Sports Factor - 23/03/01: Wollongong v The World

Radio National's The Sports Factor

with Amanda Smith
23/03/01

Wollongong v The World

Summary: The Wollongong Wolves are preparing to take on the world. As National Soccer League premiers and Oceania Club champions, the Wolves have earned the right to play in the 2nd FIFA World Club Championship, in Spain this July.

But, when the draw was announced earlier this month, the Wolves found themselves in the "group of death". They'll play some of the world's scariest and most famous soccer clubs. Wolves' captain MATTHEW HORSLEY, striker STUART YOUNG, and fans talk about how they're getting ready to take Wollongong to the world, and how the world is getting interested in this unusually named Australian club.

Plus, with the Australian Athletics Championships in Brisbane this weekend, we speak with the president of the International Association of Track and Field Statisticians. He's Australian PAUL JENES, and he's also the author of a forthcoming history of Australian athletics, "Fields of Green and Lanes of Glory". Paul says statistics and rankings are of increasing importance these days, because they determine an athlete's selection, funding, and whether they get into a sports institute or not.
Details or Transcript:
THEME

Amanda Smith: And on The Sports Factor, with the Australian Track and Field Championships under way in Brisbane today, and continuing over the weekend, we’re going to find out about the increasingly important role of statistics in athletics.

And we’ll also pay a visit to the Wolves of Wollongong. That’s the National Soccer League team, the Wollongong Wolves. In January this year, they qualified to play in the FIFA World Club Championship which will be held in Spain later this year. But when the draw for the championship was announced earlier this month, the Wollongong team found themselves in what’s been dubbed ‘The Group of Death’. Well, if they’re daunted at the prospect of taking on some of the scariest and most famous Soccer clubs in the world, the Wolves are putting on a brave face.

Stuart Young: In our position, being the underdogs regardless of which group we were going to be in, why not go in the Group of Death? We’re going to play against the big boys and we’re going to give it all we’ve got; and you may as well be judged against the best.

Amanda Smith: That’s Wollongong Wolves player, Stuart Young. And later in The Sports Factor we’ll hear more from Stuart, as well as the team captain, and Wolves fans, as Wollongong prepares to take on the world.

Before that though, ‘Stats and Aths’. At the National Track and Field Championships in Brisbane this weekend, all the athletes are selected, ranked and seeded into heats, according to their times and distances, as with any championship meeting. The detail involved in doing all this, and the importance of getting it right, is the job of the statistician.

Paul Jenes has been the stats man for athletics in Australia for the past 23 years. He’s also a former Chairman of Selectors for Athletics Australia; he was responsible for selecting the Australian track and field teams for four Olympic Games and five Commonwealth Games. Paul’s a former high jumper and hurdler himself. And late last year, he was elected President of the International Association of Track and Field Statisticians. Well what, you may ask, is the role and history of this international association of track and field statisticians? Paul Jenes.

Paul Jenes: Well basically it was started by an Italian gentleman called Roberto Quercetani and a Swiss person called Fulvio Regli who started it around 1950 because there was no systematic keeping of any sort of data on athletics; countries didn’t keep them really correctly, it was just done with a few hobbyists, there were no stats. So he came to major international meetings, like the Olympic Games, European Championships, Commonwealth Games, there was no way to seed heats, you didn’t know who was who, sometimes you’d get lopsided heats, and these people started an organisation with like-minded people and it sort of developed since then.

Amanda Smith: What do you international track and field statisticians talk about when you get together?

Paul Jenes: Some are pure stats and stats freaks, and that’s all they want to talk about; and others, we talk about many other things. It varies, because it’s like any other sport, there are many facets to it. Now there are some statisticians who probably do some quite crazy things: they keep stats on how many times someone’s won from Lane 1 and what time of the day, which to me is a little bit over the top, but that’s what they like. Some people do historical research like I do, others like ranking, some like to look at a particular area of the world like Africa or Asia. So everything varies to what they like and the different things; some are only interested in a particular event, they only do it in high jump or 100 metres. So everyone does something different, and coming together, we tend to pool information which is very handy because somebody has something you need or you’ve got something they need.

Amanda Smith: Well as statisticians, is there a tendency or a danger that you’ll see athletic performances in terms of the numbers, the times, the distances only, rather than the people and the contests?

Paul Jenes: I’m sure there are statisticians that see it just as a number crunching exercise. I love watching the sport, I’m not into records. I’m interested if somebody has performed better than they’ve done in the past, but to me it’s not important, there’s no world record. So like in the Olympics there was no world records; that didn’t bother me because there was some phenomenal races. I still love the competition. So in the end, the actual time or distance becomes second to the competition, but other statisticians see it rather differently. They like to see the records, they like to see that, so everyone’s different.

Amanda Smith: Paul, are statistics playing an increasingly important role in athletics?

Paul Jenes: Very much. Because statistics now are used so heavily, not only in the seeding of heats at championships and major international games, the performances now have to be verified, you can’t have countries any more slipping in with make-believe performances, they get thrown out, and there’s countries trying that all the time, with fictitious performances and times. The other thing is that because it’s now professional, even though sometimes they call it amateur, your ranking determines funding, it can determine selections, it can determine whether you get in our out of an institute, into national squads, various types of things, so they’ve become very, very important in the most recent years. So it is … I’ve got to be really on the ball to make sure they are accurate, and fortunately now a lot more people do tell you if you’ve missed something so that they are right there.

Amanda Smith: Yes, well obviously as you say, it is important that you’re accurate, that you get the numbers right because they do affect athletes’ careers and opportunities; have you ever got things wrong or had to deal with stats controversies?

Paul Jenes: Definitely. One can’t walk on water, we all make mistakes. There’s the normal mistakes: you may get the wrong key on the typewriter or the computer. Most of it is sometimes you miss performances because that hasn’t come through from somewhere, and that’s why we rely very heavily on people to notify me something has happened. Other times you do get where there is a controversy, especially in the past where there was more manual timing, without the photograph, you had people placed in the wrong positions, they made horrendous mistakes in Olympic Games. Melbourne for example, the 10,000 metres, any place after fifth place was dubious, they lost count of the laps. These things happen at major meets. Now with electronics it’s really eliminated a lot of the human error that does occur but occasionally you’ll get an electronic foul-up and you have to be so careful, it can adversely affect an athlete.

Amanda Smith: Now you mentioned that you were not particularly interested in world records in track and field events yourself; is that unusual in the world of track and field statisticians?

Paul Jenes: Difficult to say. I mean I enjoy a world record and I’ve seen quite a number and they are thrilling to see so I don’t want to denigrate a world record, they are fantastic. I was lucky enough to be in Mexico when I saw the triple-jump record just broken jump after jump, and all the records there. It worries me in a sense that the sport is really about records, to me it’s about competition more than just records and records come along, it’s fantastic, yes, if you win an Olympic Gold Medal and a world record, wow! that is sensational. But it is more the competition, so in the end you may not remember the record, but you’ll remember the medal and that to me is probably far more important than the actual world record.

And some of the world records which happen now on the international scene, I’m sceptical of because they’re paced races, I don’t think they’re pure competition and I am very concerned about the influx of drugs over the past 20 years in the sport. The drive for records has introduced, in many ways also, drugs and that concerns me. Some of the records I just have a little bit of, maybe rightly or wrongly, am a little suspicious of.

Amanda Smith: Paul Jenes, the President of the International Association of Track and Field Statisticians. And Paul’s also written a history of Australian athletics, called ‘Fields of Green and Lanes of Glory’, which is due out in a few weeks’ time.

And now to those howling Wolves from Wollongong. They were the National Soccer League Champions last year, which meant they won the right to represent Australia in the Oceania Club Championship held in Papua-New Guinea in January. This was a play-off series to decide who would represent our region at the FIFA World Club Championship this year in Spain. And the winner was: the Wollongong Wolves. So how are players and fans of this regional Australian soccer club preparing for the campaign ahead? ABC radio producer, Dan Driscoll has the story, beginning back on Sunday the 11th of June last year at the National Soccer League Grand Final.

MATCH COMMENTARY

WOLVES WAR CRY

Dan Driscoll: It was the moment that nearly shook the city of Wollongong into the sea. Les Pogliacomi made the save to win the shoot-up that claimed the championship for Wollongong. Since then, the Wollongong Wolves have gone to Papua-New Guinea and triumphed as Oceania Conference Club champions, earning the right to represent Oceania, Australia and the Illawarra at FIFA’s World Club Championship, a 12-team football fiesta to be held in Spain later this year.

For many people associated with the Wolves, the true impact of the club’s success only hit home when the draw for the event was made in early March. The Wolves wound up in Pool Group A, easily the toughest of the three groups, and so dubbed the 'Group of Death'. Wolves coach, Ron Corrie has taken this in his stride, saying that though cautious about playing Spanish giants, Deportiva La Coruña at home, and being a bit in the dark about the Egyptian champions, Zamalek he was very much looking forward to tackling the legendary Argentinian team Atletico Boca Juniors. Well they say that fortune follows the brave, but has the spectre of the Group of Death thrown a shadow over the enthusiasm of the club’s supporters?

I’m here at Wynne Stadium in Wollongong to find out.

Commentator: Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to Wynne Stadium, the defending NFL champions, the Wollongong Wolves!

CHEERS

Dan Driscoll: Well squire, you’re decked out from head to torso in red and white, it’s my suspicion that you’re a mad Wolves fan.

Man: Certainly.

Dan Driscoll: Are you mad enough to be wanting to go to Spain to watch the Wolves this year?

Man: Yes I certainly will be seeing them. Of course it depends on whether I’m allowed to get leave at work or not.

Dan Driscoll: What happens if the leave doesn’t come through?

Man: Well I’m kind of within early retirement bounds, and if the leave doesn’t come across, I’ll just chuck the job in and go and see them anyway.

Dan Driscoll: So it seems that your working career, squire, is very much tied up with the World Club Championship bid from the Wolves.

Man: It certainly is. I see this as basically a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and if I don’t see it now, I may never see it at all. So I’m going to take every chance I can to go and see it.

Dan Driscoll: Here’s a group of people who are absolutely head to toe in red and white; it’s my suspicion they are in fact Wolves supporters. You sir, can you confirm that fact?

Man: Oh, I think it could be right, yes, for sure, all the way.

Dan Driscoll: All the way to Spain perhaps?

Man: Oh hopefully, yes. We’ve got to save the cash but yes, we’ll be there, that’s it.

Dan Driscoll: Saving who’s cash?

Man: Mine and my wife’s cash, yes, we’re working hard trying to save the dosh to get there.

Dan Driscoll: So it’s your cash he’s saving you reckon?

Woman: A bit of both.

Dan Driscoll: So you’re both pretty intent on being in Spain this year to watch the Wolves?

Man: For sure, yes. Any way possible, that’s the way.

Dan Driscoll: You’ve got a smile on your face, I think it looks like a Spanish grin to me; is this the case?

Man: From ear to ear, yes, I’m going and my dad’s going, and as soon as the result came through that we were qualified, yes, we started making plans and we’re off, definitely going.

Dan Driscoll: And you say your dad’s going? Now I know they always promote these games here at the NSL as a family affair, that seems to be taking it to the limit.

Man: Well there’s no limits on football as far as the world’s concerned. The only limit is the other types of media down here, but we are the world game, and we’re going to experience the world and bring Wollongong to the world and then bring the world to Wollongong.

Dan Driscoll: Brilliant. So I have to ask then, how’s the Spanish?

Man: Not too bad, senor; it’s a little bit rusty. And if I practice hard I shall be able to be semi-fluent in España.

Spectator: Come on you Wolves!

Dan Driscoll: I’m speaking with Tony Reynolds who is one of the most famous fans of Wollongong Football Club. He’s the Toastmaster of the Terraces, he’s a man who I’m reliably informed could get a good chance started in the supermarket at the right time of the season. Tony Reynolds, how are you?

Tony Reynolds: I’m good, mate.

Dan Driscoll: How long have you been watching and getting behind the Wolves, Tony?

Tony Reynolds: I’ve supported them for a long time. I actually saw them play their very first game back in I think it was ’81, when they beat Sydney Olympic 3-1 at Wynne Stadium, when it still had the old greyhound racing track round the field. But for the last seven or eight years, I think I may have missed only a handful of home games. I’ve seen just about every other home game. And the football we’re playing now is just incredible.

Dan Driscoll: So you rate this team, this championship team pretty highly?

Tony Reynolds: Oh, we’ve never had a team like this with this club before. I mean it’s been a long time you could say, between drinks.

Dan Driscoll: How do you think the people of Wollongong are dealing with this championship and how do you think they’re getting behind their team?

Tony Reynolds: Well the regular supporters, they know what it’s all about. You’re getting your 4,000 to 4,500 faithful come along, and they appreciate what the team are doing. But I suppose the town as a whole, you could say it’s a little bit disappointing that we’re not getting crowds 6,000 to 8,000, which is what the team deserves; this style of play, well you could call it champagne football.

Dan Driscoll: What sort of shape do you reckon they’re in this far out looking towards Spain and the sojourn over there?

Tony Reynolds: Well it’s going to be tough because this stepping up into a different class when it comes to the world game, but they’ll acquit themselves well, like South Melbourne did, and probably will give some of these big star clubs a bit of a shock.

CHEERS

Commentator: That goal scored for Wollongong by Number 11 current Socceroo Scott Chipperfield!!

Dan Driscoll: I’ve made my way to the Brandon Park offices of the Wollongong Wolves in deepest Fairy Meadow just north of Wollongong, in the hope of finding a link between that forthright enthusiasm of the fans, and the outright ability of the playing staff. I think I’ve found just the chap. He’s by day a mild-mannered media officer at Wollongong Wolves, Stuart Young. But on weekend evenings he transforms himself into Youngman, the hit man, the target man up front, and a man who’s already rolled into double figures on the NSL gold scoring hit parade. Stuart Young, greetings.

Stuart Young: Good morning, how’s things?

Dan Driscoll: Pretty good. How’s your Spanish coming on, Stuart?

Stuart Young: Cervezas is about as far as I can get, and that’s pretty much beer.

Dan Driscoll: And that gets you a drink. Right. So you’re good till about half time by the time you make to the World Club Championship.

Stuart Young: I’m perfect after 90 minutes, as soon as I say that word cervezas, there’s a couple of beers coming my way.

Dan Driscoll: How is it now at Wollongong Wolves you’ve qualified for the World Club Championship, you qualified back in January this year. FIFA have now made the draw and you know who you’re playing. What kind of interest has there been you’ve noticed, locally and maybe from overseas since the draw on March 6?

Stuart Young: Well first of all, whenever we play anybody in the NSL, straight away after the game you all shake hands and everything, and they all wish us all the best for Spain, and I think there’s a little bit of envy there, but all lighthearted stuff, and they genuinely want us to do well, which is very nice. And also on the Internet there’s been a few hits from La Coruña fans who were interested to find out more about our interesting team, with a name like Wollongong Wolves, which is really unusual, so it’s creating a lot of interest overseas as well as Australia.

Dan Driscoll: That’s La Coruña the Spanish team you’ll be playing. There’s also a team from Argentina of course, Atletico Boca Juniors and an Egyptian team, Zamalek Football Club. Have you heard word from any fans or people representing those teams?

Stuart Young: Not that I know of, we possibly have, I haven’t checked the Internet myself, but I’m sure that in the coming months that we will get Internet hits from guys from those particular clubs.

Dan Driscoll: They say the lads in the opposing teams at the NSL are wishing you well; you were one of the new boys on the block round here last year, and you play for the Wollongong Wolves and a star player in a championship year. Have you noticed any difference this year now that you are the champions at the way other teams come at you, or the way the game goes now that you are a champion team defending the title?

Stuart Young: I think a lot of people think they’ve got to come out much harder and really want to knock us off, and I’m sure they want to beat the champions but I think there’s a genuine respect when we take the field when we play other sides who saw what we achieved last year, especially the Grand Final, it was a one-off game as regards the fact we were three down and came back to win, and it was the most exciting game this country has ever seen domestically. And that in itself warrants respect from opposing teams. And of course we’ve gone on this year, and I believe we’re a better team from that experience this year. And teams have seen us again this year, and I think they know that as well. And so whenever we go out we seem to get a lot of respect from other sides, which is very good.

Dan Driscoll: Now to pedal back to the World Club Championship, we mentioned the three teams you guys will be competing against, and it has been tagged the Group of Death. How do you feel about the Group of Death, Stuart?

Stuart Young: In our position, being the underdogs regardless of which group we were going to be in, why not go in the Group of Death? We’re going to play against the big boys and we’re going to give it all we’ve got, and you may as well be judged against the best as opposed to getting a draw against one of the lesser teams in the competition, we might as well go and play against the best and see where we really stand.

Dan Driscoll: The manager of football affairs around here, Mr Ron Corrie, came out very quickly and said that he was very much looking forward to playing Boca Juniors, but he gets to sit on the sideline in the sheltered dugout, doesn’t he Stuart? He doesn’t have to mix it with Boca Juniors for 90 minutes, 90 minutes of thrilling end-to-end stuff.

Stuart Young: He doesn’t have to go out there and chase the ball for 90 minutes. I’m sure they’re going to be very adept at keeping the thing, and for periods of the game I’m sure we’ll be the ones chasing it around whilst Ronnie sits on a bench and enjoys it.

Dan Driscoll: Will you give it a good shake?

Stuart Young: Oh, for sure, I mean we’re going to go out there and play the only way we know how. Whenever we try and defend we as a team, it’s not suited to the personnel we’ve got, so we might as well go over there, it doesn’t matter who we play, and we’ve found out as we know now that we’re playing Boca Jumiors, Deportiva and Zamalek from Egypt, we’re going to go out there, go forward as much as we can and see what happens.

Dan Driscoll: Stuart Young, spoken like a Wolf in wolf’s clothing! Good luck with it, Stuart.

Stuart Young: Thank you very much.

Commentator: Goal Number 2 for Wollongong tonight by Number 10, Stuart Young!!!

CHEERS

Dan Driscoll: OK, I’m looking for a way out of the Brandon Park offices; I’ve run into the Development Officer. The Development Officer is Mr Matthew Horsley, the office really opens for Matt Horsley at 6.30 on weekend evenings when Matthew (Skip the Light Fantastic) Horsley or for the less imaginative, Skipper.

Matthew Horsely: Goodday, how are you?

Dan Driscoll: Pretty good, mate. Now look, I’ve dragged you over here to the Trophy Cabinet at the Brandon Park offices, and we’ll put you to the test, Matt; what’s this one that looks like a glorified hat-stand here?

Matthew Horsely: Yes, that’s the prestigious title, that’s actually the National Soccer League Grand Final winning trophy. It’s very heavy, and it’s probably not the most impressive, but it does look quite good in the trophy stand. But that one means a lot to us and it means a lot to the people of Wollongong and we’re happy to have it in our trophy showcase at the present moment.

Dan Driscoll: And that’s the one that started all the trouble round here, isn’t it?

Matthew Horsely: Yes, that’s the one that caused all the big hullabaloo with everything that’s happening at the moment, but to have all that stuff happening at the moment, it’s a pleasure and that one holds a special spot in my heart, that one, I love it.

Dan Driscoll: Beauty. OK. What’s this bit of broken stuff down here, Matt?

Matthew Horsely: That one was received at the Soccer Australia Awards up in Sydney. It’s for scoring the most goals in the season; we scored 72 goals and that’s taken us to the most goals scored in a season by any club. So we hold that record and also about eight years ago we only conceded 15 goals in a season. So now we’ve got the record for the least goals conceded and the most goals scored in a season. So two good feathers are put in your hat.

Dan Driscoll: Fantastic. Now shards of broken glass are all the rage here, we’ve got another piece, what’s this mighty piece of broken glass here, Matt?

Matthew Horsely: This one here, yes, you don’t want to get the sun on this otherwise it might set fire to the place. But this one is the Sports Star of the Year Award which was presented by the Illawarra Mercury in the Novotel. It was presented to the Wollongong Wolves as a team, the first team award that’s been given out by the Illawarra Mercury in over 20 years, basically for our contribution we brought to this city by winning the Grand Final and it means a lot to the players as well, and hopefully it means a lot to the other people of Wollongong too.

Dan Driscoll: That looks like one you had to get dressed up to receive.

Matthew Horsely: Yes, that’s the penguin suit one, that one, but we don’t mind dressing up in a penguin suit if we get some free alcohol and also pick up an award at the end of it.

Dan Driscoll: Spoken like a champion. All right now we’re moving further back in the cabinet and it looks like we’ve got some real shiny trophies back here; what’s this beauty here, Matt?

Matthew Horsely: That one there, that’s probably the one that started it for this year. That was the Carty Forsyth Memorial Cup which is known as the pre-season Cup. We won it last year and then they changed the format this year and made it a seven-side competition. We sent about ten players off to that, so mainly all the Sydney guys because it was held in Sydney, and they did the job, they won the trophy, so we won the pre-season Cup again for the second year in a row and that’s another, yes, it is quite a nice shiny one that one, nice shiny trophy, only problem is the top doesn’t come off so we can’t put alcohol in it. But that’s life.

Dan Driscoll: Well speaking of nice shiny trophies, I have to stand back to see the top of this one; this looks like the kind of cup that a captain of a football team looks for to thrust above his head and going, ‘Yeaaaasss!’ Tell us about this one, Matt.

Matthew Horsely: Yes, this is the special one that’s going to make a lot of dreams come true for a lot of players. This is the Oceania Football Conference Club Champion Trophy that we received over in PNG. What we had to battle through 14 hard days of intense soccer and finally won the Grand Final against Vanuatu one-nil. This is the one that’s going to make a lot of dreams come true as I said earlier, and it’s right up there with the Grand Final winning trophy because one exceeds the other and that is a very nice shiny piece of silverware that I held aloft in PNG and which meant a lot to me there, and now, as I said, a lot of things are going to happen because of that, and we’re looking forward to it.

Dan Driscoll: Now I must ask you, we’ve got to the end of this – we’ve left a few trophies out here, there’s the competition in Spain, of course all Wolves fans and all Wolves players have half an eye on, even though you’re still the small business of the championship defence at hand; what kind of trophy do they give out at the World Club Championship, have you any idea of the shape or size of that one?

Matthew Horsely: No idea. I think it would be a very impressive one, because knowing FIFA, FIFA don’t do things at half-mast, they go the whole hog, so it’ll probably be a very impressive piece of silverware. It’ll probably exceed all the ones that we have here.

Dan Driscoll: Yes, I’d say that you’re going to be buying another trophy cabinet.

Matthew Horsely: Yes, but it’s a good thing. I’ve been here ten years and I think we’ve had one or two trophies on it which you know it was from my under-7 Grand Final win that I brought in to perk it up a little bit, but now it’s good to come in in the morning and the first thing you see when you walk in is all the trophies that the team’s worked hard to get, and just not soccer trophies but for the community as well, and that’s what makes the Wollongong Wolves a very unique part of the Illawarra community and culture, because of the recognition that we bring to the region.

Dan Driscoll: So with past glories still glinting in the foyer, it’s claws out and fangs bared to the future for the Wolves of Wollongong. But before we head out of town, let’s check back with the supporters to see how their Spanish is coming in.

SINGING/SHOUTING ‘Ole!!

Amanda Smith: A few more lessons required yet by Wollongong Wolves fans before anyone in Spain is going to understand them, by the sound of it.

The FIFA World Club Championships begin in Spain in July. And in anticipation of their journey there, Dan Driscoll was speaking with the team captain, Matthew Horsely, striker Stuart Young and a whole bunch of Wolves’ supporters at their home stadium in Wollongong in New South Wales.

And that’s The Sports Factor for now.

The Sports Factor is produced by Michael Shirrefs, and I’m Amanda Smith. Thanks for your company.

Guests on this program:

Paul Jenes
President of the International Association of Track & Field Statisticians.

Tony Reynolds
"Toastmaster of the Terraces" at Wollongong's Wynne Stadium.

Stuart Young
Wollongong Wolves Soccer Club team member.

Matthew Horsley
Wollongong Wolves Soccer Club Captain.