SOCCER MORNINGTON will celebrate the life of long-serving team manager Tony McKay on Friday when it takes on Manningham United Blues at Dallas Brooks Park. McKay was 77 when he died at the Alfred Hospital on Sunday 15 March after collapsing a week earlier prior to a practice match against Caroline Springs George Cross. Friday’s commemorative event starts at 6.30pm and the Tony McKay memorial will be unveiled at 6.45pm. The match kicks off at 7.30pm and Mornington’s facebook page last week invited the family and friends of the much-loved figure and the local football community to attend. “Tony would…
Author: Craig MacKenzie
SOCCER WHEN Jason Nowakowski isn’t enforcing public health directives he’s policing the right side of Skye United’s senior team. He’s in his 10th year with Victoria Police and 2021 will be his fifth year at Skye Recreation Reserve. Nowakowski, 32, is married with a three-year-old son and is one of the few senior players in the local area never to have played as a junior. His playing career kicked off as a 14-year-old at Hailebury College and he was 18 when he joined his first club Endeavour United in Provisional League ranks in 2006. He spent a season in the…
SOCCER FOOTBALL Victoria faces a backlash from clubs over the calculation of player registration fees. The state government has been drawn into the controversy as Minister for Community Sport Ros Spence has been made aware of what is fast looming as a major confrontation between clubs and the sport’s governing body. FV’s player registration process involves the participation of both players and clubs. The first step is for a player to register to play with a club on the online Play Football site but the status of that registration is pending until the club logs on to that site and…
SOCCER MORNINGTON has clinched the signature of NPL scoring legend Milos Lujic. The 30-year-old has dominated Golden Boot honours at club and league levels throughout the decade and next year he’ll be wearing Seagulls’ colours as the Dallas Brooks outfit builds towards an assault on the State 1 South-East championship. Lujic has a massive profile in Victorian soccer. Starting with Northcote in 2013 he won his first NPL Golden Boot award then for the next three seasons after his switch to South Melbourne he made that award his own. He has won NPL championships, an NPL premiership, a Dockerty Cup…
SOCCER FEW players have confronted personal trauma and overcome such enormous hurdles as Langwarrin left-back Jaiden Madafferi. The 21-year-old was just seven on 5 November 2006 when his father Peter, 44, died suddenly. Peter Madafferi was president of Carrum United, the forerunner of Skye United. He left behind Jaiden, older brother Anthony and their mother Karyn. “It was hard because my brother and I were both young,” said Jaiden Madafferi. “Mum has brought us up to where we are now and done it all herself. “All credit to her – she has been phenomenal.” Jaiden had started playing as a…