Monday, September 7, 2009

A look at this week 20 years ago




Photos (Top to Bottom): Bruce Pears and Sergio Pace of Juventus; White Eagles goalkeeper Peter Groenewoud comes off after the final, followed by Neil Morrison and Mark Leszczynski, while the Juventus players on the left of the picture are Sergio Pace and the blond Steve Kannegiesser; The victorious White Eagles side

In my look at the past this week, I would like to go back 20 years to 3 September 1989.


The final of the Bohemian Restaurant State-wide Cup was played at KGV Park that day between Hobart Juventus and White Eagles.


The squads are listed below.


Hobart Juventus: N Connell, B Williams, M McIntyre, J McIntyre, N Di Martino, B Tickner, B Pears, S Kannegiesser, D Nichols, F Genovesi, S Pace, R Fabrizio, R Frediani, W Stanford, J Broadhouse


White Eagles: P Groenewoud, N Morrison, E Banasik, M Driessen, M Leszczynski, R Nicholson, C Pitt, S Young, D Stoddart, F Previdi, B Harwood, A Leszczynski, R Leszczynski


White Eagles won the final 2-0, after leading 1-0 at the interval, through goals by Brett Harwood on the half-hour and Richard Leszczynski in the 73rd minute.


It was a fascinating match and probably the save of the game was by Peter Groenewoud against his own captain, Mark Leszczynski, midway through the second half.


Richard Leszczynski also hit the post while under intense pressure from Michael McIntyre, who was also unable to cut out Bob Nicholson’s pass to Richard Leszczynski for the second goal.


Juventus’s reserve keeper, Brett Williams, who married a doctor and now lives in Victoria, later played for Croatia Glenorchy.


He spent a season or so with Notts County in England, a move facilitated by Eamonn Kelly.


Juventus’s Michael McIntyre is, of course, now Football Federation Tasmania’s CEO, while keeper Neil Connell, who played professionally in England and South Africa before coming to Tasmania, works for the Commonwealth as a sports coaching consultant.


Romeo Frediani, Sergio Pace and Nick Di Martino are now involved in junior coaching in Hobart.


White Eagles’ Bob Nicholson is the current coach of Metro, while Franco Previdi is assistant coach at Clarence.


Michael Driessen recently played a Premier League match for University against Clarence at Wentworth Park on a Thursday night, while Craig Pitt has played this season for Beachside.


11 comments:

extasplayer said...

I remember that day like it was yesterday. bruce and serg havent changed a bit.

ginger said...

Hi Walter,

great article. some superb players. Had the pleasure of playing with/against many of those men and learning my game from them as many went on to coach.

I doubt the standard now is as high as then. faster yes, but not as skillful.

I also just saw the provisional Joeys train on squad. with a Tasmanian in the ranks!!!! fantastic news for young Eli Luttmer. Certainly is a rare occurrence these days. hopefully a sign of things to come with the TIS setup and several clubs setting up elite academies.
Well done Eli and good luck at the camp.

Unknown said...

Have to admit, the Juve and eagles were comprised of great players who imho could have walked into any nsw or victorian state league teams.

spider said...

Their were also so very hard men in both teams that would not take a backward step,very hard but fair.

extasplayer said...

To Spiders comments, you are spot on with the hardness. I remember not much after a few games. And that is the problem now in Tassie. the hardness has gone, there wouldnt be many around that likes it hard these days. They talk about the pace of the game now to how it was back then. I beg to differ; When I played in the 80's the pace was a lot quicker than it is today, you can tell by just watching the games and getting that feel from the sidelines. If anythink we are going backwards.

spider said...

Hey extas player.They probably never had the experience of chasing a richard leszczynski or a anthony gilbert or even a craig nichols around the ground!!If we call kicking 50m balls at nausiam to nobody in particular quicker then they might be right!

extasplayer said...

Spider, you are correct. No 50 mtr balls in our day, they wouldnt go that far...

Captain said...

better and faster as every year passes hey fellas ...

extasplayer said...

Hey Captain, the only thing running faster now is my heart rate.

Stoddy said...

I think Greeny is the only one who hasn't changed. The photo at the bottom isn't from that game - the strips are different and no Daggy in the photo. Used to love the battles with Juve ... and Olympia ... and Croatia.

Unknown said...

Im Lachlan Pears Bruce Pears's Son