Canberra Cosmos FC (Australia)
The Canberra Cosmos was founded in 1995,
a franchise created in the community, backed by the ACT Soccer Federation,
(Australian Capital Territory), which runs football in that part of Australia,
was also helped alongside the local clubs in the area. The idea was to build a
professional side in the area to compete in the National Soccer League. The clubs’
colours where originally dark blue tops and shorts with the away kit being all
white. This changed when their kit brand changed, and they turned to all red
kits for their home attire while wearing all yellow for away matches. They
played their home games at the Canberra stadium. The project seemed to be a no
brainer, with Canberra being the capital of Australia and there being a feeling
that there was an appetite for a football club like the ‘Cosmos’ to be created
in the area, this coming from the local football clubs and the local government
as well. And so they were admitted into the NSL for the 1995-96 season with
high expectations. Their first season ended in a respectable 9th
position, out of twelve clubs, finishing ahead of the likes of Wollongong,
Newcastle Breakers, and the Gippsland Falcons. One of the most notable players
to play for the Cosmos in their first few seasons was former Australian
International and captain, Paul Wade, who had played for the Socceroo’s 84
times, scoring ten goals. Wade himself was born in Chesire in England but had
moved to Australia at the age of eleven and gained Australian citizenship. He played
for a few Australian clubs but will be most remembered for playing with South
Melbourne, who he made a total of 212 appearances for, scoring twelve goals
between 1987 to 1995. He is currently, Australia’s second most capped player,
behind Alex Tobin who has 87 caps. He never played in a world cup tournament
but did play in two Olympic games, both in 1990 and 1994. He did win silverware
with the Socceroo’s in a tournament known as the OFC Cup, which consisted of
nations from the region. Australia and New Zealand were given byes into the
semi-final while the smaller nations like the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Papua New
Guinea, New Caledonia and Vanuatu had to compete in the Melanesia Cup. The
winners of that tournament would play the winners of the Polynesia Cup, a group
that consisted of nations such as Tahiti, Tonga, West Samoa and American Samoa.
Both the Solomon Islands and Tahiti won their respective tournaments and met in
the semi final of the OFC Cup, while Australia played their two legged-semi
final against New Zealand. After a 0-0 draw in the first leg in New Zealand, Australia
ran out 3-0 winners in the second leg, with Wade scoring the second goal.
Australia went on to win the OFC cup by beating Tahiti 6-0 in the firt leg in
Tahiti and 5-0 in the second leg in Australia.
The Cosmos were
also thankful to have had local talent in their squad, helping them win eight,
drawing eleven and losing fourteen, with a goal difference of minus thirteen,
after scoring 48 and conceding 61 goals. They had managed to attract an average
attendance of 2934 to the games and went on a cup run, getting too the
semi-finals before being knocked out.. Things seemed to look positive for the
Cosmos going into the 1996-97 season, despite their local talent being snapped
up by other NSL clubs. The likes of Michael Musitano and Alex Castro were gone
by the time season started in 1996. It was to prove to be a terrible one on the
field for the Canberra Cosmos, who finished bottom of the league, winning only
two games off season, drawing five and losing nineteen. They were also at the
end of some heavy defeats, and a first-round knock-out in the cup. Despite
their poor form on the field, their average attendance rose, albeit not by
much, to 3176 a game.
With the
1996-97 season behind them, the club tried to look forward with new players,
and a new manager appointed. Former Everton player, Mick Lyons, who had managed
the club from the very start, stepped down in May 2017 and the club appointed
Branko Culina as manager. He added players like former Hibs man Gordan Hunter
to his side, amongst others. They had also had a huge boost financially off the
field with a new sponsorship deal with computing company, Novell, being
announced at ahead of the new season. Things were looking good for the Cosmos;
however, the positive vibes did not translate onto the football pitch, with the
club finishing bottom once again, 14th out of 14 clubs, winning just
three games all season, drawing eight and losing fifteen. Once again, they were
on the end of some heavy defeats, most notably an 8-0 thrashing by Wollongong.
The club were in turmoil and attendances started to drop off with the public
becoming disillusioned by the whole project.
Not
surprisingly the poor season on the field led to the departure of Culina and
saw the appointment of former Australian International coach, Rale Rasi, for
the 1998-99 season. It was an eye-catching appointment as Rasic had led the
Australian National team to the World Cup in 1974 as their coach and at the
young age of 38 years old, having been appointed four years earlier at the age
of 34 years old. Rasic was not one to hold back his words either, and after he
was sacked by the Australian Soccer Federation, he claimed it was because he
was not seen as a real ‘Aussie’ as he was born in Yugoslavia, (Bosnia and
Herzegovina as it’s known as today). He also claimed that he taught the
Australian players how to sing the Australian national anthem.
His fiery
character combined with their poor form at the start of the season, saw Rasic
having disagreements with the board and with only seven weeks gone into the
season he left the club in November 1998. Australian coach took charge until
January 1999 as caretaker manager and in the same month the club hired Scottish
football coach and former Canberra City and Canberra Croatia player Tom
Sermanni. Familiar with Australian football having coached clubs like Sydney
Olympic FC and the Australian Women’s national team, Sermanni seemed like a
decent appointed at the time, however he couldn’t prevent the club from
finishing bottom of the league that season, 15th out 15, winning only
four games all season, drawing three and losing twenty-one. The club only
scored twenty-one gaols in their twenty-six games conceding 55 in the process.
Off the field, the attendances dwindled again, to 2337 average at a home match.
The new season
saw the club feeling optimistic that they could improve on the pitch, and they
did, finishing 14th out of 16 clubs, winning nine, drawing nine and
losing sixteen that season. However, it was off the field where problems
started to arise. The Cosmos were still not attracting the support they thought
they would get and even though their average attendances ad risen that season
from the previous season, 2428, they became financially unstable and on June 30th
2000 administrators were appointed to oversee the clubs financial affairs. But
the off-field problems didn’t seem to effect the players as they finished a
respectable 11th out of 16 clubs in the 2000-01 campaign, winning
eleven games, drawing four and losing fifteen.
But it would see the departure of their manager, Tom Sermanni, in March
2001. The writing was on the wall for the club at this stage as support was
still not enough to keep the club going. The appointment of Milan Milovanovic
to replace Sermanni was just until the end of the season and he was in turn
replaced former Uruguayan streiker Antonio Alzamendi in July 2001, but it
became apparent that there were serious problems within the club when his
contract was quickly terminated, in the following weeks before the season
started. While financial pressure grew from within the club, Soccer Australia
were also putting pressure from the outside. The proposed big changes to the
NSL, wanting to reduce the league’s numbers from sixteen clubs to twelve for
the 2001-02 season. Clubs like Carlton and Eastern Pride folded, which meant
that two others had to be dismissed as well. With their financial state, Soccer
Australia saw Canberra Cosmos as an easy pick and alongside Brisbane Strikers,
they were excluded from the 2001-02 season before it started. Appeals from noth
clubs took place as they felt the decision was unfair and the process was
unjust. The Australian Soccer board gave in and reinstated both Canberra Cosmos
and Brisbane Strikers. The Cosmos had been given a lifeline, and they quickly
appointed new coaching staff and a new manager, former Tahiti national team
manager, Leon Gardikious. The club even connected with English club Swindon
Twon, in a plan that you see both clubs exchange players on loan and do
business in regards off field sponsorships. But their fincial problems
persisted and the Cosmos were unable to recover from their first exclusion.
They could not afford to pay the fee to participate in the NSL and so Soccer
Australia excluded them once again from the league. The Cosmos gave up and the
club dissolved in September 2001, never to play another game again.
(INTERVIEW)
The Canberra
Cosmos story is one that s seen all over the world, and even more frequently
over the last few years, from the 1990’s onwards. A club, sprung up from
nowhere, with the idea that they will just automatically attract fans to
support a football team with no history. Yes, every football club has to start
somewhere, and in that regard, they can’t have footballing history straight
away, but it seems to me that these boards and committees think that because a
football club is put on a pitch then people will come to watch them no matter
what. It takes years, even decades to establish a strong fan base, and this is
not evident in the Cosmos story but in many other ones that I have written
about in this book. If boards and committees are not prepared to be patient,
then this is what happens and clubs just fall apart. The idea of the Canberra
Cosmos was a good one and infact the idea of setting up any football club in an
area that needs one is a good one, but you have to have certain things in place
to make it work. Patience, a certain amount of success, which the Comsos
clearly struggled with, finishing bottom in three consecutive seasons, and
never winning any trophy, and clear vision of how to run a football club both
on and off the field. Australian soccer is probably at its strongest at the
time of writing this, as it now has it’s established clubs playing and it
certainly is growing as a sport in that country, but, as you will see when I travel
back down other to tell the story about another club from Australia, it has
certainly had its problems over the years, losing plenty of clubs along the
way. Unfortunately for Canberra Comos FC, they were one of them.