Club in focus: Old Carey Soccer

Boroondara Carey Eagles Football Club

Umberto Mecchi Board Member of Boroondara Carey Eagles and current Carey parent

After three consecutive State League Championship wins, the Boroondara Carey Eagles Football Club will be promoted to State League Division 1 in 2020. They clinched the competition title in emphatic style with a 7–1 win over North Caulfield, finishing the season with a total of 52 points. It seems like only yesterday when Boroondara Carey Eagles Football Club’s Senior Mens Team won the coveted State League Division 4 title in 2017. This led to their promotion to the State League Division 3 in 2018, where they once again won the league title, resulting in a further promotion to State League Division 2 in 2019. This level and speed of success is extremely rare in the Victorian Soccer Leagues. We often hear the old adage that success of this nature is ‘a real team effort’. The success of Boroondara Carey Eagles has been underpinned by a range of individuals that are an intrinsic part of the broader Carey community. Leading the charge is Manny Koutroulis, Staff Member in Charge of Soccer at Carey, who has coached the Senior Men throughout this period of remarkable success. Manny brings a wealth of experience to Carey soccer, having coached at the highest levels within Carey and the broader Victorian soccer community for over 20 years. Manny’s leadership and focus places a heavy emphasis on the development of talent pathways for Carey soccer – so much so that it has inspired and attracted many past Carey students who were previously coached by him to join to the Club, contributing to its recent success. On-field success is not possible without quality off-field support. This has been led by Club President, former Old Carey Coach and player Chris Constantine (2004), who has maintained the right culture and resources to foster the success of the Boroondara Carey Eagles.

‘We often hear the old adage that success of this nature is “a real team effort”. The success of Boroondara Carey Eagles has been underpinned by a range of individuals that are an intrinsic part of the broader Carey community.’

Chris has assembled a quality team, including Richard Stanner (2002), former Old Carey Captain who has been Program Manager for the past five years. He works tirelessly to ensure that players, officials and spectators have a seamless match day experience. Beyond the operations, both Chris and Richard are exceptional leaders and compassionate mentors for many OCGs coming through the program. While soccer participation and development is a core focus for the Club, we are also proud of Carey’s contribution and connection to broader communities within the Boroondara catchment. The Boroondara Carey Eagles came from the merger of the Old Carey Soccer Club and the Boroondara Eagles Football Club several years ago. In addition to delivering scale, success and stability, the merger has provided a range of professional development and mentoring platforms for Carey senior players. As a result, we have been able to appoint many OCGs as junior coaches. This has fostered some very strong and rewarding coach–player connections, helping young players to develop both technically and emotionally. Some noteworthy leaders who will leave a lasting and positive influence as players and junior coaches include a number of 2018 alumni: Liam Croucher, Paddy McCleland, David Cazzubo, Nathan Demetriou and Jono Etiene. In addition to their on-field contribution, they have all left an indelible mark on the junior players as coaches and mentors. Another example of the impact of the Year 12 leavers is Marcus Carfi (2016), who scored some crucial goals that contributed to the Club’s progression from State 4 in 2017 to where we find ourselves today. This is extremely exciting and brings a level of prestige to Carey in Victorian soccer. We are sure it will attract talented and skilled Carey players who would have otherwise joined rival clubs! There is an air of optimism surrounding the future of the Club driven by the talent in the 2019 Year 12 cohort. We look forward to our continued success in the 2020 State League Division 1 and creating more great memories. Go Eagles!