In the period September 1996 to January 1998 the Australian Soccer Players' Association and Soccer Australia were locked in a dispute over payments to, and a collective agreement for, Australia's international players — the Socceroos. The major theme of the paper is that the tenets of unionism prevailed over `macho management'. The dispute is situated in the context of Australian soccer's recent history — charges of maladministration, if not worse, and the 1995 Stewart Report — and collective bargaining, since the formation of the players' association in 1993. The article provides an account of the major events and machinations associated with the playing out of this dispute.
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