South Hobart striker Billy Gasparinatos will trial with Victorian top-flight side Oakleigh Cannons next week.
The 19-year-old Gasparinatos impressed Oakleigh officials with his display for South Hobart in last Friday's 1-1 draw between the sides at Port Melbourne.
He was engaged in a titanic struggle throughout the match with Oakleigh's centre-back and acquitted himself well.
"I'm going to go and train with them and see how it goes," said Gasparinatos. "I'll check it out, but nothing is certain at the moment.
"I'm still waiting for a call back from them, but I'll probably go next week. I'll head over on Tuesday or Wednesday.
"I'm excited. It'll be good. We played them on the weekend and got a draw. It was good.
"They're a good club and pretty well supported.
"It was a good battle with their centre-half and it'll be good meeting up with him again.
"The tour was great for us. We gave a good performance in the first game and we were pretty unlucky not to win.
"The penalty shouldn't have been a penalty in my mind. But, there's not much you can do about that.
"In the second game, they [South Melbourne] were just better than us and we were just too fatigued."
Gasparinatos was featured in an edition of "Australian Four Four Two" last year in the 'Rising Star' segment of the monthly magazine.
South Hobart coach Ken Morton was delighted at the opportunity that has come Gasparinatos's way.
"He was awesome in the games in Melbourne," said Morton. "It doesn't surprise me that he caught the eye and that Oakleigh have come in for him.
"It's a pity though that South Hobart will get nothing for him, but that's the way things are here.
"I'm sure they'll get something for him if he moves on from them.
"I've urged him to ensure that any contract he signs has an 'escape' clause which will enable him to return to us if things don't work out."
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Leading referee Craig Phillips is fit for action after almost a year out because of a knee injury.
Phillips's last game was last season's Summer Cup semi-final.
He was coming back from injury at the time and suffered a recurrence during the semi-final.
He has had knee surgery and some cartilege removed and State physio Leon Van Lierop today checked out his fitness.
The referees will be having a seminar at Campbell Town on Sunday.
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Clarence United midfielder Paul Bremner will line up with Launceston's Northern Rangers this season because he will be based in Launceston for his medical studies this year.
Somerset's Todd Hingston has also signed for Rangers.
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DOSA are back in Division One after a year's break and Joe O'Hea will be their coach.
They were previously in Division One from 1993 to 2007. It will be interesting to see how they go in the Summer Cup competition.
DOSA are training on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6.15-8.15pm at the Dominic College ground at the top of Tolosa Street.
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Hobart United's women's team attack has been strengthened by the signing of two University Premier League players.
Rebecca Hartnett, the University captain, and Heather Hicks will add to United's firepower.
Hobart United will be supporting research into breast cancer this season, donating money to the cause according to the number of goals the team scores.
The club will donate $5 to the Natioanl Breast Cancer Foundation for every goal scored by their Division One men's and women's teams.
The "Score a goal against breast cancer" initiative will be launched at the end of February.
Hobart United's women's team will wear a pink strip, while the United men's team's away strip is also pink and this will highlight the charity campaign.
Sponsors are being sought to match the club's initiative, dollar for dollar.
8 comments:
hobart olympic 10-1 christian united
on thursday night
Congratulations on your new site Walter, great for the game.
Billy G's leaving will be a big loss to South. Good luck to him with the opportunity at Oakleigh and trust they treat him well.
Good to see the Hudson Cup under way & sure looks to be a good year north of the boomgate with Rangers & the Sharks picking up genuine talent, reckon D'port might be under the pump & won't cruise in with a few weeks to spare this year !
As mentioned by a number of pundits - Walter has prepared a great site.
To clarify one issue from this article - DOSA actually played Premier League for a few years during the period mentioned. It was a quick fall down to Div 2 but good to see the Club on the way back up and recruiting some good young kids like Jayden Hey.
every good wish to DOSA good to see them back.
Thanks for that, Anonymous. I was going on DOSA's press release, which they sent me, but in the back of my mind I knew they had a period in the Premier League during that period. I should have gone with my hunch and followed it up but was too busy. I think they were in the top flight for three seasons and didn't win a game.
yep, the good old glory days. We had a summer cup where we were on fire, winning against... metro? or clarence? I forget! But yeah, three seasons, one draw against kingborough!
It was Metro and Danny Prestage ran the length of the pitch when he scored the winner.
Billy Gasparinatos played in the Oakleigh Cannons U21 (Reserves) in the 2009 VPL season. He scored quite often, but unfortunately this did not seem to help. An invite into the 1st team alluded him.
The same thing happened with many of the young players with coach John Anastasiadis determinedly choosing a similar, older more experienced first 11 week after week. The Cannons finished a disappointing middle-order 7th.
The Cannons U21 side also finished a disappointing 7th.
Goals: Of the 44 total goals awarded them for the season, my unofficial guess is that Billy Gasparinatos scored about 10 of these. The other top goal scorer with approximately the same number would have been Arthur Papadopoulus. A smattering of goals by George Lambadaridis, Lukas Pedder, Dean Panagopoulus, Nicholas Kokolakis, Peter Sawan & Narek Papazyan accounted for the rest.
Goal Assists. Billy Gasparinatos was also prominent, as were midfielders George Lambadaridis, Lukas Pedder & Nicholas Kokolakis.
Billy Gasparinatos played a striker/forward role. It is my opinion that the style of play approached by the Cannons U21 side did not suit Billy. He was quite often delivered a long ball and had to fight 3 to 4 defenders on his own. He is strong and has good feet skills and can turn an opponent, but like I say, the odds were stacked against him
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