‘Surfing for England’: Craig Johnston and other Aussie players ‘lost’ to the Socceroos

The latest really good football book to roll off the printing presses via Fair Play Publishing (of which FootballToday is part) was inspired by Australia’s Liverpool legend, Craig Johnston.

Surfing for England – Our Lost Socceroos by Jason Goldsmith is a series of short stories that looks at the careers of players who didn’t get to play for the Socceroos for one reason or another – but could have. These players are the ‘lost Socceroos’.

“I wanted to document the players we have produced who might not ordinarily get a mention because they didn’t play for the national team, yet they were very good players,” says Goldsmith.

Some missed out due to international football politics; some played the game at top level when Australian football was still finding its feet; for others, their only opportunity to play internationally was to opt for another country; one died much too young; some decided to turn their back on the country of their birth in favour of their ethnicity.

Of course, amongst those who were ‘lost’, there is also one who did everything he could to make sure he wasn’t lost – Tim Cahill, who only recently retired internationally after a 108 game, 50 goal career with the Socceroos. That resulted in 'The Cahill Rule' which became the catalyst for Australia to change its coaching methods.

Goldsmith has talked to the players, or those close to them, as well as coaches including Frank Farina, Ange Postecoglou, Ron Smith, Steve O'Connor and Ante Milicic in finding out why the players made the decisions they did.

According to Santo Cilauro, who wrote the Foreword to the book “Jason Goldsmith’s account of who didn’t play for Australia – as opposed to those who did – is unique. He ushers us through a labyrinth of sliding doors into a parallel universe of whys and why nots …”.

The book is available from Fair Play Publishing now, or from good bookstores and Amazon as a paperback at a RRP of $24.99 and as an e-book from 26 August. $1 from the sale of every paperback book will be given by Fair Play Publishing to the DT38 Foundation.

Hear more about the book from author Jason Goldsmith on:

• Thursday 22 August at Golden Gate Hotel, South Melbourne at 6.30pm with special guest Joey Didulica– one of the ‘lost Socceroos’, and

• Thursday 29 August at Gleebooks, Glebe at 6.30pm with special guest Frank Farina, who features in the book as Socceroos coach.

To register to attend the Melbourne or Sydney events, head to Fair Play Publishing.

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Read an extract from the book via the link below: 'Tony Dorigo – the beginning of the Aussie connection with Leeds United'