This is the first history of Association Football in New South Wales from its origins in the late nineteenth century to 1980. It tells the story that began when The Wanderers trotted on to Parramatta Common and then continued as immigrants, locals, miners and workers have combined to shape soccer in what has always been the code's premier state in Australia. The game progressed from paddocks to stadia overcoming The Depression, war and the rivalry of other codes and eventually a dominant culture that regarded the game as a foreign sport. This book plots and unearths how the 'world game' has fared in antipodean soil. "At last, the full story of the world game in Australia's premier soccer state." - Bill Murray (historian of The World Game and joint author of Football in Australia)