplay Publishing, $24.99 rrp.
