At “Not The Footy Show” we have claimed on many occasions that the standard of football in the Hyundai A league this season was below that of previous seasons, with the exception of a few games mainly involving Brisbane Roar and Perth Glory; something for which we have been criticised, but everyone is entitled to an opinion.
The news that four A league clubs have awarded their goalkeepers with their Player of the year awards would tend to back up the statement. It is very rare for a goalkeeper to win a player of the year award, and usually it is those teams who are struggling at the bottom of the table who may see their number one take out such an award.
However, that is not taking anything away from those ‘keepers who picked up awards, as a member of the goalkeepers union we are very happy to see such an acknowledgment.
Ivan Necevski was a surprise winner at Sydney FC as he only played 9 games for the club and spent most of the season as understudy to Liam Reddy, but as goalkeeping coach Zeljko Kalac stated ‘how many of those were quality?’ One would assume all of them to poll enough votes to take out the award.
Clint Bolton picked up the award at Melbourne Heart, who made the finals , Eugene Galekovic at Adelaide United and Ante Covic at Melbourne Victory, where he was constantly exposed by a very pours defence.
With Perth Glory not believed to be having their awards night until a very late June 13, who knows Danny Vukovic who kept ten clean sheets during the season could well also be a contender to take the total to five goalkeepers winning the top awards at their clubs. We will just have to wait and see…
The standard of football on the park may have been patchy, but once again Australia has proved to be a great breeding ground for quality goalkeepers, and all of these men deserve to take a bow for giving the A league a helping hand with their quality and class.
