Fan of the week: Ian Kerr
Ian Kerr is the editor of a new Australian football culture magazine, Thin White Line.
1. What is your earliest football memory?
Listening to the English and Scottish league results on the radio on a Sunday evening.
2. Best Football memory?
Aside from my own stellar amateur career, one of my best football memories is a game played on 19 December, 1999. On that warm summer evening over 12,000 packed into Lakeside for South Melbourne against Carlton SC. There were goals, send-offs, villains, and a come-from-behind victory.
South’s Goran Lozanovski was sent off in the first half for wearing pretty white boots. Actually, it may have been a second yellow for arguing with the ref. Either way, the crowd went nuts. After the half-time break, Michael Curcija scored the opening goal for South Melbourne.
When Carlton’s Scottish import Dave McPherson was sent off with twenty minutes left it looked like the game was all over. But Carlton won a penalty in the 85th minute, which was converted by Andrew Marth who, along with John Markovski, had received much love from the home supporters during the game. Marth then scored the winner in the 89th minute.
On the wing there was a small island of jubilant Carlton supporters in a sea of grumpy Hellas supporters. It didn’t make up for the 1998 NSL grand final, but it was a cracking finish to the game – and the right team won.
3. Who are your other football teams around the world?
I’ve followed Tottenham Hotspur since I was a kid.
4. Who is your Favourite Player (past or present)?
John Markovski, closely followed by Marco Bresciano.
5. If you could make ONE change in the A-League what would it be?
Bring back Carlton Soccer Club. But since that’s unlikely to happen, there is one thing that urgently needs to be addressed – the food at Melbourne A-League venues. It’s very simple, A-League Czars: make it cheaper and better. And if that’s too hard, how about just dropping the price of Cherry Ripes?
6. How will the Socceroos fare in Brazil?
Right now it’s hard to see Australia making it past the opening round.
7. How did the ‘Thin White Line’ come about?
It all started years ago when I heard a story about George Best playing a game in Devonport, Tasmania. Then one day last year some of us were swapping football stories. We talked about the great matches we’d seen, the places we’d been to, and the friends we’d made through football. I mentioned the George Best story, then another bloke told a story about a hairdresser who sells beer in the car park after games, and we knew then that we were morally obliged to create a magazine for these stories.
The game is so much more than match reports, post-match press conferences and opinion pieces. So at Thin White Line we want to tell the stories that link us together as football supporters.
8. How has it been received by the football public in Australia?
People have been surprised, because Thin White Line doesn’t conform to what people expect a football magazine to be. We’re trying to set a high standard for design, photography and writing. It’s a big magazine, printed on high quality paper, so it has a look and feel that’s different to other sports magazines.
9. Why do we expect in the future from ‘Thin White Line?
In Issue 1 we have photo spreads from the Bundesliga and the Roman 3rd division, we also have articles about young Australians moving overseas to play professionally, the political power of supporter groups in Croatia, and why you should never trust a Mexican referee. There’s also a couple of articles about the history of football in Australia and something a little more academic for our intellectual readers.
10. How do we subscribe to ‘Thin White Line’?
You can either drop round to my place with the cash, or go online and subscribe at http://thinwhitelinemagazine.com/shop/thin-white-line-subscription/
11. Can you give a brief description about yourself?
I like listening to Carly Rae Jepsen, have overpowering body odour and spend my days trawling social media correcting spelling errors.
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