ONE FANTASTIC GOAL
by Trevor Thompson

BRAND NEW

In late 2005, 83, 000 football fans hugged and danced and cheered in one moment of shared ecstacy. John Aloisi's goal had secured a place for Australia in the World Cup for only the second time in history.

Those wild celebrations marked not just a great victory on that night but the opening of a new horizon for football's progress after years in the wilderness. One Fantastic Goal is the only comprehensive history of Australia's unique football history story.

Despite a connection with the game that is longer than any country in the world outside Britain, football (soccer) in Australia has been marginalised as a pastime of immigrants - first the British, then the 'wogball' - playing Europeans of the post-War era.

Now a revolution has begun with the establishment  of a dynamic national league, a new Australian identity in Asian competition, a huge squad of locals starring in overseas competitions, and a return to the World Cup. Football in Australia has gone global, making it the perfect multicultural fit for the world's favourite game.

One Fantastic Goal is the dramatic story of the rise of Australia's footballers from sporting fringe dwellers at home to superstars on the internationalstage. The path to Australian football's newfound maturity is a fascinating and eventful tale of struggle, heartache and sweet success.