Australia did not play a World Cup qualifier until 1965, yet Joe Marston had already made a name for himself in the 1950s with Preston North End before returning home. Defeats to North Korea in the 1966 qualifiers and Israel in the 1970 series can be put into perspective by the fact that those were actually rather good teams.
At the third attempt of qualifying, Australia reached the 1974 World Cup. Rale Rasic’s team was made up of players who were plying their trade at home, although many of them were indeed recent immigrants who had been naturalised and thus could represent the emerging footballing nation.
Typifying this was English-born striker Adrian Alston. Born in Preston, he began with his local club before migrating to Australia and playing in the then part-time state leagues. He made his international debut during the 1970 qualifiers and would soon become a key striker for Rale Rasic’s Socceroos. From the boys of 1974, one remembers captain Peter Wilson, midfielders Jimmy Rooney and Jimmy Mackay, striker Atti Abonyi, Johnny Warren, while Ray Baartz fell foul of a nasty tackle in a friendly with Uruguay prior to the World Cup. But of all of these players, only one actually earned a move abroad to a decent league after the World Cup. That was Alston.
Alston joined newly-promoted Luton Town in the summer of 1974. Harry Haslam’s side boasted such players as twin brothers Ron and Paul Futcher, Steve Buckley, John Ryan, Jimmy Ryan, Peter Anderson, Alan West, former Everton winger Jimmy Husband, and former Manchester United winger John Aston. They had a dismal first-half of the season, winning just once and claiming only nine points out of the first 21 games. However, the second half of the campaign saw their form as good as any, but it was not enough to avoid relegation in 21st place with 33 points. It was a very competitive league, packed with talented players – and home-grown players with that. There were several contenders for the title, and Everton looked like winning it for a good part of the season, while Burnley were a close second as late as March. In the end, Derby County were to win their second League Championship.
As for Alston, he played in only half of Luton’s games, but finished as joint top scorer with seven goals (alongside Ron Futcher and Jimmy Ryan). A strike rate of one in three in a tough league for a player who had represented Australia in the summer’s World Cup could stand up very well to most. Since Marston did not score any League goals in his time at Preston, Alston thus became the first Australian international to score in England’s top flight.
During the following season, Alston dropped down a division to join Cardiff City. He formed an excellent strike partnership with Tony Evans, backed by such players as Phil Dwyer, Alan Campbell, John Buchanan, Doug Livermore and Willie Anderson. They won promotion back to the second division in 1976, and the Welsh Cup gave them European football, a stage where Cardiff had made a name for themselves previously and Wrexham followed in their footsteps. In the first-leg of the first round at home to Dynamo Tbilisi, Alston scored the winner. They lost the second leg 3-0, but Alston was nonetheless the first Australian international to play and score in European competition.
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During the season, Alston would move across the Atlantic to play for Tampa Bay Rowdies. He also figured briefly in Australia’s failed bid to qualify for the 1978 World Cup. He returned to Australia, and would coach in the Illawarra region. Very much deserving of a place in this country’s football history, not only as a player in the first World Cup team, but also one who played quite successfully at professional level in an era when fewer players from outside Europe made it to the biggest leagues, let alone from Australia.
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