Post by paoktzi on Apr 13, 2011 14:01:43 GMT 10
When the ‘lollipop kid’ also known as Eddie Krncevic, Graham Arnold, Frank Farina and Robbie Slater, amongst others, went overseas to ply their trade who would have thought it would lead to a veritable exodus of young Australian talent heading over the waters to fill and star in the ranks of some of the best league’s in the world?
Fast forward a short time and Mark Bosnich becomes one of the biggest names in the English top flight with Aston Villa, Slater wins the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers along with a certain Harry Kewell making his name at Leeds United without forgetting the great Joe Marsden and with, perhaps, the exception of Kewell, nearly all have returned to Australia and again graced the fields where they once played as kids and learnt the skills that would take them to foreign climes.
Many others didn’t make the top tier of football in European leagues but have been able to enjoy the professional game and all the trappings that go along with it including the knowledge of full-time training procedures and regimes. That often, in the past, far exceeded what we had on home soil and they bring with them the wealth of industry the lifestyle of a modern day professional footballer has to offer that has often been under-utilised here but still the funny thing, is they return home and many put back into the sport by playing out their careers with their former clubs or in their former leagues or by bringing that knowledge into the managerial side and/or coaching clinics to help the next crop of youngsters to hopefully realise their dreams.
Of course, it’s not always about being the best but being the best you can be, being true to yourself and putting in 100% every game, every training session and though not always becoming the household name of some, enjoying the moments as they remain all too fleeting for players.
To set the scene for this article we need to go back to the old National Soccer League and the 1998/99 season in particular when the newly formed Northern Spirit FC came into the competition and a supposed rag-tag assortment of players was gathered to represent a side that no-one gave much credence to, but what a season it turned out to be, especially for a young, gangly, thin and, occasionally, spotty youth by the name of Paul Henderson, a quietly spoke man, modest to the extreme but with a charismatic smile and full of youthful exuberance.
Brought to the club as cover for first choice goalkeeper Peter Blazincic and John (JP) Perosh, a true gentleman on and off the field, the likelihood of the 21-year old Henderson getting a game outside of the reserves was remote but as ever in football a bizarre quirk of fate was to render this assumption wrong on so many levels when both Blazincic and Perosh were injured and Henderson was to take his place between the sticks in Spirit’s inaugural NSL match, a home game against Sydney Olympic in which he played against his current coach Peter Tsekenis, but more of that later.
Friday, 9th October 1998, a sultry evening and North Sydney Oval is a swarming mass of people eager to see what was on offer, the NSL record crowd decimated as 18,985 clicked through the turnstiles with several thousands locked out when Hendo is given the news he is in the starting eleven. The decision left as late as possible so nerves were kept as low key as could be although several of us involved at the club knew this a few days prior but could say nothing to the quietly spoken lad and when announced to say the cheeky grin became broader as the face got paler would be an understatement.
Although the match was lost 2-0 with Mark Rudan, now playing with Sydney United in the NSW Premier League this season, receiving his marching orders, it was a certain Peter Tsekenis who headed a Robbie Slater effort off the line at full stretch that was the catalyst for the result but no-one could fault the performance of the man between the sticks and from day one he was to become a crowd favourite, along with his delightful mother who still goes and watches him play almost every game, and the only ever present in that roller-coaster campaign.
He still rates this night as one of the highlights of his career: “It’s a tough one to answer so I’d probably say it’s yet to come but obviously signing my first professional contract with Northern Spirit is up there and your first contract is always something that sticks in the mind but signing my first overseas contract (Bradford City) is significant too but that night at North Sydney Oval is something special and a night I will always remember.”
Catching up prior to Sydney Olympic’s derby game loss against Sutherland Sharks at Seymour Shaw Park in round 3 and thoughts turn to being back in the ‘Shire’ which is where he played his early football as a kid and still very close to home but would it add any extra impetus to the evening?
“Obviously the three points is the reason we are here but it’s funny sometimes that you seem to end up where you started and being a Shire boy I suppose there is that extra little bit of feeling going in to the match but it’s the result we’re after in any game so those thoughts are put to one side.
“It is nice that I live little more than five minutes away from this ground so it’s a bonus not to have to do the travelling as you do for some games or when you play in the top flight or overseas,” he chuckles.
Henderson returned to Australia to take up a position with North Queensland Fury in the Gay Leaguebut that segment of his career has been dealt with elsewhere with no need to re-hash old news but last season was spent with Central Coast Mariners where he was reunited with Graham Arnold and Phil Moss but spent the majority of the time as cover for the custodian and although many may say he should have taken the field in the Grand Final against Brisbane Roar, the outcome may have been no different so dwelling on the what ifs serves no purpose but one thing is for sure and that is Henderson is still ambitious and wants to play at the highest level for as long as possible: “You want to play for as long as you can but when you’re starting out you don’t think about where it will take you to be honest because you’re just thinking about the game you’re about to play but if you’re lucky and the breaks go your way the rest takes care of itself.”
Moving on to his role with Sydney Olympic, where he spent some time last season also, and the usual question to be asked is who is impressing in the side?
“It’s early days of course and all the lads are playing well but Alex Smith has scored five in three games up until now and is threatening in front of goal and playing very well and a young guy called David Gullo on the left who is doing very well also and is a promising prospect but to actually pinpoint anyone is a hard thing to do and it’s about the team and not the individual and that’s how we’re approaching the games.”
Speaking earlier about playing against Peter Tsekenis who has always been a gentleman off the pitch but a tigerishly passionate player on it, how is he as a coach?
“Peter’s a really cool guy, very pleasant and gets his point across very well.
“Even at training he just wants to win, he’s always going at it and gives 100%, that’s the kind of guy he is and that enthusiasm rubs off on the players and he takes that into his coaching role.”
He has filled out physically in the right way and the agility and reflexes are sharper than ever along with positional sense that only years of experience can bring with the hair being only ever so slightly shorter than when it all began with Northern Spirit but those are the only changes.
Paul Henderson is a humble, quietly spoken man with that charismatic smile who doesn’t give too many interviews and I can only thank him for his time and patience.
Here I wanted to get an insight into the player and his team and not delve into other areas but, perhaps at a later date, we can sit down and do so in greater detail.
It would probably take a book to do so but maybe, perhaps when the time is right sometime but until then I feel we’ll be seeing a lot more of Hendo and probably more so in the Gay Leagueor further a field and in that, we wish him the very best.
-By Micky Brock
Fast forward a short time and Mark Bosnich becomes one of the biggest names in the English top flight with Aston Villa, Slater wins the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers along with a certain Harry Kewell making his name at Leeds United without forgetting the great Joe Marsden and with, perhaps, the exception of Kewell, nearly all have returned to Australia and again graced the fields where they once played as kids and learnt the skills that would take them to foreign climes.
Many others didn’t make the top tier of football in European leagues but have been able to enjoy the professional game and all the trappings that go along with it including the knowledge of full-time training procedures and regimes. That often, in the past, far exceeded what we had on home soil and they bring with them the wealth of industry the lifestyle of a modern day professional footballer has to offer that has often been under-utilised here but still the funny thing, is they return home and many put back into the sport by playing out their careers with their former clubs or in their former leagues or by bringing that knowledge into the managerial side and/or coaching clinics to help the next crop of youngsters to hopefully realise their dreams.
Of course, it’s not always about being the best but being the best you can be, being true to yourself and putting in 100% every game, every training session and though not always becoming the household name of some, enjoying the moments as they remain all too fleeting for players.
To set the scene for this article we need to go back to the old National Soccer League and the 1998/99 season in particular when the newly formed Northern Spirit FC came into the competition and a supposed rag-tag assortment of players was gathered to represent a side that no-one gave much credence to, but what a season it turned out to be, especially for a young, gangly, thin and, occasionally, spotty youth by the name of Paul Henderson, a quietly spoke man, modest to the extreme but with a charismatic smile and full of youthful exuberance.
Brought to the club as cover for first choice goalkeeper Peter Blazincic and John (JP) Perosh, a true gentleman on and off the field, the likelihood of the 21-year old Henderson getting a game outside of the reserves was remote but as ever in football a bizarre quirk of fate was to render this assumption wrong on so many levels when both Blazincic and Perosh were injured and Henderson was to take his place between the sticks in Spirit’s inaugural NSL match, a home game against Sydney Olympic in which he played against his current coach Peter Tsekenis, but more of that later.
Friday, 9th October 1998, a sultry evening and North Sydney Oval is a swarming mass of people eager to see what was on offer, the NSL record crowd decimated as 18,985 clicked through the turnstiles with several thousands locked out when Hendo is given the news he is in the starting eleven. The decision left as late as possible so nerves were kept as low key as could be although several of us involved at the club knew this a few days prior but could say nothing to the quietly spoken lad and when announced to say the cheeky grin became broader as the face got paler would be an understatement.
Although the match was lost 2-0 with Mark Rudan, now playing with Sydney United in the NSW Premier League this season, receiving his marching orders, it was a certain Peter Tsekenis who headed a Robbie Slater effort off the line at full stretch that was the catalyst for the result but no-one could fault the performance of the man between the sticks and from day one he was to become a crowd favourite, along with his delightful mother who still goes and watches him play almost every game, and the only ever present in that roller-coaster campaign.
He still rates this night as one of the highlights of his career: “It’s a tough one to answer so I’d probably say it’s yet to come but obviously signing my first professional contract with Northern Spirit is up there and your first contract is always something that sticks in the mind but signing my first overseas contract (Bradford City) is significant too but that night at North Sydney Oval is something special and a night I will always remember.”
Catching up prior to Sydney Olympic’s derby game loss against Sutherland Sharks at Seymour Shaw Park in round 3 and thoughts turn to being back in the ‘Shire’ which is where he played his early football as a kid and still very close to home but would it add any extra impetus to the evening?
“Obviously the three points is the reason we are here but it’s funny sometimes that you seem to end up where you started and being a Shire boy I suppose there is that extra little bit of feeling going in to the match but it’s the result we’re after in any game so those thoughts are put to one side.
“It is nice that I live little more than five minutes away from this ground so it’s a bonus not to have to do the travelling as you do for some games or when you play in the top flight or overseas,” he chuckles.
Henderson returned to Australia to take up a position with North Queensland Fury in the Gay Leaguebut that segment of his career has been dealt with elsewhere with no need to re-hash old news but last season was spent with Central Coast Mariners where he was reunited with Graham Arnold and Phil Moss but spent the majority of the time as cover for the custodian and although many may say he should have taken the field in the Grand Final against Brisbane Roar, the outcome may have been no different so dwelling on the what ifs serves no purpose but one thing is for sure and that is Henderson is still ambitious and wants to play at the highest level for as long as possible: “You want to play for as long as you can but when you’re starting out you don’t think about where it will take you to be honest because you’re just thinking about the game you’re about to play but if you’re lucky and the breaks go your way the rest takes care of itself.”
Moving on to his role with Sydney Olympic, where he spent some time last season also, and the usual question to be asked is who is impressing in the side?
“It’s early days of course and all the lads are playing well but Alex Smith has scored five in three games up until now and is threatening in front of goal and playing very well and a young guy called David Gullo on the left who is doing very well also and is a promising prospect but to actually pinpoint anyone is a hard thing to do and it’s about the team and not the individual and that’s how we’re approaching the games.”
Speaking earlier about playing against Peter Tsekenis who has always been a gentleman off the pitch but a tigerishly passionate player on it, how is he as a coach?
“Peter’s a really cool guy, very pleasant and gets his point across very well.
“Even at training he just wants to win, he’s always going at it and gives 100%, that’s the kind of guy he is and that enthusiasm rubs off on the players and he takes that into his coaching role.”
He has filled out physically in the right way and the agility and reflexes are sharper than ever along with positional sense that only years of experience can bring with the hair being only ever so slightly shorter than when it all began with Northern Spirit but those are the only changes.
Paul Henderson is a humble, quietly spoken man with that charismatic smile who doesn’t give too many interviews and I can only thank him for his time and patience.
Here I wanted to get an insight into the player and his team and not delve into other areas but, perhaps at a later date, we can sit down and do so in greater detail.
It would probably take a book to do so but maybe, perhaps when the time is right sometime but until then I feel we’ll be seeing a lot more of Hendo and probably more so in the Gay Leagueor further a field and in that, we wish him the very best.
-By Micky Brock
