Surfing for England: Our Lost Socceroos

Jason Goldsmith grew up in Ferntree Gully in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. A massive sports fan, he was fed a diet of cricket in the summer (Ferntree Gully Cricket Club) and Aussie rules in the winter (Collingwood). His best mate from primary school, Jordan Caridi, was of Italian heritage and slowly introduced him to the world game. Jason's love for Australian football began with Ned Zelic in the spew shirt taking the Olyroos to the Barcelona Olympics in '92 and then intensified with Maradona mania, as Diego and Argentina took on the Socceroos in the final playoff for the 1994 World Cup. His best moment as a player was scoring in the Dads v Coaches win at a Thornbury United Junior Football clinic for his son. His best moment as a fan was convincing his wife to honeymoon in South Africa in 2010, taking in all the Socceroos group games. He lives in the inner north of Melbourne with his wife Sophie, children Henry and Ivy. A collector of Australian soccer/football books and a self-described amateur historian, Jason saw a gap in some Australian stories that needed to be told and went about putting together Surfing for England, all about the Lost Socceroos. He hopes this is the first book of many.