I was at KGV Park on Saturday watching Glenorchy Knights playing Northern Rangers in the Lakoseljac Cup when I ran into a former Knights player, Ibro Cahut.
I coached Ibro when he was about 16 and I was senior coach at Croatia Glenorchy, as the club was known, in 1982.
We had a very pleasant chat and agreed to meet again some time over a coffee.
Ibro's Dad, Vebi, was a stalwart of Croatia Glenorchy during the 1960s and 1970s.
He was a powerful fullback for the club and his prodigious feats of strength were legendary throughout the football community.
As a teenager, Ibro was intent on becoming a professional footballer and was one of only a few Tasmanians at the time to make it on the Mainland.
I don't think his achievements were truly recognised in his home State. Being a modest man, I don't think that worried him too much.
He lived and worked in Queensland and Papua New Guinea and has recently returned from a stint in Vanuatu.
His experience in football is considerable and would be of value to Tasmanian coaches and administrators, especially in regard to our never ending quest to have a team in some form of national league.
Ibro was briefly involved as coach of Glenorchy Knights in 2016 when he first returned to the State, but work responsibilities ended his tenure before the season even began and Franco Previdi was appointed to replace him.
He played in the National Soccer League, the forerunner of the A-League, for Wollongong City and Brisbane United in the early 1990s.
He was a defender and made 82 appearances overall and scored one goal.
His professional career ended with Brunswick Pumas, for whom he played 18 games in the 1993-94 season.
I do hope he sticks around and that a club utilises his talents, ideas and experience.
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