Photo: Mark 'Monkey' Moncur last Sunday for the game against Taroona
Watching Manchester City beat Blackburn Rovers 4-1 in their English Premier League match this morning brought back memories of a day in Tasmania in 1995.
The fine performance of Rovers’ number 7, Brett Emerton, rekindled those memories.
The day I was thinking of was 2 July 1995, to be exact.
At KGV Park in Glenorchy on that day, Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton were in action for the Joeys, namely Australia’s under-17 national side, against a Tasmanian Under-21 outfit.
The Joeys won 2-0 with a goal in each half.
Kewell, who played at left-back, hit a brilliant first in just the 3rd minute of the match from 20 metres, after great work on the right by Tomich.
Maisano made it 2-0 in the 68th minute with a penalty, awarded for a handball by Peter Tsakiris following a cross.
The Joeys might have had a third 10 minutes from the end, but Tomich missed after a fine pass by Emerton.
The Tasmanian Under-21 side that day was: Anthony Breadon - Adam Spicer, Peter Tsakiris, Ben Spurr, Martin Nidorfer - Jonathon Carter, Steve Weller, Mark Littlechild, Nick Anis - Adam (or was it Shaun?) Conkie, Brendan Lakoseljac (Subs: Mark Moncur, Raymond Benson, Ben Harbinson, Adam Jones)
The Joeys’ side was: Brodbeck - Azzopardi - Emerton, Coyne, Sinozic, Kewell - Bell, Maisano, Talcevski - Allsopp, Tomich
The Tasmanian goalkeeper, Anthony Breadon, or ‘Gorilla’, as he was known, went on to play in the NSL, while his replacement on the hour, Mark Moncur, is still in action for South Hobart and won a league title with them last season.
Moncur produced a great save from Maisano five minutes after coming on.
Les Scheinflug was the Joeys coach and the squad held several training sessions at South Hobart during the week.
I interviewed Kewell and Emerton, who were just 15 at the time, and Kewell told me how he was headed to Leeds United. I still have the interviews on tape.
The rest, as they say, is history.
11 comments:
Walter, I think you'll find most of those guys were 15 at the time - that was the Joeys squad formed from our National Championships.
Coyne is now playing at Perth Glory after a stint in England in the lower leagues - he captained Luton Town.
We all know where Allsopp is, interestingly his strike partner Archie Thompson was that same age group - he was in the extended squad, looks like he didn't make the cut. Another notable absentee is Vince Grella he was in the Victorian side with Allsopp and Bell. Bell (Clayton I believe) was a fantastic player at that age I have no idea what happened to him. Maisano and Talcevski were guns, Talcevski was tiny, if I remember him correctly, again no idea what happened to them.
Looking at the make up of the Australian side now a lot of the core were from that side, it was a pretty tough year, I think you'll find little ol' Tassie put in a pretty good showing that year making the semis after topping our group, we were crushed 4-1 or 4-0 in the semi by the Vics though, who ultimately lost to NSW in the final.
Thanks for that, Tommy.
Unfortunately, I didn't list the subs for the Joeys so, apart from Rizzo, who replaced Talcevski, and Cunico, who came on for Allsopp, I don't know who else was on their bench.
Cheers!
Walter
PS That was the time of the State League in Tasmania and a high standard of football.
great stuff Walter :)
Ah good on ya Walter - another gem from the archives.
You're spot on there about Talcevski Tommy. He was very short but a fantastic player. I remember watching the Vic vs NSW final and he was brilliant. Kewell & him were a class above I thought. It was a great effort from your team that year and a great trip. Not many of my under 14 team that year kept playing unfortunately.
Great story there Walter!
Tommy, so you played against Kewell? Wow!
Chris, why did most of your under-14s stop playing?
Anonymous, I think you may be right. Kewell probably was only 14 at the time.
Yeah Chris I have to agree, I recall in the final he hit a volley from mid-way into his attacking half that stayed about chest height the whole way and went like a rocket, unfortunately straight at the keeper. He was the player of the tournament for me.
I remember it was a chilly night at KGV Walter and the Joeys must have done two seperate half hour warm ups prior to kick off. At least it seemed that long.
I might be wrong but did Raul Blanco also make that trip with the team as a coach?
Hi Richard
Yes, Raul Blanco certainly did make that trip. He was Les Scheinflug's assistant.
Raul is now the assistant coach of New Zealand and will be going to the World Cup with the Kiwis.
I thought the memory may have been a bit hazy Walter.
Briefly met the man in melbourne about2 years later and he was very generous with his time. He was also greatly impressed with what he called some unpolished talent in tassie. In need of good coaching he suggested. Thats good advice coming from him but not unexpected.
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