Football United vs Soccer City

Welcome to part 2 of episode 26 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. In part 2 we continue to converse with Antony Welbourn about his soccer journey and where it took him. Thanks to Antony and his partner for allowing me into their home, I sincerely respect their time. Please enjoy the second part to episode 26 as Antony recalls his second year at the Australian Institute of Sport’s soccer program and beyond.

Welcome to part 1 of episode 26 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. This episode due to its length will be split into two parts. My sincere thanks goes out to you the listener who continues to support this initiative. And to the people who keep spreading the word about the podcast and social media platforms I say thank you. It is an honour to interview people who have had an impact in many different ways on soccer/football in the Illawarra.
This episode’s interviewee has a deep passion for the game, one he gained early on in life. He has been coached by a number of people who are known in the Illawarra and known throughout N.S.W. and Australia. Antony Welbourn had a great appetite for soccer, which drove him throughout his career especially the technical side of the game. He was first coached by his father, which started a journey that would take him to the Australian Institute of Sport’s soccer program under Jimmy Shoulder and Ron Smith in the early 1980s. From here Antony played with various clubs at different levels across the local leagues, state leagues and NSL. His career stopped at a very young age but in a short space of time Antony had packed in a great deal.
His career had more ups than downs and Antony was fabulous to interview as he was honest about his reflections on his career. His positivity is infectious and he still loves the game and the career he has had. Thanks to Antony and his partner for allowing me into their home, I sincerely respect their time. Please enjoy the first part to episode 26 as Antony recalls his early years all the way up to his first year at the Australian Institute of Sport’s soccer program.

Welcome to episode 25 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. Thank you to the listener for your continued support and thank you to the people of the Illawarra who allow me to interview them in their spare time, I sincerely appreciate the positivity this podcast creates.
This episode’s interviewee has had an amazing journey as a player. Over the years I had seen this man play and I always used to love watching him play, as he was exciting because he had pace, dribbling skills and an insatiable appetite to take on defenders (an intoxicating combination, which was great to see). Denis Jurjevic played at different levels but ultimately his career in my mind was about his love for South Coast United, the friendships he developed in the sport and his ability to score goals.

Welcome to part two of episode 24 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. This episode is the second part of Julio Miranda’s footballing journey, where we delve through his 1990s, 2000s and 2010s as a footballer and as a coach. Again it was a pleasure to spend time with him and hear his thoughts on different parts of his career, which is still ongoing. Please enjoy part two of this episode.

Welcome to episode 24 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. This episode has been split into two parts due to its length. Once again I would like to thank you the listener for the feedback on the podcasts thus far, both positive and constructive. I appreciate people's views and I will endeavour to improve on each episode in the various areas noted.
In regards to the social media pages I continue to ask people to send through photos, programmes, articles and other items. Our soccer history is important in the Illawarra and there are items out there that need to be published and saved. So please continue to encourage people you know to send through the items to me.
This episode’s interviewee has had a varied career as a player and coach. He started his journey in Chile in the 1970s and early 1980s, where he learned his football craft on the streets with his friends. Julio Miranda started to gain further recognition in the Chilean football system before he emigrated with his parents to Australia at the end of 1984.
From here Julio has played at various clubs at different levels, coached at different levels in the region and has interacted with some of the best players/coaches the Illawarra has seen from the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. After playing, coaching was inside his footballing heart and he has (like his playing career) tested himself at various levels with several clubs.
Personally I had interaction with him, while Julio was at Balgownie Rangers and I always found him passionate, focused and a lover of the game. I thoroughly enjoyed this interview and have the utmost respect for him and his wife Leanne for allowing me into their home for a couple hours on a Sunday morning. Please enjoy part one of episode 24, where Julio delves into his childhood and early career up until Richard Evans left Bulli Soccer Club in 1993.

Welcome to Episode 23 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. Apologies for the infrequency of the podcasts at times but as I have stated previously when I record the interviews I will try and upload them as quickly as possible. The football season slows me down somewhat but I will always endeavour to upload an interview every couple of weeks or so.
On another note, I was fortunate enough to be approached by Football Nation Radio or FNR a couple of weeks ago. I have now been lucky enough for this podcast to be broadcast on their station on Monday nights at 7pm. Thanks to David at FNR and the rest of the FNR team who have given this podcast a go. Hopefully it goes well as one of the objectives of this podcast was to document people’s history and share our rich soccer/football history in the region.
You never know where your interviews will end up and in this episode it was no different. This episode's interviewee had remarkable football career which started in Blackburn England. In his teens, which was in the 1940s, he played with his school St Albans and the Bangor Boys Club. It was here he started playing in representative teams as part of the National Association of Boys’ Clubs, culminating in his selection for the England Boys’ Clubs team. In the late 1940s and most of the 1950s Wilf Billington played professionally with Rochdale, Blackburn, Workington and Oxford. He then came out to Australia and played for Balgownie, South Coast United and had a very brief stint with Melbourne Hellas.
Wilf is in his late eighties now but still has a very good memory. He recalls different bits and pieces about his professional career including being managed by Bill Shankly while at Workington. There is some material that comes out of left field such as the new movie about the Manchester City German goalkeeper, the Suez Canal, skiing in Cyprus (Mount Troodos) and the Beatles tour in Australia. A big thanks and respect to Wilf for doing the interview and his son Sean who organised this interview. Thanks to all the listeners of this podcast and the supporters of the social media pages it is greatly appreciated. Please note there is some slight profanity in this interview, not enough to warrant an explicit rating but for people who need this information I have supplied it. So once again please enjoy this interview.
Music by Luke Nolan

Welcome to Episode 22 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. Thanks to all the listeners of this podcast and the supporters of the social media pages it is greatly appreciated. I always try to find people who can show us various parts of our vibrant soccer/football community. Hopefully you the listener have appreciated each interview thus far. I believe I am recording great memories, thoughts and history.
This episode's interviewee came from England in the 1960s and started his Australian soccer journey at Fairy Meadow Hostel Soccer Club. After this Dr Ian Syson ventured elsewhere with his family but in recent years he has used his vocational and natural skills as a historian and writer to uncover/enlighten myself and many others about the many great historical narratives our sport in Australia has to offer.
In this episode I ask Ian about his journey, a couple of subjects relating to the Illawarra region plus a few other bits and pieces. I am extremely grateful Ian gave me his time and patience. The recording is not the best and to him and you the listener I apologise. I will endeavour to do better next time. Before we get into it, the podcast, I implore you to look at Ian’s work on his blog Neos Osmos, his books (google for further details as there are a few), his great show with Paul Mavroudis on Football Nation Radio called ‘If you know your history’ and his work he is completing with other great people called First Kicks.

Welcome to Episode 21 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. Sincere thanks to the many people who have supported this endeavour. 21 episodes into this venture and each episode in my mind is teaching us about who has come before us and reminds us that some parts of the game repeat no matter what era the game is played in. Again it is a privilege to be recording people’s thoughts and it is a privilege to have people listening, thank you!
This episode's interviewee has been involved in the game for over 60 years and apart from a couple of seasons at Corrimal as a junior, this man is synonymous with Bellmabi Soccer Club. Robert Banks has vast experience and knowledge of the game in the Illawarra and is still involved to this day.
I have met the man many times, have read about him many times and have had people describe his exploits on and off the field. And with all of this in my mind I thought it would be a very good interview. However the 90 minutes I spent with him was far more impressive than what I had envisaged as it was a pleasure listening to his memories, thoughts and responses on his time in the game. Banksy is very humble man and as you will hear he has had a wonderful career (with many milestones) but the continual aspect of our conversation that warmed my heart was the regular occurrence that he meets up with his former club mates, team mates and their partners. So with that in mind let’s get into this interview, please enjoy.

Welcome to Episode 20 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. Thank you to the many fantastic listeners from all over Australia who have given me feedback in the past few weeks. I am truly surprised about the kind words from people who I know personally and from people who I do not know. The podcast is not about the metrics but it is nice to know the people who do listen are enjoying the interviews.
This episode's interviewee has played the game at many clubs and with different levels of success. On a cold winter night at Judy Masters Oval in the mid 1990s Tony Bosevski severely injured his knee in a tackle with Mike Hollifield. He was only in his early twenties and this looked like it would curtail his input into the game. But Tony went down the refereeing pathway and after a few years ascended to the highest level in our region, an IPL first grade grand final.
Tony is a great guy, very calming and genuinely loves being part of the soccer community. In the last few years he has gone back to playing amateur soccer after finishing refereeing. I immensely enjoyed the time conversing with him and his insights into playing and refereeing were fascinating. Please enjoy this interview.
Music by Luke Nolan

Welcome to Episode 19 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. It is a pleasure to have you downloading this episode of the podcast, I sincerely appreciate it. Thank you to all the people who support this podcast and the social media pages.
This episode’s interviewee followed a soccer route that has been followed by many boys and girls in Australia over the past few decades, the soccer representative team route. The travel, extra sessions, the tracksuits, the sacrifice and the ultimate objective to excel and ascend to the highest level. That is an Australian representative youth team and or a contract with a European club.
Victor Costabile nearly reached the summit of this representative team route. Firstly he had three months with Leeds United as a 15 year old, which did not lead to a contract. He then came back to Australia and ended up a year or so later becoming a member of the Australian Joeys squad, which is the U17s Australian national team. After losing the Oceania qualifier to New Zealand and missing out on a U17 World Cup in Egypt, Victor then returned to the Illawarra Premier League where he went on playing in a series of successful teams.
The insight Victor gives about his journey was fantastic and it was very enjoyable chatting to him about his soccer journey, especially his insight into Casey De Bruin. I hope you enjoy this podcast as much as I enjoyed putting this together.
Music by Luke Nolan