Football United vs Soccer City

Welcome to Episode 18 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. It is always a pleasure to get the recording gear out and set up to conduct an interview. My learning curve is steep but I will keep trying to record our great history one person at a time although at times I am not the sharpest interviewer going around.
This episode’s interviewee Warren Kerr was part of one of the best teams the Illawarra has ever seen, the Corrimal Rangers/Corrimal United teams of the mid 1950s. Now this comment is subjective and there has been many great teams in the Illawarra over 130 years (for example the South Coast United teams of the 1960s and the Wollongong Wolves of the late 1980s and late 1990s). But I believe the Corrimal Rangers/Corrimal United teams of the mid 1950s would be in the top 5 teams of all time, with ease.
In a five year period this team, which contained the likes of Bignell, Young, Peters, Drain, Burns, Learmonth, Harrington, Callan, Wheatley, James, Brown, Pearce, Willoughby won the State Southern/Federation League 4 times, won 2 Sydney Cups, won 1 State Cup and won 2 State League Finals. Warren Kerr was part of these squads and started playing first grade football with these high quality players in State League when he was 15 the only other player at the time who played first grade state league earlier was the great Charlie Stewart (former Socceroo, State Representative and Woonona great) who did it at the age of 14. Regardless of Charlie’s record, Warren’s ascendancy to first grade State League shows the speed and skill Warren must have possessed.
He played for Corrimal Rangers in the State League, Corrimal United in the Federation and then Corrimal Rangers in the local league before he retired and concentrated on his Family and work (note he did play a few games for Whyalla when he worked over there for a period of time). A very modest man, Warren after his playing days spent over a decade on the Corrimal Rangers Committee as President and additionally is a Life Member (and his wife Mary was part of the Committee and helps add a couple of comments during this interview, which was very helpful). I hope you enjoy this interview and the insights Warren gives 60 plus years after his playing career had finished.

Welcome to Episode 17 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. It is a delight to have you downloading this episode of the podcast, I sincerely appreciate it. Slowly but surely this exercise of collecting the Illawarra’s oral soccer history is coming together. I encourage any of the listeners to contact me if they have any potential interviews that I should be undertaking. I am following up several leads but I am grateful if people think I should be following up additional suggested interviews.
This episode’s interviewee started his soccer journey in Holland and in his early teens he came out to Australia in 1951 with his parents. His transition into a new country and community was slightly better than his parents as he went to school and played soccer for “Tech” and the Balgownie Soccer Club in the U14s and U16s. He then went to Fernhill Soccer Club in the local league for a year and then returned to Balgownie for a few years in the State League predominantly in the reserves.
Normally this would be a very good soccer journey in itself but not for John Vlietstra who came back into the game via junior clubs (Figtree and Balgownie) and additionally on the Illawarra Junior Soccer Association committee. His time at Balgownie JSC (along with many other committee members, volunteers, sponsors and community help) brought about tremendous change to the facilities at Judy Masters, many of these changes remain today.
His next step was even bigger when he became the secretary of the Wollongong City Wolves for a decade working along side Laurie Kelly, Jack Zanier, John Fleming and many other wonderful Wolves people. After this appointment and subsequent resignation a decade later his soccer journey subsided but his community involvement and volunteering did not, being involved on the Wollongong Sportsground Trust and the Dutch Australian Society. John is a man who I deeply respect and enjoyed interviewing. It was a pleasure being around him to note down some of his experiences and again I publicly thank John for his time and knowledge. That is it for now, please enjoy this episode.
Music by Luke Nolan

Welcome to Episode 16 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. As always I am delighted to host this podcast as it gives me the opportunity to speak to a variety of people within our vibrant and dynamic soccer/football community. And thank you to all the listeners that support this podcast and all the people that follow the social media pages. I am amazed at the support and at the depth to our history in the community. I will keep posting and searching as there are many more items that need to be found and posted.
This episode’s interviewee started his soccer journey in Sydney before he came to the Illawarra in the early 1980s as a 23 year old. His first interaction within the Illawarra was to play a few games with Socceroo Adrian Alston in his first season with the University of Wollongong Soccer Club. The majority of Brendon Fotheringham’s career was spent at UOW SC and it is here where he tasted success in a grand final for the first time in 1989, one of UOW SC’s best periods as a club. From the mid 1990s onwards he then moved around to learn from different coaches at various clubs and during this period due to his vocation as a teacher he was heavily involved at the different levels of coaching within the Combined High School soccer community.
I found Fotho to be a great interviewee as he was always willing to try different areas of the game and speak about them, such as refereeing in the past couple of seasons. The friendships developed in his career are many but one of the primary soccer relationships was with Ian Morris, which began when Fotho was his teacher in the late 1980s. Over the course of approximately 25 years these two have shared soccer experiences and it says a lot about both of them that their friendship still exists today. That is it for now, please enjoy this episode.
Music by Luke Nolan

Welcome to episode 15 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. It is a pleasure to have you the listener downloading this podcast. The listeners of this podcast are predominantly from Australia and I thank all of the Australian listeners. And there are some consistent downloads from Spain and America and I appreciate the listeners from those countries.
This episode’s interviewee played senior football in the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and the 2000s. So he saw quite a lot of football in the local and state leagues. The man I interviewed was Lupcho Dafkovski but he is widely known as Sarge to most people in the Illawarra soccer community. His journey is not just about the players he played with and against but as he described it in the interview it was about the camaraderie amongst the people he met and played with at Wollongong United, Aris, Portside and Coniston.
A delight to interview as he held nothing back and was open in terms of his experiences but additionally letting me interview him at his cafe. So my thanks and respect go out to Sarge, please enjoy the interview. Please note at the latter part of the interview another person engages in the interview and this was one of Sarge’s customers Matt, thanks to Matt for his contribution.

Welcome to episode 14 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. It is early on but the feedback and positivity around this project of mine gives me a warm buzz. Once again it may be boring for valued repeat listeners but I must and will thank everyone for the continued support. And a big shout out to the interviewees so far who have given up their time, memories, thoughts and places of residence to be interviewed.
This episode’s interviewee was an out and out goalscorer, he knew where the back of the net was and hit it consistently. Winning the Illawarra Premier League first grade top goalscorer award three times shows where he sits amongst strikers in the region. But in this interview (online and offline) he was quick to state that his teammates were a big part of his success. Joe Coelho was open, engaging and honest about his career. It was a thoroughly enjoyable interview and Joe was fantastic to be around, especially his knowledge on the game. My thanks and respect go out to Joe for his time and allowing me into his home. Please enjoy the episode!
Music by Luke Nolan

Welcome to episode 13 of the Football United vs Soccer City podcast. This episode’s interviewee had a great career in terms of his playing and committee involvement at Figtree Soccer Club. A Club where playing in September was the norm.
As he stayed at Figtree his whole career (apart from a brief period in 1986) Ian Witheridge’s interview is unique as he describes his own career along with the journey of Figtree Soccer Club at the same time. Ian is a generous and humble man, who gave me so much information regarding his time at Figtree. He is a knowledgeable man in general and in the interviewing process it was apparent in his answers that he was a team and club person, something I admire. Again this interview is a brief but great account of Figtree Soccer Club (junior and senior clubs) in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, I thank Ian again publicly for his time and help. Enjoy.
Music by Luke Nolan

Episode 12 is here and ready for you the listener. As always I sincerely appreciate your continued support. This episode is about a man who has given a lot to a Club and has been with this Club for over 35 years. The interviewee is well aware that his time is about the Club and the collective of people who work together to be part of the community and to continually put multiple teams on the field. Emilio Salucci has been there and done that (and has the proverbial t-shirts to prove it) but his ability to learn from others, think of others, respect the Club and community comes across in his actions and dealings with many people in the soccer community. For me in this interview and in my interactions with Emilio in a committee capacity he is always accessible and giving of his time. I deeply thank him again for allowing me to delve briefly into his fantastic local soccer/football journey. Please enjoy.

Episode 11 is a cracker as I was privileged and honoured to speak with a pioneer/trail blazer for football in this country and our Illawarra region.
The interviewee only had two years of junior soccer in the early 1970s when she was 10 and 11. After a few years off, due to girls not being allowed to play in their teenage years Julie Porter burst onto the Australian Women's soccer scene in the late 1970s firstly with the Bulli ThunderBirds.
Her talent and work ethic took her into regional teams, state teams and the Australian Women's National team. She is a talented soccer player/coach but above this she has great respect of where she came from and who supported her throughout her magnificent career. Humble and articulate, Julie is a soccer person who deserves more recognition about her journey as do the rest of her peers from the late 1970s and 1980s. As these women gave so much to Australian Women's soccer in its infancy, which ultimately gave the sport great foundations in this country.
I apologise if it times the interview sounds disjointed, this was solely my fault due to technical and research issues. Regardless Julie's journey shines through and was a great pleasure to record, please enjoy!
Music by Luke Nolan

The interviewee in this episode came from working class coal mining stock in Scotland. With hard work and talent he made it to the top tier of Scottish football in the 1960s playing against the big two Celtic and Rangers.
Hugh Tinney after 6 seasons with Partick Thistle was then transferred to Bury F.C. In the 7 seasons he was at Bury he captained the Club and represented his country. He then came out with his Family to Australia in the mid 1970s where he ended up playing/coaching soccer in the Illawarra for approximately a decade and created a new life here in the Illawarra.
Hugh was a joy to interview and answered all questions asked. Hugh's passion for the game gave a lot to the Illawarra and he has definitely left a positive mark on our game.
Music by Luke Nolan

The interviewee in this episode has spent over a quarter of a century coaching and teaching teams/people of varying ages and skill sets. A man with great perspective, intellect and a deep passion for the game John Frew's career is one I was proud to record. I texted one of his former players from The Wolves youth team of the mid 1980s and he said that John had an easy going nature which allowed for good relationships to be built and the bond within the team was strong. This testimonial 30 plus years later says a lot of John and the environment he created within the teams he coached. Please enjoy John's journey and thanks again for your support.
Music by Luke Nolan