Motions

Toure, Mr A.H.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (16:41): I move:

That this council—

1. Acknowledges and congratulates the Adelaide United Football Club on winning an unprecedented three Football Federation of Australia Cup competitions at Hindmarsh Stadium on Wednesday 23 October 2019; and

2. Congratulates Adelaide United Player Al Hassan Toure, a refugee from Guinea, on winning the Mark Viduka Medal as man of the match.

It is thrilling to watch the development of a rising star in sport, especially so when that young star has a stirring backstory. In this case it is Al Hassan Toure, a shy 19-year-old refugee from Guinea in Africa, who has made a stunning professional football debut with the Adelaide United Football Club.

Toure stamped his prodigious class on the Reds' emphatic 4-0 victory in the final of the Football Federation of Australia Cup, Australia's equivalent of England's Football Association Cup, in which every member club from the prestige premier league through to the lowest divisions gets the chance to play off for that famous trophy at Wembley.

Unlike the FA Cup, our own FFA Cup is still in its infancy, yet has proven to be a huge success with clubs from around the country competing against the professionals from the A league. The competition, like the FA Cup, does produce surprise results. For instance, in the same year that Adelaide United won its first A league title in 2016 it was eliminated in the first round of the FFA Cup by Queensland's Redlands United. At the time it was considered one of the biggest boilovers in the competition's short history.

The Reds have now won the FFA Cup an unprecedented three times: the very first competition in 2014, in 2018 and in 2019, while finishing runners up in 2017. They virtually have a mortgage on the trophy and, after its third success, get to keep it in their impressive trophy cabinet that includes one champion's title in 2015-16 and two premier plates, 2005-06 and 2015-16, that are awarded to the A league side that finishes top at the normal end of the home and away season, and is separate to the finals play offs. They were runners up in the 2008 Asian Football Confederation's champions league series, which is the equivalent of Europe's champions league and which led the club to the prestigious FIFA Club World Cup, where they finished fifth and won the fair play award.

Adelaide United has a reputation of producing talented players, who then go on to further their careers in clubs overseas and/or are selected for one of our international football teams. Only last year I spoke in this chamber about Awer Mabil, also a Kenyan refugee to our country who rose through the ranks of the club, went on to play professionally overseas and is now an automatic selection for the Socceroos, where he continues to impress with his silky skills and goal-scoring ability.

Al Hassan Toure is following in Awer's footsteps. It has been an extraordinary 12 months for the young man who arrived here with his mother, Mawa, and five younger siblings when he was four. A year ago, he was at home watching the Reds win their second FFA cup on TV. In August this year, he burst onto the scene in his first senior start in an FFA Cup Round of 32 clash with the Melbourne Knights, in which he scored his first goal in a 5-2 win. He followed that up with another two goals in the club's 3-2 cup win at Brisbane Olympic.

In the final at Hindmarsh, before 15,000 fans, Toure opened the scoring and then ran rings around the Melbourne City defence to win the Mark Viduka Medal as man of the match. It drew him to tears of joy, while the Reds fans were in raptures over their new hero. He is a product of the Croydon Kings in South Australia's Premier League and went on to the Reds NPL side, where he played 38 games since 2017.

Former Reds star striker and now director of football at the club, Bruce Djite, spotted him and immediately recommended that coach Gertjan Verbeek add him to the senior playing list. This teenage sensation has a knack for scoring goals, both on the field and in his personal life. His father, Amara, is Liberian and played football across Africa as a semiprofessional to help feed his large family.

Toure says that his mother does not like going to games to watch him because she gets nervous that he will be injured or will miss a goal. However, he acknowledges the hardship she went through for the family and dedicates his goals to his proud mum, who would often walk the kids to school and take him to play and train. He says that his mother is always in tears when she sees him in action on TV. His grandmother, back in Guinea, also follows his progress and is extremely proud of him.

His father is his inspiration, and he says that he follows his dad's well-heeled advice of never being afraid to take risks when he is playing. He says that trying something new and improvising is what makes the best players—and who could argue with that? Talent runs deep in the family: two of his younger brothers, Mohamed and Musa, are excelling in the Football Federation of South Australia's youth development programs.

Toure represents a remarkable rise from rags to riches—certainly in a philosophical sense, at this stage. He is now creating enormous interest in football circles, both here and abroad. Fox Sports pundit Andy Harper says that the A-league has not seen a player like him. His teammates say that nothing surprises them anymore, and they all expect him to score when he plays. While his future seems assured, all that needs to be decided is where he will play his international football. It will be a huge decision for this youngster.

He is eligible to play for Guinea, where he was born as a refugee, and in Liberia, the homeland of his mother and father. Making that call will be even more difficult because he has already caught the eye of Liberia's president, George Weah, an international football legend in his own right who made his name with some of the world's biggest clubs in England, France and Italy. He is revered at the A.C. Milan club. At 52, President George Weah still likes a kick and played his last international for Liberia—a friendly—only last year. He can be quite a persuasive figure.

Al Hassan Toure, a Muslim, is representative of the changing face of immigration to this country, where we openly welcome people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. Toure's success is indicative of the wonderful opportunities that Australia presents to new arrivals. For a 19 year old, he has a very impressive and mature mindset and is extremely grateful for what his family now has after a long period of uncertainty.

Therefore, it is no surprise that he wants to be a role model for others who come from similar disadvantaged backgrounds and believes that nothing is impossible when you reach for it. I congratulate Adelaide United and Al Hassan Toure on their recent success and wish them the very best for season 2019-20 and beyond. I commend this motion to the Legislative Council.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.