‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 10 Schools coaching – London Cup

‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 10

Schools coaching – London Cup

I finished my degree and went on to get a PGCE teaching qualification in History and a Games qualification that allowed me to coach most sports, including Football, Rugby Union Volleyball and Basketball. Armed with this I returned to London and taught for a year at George Green School on the Isle of Dogs. Immediately I got engaged in school football and had the pleasure of working alongside West Ham scout Jimmy Firrell. Fortunately, after a year of working as a Supply Teacher I picked a permanent job at St Bernard’s in Bethnal Green. This was a split site school with one building on Old Bethnal Green Road and the other on Valance Road, familial home of the Kray twins. A lot of people believe that facilities make a school. Untrue. Comparing George Green and St Bernard’s the former had way superior modern buildings but less than half the school spirit of the latter. Our buildings in Valance Road were set in a small space with no grass in sight. Games were played in a restricted playground but the kids made the most of what they had. It was a surprise that when I offered to take the U17 Football side, everyone in the administration got very interested. They wanted to know how often I would take them after school and for how long. To my further surprise they actually said I’d be getting paid a decent amount for doing it. The school was on ILEA’s register of underprivileged schools and there was funding available to promote extra-curricular activity. I later found out that they would have paid me to take any group after school be it tiddlywinks or chess, as long as I’d put in the necessary paperwork. Little did I realise but I was about to embark on one of the greatest coaching experiences of my life.

 In the London School area in the eighties, there were various age group versions of the ‘London Cup’ ranging from U11 –U17. We were entered into the senior age group, the Lipton Shield. Here began a crazy ‘under the radar’ campaign where we won six matches in extraordinary circumstances. On at least three occasions we came back from two goals down to win. We played all our games ‘away’ because we had no pitch of our own. Some of the school’s we played were real heavyweights on the school scene. Probably most surprising of all, the St Bernard’s school management were seemingly unaware of our exploits, only a select few parents and supporters came along but here we were beating the best sides in London! On the way we played Hackney Free & Parochial at the Marshes, St Bonaventure's at Newham, Sir George Monoux out at Walthamstow, went west to Carshalton, east to play Dagenham Priory and a City School in Central Foundation, before taking on Lambeth heavy-weights Sir Henry Thornton, when, against all the odds we reached the final. The Cup organisers contacted me and said they were unsure who should host the final. My response was to say we had had six away games so we should host the game, which admittedly, was difficult with no home ground! Fortunately, I had a contact on Tower Hamlets Council and with a bit of persuasion managed to get East London Stadium to host the game for us, we were after all an East London side.

 In the Lipton Shield, London Cup Final we would meet Sir Henry Thornton of Lambeth. They were previous Champions in the competition, a tall side and boasted several players who would eventually go to play professionally, the most famous being big striker Kevin Campbell of Arsenal and Everton. On the day we were under extreme pressure. After 20 minutes we had a chance of our own only to see the Lambeth side break away and get the first goal. Going in at half time 0-1 would have been manageable but right on the whistle we conceded from a corner. In the second half St Bernard’s boys really stepped up and with ten to go we managed to pull a goal back to make it, 1-2. Then as we pressed for an equaliser they broke away to score a third and seal the win. What an effort, runners up in a London wide competition of over 120 schools. The boys collected their Runners-up medals in front of the East London Stadium crowd. Most of our support had bunked off school to come along! This wonderful effort unfortunately hardly registered on the airwaves of our own School, only a full match report in the Local newspaper awoke people to our achievement. That was a salutary lesson for me as a coach. You can only set your own standards and goals. Don’t rely on others sharing your passion but make share you are your own side’s best and biggest advocate.

Round Opponent Score

1 Hackney Free & Parochial 3-2

2 Central Foundation 4-2

3 St Bonaventure’s 5-3

4 Dagenham Priory 4-0

5 Carshalton School 2-1

Semi George Monoux 3-2

Final Sir Henry Thornton 1-3

Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 11

Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 11

One of the sadder things that occurred while I was working in schools football was a ‘teachers strike’ of about twelve weeks that absolutely decimated the competition. Not that the industrial action wasn’t justified but it just happened to have a devastating impact on the Saturday Schools Football competition. At that time teachers weren’t paid to coach but everyone relied on their goodwill to do so. Unfortunately, telling kids that there were no games for three months meant that they literally found other things to do. East London School’s football was never the same again after that.

St Pauls Way and Warwick Boys School

In 1990 I lost my job working on the Stock Market in London but was fortunate enough to have my previous career of teaching to fall back on. Old friend and teacher Martin Rabenau got me back working pretty quickly, out at St Paul’s Way, Bow. This school had a population of mainly Bangladeshi kids who loved football but it was always difficult to get them organised to play school matches. One big problem that the local education authorities brought upon the school was inadvertently done. Most of our kids came from Muslim families. When the Somali Civil war resulted in a few thousand refugees coming to East London, St Paul’s Way was identified as a suitable place to send the children involved as they shared a common religion, Islam. Unfortunately, the new comers lacked language support and quickly clashes between the two groups broke out. Many of our Somali kids had recently been child soldiers in the conflict and few were used to the discipline of lessons and attending school at a particular time. A few kids had ‘war wounds’ from the conflict. Things escalated because a lack of cultural insight underestimated the degree of vendetta and grudge the group possessed. A scuffle at school, seemingly resolved would usually return ‘out of the blue’ the following day, the parents had discussed matters with the children but they tended to come in with renewed anger prompted by parents! Eventually, resources were brought to play and the clashes reduced. However, that was not before ‘scummy Sun news-hounds’ came trolling around the school seeking gossip.

When I eventually got another permanent job it was out at Warwick School Boys, Walthamstow in the Waltham Forest district. This was in late 1991. I was running around desperately dropping off my CV to local schools, we actually lived at Highams Park at the time. Warwick School Boys was five minutes from my house. Going into the busy school foyer I had planned to be in and out quickly. It was to my surprise then, as I handed my CV envelope across the counter, a tall gentleman took it but engaged me in conversation by grasping my arm. I had no idea who he was but quickly told him my ‘casual teacher story’. It was then he told me he was the school Headmaster, I had passed my interview and was I okay to start on Monday morning? Amazingly random story but it provided me with a permanent job just five minutes from home! At Warwick I taught History and PE. The school was Church of England but reflective of change in the area,our students were 80% Pakistani in origin. As usual I organised the football team and was in my element. We made the local district semi-final going down to local rivals Norlington. Again, we never actually had our own field so spent hours taking lessons on the playground tarmac, occasionally going to Wadham Lodge for a Games afternoon. Down at the Lodge we had ex-footballer twins Bill and Ben King putting on football sessions.  It was during my time at Warwick that we decided to immigrate to Australia. It all came about very quickly. The Headmaster was devastated. He asked me to help find my replacement. Fortunately, I had very recently got an old school mate Steve Tuvey to come in to take Squash and Football lessons, he was a qualified coach of both in addition to being a carpenter. When I suggested that Steve take over my role it all fell into place. The students knew him. He looked the part of a PE teacher and could control the kids. The only small problem was that was not a teacher! The kids even believed that Steve was my brother (in spite of having the same first name!). The Headmaster asked Steve if he was willing to train on the job, to enhance his one O Level and to this he agreed. In the event Steve worked at Warwick for 15 years! He became Head of Year 9 and also taught PE and Woodwork. In all seriousness I don’t think I have ever met a more natural School teacher than my friend and replacement Steve Tuvey. Confident of his ability to take my job at Warwick, my family and myself now moved on to start a new life in Australia on March 17th 1992. Steve only retired from his teaching job this year after 28 years moving to Devon.

‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 12 Australia

‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 12 

Australia

Leaving London to move to Sydney was the biggest decision of our married lives, we never regretted it for a minute.

Immigrant stories are many. Ours, while not spectacular certainly has a few constants and reoccurring themes within it. It also seems to echo much of the received knowledge of what migrants do when they arrive in a new place. Perhaps the most regular theme  is our association with Berowra and in particular the area around the old La Mancha Caravan Park. It is often said that  migrants tend to settle very close the original place where they arrive in the country. In our case the point is very relevant because we now live just 200 metres, as the crow flies, from the very first place we started out in Australia twenty eight years ago!

I was allowed and qualified to teach in Australia but had to find the work myself. The economy, like that in the UK was actually still in recession with the jobs market very slow. For a few weeks I supplemented our income working for John at weekends in his catering business, ‘Cassidy’s Catering Company”. 

What John, Terrie’s brother suggested was that rather than rent a house when we arrived, it would be more sensible to take a twelve week contract on a local caravan park while we got an idea of what and where we wanted to  settle. This would help us avoid locking ourselves in for a year somewhere we might not like. At the time there were three main options in terms of caravan parks. One up in Ryde which was the closest to urban Sydney, a second up on Mona Vale Road, relatively close to the northern beaches and a third up in the north at Berowra which was surrounded by bush. As it turned out John chose the third option for us and we started off at La Mancha Caravan Park, just as you come along the Pacific Highway and enter Berowra. This choice made by John unwittingly shaped our future life and direction in Australia. Largely because I'm sure that urban Ryde would have been closest in lifestyle to central London where we came from, while Mona Vale would have directed us down the 'beach lifestyle' route.  Berowra, surrounded, by bush was much more like living in the 'country' to us Londoners.

The night we arrived in Australia I still remember being driven by John up along the dark Pacific Highway along the sweeping road that eventually enters Berowra....La Mancha is immediately at the top of the hill on the left. The sizeable site actually being at one of the highest points in Sydney perched, surrounded by and overlooking large tracts of bushland. When we arrived on the evening of 18th March 1992 we were met and shown by the site owners to a small cabin with a double bed, a set of bunk beds and a small kitchen / dining area. I also clearly remember that evening standing with Terrie looking out over the Berowra valley with houses below and an unfamiliar star filled sky. Immediate thoughts were. 'what have we done?' Here we were, in an unknown place with two young children and we had no jobs! With Cassie just 18 months and Danny 3 we settled very quickly into our small chalet.

The site did have a small store but we tended to walk down along the highway to the Shell petrol garage because it had a wider range of supplies. Fatefully it was in this place that in the first week since our arrival I saw a small note displayed advertising 'Over 30's football players wanted'....come to Berowra Oval.....Well it is certainly true that finding familiar things / activities helps people settle in new places and this was an opportunity to do just that. It is true to say our time in Australia was shaped in many ways by going to the oval that night and meeting up with other prospective Over 30's footballers. In the event I met three Englishmen, Colin Strang and brothers John and Jimmy Everitt. These guys remain some of our closest friends even now in 2020! For me it was a sport connection but also important for Terrie in making initial friends in Berowra and later securing several of her first jobs. There she was stuck on the caravan park with two youngsters on what emerged as one of the wettest months Sydney had seen in years. Colin's wife Bernie is part of a large Dublin family of which six of the brothers and sisters lived in the area. In that first week Bernie invited Terrie and the kids on a barbeque with other Berowra people including another Englishman Paul Squires. Paul was to give Terrie her first job. This external relief of meeting other families was great for an immigrant couple with few Australian contacts. Eight percent of Berowra residents are originally from Britain /Ireland and we fell right into the ex-pat network in the town. 

La Mancha was a safe place to start our immigrant life but although I had been accepted as a High School teacher the actual work had to be found by myself. In the first few days I took the scatter gun approach to job applications...not really knowing where the schools were in NSW just sending out as many CV's as possible. I even phoned Education Office’s in Western Australia and the ACT but they just told me I was better off in NSW. In addition I went in person to schools in Sydney to hand in resumes. One in particular was to play a large part later in my life. It was a Catholic school in Chatswood which had the seemingly strange name of St PLUS! At the time I just thought it was some particular Australian Saints name....not realising I had misread it from the actual St Pius X (where I have now worked for 23 years!) Waiting for approval for State schools actually took me many months. We would have starved waiting! Fortunately I'd  previously worked in Catholic schools and they sorted out my paperwork in just three hours!

Initially, it was my task each morning to go down to the solitary Caravan park call box to phone some local schools to seek casual work on a day to day basis. I'm not sure why, but a particular Deputy out at Mater Maria College Warriewood must have taken pity on me. One rainy day at 8.00am he said to me "How quickly can you get here?" I plucked 30 minutes from somewhere in my head and promised to be there in no time. Well Warriewood is at least 45 minutes from Berowra and I drove (what turned out to be a very iffy Mazda) in driving rain to get there. The School Deputy, Andy Martin was a gruff northerner who must have somehow recognised desperation in my voice. He brought me in to help minimize a potential disaster at Mater Maria....it was the day of their School fete, many staff were away and it was pelting with rain. Andy placed me in charge of 30 odd year 12 students and just asked me to keep them out of trouble as the rainy day threatened to descend into soggy farce.

I worked there for three months before eventually securing a seven month contract at Our Lady of Mercy College, Epping. As a new immigrant you are certainly very aware, if not actually desperate, for the need to work. While doing casual days before my contract at Epping I got the chance to interview for a job at a Primary School in Merrylands. No, I’m not Primary trained but in times of recession I certainly wanted to secure a job. As things turned out they seemed willing to hire me teaching predominantly PE to the juniors at the school. It was between myself and one other person. Then just as  I left the interview they told me that a high point of my week would be at the School Assembly on a Friday morning, leading the dance called the ‘Fitness Hustle’ for 400 students! Not really knowing what to say, I nodded and said I would await their call the next day. My wife Terrie was amazed that I had put myself in such a position. Knowing how uncoordinated I was in all things requiring rhythm!

Next day I returned for another casual day at Our Lady of Mercy College, Epping. Then one of those key life moments occurred. The Head Mistress, Jan Gallan and another teacher approached me. The conversation went like this.

“Mr Quilty, we had something we wanted to ask you but were unsure. Would you be open to taking on a seven month contract here at the college? I hope you don’t mind us asking?”

For what seemed like a minute I stood there stunned. Then a feeling of overwhelming relief swept over me and I launched forward to hug them both.

“You have just saved my life, you have just saved my life!’

Later on I went on to explain what I had almost agreed to out at Merrylands, I think they understood. At recess I was able to make a phone call of regret to the Primary School.

As is the way, like with this job at Epping, my next job also came about in a random way. One day near the end of 1992 someone brought in a tiny advert from the Sydney Morning Herald. Clearly a guardian angel was looking out for me because this role teaching Business Economics and PD Health was seemingly made for me. I phoned the advertised number and the person who answered, Robyn Meadows, must have felt sorry for me and my English accent. She quickly told me that I would be one of just four people interviewed the coming day and that there had been over 100 applicants! Robyn explained that I would be seeing two people. Michael Carr the Headmaster, and John Decourcy the Deputy. She even primed me for interview saying. “Michael who runs the College Rugby League side will be very interested in your football coaching ability. John, on the other hand will just ask you some offbeat educational theory questions, good luck with that!” As things turned out, that was exactly the way the interview went. My major contribution to the interview being that “With this mix of subjects whoever you get will be a bit of a compromise”. That got me the job to start end January 1993.

‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 13 Coaching in OZ – The beginning 1993-4

‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 13

Coaching in OZ – The beginning

1993-4

Living in Berowra but working in Blacktown was a logistical challenge. A journey of exactly 40km either way. When I first started at the school the M2 had not been constructed so I needed to scan across country to get there. Fortunately, it was a journey against the traffic usually taking 50 minutes either way. Being firmly in the west of Sydney, Blacktown had an average temperature 2-3 degrees above where we lived. Add to that the inconvenience of driving an old Mazda lacking air-conditioning and often I’d require a change of clothes arriving at work. John Paul II Senior School had co-ed 1150 students and about 100 staff. It was a good school that truly practiced what it preached. Students were able to achieve in a number of ways, be it Performing Arts through Rock Eisteddfod, Sport or Academia, the college had it covered.

When I arrived at JPII the Headmaster, Michael Carr, explained that it was school that was currently performing very well in Rugby League but had not got towards its potential with Football. Being a large Catholic school it had a broad ethnic make-up, Anglos, Italians, Croats, Philippino’s and Maltese all being well represented.

The school was involved in probably the strongest schools competition in the country, the ten team ‘Metropolitan Catholic School’s’ league, the MCS. Some truly heavy weight schools took part predominantly form the west and south west of Sydney. Eastwood, Fairfield, Parramatta, Emu Plains, Greystanes, Campbelltown, Ryde, Dundas and Auburn made up the draw. It was a Thursday afternoon competition of nine round matches before semi-finals and finals for the top four. Each school had an A & B Grade side kick off times being 1 O’clock and 3 O’clock. This play off finals format was something completely new to me, not being the way in the UK, where if you came top of the competition you won the league.

At my first training session I was accompanied by Di Kosak, one of the college office staff. She had a big local involvement in Football, knew the players, which schools they had come from and more importantly which clubs they were involved with in addition to JPII.

About eighty players turned up that first session trilling for 32 places in the A & B Grade squads. I had never experienced such a turn out but made a good early call when I said that the trials would take place across three sessions.

At my job interview Michael Carr had told me what a strong, skilful competition the MCS was. His Rugby League boys played in a parallel version of ours. The main difference being that theirs was probably more prestigious and the games were often shown on Television, especially in the Nationwide Commonwealth Bank Cup. He threw a tough question at me saying, “I am aware that potentially we have a very skilful side, what will you do to make us winners of the MCS?”

My answer was a good one. I said, “You telling me that the whole competition is strong and skilful. I will just have to get our sides working harder and become fitter than all the rest in the competition. That was exactly what I did.

In my first season coaching at the school in 1993 we won seven of nine A Grade games with just one draw and a defeat in the regular season, finishing in number one spot. Many of our boys were also playing for good club representative teams that included Marconi, Sydney United and Sydney Olympic. While this was good it also made claims on the player’s time so that our training was restricted to an hour on Monday afternoon. A good choice because that was also the day for JPII after school staff meetings. From the beginning I had the bosses blessing to be absent. He said, “It’s not as if you are down the pub. You are on School business taking the boys training”. Michael also appreciated the 80km round trip I made to JPII each day.

Our B Grade side managed to make the play offs in 1993 with a fourth place finish. Our only A Grade defeat was early on out at St Gregory’s Campbelltown. A bit of an ambush on a small pitch. However, that was an invaluable lesson because it was the side we would eventually win through to play out at Melita Stadium, Granville, in the MCS A Grade final. That A Grade side was predominantly Year 12 boys with only two Year 11’. This made us very experienced and strong. As said previously, all the sides in the MCS were skilful, I just insisted that we continually got back ‘goal-side’, not something all players liked or appreciated. One player, Tony Messina tended to jog trot his recoveries, often walking. In this particular game I shouted to him. “Tony are you injured?” “No sir, why is that?”. “Ok mate, off you come!”. Tony was flabbergasted, he’d never been withdrawn from the field before. Another good lesson. Every time following that game I’d only have to shout “Tony” and he’d immediately start to run and work back.

Working around the world, in the UK, Israel and the USA had fully exposed me to interaction with a whole mix of creeds and ethnicities. Working out at Blacktown was to be no different other than to throw in a few new ones. Italians, Greeks, Maltese, Lebanese and Croatians to name a few. Fortunately we were all speaking the same language, the language of the world game, football. In this 1993 A Grade side there were several of the best players I had ever worked with. One, Daniel Matan was a two footed central midfielder able to surge at pace making rapid inroads into opposition defences. As we went through the season a small irritation with him emerged, mainly because his dad, always there in support,  would stand by the fence and shout out instructions. I’d never had a problem with that but in this case the instructions were in Croat! I felt that this was potentially undermining, so I had to address it, telling his dad that input was fine but it had to be in English. As explained Daniel was a fine player. He was playing for the Sydney United U18 side at 16. Unfortunately, at many of the NPL clubs, politics played a big role. Daniel’s dad just happened to fall out with club football committee and his son Daniel had to leave the club. This 1993 season ended up being one where we almost swept the board. We won both the MCS A & B Grade finals but should also have won the NSWCCC Cup Final, losing in the semi-final. In the event, the eventual winners Fairfield, were a side we had beaten in Round One 4-0! Somehow, they were allowed back in to the competition when someone forfeited and ended up beating us 2-1 in the semi-final. The competition convenor had made a call to benefit the knock out, we just happened to come off worse for it. In the following seasons I actually became the convenor of the NSWCCC Cup and myself almost paid a big price for trying to be fair to the sides and players involved. In this case I got a call from a school coach form Casula, who told me one of his players had been unfairly red carded in a game. Hating the possibility of a player being unfairly treated and possibly missing out on a final, I called the opposition coach for confirmation. In a sporting spirit that coach concurred, saying that the red card was wrong. With this in mind I took the decision to rescind the card, freeing him up for the next round. Jump forward several cup rounds to the semi-final stage and I get a call from Oakhill College telling me that their player, Tony Mitiga had been unfairly dismissed and was down to miss the final. Looking at their potential opponents Casula, I realised that this was the team whose player I had re-instated. Making a quick call to their coach I explained the red card situation for Mitiga and also reminded him of the benefit they had got with the earlier rescinded red card. To his credit the coach quickly agreed to let the player play in the final. I personally felt a kind of satisfaction that two players had now got to play in possibly the biggest school match of their lives. That was of course until Mitiga scored a very early goal in the final! Fortunately Casula came back to win but you see how it could have been a bit awkward.

As an Englishman in Western Sydney I was up for taking any coaching opportunities that arose. One such opportunity was to be involved with the MCS and ultimately the NSWCCC Representative teams. Those I worked alongside were great, passionate servants of the game but I almost fell out with one administrator when the Trials were being held down at Cronulla. We had played the selection tournament and were now wrapping up before announcing a sixteen player squad that had been picked. I offered to go around to take the nets down and pack up ready for us to make the long journey home.

It was a surprise then, that when I returned ten minutes later, one of the squad names had mysteriously changed with a player associated with the administrator being substituted in! After my initial shock I had to say something. The squad was about to be announced but I didn’t care. Taking him aside I said that if this was going to be the way the association ran, I wanted nothing to do with it. His immediate suggestion was to put the player back in and run 17 not 16. I agreed but had had an insight into the politics of School Rep football.

While that 1993 season of success at JPII was brilliant, it was the beginning of an amazing run of success in MCS finals all played out at Melita Stadium, Granville. It was a bit of a shock then when our 1994 side bombed out of the finals series in both grades. Di Kozak had stepped down from the manager’s role to be replaced by fellow teacher Tina Tasioulas. Having virtually a whole new squad we certainly had good players but never quite got it together. It was just as well then that some of the female students came forward and suggested that we form a JPII U18 women’s side to enter the new MCCS competition in 1994. Karen Portelli, the sister of our 1993 centre forward, Robbie Portelli led the way along with Kelly O’Neill another of our Year 12 students. Both had played good club football in the Blacktown area. This was personally my first experience of coaching a women’s side. How would I approach it? There was only one way and that was exactly the same as with the men’s sides. In the event this always proved a good move for me across my 15 seasons involved with women’s sides. Terrie always laughs out loud when I roll out a very serious but heart felt personal expression. When asked about men’s and women’s football I always say, ‘’I don’t see gender when it comes to football, I just see players”. Corny as it sounds that is exactly how I will see it. My passion and commitment to football is a constant regardless of the side I am coaching. I have always believed that it is an aspect of leadership. Players and by association, their parents, appreciate that I take it seriously.

To get together a squad for our girls U18 side, we did it exactly the same way as with the boys, we held a series of afternoon trials for anyone interested. One thing I learnt quite early in football was that if someone is an achiever in one sport at a high level, they will often be able to adapt well to football. There were several cases in point with this side. Kelly O’Neill introduced me to Lyneene Clarke who currently played softball for Australia. Lyneene Clarke was 5ft 10in and looked a strong individual. In the conversation that followed I said that I was about to type-cast her and make her a centre back. When she said I don’t know what a centre back does, I said don’t worry we will teach you! Another potential player was Marijana Almasi who was a fine State ranked gymnast. We also had a two girls who were dancers and another Elizabeth Migdalski who was a boxer. The position we always struggled to fill was goalkeeper. At JPII we fortunately developed such a dominant side we got away with it. In 1994, the MCCS competition consisted of eight sides. Conveniently, all the games were played at the same venue out at Auburn. The hosts, St Leo’s, Wakeley, Emu Plains, Mercy Parramatta, Westmead, Greystanes and ourselves made up the eight. Only losing a single game in the competition we beat St Leo’s in the semi-final before meeting Wakeley in the final. As it transpired we turned up at Auburn only to find that the pitches were in poor condition and nearly waterlogged. On the day I was confident but immediately sensed that our girls were starting to psyche themselves out. They had seen a giant muddy puddle in the middle of the pitch and didn’t fancy getting their white kit dirty. Rightly or wrongly I made a decision. Abandoning the redundant warm up, I took our girls to the centre circle. Facing into the muddy centre I announced that everyone would kneel down in the puddles and splash their kit with water to get used to the conditions. Reluctantly the squad did just that and I told them I felt that this would be to our joint benefit. No sooner had they all stood back up covered in muddy water than the competition organiser appeared to announce, “No, no, you aren’t playing on that terrible pitch, it is a Grand Final you are over there on the main field!

Fortunately, we were right on kick off and no player had a chance to get to me, to say exactly what they thought. Of course the mud strategy worked because we absolutely demolished the opposition 4-0 and all was forgiven. We were inaugural MCCS Champions, a title we would also win for the next two seasons 95’ and 96’.

‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 14 1995 Sweeping all. (Old video added at end)

‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 14

1995 Sweeping all. (Old video added at end)

Probably don’t acknowledge it enough but I feel I have been truly privileged to work the sides I have coached over the years, in all grades of football. That also goes for the fantastic fellow coaches who I have stood alongside over those years.

When season 1995 rolled around it was a truly purple patch for John Paul II School. The School made the State wide ‘Schools Rock Eisteddfod’ final ably coached by past masters Henry and Christine Taylor. They'd previously won the whole thing back in 88'. In addition. Principal Michael Carr’s ‘masterplan for Rugby League’ was coming to fruition. They were already dominating the very strong MCS competition and were now making their run at the nationally televised Commonwealth Bank Cup. The school, through Michael, had established a very close relationship with two NRL sides, Penrith and Parramatta. An illustration of this connection was demonstrated to me one day when the ‘Super League War’ broke out’. This was a truly massive sporting story around Australia so I was very surprised to be standing next the school fax machine when the following message came through.

Dear Michael Carr

I am writing to ask you, in your capacity as Head of MCS and NSWCCC Rugby League, to align your organisations with Super League in Australia.

This was a massive story but it showed just how important schools, such as JPII, were in the Rugby League player production line to the National Competition.

Over the years we also had seeming direct line to many of the best schoolboy prospects out of New Zealand and the Islands. When coming to the school these players were helped with accommodation and their school fees through sponsorship. Coach Bill Dowers, assisted by Michael Carr, had established a strong record locally and the side were now striving to become National Schoolboy Champions. So serious was this intention that the school managed to secure land to build a field for the team. This was located half way between JPII and our feeder school Holy Family. In 1994 JPII duly won the Commonwealth Bank Cup in a commercially televised game defeating Eagle Vale in the final, repeating the effort again in 96’ v Erindale College Canberra. With JPII having secured two major events in the year, it was now footballs turn to deliver.

Learning from our disappointment of season 94’ we were much better placed in 95’ to win the MCS competition, as things turned out we’d go beyond that and advance all the way in the NSWCCC cup competition as well.

Our 95’ squad was very well balanced. While we had super stars such as Michael Pfeifer and Michael Cunico we also had a deep vein of talent across the squad. As mentioned earlier we had many players who had played other sports at a high Level. Grant Lambert played cricket for NSW and Australia, Stephen Falls was both a good athlete and fine rugby player, Craig Beacroft was a state level touch footballer and race walker, Justin Waring went on to be a professional golfer while every player other played football at representative club level. Our Captain Adam Scarpin made the NSW Football side only being surpassed by Cunico who played for Australia U15 and U17 in the World Cup.

The MCS Competition, as ever, would be tough. In 95’ we also had a top B Grade side who went on to win their Grand Final, many of that squad would have been A Grade players for almost any other school in the competition. They did it the hard way finishing fourth and then winning their semi-final on penalties against Minor Premiers Holy Cross Ryde. In the final they beat Dundas, a side they had lost to 4-1 in the first round game. Captain John Longhurst proudly lifting the Trophy.

Our run to win the NSWCCC Cup was truly epic, going from early in Term one until late in Term three. Our first round 5-1 win over De La Salle Cronulla was quickly followed by a come from behind 2-1 win against Casula. Playing on a very wet Holy Family field we then took on Oakhill College from Castle Hill. This tie was a cup classic. We led 1-0 with just a minute to go only to concede on the final whistle. Things got worse when with just five minutes to go in extra time we trailed 2-1. A brilliant finish by midfielder Michael Pfeifer pulled us level for what seemed a certain penalty shoot-out. However, our Captain and sweeper Adam Scarpin had other ideas. With minimal fuss he signalled to the coaching staff that he was ‘moving up’. Within a minute he’d picked the ball up on half way and literally went right through the middle beating numerous opponents to calmly finish, we were in the next round.

Our fourth round opponents were old rivals Parramatta Marist and surprisingly we allowed ourselves to be ambushed. On the afternoon in question we changed our routine and allowed half our team to make their own way to the ground. Mistake. A big mistake. These players arrived right on kick off. In the meantime, Parramatta had cancelled all training for the afternoon and had a massive cheer squad there for their boys. Predictably, we conceded in the first minute. Alarmingly we conceded again two minutes later and then in the twelfth minute we were 0-3 down and heading out of the cup. Somehow we filtered our late arriving players into the game and held on until half time when we could actually talk to the team and put things right. Our message in this case was twofold. For our team we had 40 minutes, starting at 0-0 to pull this around. For Parramatta, we told the boys that we would gamble that they wouldn’t know whether to ‘stick or twist’. It turned out to be a winning approach because as soon as we scored one goal the opponents just fell apart. Their big crowd went very quiet as the minutes past. A 3-1 score-line soon became 3-2 and then with ten minutes left, we won and converted a penalty for 3-3. Our momentum was such that we scored again for 4-3 with just five minutes to go. Our amazing turnaround was complete. This NSWCCC fourth round win was big wake-up call. For the second game in a row we had come within minutes of defeat. That afternoon the squad pledged to do all we could to go on to win it.

The rules of the NSWCCC cup are such that at the Quarter Final stage the ‘City schools have to go Country. Our next round opponent was St Johns, Kempsey, a six hour drive north from Sydney. Our Headmaster Michael Carr insisted that we would drive up on the Sunday, play Monday and drive back the same day. Normally this would have been fine for me but on this weekend I actually had visitors over from the UK. A compromise was made. The team would drive up in the mini bus Sunday morning while Michael Carr paid for me to fly up that afternoon. Sorted! That night our squad stayed in apartment’s just outside Kempsey. The plan was to drive in next day, play at midday and drive back to Sydney after the game. Wrong! The Headmaster of St John’s made us wait until 3.30 when he brought out the whole school to watch the game. In the warm up we were still pretty confident, we had our full squad and they looked a pretty basic side. It was then that we met the ‘local country referee’. Pulling our side together for the boot inspection, he clearly liked very little about the way our boys looked. As mentioned previously, we had a very culturally diverse side. The referee didn’t like our hair, the headbands or product in the hair. He clearly disliked our kit, especially the long baggy shorts and colourful boots worn by all. By the time the match began we saw that this would be more of a contest than we realised, especially with an official who seemingly disliked everything about us! The match was brutal. He allowed St Johns to kick three shades of shit out of our boys and with ten minutes left at 0-0, I made a big decision. I took off the two Michael’s, Cunico and Pfeffier. Most of our group didn’t believe it, they were our two stars. As both a teacher and coach I felt I had a ‘duty of care’ to these players. They would either get sent off or carried off and I wasn’t willing to see either happen. Then, just when extra time seemed certain, our main forward Jason Vella hooked the ball home at the near post and we won the game 1-0. Offers of ‘afternoon tea’ at the school were declined as we left Kempsey in a cloud of dust and headed home to Sydney, relieved but more than that, in the Semi-final of the NSWCCC cup!

As mentioned earlier during my four years at JPII I was fortunate enough to be involved with the NSWCCC representative teams. These guys competed every year in the All Schools tournament which ultimately picked the NSW Schoolboys side. During my involvement numerous players we coached advanced to both the Australian Joeys and Schoolboy sides. In tournament itself there were two NSWCHS sides and one from the independent sector the NSWCIS. The commitment for players was considerable because many boys also played Representative club football at places like Marconi, Sydney United and Sydney Olympic. I remember around the time of our great cup run I was also preparing the NSWCCC side. Players came from all over Sydney and country NSW. This was just one illustration of the tyranny of distance in Australia. In my experience at trials the country boys had to be better to be picked. Just equal and the city boy tended to get the nod. The major reason for this being that with training commitments, it was difficult for the boys to get there midweek. To me both School and Club representative football were as much a test of parents as it was the players. In 1995 I remember a training session was switched from Bankstown to Blacktown quite late. The player parents had to be informed. A phone call with the mum of Clayton Zane expressed this test quite clearly. I told her of the switch and she said it wasn’t a problem because they were coming down from Newcastle anyway. It made me think. What about those players along the way who just couldn’t get there for whatever reason? Lack of transport, cash for travel or even being unable to afford the fees that accompanied representative football. In the event Clayton Zane went on to play for Australia and NSL side Northern Spirit. He has also made a career for himself in coaching at Newcastle Jets. Our paths crossed several times in 1995 because not only was Zane in the NSWCCC side but also a player for JPII’s semi-final opponents St Xavier College Hamilton.

Now this was a big game for all concerned. We were down to the best four Catholic sides in NSW. It was no surprise then that I was angry that the game was not only to be on a school day afternoon but we would have very little in the way of student support. Up until now all our big MCS Finals were night games, with considerable crowd support. The late Dougie Schultz, the JPII Sports Master managed to calm me down before I clashed with the school executive. I suppose this was one of those examples where the relative inequity between Football and League was coming out. I sensed that they would have been better accommodated. From this time I actually began to frame my own coaching and sporting philosophy. I said to the boys very clearly, ‘Don’t worry about other teams and sports. We need to set our own goals and standards’. Driving out to Valentine Park to play St Xavier’s our boys were very motivated. A squad of 16, manager Chris Wilson and myself. That was it apart from a few odd parents. Really we should not have worried. We absolutely demolished Clayton and his Newcastle based side. The score was 5-0 and it might have been more. We were through to NSWCCC cup final and would face Christian Brothers Lewisham from the MCC competition, out at Melita Stadium.

Having had such a great cup run and also winning both the MCS A & B grade Grand Finals made us favourites to also lift the cup. It was a massive blow then, that before the final it was announced that Michael Cunico had accepted a place at the prestigious AIS in Canberra. He would be unavailable to play in the final! If that wasn’t enough Michael Pffeifer accepted a job and was on the brink of leaving school as well. In the event the school refused to ‘sign him out’ until after the final which meant he remained a student at JPII long enough to play in the final!

One coincidence around this final was that the coach of that Lewisham side Maranko, many years later came to work alongside me at SPX. Something similar also happened when we defeated Ryde in an MCS final and then a few years later the coach of that side Craig Sharply turned up as coach of the St Joseph’s Hunters Hill side in a NSWCIS Final.

Christian Brothers Lewisham came from our sister competition the Metropolitan Catholic Colleges (MCC) ours being the Metropolitan Catholic Schools (MCS). Our intimate knowledge of Melita Stadium, having won our previous four finals there, probably gave us almost a home advantage. On the night with a big crowd in evidence, the game was very tense with both sides all out to avoid a mistake. It was no surprise then that at full time the result was an unresolved 0-0. Missing our cup talisman, Michael Cunico, meant it was time for a hero to stand up. We shouldn’t have worried because three season veteran Trent Worrall broke the deadlock early in extra time. Then leading 1-0 deep into the second period of extra time, Captain fantastic Adam Scarpin stormed forward to seal the win with a fine finish. We were NSWCCC champions for the first time, an achievement that gave us the ‘double’ having already lifted the MCS A Grade Grand Final trophy. The girls side also won the MCCS for a second successive season.

That 1995 Season had seen JPII have a fantastic sporting year. Football won four trophies while the Rugby League side won their MCS A Grade division. Add in the Rock Eisteddfod Open Final and one could see why the school was absolutely buzzing. https://youtu.be/rxqKmLLRkW4

‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 15 The end and a new beginning.

‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 15

The end and a new beginning.

When season 1996 came around I wasn’t to know it would be my fourth and final year at JPII. Living in Berowra and working in Marayong was a 80km round trip everyday! Fortunately, my last season at JPII was to be a successful one,  just like 1995.

Being involved in the NSWCCC Representative side was fantastic. Trent Worrall and Adam Scarpin were both in the squad as were the Carle brothers, Nick and Leo from Fairfield Patrician Brothers. As the football gods would have it I was later to coach their nephew Andre Carle, much later at SPX. Playing in the annual NSW All Schools tournament the side came through as Champions, a great achievement. As ever politics played a part and the tournament was made up of two NSWCHS sides, us the Catholic NSWCCC and independent school side NSWCIS.  Little did I realise at the time but the following year I’d actually be switching allegiances’ going over to the NSWCIS association. Even less predictable at the time was our achievement of also winning the NSW All Schools tournament with NSWCIS years later in 2015!

Working alongside Catholic stalwarts Bruce Baker, Dave Mamo and Mark DeVries, we put together a formidable side to win the Championship out at Valentine Park. Something that sticks in mind here was a key coaching change switching the talented Nick Carle from wing back to wide left midfield. Having watched him,  he was great going forward but struggled with both stamina and defensive intent. Having a defender behind gave him license to do what he did best. Nick later went to play for Sydney FC, Newcastle Jets Crystal Palace Bristol City and Australia. His brother Leo, who played more centrally in the midfield, was also I fine player but had a bit of a temper. Both went on to be good coaches.

A side story to these players was a pre-season JPII game back in 95’ out at Fairfield. The game was being played on some far flung paddock and I had no idea where we actually were! Being big MCS rivals the game started to get out of control. Several flare-ups occurred as I worried for our sides safety. The Carle Boys and their pals were not being reigned in by the coach Bruce Baker who was refereeing the game. Another scuffle was diffused by Michael Cunico,  who knew some of their squad. Then ten from time I’d seen enough even though  we were 3-2 up. I marched on to the field and said “Thanks Bruce” shaking his hand, “But we haven’t haven’t finished yet” said the surprised Fairfield coach. “We have” I said, turning to take the JPII boys off the field. To me, once again my Duty of Care took precedence. The MCS was always keenly contested but the only other similar incident took place down at Eastwood one afternoon. On this occasion,  Rugby League players watching from the sideline misinterpreted a bit of push and shove at the end coming on to start an all in brawl! This was tricky because trying to break it up, several Eastwood players wanted to punch my lights out. Fortunately some of our players stepped in. What stuck in my mind was an Eastwood bloke shouting “Why are you sticking up for a teacher?” Our blokes just came back with “Because we are!”. No harm done but it was a very uncomfortable walk back to my car parked a kilometre away.

At the start of the 1996 MCS campaign, Headmaster Michael Carr posed a straightforward question. “What is going to prevent you winning the MCS again?“. My answer wasn’t a difficult one to come up with. Always the optimist I answered, “We are missing one piece, an important one, a goalkeeper.” It was to my surprise that he just said, “Well go and find one, don’t your players know anyone outside of JPII?” I told him I’d work on it.

Over time it seems that a lot of the big successful League and Union schools have done their share of ‘recruiting’ players. Personally it was new to me. Quickly I pulled together a few of the senior players and asked if anyone knew a good goalkeeper. Jason Vella came up with an immediate solution. “My mate Bubba is a great keeper, he is a Hindu kid who goes to Mitchell State High in Blacktown.” I countered quickly with, “Ask him if he wants to come to JPII to play in goal for us”. So here we were, a Systemic Catholic Senior High School trying recruit a player from a Non-Catholic State school up the road. In truth I didn’t really have too much time to think about it because Jason came back to me quickly and said, “Bubba wants to come here but won’t pay School fees”. Who was I to argue? I went to the school office and told them to put Bubba’s name on the JPII waiting list. To my surprise the office called me a fortnight later saying, “Do you know someone called Bubba, he has a place to start at the school!”

Well the rest is history. Angatesh ‘Bubba’ Rao proved to a brilliant keeper. He played eleven games in the MCS Competition only conceding four goals in those games. Returning Captain Adam Scarpin, led the side brilliantly, fully deserving his call up to the NSW Schoolboy side. Trent Worrall had his third season in A Grade while Jason Vella also returned, his brother Brian had played left back in our original 1993 MCS winning team. Our last regular season game had been a shock 0-1 loss to Auburn. Up until then we had swept all before us. This loss didn’t prevent us from being Minor Premiers still winning it by several points. What it did do was help us focus. We were in another MCS Grand Final alongside our B Grade side who were also Minor Premiers in their competition. The semi-finals had been at Valentine Park, Glenwood. This was the headquarters of Football NSW, even though they had multiple pitches there were always a bit shifty when it came to bookings. You’d think you were playing on the main pitches when in reality you could be punted to the dreaded outside fields. Apparently at that time the NSW Association owned the surrounding land for as far as could be seen at Glenwood. This meant that FNSW were always comfortable and eventually able to build their super stadium with two Astro pitches and lovely grass field. For me, to be the scene 25 years later of probably my greatest coaching success with SPX,  winning the NSWCIS Cup. As mentioned earlier, the MCS Season 1996 was indeed a great one. Minor Premiers again with a record of seven wins, a draw and single defeat. Experienced players Worrall Waring Borg Vella and Captain Scarpin all went around again. Three stepped up from B Grade, Mancia, Longhurst and Makrypodis while newcomers Kishtoo and Galea also made the grade alongside Constantino and stylish centre back Adamcewicz. A young chap named David Beecroft was found guilty of family association and dispatched to fullback! We accounted for Emu Plains in the semi-final 2-0 with our best performance of the season. All this added up to another Grand Final at Melita Stadium alongside our B Grade who also made their Final as Minor Premiers. They won an exciting game 3-2 over Fairfield.

Our final against Holy Cross Ryde proved to be very tense, ending goal-less. Extra time came and passed. For the fourth time in two seasons we went to penalties, crowning the season off win a 

4-2 shootout win. Champions again! Working with our coaching team of Mark Campbell, Chris Wilson, Christine Dent  had proven a successful  combination.

Three MCS doubles in four seasons and a win in the Statewide NSWCCC Cup made it seven finals from seven at Melita. The JPII MCCS girls Side also picked up its third consecutive final win in 1996.

As it would eventuate, things were changing out at Marayong. The school was changing from a Senior High School to 7-12 and I took the opportunity to move closer to home at St Pius X College Chatswood for 1997. Little did I know it would the venue for an even greater football love story!

‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 16 Sliding door moments.

‘Drop ten, turn and Face.’ Quilty’s Football Yarns 16

Sliding door moments.

People often speak of ‘sliding door moments’ when events can go one of two ways. I had a sliding moment re-run when I got my job teaching at St Pius X College at the end of 1996.  John Paul II was undergoing massive change and I took the opportunity to look elsewhere. Back then jobs were advertised in the Sydney Morning Herald Saturday edition. I’d stuck my application in and was hopeful of a positive response. After a week or so, a letter arrived in the post box politely informing me that I had been unsuccessful in my application. I found out that Australians also had a version of ‘Dear John letters as well! Slightly disappointed I went back to my beloved JPII to rethink my next move. 

The etiquette of interviews and interviewing can be strange. So it was when I then went for an interview at another Catholic School out at Dural. I was keen to secure a permanent role so read up on the background of the school which was an Opus Dei college. The role was a History/Commerce  based one but in the interview it emerged that the school actually taught an ‘adjusted curriculum’ with certain historical events not being touched upon. Feeling the need to fit in around the conservative ethos of the college, I answered several questions with some pretty creative answers. 

Headmaster: “Steven, tell me what you would consider to be a major failing in yourself”.

Me: “A lot of people would see it as a big weakness of mine but I’m very traditional”.

Thus, people who know me well, would have been shocked to hear this exchange. However, the pressure to secure work as an immigrant often drives one to accept jobs teaching the health hustle or working with crazy Catholic extremists. This response I gave was exactly the stuff that that Headmaster wanted to hear. As I left the interview, the person behind the front desk said it would be a little while before I would receive an answer and would I like some printed prayers to take away with me? Thanking them for their kindness I said I had plenty of my own including the Stones classic, ‘Dear God, if I can’t get what I want, please help me get what I need’.

To my surprise, a few weeks after my ‘Dear John’ communication from St Pius X College, they were back advertising the same Business Studies / Economics role in the Sydney Morning Herald. Puzzled at this, I just happened to have a chance conversation with a fellow JPII staff member Mark McGinity. He revealed that he had in fact worked down at Chatswood for several years. Rather than be put off from reapplying he encouraged me strongly to write in again, only this time he would phone ahead and put a word in for me! This involved getting a ‘yellow post-it’ sticker placed on my CV to at least ensure an interview. Voila! I got an immediate phone call offering an interview. As is the way with buses turning up in two’s and three’s, I also got an Interview at Patrician Brothers Blacktown, back then it was a 7-10 feeder school to JPII. All this while still waiting a response from the Dural School. It transpired that the original job was offered to a chap named Chris Saltos. He had changed his mind after accepting and went to St Aloysius instead, leaving St Pius to go through the interview process once again. As fate would have it, I later became friends with Chris and was actually his boss out at HSC Business Studies marking. 

The Blacktown and Chatswood interviews dove-tailed perfectly. My morning at Patrician Brothers went well, they clearly liked my combination of Business, Economics and Football. I would happily have gone there but the attraction of Chatswood was a chance to reduce my traveling. Walking up the steps at St Pius X College suddenly brought back a memory because this in fact was the ‘St PLUS’ of my earliest Australian experiences when I was dropping off all those speculative resumes!

I remember quite clearly how the interview went and who was there. Deputy Jim Olsen, Curriculum Co-ordinator Margaret Vere and Principal Brother Paul Leary. Some people are natural comedians without actually realising it. Brother Paul was one such person. While the other two staff were trying to conduct a professional conversation, Brother Paul would exclaim, sometimes almost shout and take the interview off into regular side-tracks. Thus, when he asked why I was willing to come to St Pius X College I took a chance to impress with some numbers I’d researched earlier. I explained that by getting a job at his college I’d be saving myself 600 hours of driving a year. Feeling satisfied to have given a decent answer to his question, he immediately asked what I’d do with those hours. Off the top of my head I said that I’d dedicate 300 to my family and 300 to St Pius X College. Bang! He bashed his hand down on the table and turned to Margaret Vere and said, “I like this bloke, can we offer him the job now?”. Jim Olsen quickly jumped in with, “Not that we are offering you the job now but do you think you’d take it if it was offered?” I quickly replied with. “I went to Blacktown this morning and am also waiting for a reply from the Dural school, but if offered I would prefer this role at St Pius X College”. I drove off back home to Berowra happy I’d done my best and within 15 minutes of getting home, I got a phone call offering me the job. The next morning I called back to accept it. I never found out if I would have been offered the Patrician Brothers Blacktown role but interestingly Dural rang me a few days later offering ‘a friendly second interview with a view to offering me the job’. I thanked them profusely but had to decline their offer having accepted a job elsewhere. A bit of a near miss but things worked out well as I’m now in my twenty third year at St Pius X College. Chris Saltos often reminds me he helped me get the job when in fact I owe all the thanks to Mark McGinity, who eventually came back St Pius X himself!