Quote:
Originally Posted by andylane
Hi Bowgrave.
Well i`m in the exact same boat. My son (13) has been scouted for various teams but is Currently in Middlesbrough FC youth team and is also in the TJFA league, and all he wants to know is there football up near Townsville. After some digging around i have found out that QLD is the centre of soccer and they have soccer academys all over. And big tournaments for all ages. If there good enough they get soccer scholarships where they get schooled and taught soccer and its at these places that footballers are picked to play in the A league which is what is classed as our premier league.
So dont worry i`ll find you alink out for there football mini league association. This will have address and phone numbers to choose from.
cheers
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We play football in Perth too by the way and have been know to get sell-out gates of 42,000 plus as ground records tumbled here in the west!
Middlesbrough's Brad Jones; understudy keeper to Mark Schwarzer honed his skills in Western Australia prior to being spotted by the many talent scouts who frequent these shores on a regular basis.
Stan Lazaridus played for Kingsley Olympic amongst others before he shot off to the UK; where he played for West Ham Utd........... scored a cracking goal from just past the half-way line against Newcastle Utd which still features on TV over here........ then he went on to play with Birmingham City. West Ham Utd invested half a million pounds in a soccer academy here in WA.
Rhys Williams was signed from ECU Joondalup here in Perth on a 3 year contract by Middlesbrough in 2005; this year he played for the under 21 Welsh side in a 4-0 win against Northern Ireland.
Former Perth Glory star Richard Garcia is now with Hull City following several seasons with West Ham Utd and latterly Colchester Utd.
QLD is most definitely not the centre for soccer in Australia.
Former Everton great Micky Lyons still coaches here in Perth and he is involved with the Saints Academy that regularly sends youngsters over to trial out with Southampton. Local WA boy Chris Coyne is currently the captain of Luton Town......... it wasn't all that long ago he was playing for Kingsway Olympic here in WA.
Former Manchester Utd Busby Babe Franny Burns lives in Perth and used to sit alongside me in the Press Box as he commentated on live games. Ernie Hannigan still lives in Perth and is inducted into the WA Hall of Fame.
Woodvale Senior High School runs a soccer scholarship.......... my son's former team mate Ryan Townsend was spotted by Burnley where he did an apprenticeship afterwhich he returned to Perth and was signed up by Perth Glory in the A-league.
WA local Shaun Murphy played several seasons for Sheffield Utd; last season QPR signed Nick Ward from Perth Glory. Shane Lowry and Chris Herd left ECU Joondalup and Bayswater City respectively to sign 12 month cotracts with Aston villa; both youngsters have featured promonently in Villa's reserve side this season. Former Liverpool player Nick Rizzo has returned to his home town and has signed for Perth Glory.
Irrespective as to which State your boys end up in; their primary aim should be to get recognised on the football field and thereby gain a scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport.