Football United vs Soccer City

Welcome everybody to episode 33 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. It is a pleasure to have you uploading this episode, whether you are a one-off listener or a frequent listener. I sincerely appreciate your support.
This episode's interviewee had a varied football career here in Australia and in Italy. Dez Giraldi grew up in the Illawarra’s northern suburbs and played the majority of his junior football with Corrimal JSC and the Illawarra representative teams.
He then transitioned from the Illawarra representative teams to the Wollongong Wolves junior teams. After a couple of seasons Dez then joined the Wolves youth team.
From this point Dez then had experiences with the AIS, FIFA U17 World Cup with Australia, Empoli in Italy and then back to Australia in the A-League and here in Wollongong.
His time in the game had many parts, some of this time being complex and challenging. Articulate and thoughtful, Dez has remained genuine, pragmatic and positive about his time in the game. His transition to post football life has been successful and he is a credit to himself and his family.
I was thoroughly engrossed by Dez’s thoughts and journey and I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did conducting it. My sincere respect and appreciation go out to Dez and his family for allowing me into their home.

Welcome to part 2 of episode 32 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. In part 2, I continue to converse with Gary “Gus” Masters about his soccer journey. Thanks again to Gus for allowing me the time to conduct this interview, my respect and thanks goes out to him. Please enjoy the second part to episode 32.

Welcome everyone to episode 32 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. The soccer public of the Illawarra should be proud of the women and men who have helped develop our game here. I hope these interviews give a little slice of our soccer history in the Illawarra across different eras and roles.
This episode's interviewee has worn different hats over the years as a supporter, ball boy, player, coach, volunteer, referee, parent and mentor.
Gary Masters began his involvement with the sport through his parent’s committee work at Fernhill Junior Soccer Club. Gus as he is known by most was a ball boy first and then started playing in the under 10s at Fernhill Junior Soccer Club. During this period he concurrently played in the Illawarra junior representative teams, which additionally earned him state representation and a tour of New Zealand.
At a very early age he played first grade for Fernhill Soccer Club and then went onto South Coast United (playing in different grades and coaching after a serious injury), Tarrawanna and represented Illawarra in the senior ranks. As you will hear he then went onto player-coaching, coaching and refereeing roles across different clubs and levels.
The passion and zest for soccer and life is ever present in Gus Masters. I have met him numerous times over the years and he is a bloke who gains people’s trust through dedication, integrity, empathy and the ability to communicate directly and sincerely all in one. As with all the interviews, Gus was wonderful to sit down with and due to his longevity in the game the podcast will be split into two parts. Publicly I thank Gus for his time and generosity with his archive and I truly hope you enjoy both parts to this interview.

Welcome to part 2 of episode 31 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. In part 2, I continue to converse with Jacob Timpano about his football journey. Thanks again to Jacob and his family for allowing me into their home, my respect and thanks goes out to them. Please enjoy the second part to episode 31.
Music by Luke Nolan

Welcome everyone to episode 31 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. It is always a delight to upload an interview, so you the listener can enjoy the interviewee that I am interviewing. Hopefully my technique is incrementally improving and people are enjoying the people that are being recorded.
Each person that is interviewed has multiple memories and thoughts on their journey and it is a privilege to record their memories and being able to share them with you the listener. I sincerely appreciate your support. Additionally I must keep thanking infrequently Luke Nolan who recorded the musical parts to the podcast.
This episode's interviewee at 33 is a young man but once you listen to the two parts of this interview you will understand why I wanted to interview him, as he has amassed a large amount of footballing experiences.
Jacob Timpano started his career at Fernhill Junior Soccer Club and after a few years he then started representing his region successfully via the Illawarra and Wollongong Wolves junior set ups. Most people in the Illawarra know his journey in terms of playing senior football at the Wolves and Sydney FC and representing and captaining his country in the younger tiers of the Australian team set ups. Add in his different levels of coaching experiences and it was fantastic to hear his version of events and the way he sees his career up until 2019.
Around the Illawarra Jacob is well known and well respected by many, myself included. I found him to be humble and pragmatic about his amazing career. Yes he had downs in his career but during the interview I was further impressed as he has a fantastic perspective on life and what has transpired. He looks back rightly with pride and objectivity. His love for the Wolves has been lifelong and his contribution has been immense. It was a joy to listen to Jacob and I hope you enjoy the first part of this episode.

Welcome everyone to episode 30 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. Thank you to everyone who downloads and supports this podcast, I sincerely appreciate the support.
This episode's interviewee was born in Chile. He developed his footballing passion and skills playing amongst his friends informally in the community.
After a period of time Jorge Alarcon was scouted and joined the professional team in his town. His professional football journey then took him to a few different Chilean clubs in a 15 year professional career.
Jorge played with and against a cavalcade of Chilean and international footballing stars. This sentence is impressive however for me Jorge's most impressive attribute is his humbleness and the footballing passion that still pulsates through his blood.
He came out to Australia in the mid 1980s and played in the local Illawarra scene. After hanging up the boots he then started coaching in the Illawarra and has been an asset to our footballing region.
Thanks to Jorge and his son Willy for allowing me into their family home, I respect and appreciate the time I had with them.
I hope you enjoy this interview and I will sincerely apologise for my horrendous pronunciation of teams and places but if you can ignore my errors than Jorge's journey is fabulous to follow.

Welcome to part 2 of episode 29 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. In part 2, I continue to converse with Barry Salisbury about his football journey. Thanks to Barry for allowing me to speak with him on the phone for over 2 hours, I sincerely respect his time. Please enjoy the second part to episode 29.

Welcome everyone to episode 29 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. Thank you to everyone who listens to this podcast and as always I say thank you to the interviewees who share their time and memories.
This episode’s interviewee grew up in the 1930s and 1940s in Woonona, not far from Balls Paddock. During his childhood and teenage years he played football at school and at club level for Woonona. Additionally he was proficient in playing tennis and cricket. Ultimately Barry Salisbury chose football and in his amazing career he played at club level, state level and international level for Australia.
I will be forever grateful that he gave me over 2 hours of his time whereby we talked about teams, various subjects and several players. I have split this podcast into two parts for this reason and although it might not be optimal for you the listener, I apologise but I couldn’t help myself asking Barry multiple questions.
Barry is a humble gentleman and I sincerely appreciate and respect the career he had and the time he allowed me over the phone. I was delighted to have interviewed Barry and I hold him in high esteem. Please enjoy part 1 of this interview.

Welcome everyone to episode 28 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. Thank you to everyone who listens to this podcast regularly and thanks to the one off listeners who are interested in a particular Illawarra footballing person.
This episode’s interviewee grew up playing other sports and came to our great game later than most. However once introduced, she fully immersed herself in the game.
Firstly as a player she started playing at high school in the early 1980s and after 3 years she then saw a newspaper advertisement to play for the Fernhill Womens team. And as a 14 year old Jenny North was dropped off by her Mum at Pop Errington Park Reidtown to play with adult women.
After this point she then played for a host of teams/clubs such as Tarawanna, Southern NSW, Liverpool, South Coast United, Woonona and the Wollongong Wolves Womens team.
Jenny had a substantial playing career in the Illawarra, although it wasn’t just playing where she contributed to our sport. In the early 2000s she joined the Illawarra Womens Soccer Association as a publicity officer. Her contribution was significant and she was awarded Life Membership a decade later. Plus she has been coaching her daughters in the last several years.
I sincerely thank Jenny and her Family for letting me into their home to conduct the interview. It was brilliant chatting with her and I hope you enjoy this interview.

Welcome to episode 27 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast.Another journey recorded and it is always delightful to record a person's history in the game. Again I say thank you to the people who support this initiative in its various forms. The feedback both positive and constructive is always welcomed and I will endeavour to improve the finished product. In terms of the people nominating potential interviewees, I am always willing to follow up a suggestion. I have a list of several people coming up but if people are willing to talk to me, I will endeavour to get them in front of the microphone.

This episode's interviewee had a humble beginning in Warilla and ascendedwell into the football stratosphere in Australia. His refereeing career took him through various tiers of Australian football and additionally took him overseas. Strebre Delovski was a goalkeeper before he started refereeing full time. I thoroughly enjoyed him recalling different parts of his immense career. His honesty and easy going nature made me feel relaxed at the start of the interview and it is these characteristics that show why he was a cornerstone of refereeing in the A-league for over a decade. It was an honour to interview a man who has achieved so much and continues to work hard in the game for what he believes in. I am extremely respectful of Strebre's body of work in our community. Finally I thank him for giving up a couple of hours on a Sunday morning to come to the interview. Please enjoy this interview.