Reclusive Socceroos great spotted in Australian cricket team’s inner sanctum

Save articles for later

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.

As Pat Cummins walked to the team bus after Australia clinched a rain-assisted Ashes series victory, one of the country’s most reclusive football stars popped up almost out of nowhere.

Turns out that Stuart Dew, who turned up at training just days after being sacked as Gold Coast Suns coach, did not make the most unexpected cameo by an Aussie sporting figure in England during the five-Test series.

Australian Test skipper Pat Cummins talks with former Socceroos captain Lucas Neill after day five at Old Trafford.Credit: Nine News

Former Socceroos captain Lucas Neill now has him beat. Comfortably.

Neill, 45, has studiously avoided the public spotlight since his tenure in the Australian national team was abruptly ended by Ange Postecoglou on the eve of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Even his friends and former teammates have tried and failed to make contact with him over the years.

In more recent times, the former Blackburn Rovers and Everton defender has taken a series of tentative steps out of the shadows in what is hopefully a precursor to his full re-engagement with the Australian football community.

Neill now lives in Lancashire, and was caught by Nine’s cameras emerging from Old Trafford and chatting with Cummins as the team left the ground, seemingly having enjoyed a day at the cricket – sans any actual cricket being played, of course – with his son Marcus in tow.

Little is known about Neill’s life since his self-imposed exile from Australia, but has taken his first steps into coaching – not in football, but in cricket, with the Lowerhouse Club where Marcus plays as a junior.

Earlier this year, NPL NSW side Manly United – Neill’s boyhood club, and whose home ground Cromer Park has a grandstand named after him – took a youth team to Spain to play in the East Mallorca Cup.

After facing Liverpool, where Marcus is involved in the academy, Neill had a lengthy chat to Manly players, taking them through his journey from Sydney’s northern beaches to the Premier League and the World Cup stage with the Socceroos.

Before that, the most substantial Neill sighting came in late 2020, when Tony Gustavsson was confirmed as Matildas coach at an event at Australia House in London. With Football Australia staffers unable to travel due to the pandemic, Neill was asked to pick Gustavsson up from the airport and helped coordinate his unveiling with the assistance of ex-Matilda Alicia Ferguson-Cook and current star Caitlin Foord.

Lucas Neill and Tim Cahill salute the crowd after beating Japan in a World Cup qualifier at the MCG in 2009.Credit: Justin McManus

FA said at the time it heralded the start of an official role for Neill, who would be retained as a mentor for national team players and a representative of the federation for any UK-based activity – his first involvement with the Australian game since he was an ambassador for the 2015 Asian Cup, which was held on home soil.

“I was honoured to do so,” Neill said. “This is a very important era for the Matildas and Australian football. Having spent the day with Tony, it is evident how passionate and determined he is to be successful and develop talent. His emotion combined with his attention to detail has me believing that there are exciting times ahead.

“I wish Tony, the staff, and all the Matildas all the very best as they embark on an amazing four-year journey.”

Neill was declared bankrupt seven years ago, which is believed to have contributed to his reluctance to engage publicly with Australian football or the media. His playing days came to an end with his last appearance at club level for Doncaster Rovers in 2014.

According to Postecoglou’s book Changing the Game, Neill threatened to “go to ground” if he wasn’t selected for the World Cup that year.

“I do wonder if, with Lucas Neill, there was another way. There may not have been, but I’m still dissatisfied by how it unfolded,” Postecoglou wrote. “He seems to have gone into hiding and I sort of wish that wasn’t so for one of our greatest-ever Socceroos.”

How Neill ended up in the Australian cricket team’s inner sanctum is unknown, but it appears to be another sure sign that the 96-cap legend’s love for his country has never left him.

Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.

Most Viewed in Sport

From our partners

Source: Read Full Article