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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-11-11 Daily Xml
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Football Federation South Australia Awards

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for Little Para.

Mr ODENWALDER (Little Para) (15:35): Thank you, ma'am. I beg your pardon, Deputy Speaker. 'Ma'am' is The Queen, I understand, but I digress. I want to start by noting that the Football Federation of Australia CEO, David Gallop, will be in Adelaide on Thursday this week to engage stakeholders and the community as part of the Whole of Football Plan consultation process. This plan, for those who do not know, aims to improve all levels of soccer from grassroots to elite and eventually make soccer the biggest and most popular game in Australia. I cannot believe it is not already.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Maybe.

The Hon. S.W. Key: For women and men?

Mr ODENWALDER: For women and men, obviously. They are looking at the whole show, including elite player and coach development, community football for boys and girls, facilities development, the national competitions, and commercial enterprises. I wish David Gallop and the FFA the best of luck with this consultation. It will be held at the Office for Recreation and Sport on Thursday, so you can contact the Office for Recreation and Sport if you are interested in going.

Members will already know of my passion for grassroots soccer, and I have used this place on more than one occasion to brag about my own son's achievements, so a few weeks ago I was pleased to make him jealous and represent the Premier at the 2014 Celebration of Football, which is the FFSA's annual awards night. It was a pretty swanky black tie affair at the Entertainment Centre which celebrated the achievements of our best and most successful young soccer players as well as their coaches, umpires and importantly the club volunteers.

I was delighted to be seated with, among other people, Michael Petrillo, CEO of Adelaide United; Peter Peppin, CEO of Whyalla City Council; Bill Boehm, Administrator, Roxby council; Judge Rauf Soulio; and Morry Bailes from the Law Society. I was particularly pleased to meet local soccer royalty Ross Aloisi, and I took the opportunity to take a selfie with Ross and send it back to Jimmy before I put it on Facebook obviously, to make him doubly jealous.

All the people I mentioned before have an interest in one way or another in the success of soccer as a code in this state and, of course, they all share my view that it is not only a beautiful game but one of the best ways for kids—boys and girls—to spend their time. It has to be said at the outset, as much as I would like to go on about the achievements of northern suburbs clubs and Jimmy's current club, Adelaide City, the clear standout winner on the night was the Croydon Kings Rocco Visconte, who was awarded the Sergio Melta Medal. I should point out at this point that as I go on I will be saying lots of names and mispronouncing them.

Rocco Visconte was awarded the Sergio Melta Medal, voted on by his peers and professionals. Rocco was named Man of the Match following the 2014 SA National Premier League Grand Final and was also awarded the inaugural Marcellina Player of the Year and included in the South Australian National Premier League Team of the Year.

I will quickly go through some of the other achievers on the night. On top of Rocco Visconte's achievements, Croydon Kings also produced the Peter Nikolich SA National Premier League Goal Keeper of the Year in Nicholas Munro. Matthew Pelizzari from Adelaide Olympic was awarded the Les Avory trophy for goalkeeping in the state league. MetroStars' Ivan Karlovic won the Martyn Crook Award, which is the SA National Premier League Coach of the Year.

The South Australia National Premier League Team of the Year was also named. This is 11 players voted on by the Premier League coaches to create a kind of dream team in recognition of their efforts. They were Nicholas Munro, as goalkeeper; Paul Pezos and Ricardo Da Silva from West Adelaide; Allan Welsh and Rocco Visconte from Croydon Kings; Nicholas Bucco, Matthew Halliday and Joel Allwright from Adelaide City; Perry Mitris from MetroStars; Shaun Harvey from Campbelltown City; and Alex Mullen from Para Hills Knights.

MetroStars' Stefan Cali was named the John Aloisi Rising Star and Perry Mitris, also from MetroStars, was awarded the Golden Boot Award for his 22 goals throughout the season. James Skeffington, from Port Adelaide Pirates, was awarded the Bob Telfer Medal, which is the SANPL State League Player of the Year. The Pirates' head coach, Derek Hall, was awarded the NPL State League Coach of the Year after leading his side to become the 2014 NPL State League Champions and gaining promotion to the Premier League next year.

On the women's side of the ledger, Daniela de Bartolo from Adelaide City Football Club was awarded the Shirley Brown Premier League Player of the Year for the women's competition, just ahead of Ruth Wallace from rival team West Adelaide. W-League Lady Reds player Dylan Holmes took home the Rising Star award in the women's competition. Also in the women's competition, Kelly Barltrop from Para Hills was awarded the Women's Premier League Goalkeeper of the Year, and Elise Garlick from Sturt Marion earned the Women's Premier League Golden Boot.

It was a particularly moving part of the evening when Adelaide Cobras supporter and volunteer Freda Murphy was presented with a well-deserved Volunteer of the Year award and made one of the more spontaneous and, it has to be said, inspiring speeches of the night.

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