SOCCER A DAY that started in disappointment ended in triumph for new Baxter head coach Kevin “Squizzy” Taylor on Saturday. In a classic David and Goliath tale State 4 Baxter defeated VPL1 Langwarrin in a dramatic finale to the 2024 Steve Wallace Cup at Lawton Park. Baxter became the fifth club to lift the trophy that commemorates a local football legend and the lowest ranked club to do so. But a half-hour before the 1pm start to the annual event Taylor could be heard bellowing his disapproval over the dressing room arrangement. “Bloody ridiculous!” he roared as he paced up…
Author: Craig MacKenzie
AFTER consulting participating clubs organisers have decided to change the format of the Steve Wallace Cup and have added the Steve Wallace Plate to the annual tournament to be held at Lawton Park on Saturday. Based on Football Victoria standings at the end of last season six teams will contest the Steve Wallace Cup and six teams will contest the Steve Wallace Plate. Langwarrin, Mornington, Peninsula Strikers, Skye United, Frankston Pines and Baxter will contest the Steve Wallace Cup. Somerville Eagles, Mount Martha, Mount Eliza, Rosebud, Seaford United and Langwarrin Bayside will contest the Steve Wallace Plate. In both the…
SOCCER LANGWARRIN has agreed terms with Japanese defender/midfielder Ryo Takahashi. The 23-year-old has been signed from current Singapore Premier League champion Albirex Niigata. Takahashi and his Niigata teammates denied ex-Langwarrin and Socceroo star Bailey Wright from celebrating a league title in his first season in Singapore as Wright’s club Lion City Sailors finished runner-up. Playing primarily at right back Takahashi made 19 appearances for Albirex Niigata last season scoring three goals and being credited with assists for two others. He became a free agent on 1 January and recently concluded successful negotiations with Langy businessman and major sponsor Greg Kilner.…
SOCCER KEVIN “Squizzy” Taylor is the new head coach of State 4 outfit Baxter. Taylor’s friend Stephen Fisher resigned from the role after one year in charge citing an impasse between club and coach that could not be resolved. In an interview in early September Fisher called for the club to move from an amateur to a semi-professional structure and said if the status quo remained then his future there was uncertain. “I kept making demands that this needs to change and that needs to change but it became clear that it wasn’t going to change,” Fisher said. “To put…
SOCCER ICON, pioneer, legend, stalwart – choose any one or choose all four for they apply in equal measure to 81-year-old Tony Hall. Once viewed by the sport’s establishment as a pariah for masterminding the birth of a breakaway football association Hall is now the most decorated football personality on the peninsula. He is a life member of Peninsula Strikers and the Bayside Football Association, recipient in 1985 of a Victoria 150th anniversary medal, holder of a certificate from FIFA issued in 2001 honouring his contribution to the sport and in 2010 was declared a Sporting Legend of the municipality…