Back

The Coping Stone: How a Forgotten Football Tour Helped Shape The Beautiful Game in Australia

Fair Play Publishing

On June 27, 1925, Australia played its first soccer match against England in Brisbane, in front of 30,000 people, marking the first of a five-match series.

This little-known but pivotal moment in Australia’s sporting history is showcased in a new book, The Coping Stone—the First English Soccer Tour of Australia 1925, by Paul Nicholls.

Set against the backdrop of the roaring twenties, when rugby and Australian Rules dominated the headlines, this richly imagined work tells the story of how football fought for recognition in a country that barely tolerated it. From the coalfields of New South Wales to the packed terraces of Sydney, Nicholls weaves a compelling tapestry of resilience, identity, and ambition.

Rather than simply documenting a sequence of facts, The Coping Stone takes a bold and creative literary approach. 

Through the fictionalised inner worlds of real-life figures like miner-turned-international James ‘Judy’ Masters, administrator Syd Storey, and visiting Arsenal player Tom Whittaker, Nicholls explores the emotional and cultural undercurrents of the time—revealing not just what happened, but why it mattered.

Working outside traditional academic structures and drawing on a passion for creative writing, Nicholls gives Australian football the mythological narrative it has long lacked — a sweeping, character-driven story that places the game at the heart of the national experience.

With a gun-toting hotel manager, a breakaway professional league, a mysterious robbery, and the ghosts of the Great War hovering in the background, The Coping Stone is a vivid and moving reimagining of how football in Australia fought for its future.

The Coping Stone is available from June 26th in paperback and as an e-book from Fair Play Publishing and all good bookstores.

ENDS

Media are invited to attend the launch by Dr Ian Syson, a literature academic and sport historian, of Paul Nicholls’ The Coping Stone at Gleebooks, Glebe, on the eve of the 100-year anniversary of the first Australia vs England match on June 26, 6.30pm. 

Key Facts:

June 27, 2025, is the 100-year anniversary of the first football (soccer) match between Australia and England.

A new book, 'The Coping Stone', brings to life the five-match tour in 1925. It was a turning point for football in a land dominated by Aussie Rules and rugby. 

History, imagination, and myth combine in this bold retelling.

About us:

About Paul Nicholls

Paul Nicholls is a writer from Sydney with a passion for the history and culture of sport. His formative years were spent soaking up the culture of football at venues such as the Sydney Sports Ground, Wentworth Park, and Hurstville Oval, watching clubs like St George, Marconi Fairfield, and APIA Leichhardt in the days before the NSL. Nicholls has written sports history articles for a variety of online publications and is currently involved in the Soccer Anzacs project, researching the involvement of Australia’s footballers in World War 1.

About Fair Play Publishing
Fair Play Publishing was established in 2018 by FIFA whistleblower and former executive from the government and non-profit sectors, Bonita Mersiades, also founder of the Manly Writers’ Festival. Fair Play Publishing has since published more than 75 books and is Australia's biggest publisher of non-fiction football books. Fair Play Publishing is the principal imprint dedicated to sports non-fiction. Other imprints are Popcorn Press (fiction) and Pepper Press (books about life).

Contact details:

For review copies or inquiries: Amy Mack, [email protected], 02 7229 4889

For media interviews: Paul Nicholls, 0402 640 826