This was the first time that Australia had sent an under 16 team to Israel. All the players bar Joal were player from the Estern Sunurns Hakoah Futsal Club. The players were very good coming off an undefeated futsal season in Australia. However in a 16 and under competition they were 13 and 14 year olds. It was going to be a battle of skill versus size and speed. The participants included Argentina, Brazil, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, South Africa, & Turkey. In the end Israel proved to be to strong winning against Argentina 5 – 1 with South Africa claiming the Bronze Medal.

 

 

2017 U16 Tour of Israel

 

2017 Maccabiah Under 16’s

 

 

This was the culmination of a two year programme that included 130 training sessions, two special tournaments, two seasons in state league and two tours to Thailand. We sent our most skillful team yet. It was coached by ex Futsalroo Simon Keith (Simo), and managed by Daniel Sharp (Shark Nado) and headlined by two Futsalroos in Jarod Basger and Jordan Mundell. After touring Thailand we headed straight to Pre Camp in Haifa. There we had a welcome ceremony, hosted by the mayor of Haifa, and a trip to the ancient city of Acre. Jordan, Jarod and Robbie then gave a talk to the under 16 Futsal team and handed out their shirts to them. The seniors then left Haifa via a ceremony, marking the terrible tragedy in 1997, where 4 Australian athletes died and 20 were injured when a bridge leading into the opening ceremony collapsed. The team then checked into their Hotel on the Tel Aviv beach front. This was followed by the 2017 Opening ceremony in Jerusalem and then it was “Go time”.

The 20th Maccabiah had 10,000 Athletes from 85 Nations. In the Futsal competiteion we had teams from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Cuba, France, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, Mexico, Sweden, USA

 

As we were ranked 4, we were put in the pool with Brazil. As only one team from each pool moved into the Grand Final it meant that we had to beat Brazil when we played them or we would be relegated to the bronze medal play off.

 

 

2017 Maccabiah Open Men

 

2017 men’s Tour of Israel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thailand in June 2017 was part of our preparation or Israel.  We had left Australia prior to the rest of the Australian Athletes, we were to meet up with them again when we flew out of Thailand.

This was the first time in years that we had assembled our whole squad as Jarrod Bassger was now based in England.

In Thailand we were playing against professional players in the Thailand National competition.  First up was CAT futsal Club. The next day we played the Port Futsal Club.  One of Thailand’s best teams.  It had 5 current Thai national played and 8 ex-players, at the time that we played them they were coming second in the competition. It was going to be by far our toughest game.   After this game we had a small break where we watched our next opposition play a game at their home venue.  The noise, the drums the singing and the futsal were extraordinary.  Our coach decided to hit golf ball on the adjoining driving range instead of watching the game, it was his loss as the game was brilliant. But boy can Simo hit those golf balls.  The next day we played the Port team and then the following day we played our final game against a University team.  We arrived an hour late to the game thanks to the insane traffic in Bangkok, but luckily they still wished to play us.  If ever you want to play on the 15^th floor of a skyscraper, amazing views,  but a little disconcerting, then this is the team to play.   We went straight from that game, after a shower, to the airport and met the rest of the Australian Maccabiah team and joined them on their flight to Israel.  Note to the next manager – After playing don’t fly straight out to Israel.  Wet playing uniforms add 20kgs to your luggage.

 

 

 

 

This was a quick trip to Thailand. It was designed to get our team acclimatised to travel, heat, chaos, to strange foods, and people speaking a different language. We were hosted by the Thai Futsal federation. They provided us two buses, a liaison officer called “Cartooni” and organised our opponents. Two of the Maccabiah squad were unable to go. Jarod Basger was in England and Jordan Mundell had work. As a result they were replaced by two youth players from the Club. James Reed and Lincoln Charles

 

 

 

 
 

 

Returning as defending European Champions we were had high expectations. However we were a fairly new team headed by Jarod Basger and Jordan Mundell and coached by the Ex Australian Futsalroos Coach Steve Knight.  Although we had trained for a year this was a team in transition the old players had retired and a whole bunch of new ones had joined. 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

After a brilliant two year build up, where we had won the inaugural F League (Australian National Competition) two Super league Competitions, the New Zealand National League competition and were the European Maccabiah Champions, we entered this competition full of confidence. However there were some great teams from Israel, Brazil, Russia, France, Argentina, Great Britain and Germany so we had our work cut out for us. This would probably be the last chance for some of our older players.  The squad had been strengthened with the inclusion of Futsalroos player Jarrod Basger and a few young guns in Jono Barzel and Dylan Basger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After winning the F League we won entry into the Asian Futsal Championship. Or rather we won entry into the competition that would allow us to enter the Asian Futsal Championship. It was the first time that we any Australian team had been invited to this competition. There were a number of pools and you had to win your pool to progress. We came up against the Vietnamese Champions (and eventual winners) and the Chinese Champions. After two incredibly tight games we were eliminated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are not quite sure how we got invited to this tournament.  We have a sneaky suspicion that the organisers thought we were Tel Aviv Maccabi a professional football Club from Israel, not an amateur Club from Australia which trained out of a local high school gym.  Never the less we were going to use this tournament as a buildup to the 2009 Israel Maccabiah.  We were really looking forward to playing the best player in the world at the time Ricardinho.  Sometimes you should be careful of what you wish for.  Other opponents included Angola, Benfica, Sporting Lisbon

 

 

 

First European Games for Australia. The rules stated that you had to win your pool and qualify 1st if you wished to be playing for Gold. The top country in each of the 4 pools would have a semi final/final amongst themselves (1st to 4th places). Same with the 2nd in each group (5th-8th places). Same for 3rd and 4th places (16 team in total). We finished second in our pool relegating us to the 5th to 8th placings. Although we didnt make the top 4, this was however the competition that made the other countries start taking note of the Australian Futsal side.

 

 

 

 

Our very first overseas tour.  we thought that we new a lot about futsal but we didn’t.  Being the first tour everything was new.  The boys had an amazing time, visiting historic sites and playing games.  we were woefully undermanned and when one player broke his leg the coach stepped up and took to the field.  We came away with a burning desire to win a medal and an understanding of how good our opposition were.  It took many years to win the medal but as with most endeavors the journey was almost as important as the destination.