Drop ten, turn and face. Quilty’s Football Yarns 43 SPX 1st XI Undefeated ISA Champions 2007

Drop ten, turn and face.

Quilty’s Football Yarns 43

SPX 1st XI Undefeated ISA Champions 2007

Sometimes when you are at your lowest point in sport, and for that matter life, you get your greatest clarity and insight. On a windy evening in August 2006, our SPX 1st walked off the pitch at Christie Park, having just been given a series of footballing lessons by rivals St Pat’s of Strathfield. They had gone down 7-2 in a Grand Final, in spite of finishing top of the table and being Minor Premiers. They had also finished the game with nine players, a lack discipline taking away any chance of victory, as early as the first half. Paul Kollias our would be skipper in 2007, learnt that bitter lesson from 2006 and did all he could to put things right, and he did.

Our season in 2007 was to stretch to 34 matches. As usual, we played a range of local sides pre-season, downing North Sydney, Kings, SPX Old Boys, Gordon and Riverview scoring 30 goals and conceding just 6. What was clear was we had goal-scorers in spades. Tom McAlister, fully recovered from his broken leg and Frank Princi were set for a great season. Further preparation for our ISA campaign came with the early season St Andrew’s Cup tournament. Games against Oakhill, Sydney High, Newington and St Aloysius all brought wins before we ran into Trinity Grammar in the Final. Historically, they had always been a bogey side for SPX and once again they had our measure winning 2-0. Further trials were played against St Aloysius, Cranbrook, Shore all bringing comfortable wins. By the time we played our first ISA matches we were flying. A 5-2 win against St Spyridon’s and a 1-1 draw with Oakhill were sandwiched around a 3-2 win over local rivals Oxford Falls Grammar in the NSWCIS Cup. It would have been a surprise then to some observers that we lost a trial game to Trinity Grammar, by 5-0! The truth being that as ever, ask our SPX 1st XI to play in the afternoon and you won’t get a contest. Too many of our boys also play for Rep clubs. This is the whole reason why to all intents and purposes, ISA First Grade is a morning competition, and has been since I arrived at SPX in 1997. We seemed to have got back on track hammering St Paul’s Penrith 8-1 in the NSWCIS Cup.

Then, just as we about to leave for Queensland we played the 3rd Round of that competition and went down to a shock defeat to St Andrew’s College at Oxford Falls. This would be one of the few times we have ever lost to them and on the day a combination over confidence and poor finishing sent us to a 1-3 defeat.  This was a wake-up call and as disappointed as we were, we still felt we could be competitive across Independent football and set off on our Queensland tour full of anticipation. 

By now our participation in the Southern Skies Tournament was becoming a tradition. It was a very well organised event, sides coming from overseas and interstate. Unfortunately, our tournament didn’t get off to a good start, going down to GPS Sydney rivals, Kings 2-0, followed by a 1-1 draw with Brisbane Grammar. Our chances of playing in the Cup stages of the competition were erased when we went down to tough Queensland State High School, Harristown by 1-0. Our regret of a poor start was compounded by missing out the opportunity to play against John Paul College, Logan, who included in their ranks numerous  South Korean players at their Academy including Ki Sung-Yueng who subsequently went to play in the EPL with Swansea and Sunderland. 

Sometimes when you are away on tour there are moments where you find something to turn around the whole thing. On this occasion captain Paul Kollias helped the squad re-focus and set out to win what was on offer. The ‘Southern Skies Plate’, so fondly called the ‘bong’ in later times. In this year the trophies were all elaborate ornamental vases, the bong being a lurid yellow! Our touring party this year 2007, had many parents and grand parents in attendance. Sid Semaan, Leo Raso and Perry Kollias  three of the main culprits along with a very young George Kollias who later also played for the first eleven. Looking at our side we had some particularly strong characters, who if harnessed right, were a formidable combination. Andrew Raso and Matt Drake provided the grit and strength, while a young Chris Semaan the skill, Sean Doran, Tommy McAllister and Frank Princi the goals. 

Immediately, we got the desired response beating Victorians Geelong 5-0 and New Zealand pair Liston and Manurewa both 4-0. This booked us a semi-final spot in the Plate where we took on and downed Victorians St Bernard’s, also by 4-0. Up until this point Tom had scored five goals and Frank three. We were set for the Final and a chance at redemption against Harristown High who we had lost to in the first game 1-0. Playing any final as a NSW side in Queensland is always tough. Everyone and their dog comes out to support the home side. Harristown were a particularly tough, hard boned mob. That is a big attraction of touring, you get the opportunity to play a range of sides with a wide variety of styles. We would have to at least match their physicality and we did. The adrenaline in our side was amazing. It was truly a battle and while the Kings boys and a few parents were our outnumbered support, it was one of the most memorable SPX performances I can remember. We scored early, met their response then scored again. Tommy getting both goals before year ten boy Chris Semaan scored a pearler to wrap up a 3-0 win and a trophy, albeit the Plate. The buzz in our touring squad was fantastic. The famous tour phrase ‘Kebab O’Clock’ originated right here, with the Semaan’s, Salem and Chris, while Matt Bentley and Simon Yue gladly went along, joining in the after official dinner ‘food fest’ at 9.00pm.

The benefits of a successful tour cannot be underestimated. The memories for the players are amazing and count heavily in their overall SPX experience. This tour saw players Scott Barlow, Michael, Shaun Jardine, Chris Cossyvas, Ben Grove, Emmanuel Diakloulas, Matt Farah and Mitch Cook progress immensely. The benefit of this became most apparent when we returned to Sydney to resume our ISA competition. Within two days of our return, we were down to play St Pat’s at Oxford Falls in the last week of the holidays. This was the St Pat’s who had smashed us in the previous years ISA Final. At least eleven of our 2007 squad had played in that infamous 2006 ISA Final, so redemption was definitely on the cards. St Pat’s didn’t know what hit them that afternoon. We brought our Queensland form home with us and were magnificent winning the game 6-2, at that time our biggest win ever over the ‘Men in Black’ from Strathfield. A hat-trick from Tommy McAllister paved the way but Drake, Doran and Raso also netted in an emphatic win. As the vagaries of the draw would dictate, we were down to play St Pat’s again, ten days later out at their place. Expecting a response, the game was a lot closer but we still came away with a deserved 2-1 win. For reasons only known to the ISA this season 2007 was to be ‘first past the post’ with no finals series at Christie Park. This indeed was the format I’d grown up with in the UK, if you won the league you got the trophy.  Our task at this point was to win our last four ISA matches and we would have the title wrapped up for the first time in seven seasons.

A 6-0 win against St Spyridon’s set us off well, a revenge win against St Andrew’s saw a goal fest with 5-3 the result. A very tight Oakhill encounter, saw us come away with a 1-0 win at their place, setting us up to play SCECG’s at Oxford Falls to seal the League title for 2007. A big crowd came along to see us romp home 6-1 and big celebrations. ISA Champions!

Our boys got full recognition and reward at ISA Rep level Doran, Cossyvas, Raso, Grove, Barlow, Kollias, Farah, Drake and McAllister all earning call ups. A young Chris Semaan, was rewarded with a NSWCIS Rep spot as a Year Ten player, a first for us. Chris was later to go to play as a professional in Belgium but not before a funny happenstance came about in 2008, which I will relate another time. Tommy McAlister was Footballer of the Year and top scorer with 25 goals in all competitions. This was SPX’s third ISA first Grade title, in my time at the college. We had addressed our disappointment of 2006 and finally delivered after several years of Minor Premierships then falling in Grand Finals. This indeed was a year of finals for us. Trinity in the St Andrew’s Cup, Harristown up in Queensland and the 6-2 ISA win against St Pats our virtual ISA Final game. This squad, the players, parents and coaches genuinely got on. Matt Bentley, the SPX football convenor moved on to St Aloysius and was still involved in the game. It was a happy time to be involved in ISA football, which in truth has predominantly been the case for me and Simon Yue who from this time, stood alongside myself, as a part of great unit. Chris Semaan in later seasons, came to join us, with Leisa Proc being the final part in the unit and successful we all came to be leading the annual Queensland crusade.