YALLOURN SOCCER CLUB Barry Hill wrote: "Having been born in Yallourn Hospital in 1962 and been back numerous times before I was 7 (because my arm was constantly being dislocated after my brothers constantly "threw me into the turnbuckle" (our couch) while trying to imitate Mario Milano), I wanted to reach out to those of you who also grew up at this time and played for the great Yallourn Soccer club.
My first year was 1969 and the mighty U/8 reds record was 13 wins, 1 defeat, 88 goals for and two against. The coach was Mick Duke & Ernie McKinney. The team was Paul Brown, Garry White, myself, T D’Alterio, John Dougan, Michael Hutchinson, Murray Lyons, John Burke, David Curtis, Gary Plautz and Stephen Husquin. I remember clear as day the famous "pie nights", the "smell" of Maryvale pulp mill in the mornings prior to a game, my first pair of real soccer boots and brushing coal dust off my white shorts.
My mother diligently kept the newsletters that the coaches would put together after each match. I had them put into a scrap book that I have with me to this day. I have photo's of the teams I played in from 1969 through 1971. We made it into the UK "Scorcher" magazine as the first Australian team to be the "Scorcher Team of the Week". Anybody remember "Billy's Boots" or "Bobby of the Blues" which were the cartoon strips in this magazine? I have that magazine!
In 1970 we won a regional tournament in Melbourne; because of this we played a combined team from Karingal at half time of Moscow Dynamo vs Victoria at Olympic Park. This was a very big deal, the team was Brian Coyle, Trevor Langmaid, Shane Plautz, Paul Brown, myself, John Dougan, Stephen Husquin, Mark Husquin, Ian Nerrie (Capt), Murray Lyons, Paul Burke, David Curtis & Michael Hutchinson.
Finally, in 1971 the U/10's won the league when we played 27 games, won 27, scored 164 goals and only had 6 against!! This was written up in the SEC magazine with all players, with the jobs their fathers had with the SEC. In 1972 x 3 of our team myself (Capt), Trevor Langmaid & Wayne Jones were chosen to represent the Latrobe Valley in an U/10 squad to play teams in Sydney. This was a highlight for me as a small kid growing up in Yallourn.
In 1972 I moved to Castlemaine in Central Victoria and continued to play for a while in Bendigo, but unlike Yallourn, this part of Victoria was very much an Aussie Rules place.
I now live in California working in high tech and had the privilege of a lifetime 3 years ago by attending the World Cup in Germany and got to see the Aussies play Brazil, a real thrill for me. I coach my little girl and boy in soccer now and it has remained my love and passion to this day. I write a "blog" after each game in the same style as the coaches did in the Yallourn Soccer Club newsletter and the families just love it, I encourage the parents to print these out and keep them in a scrap book for their kids!
Without the commitment and dedication of the parents and coaches of the Yallourn Soccer Club circa 1969 to 1971, this love affair with soccer would probably not be the case. I am sure that some of these wonderful people are no longer with us, but for those of you who remember this time in our lives as fondly as I do, please let me know. You can contact me through Julie or else contact me on barryglennhill@yahoo.com"