Photo: Heidelberg United
He’s almost done it all in football; he’s won titles, been to World Cups and holds international and domestic records, but one thing that new Heidelberg United forward Archie Thompson hasn’t done is seen first hand the sacrifice of our semi-professional NPL Victoria footballers.
The more modest surroundings of Olympic Village has helped the 54-capped Socceroo – with 204 competitive goals to his name – to understand the lifestyle of NPL footballers, and it’s given him a new outlook on the inner workings of semi-professional football.
“Some of the guys are coming here semi-pro, and it gives you an idea of how hard these guys work,” Thompson said.
“To do a 9-5 job then play, I’ve been blessed, I come in for two hours and that’s it. It’s an eye opener and I’d even like some of the A-League boys to come and see what it’s like to make sure they don’t take things for granted.
“You work hard 9-5, then work even harder on the pitch, to me that’s fantastic.”
The Kiwi-born forward has been training with with the club for the past fortnight ahead of his anticipated debut this weekend, having gone two months without playing competitive football.
He was, tongue in cheek, a little less optimistic about his match fitness than most were anticipating but has admitted there will be a team first mentality, should he take to the field on Sunday afternoon against Oakleigh Cannons.
“For the moment it’s just about getting through the lamb split on Thursday, we’ll see what happens on Sunday,” he said jovially.
“I just want to contribute what I can. I know I’ve been out of the game for two months, haven’t played a competitive game in two months.
“I just want to make sure the team does well and that I can contribute, that’s most important. I’d like to say thank you to Heidelberg for making me feel so welcome.”
The 224-game A-League veteran weighed in on his thoughts about the gap between the NPL and the nation’s top-flight and even signalled out some of the impressive young talent brewing within the competition.
“You have to look at the facilities and the money, that’s the difference,” Thompson said.
“The difference is the pitches we train with, we’re pro’s we don’t have to work 9-5 like some of these other blokes. It would be great to get some young guys [at this level] to appreciate what they have.
“There’s not too much of a gap, I see plenty of players that could step up to the A-League.
“[Kenny Athiu] was someone that caught my eye straight away, in saying that, when you put someone into a different situation where there’s 20-30 thousand, that’s when you know if they’re a good player,” he added.
“What I’ve seen of Kenny, I think he’s amazing. His touch is great, he’s quick, but I think there are plenty of players in that squad who are capable of going up.”
Heidelberg United coach George Katsakis signalled the move as one of the biggest in the clubs history, before revealing just what it took to get Archie over the line.
“I think it’s one of the biggest moves the club has ever made in it’s history, so its quite significant for the club and everyone involved,” Katsakis said.
“It’s added a lot of value to what we’re trying to do here as a club and we proved that last year with Kostas Katsouranis heading down here for the FFA Cup.
“This one takes a bit of a twist, because in terms of Australian football, you’d say Archie is amongst the elite to play the game in our country. It’s a privilege.
“I think that clearly we indicated to Archie that the culture of the club is important to us,” he added.
“Having assessed all that, he’s definitely been in contact with a few people linked to the club. It wasn’t an easy process, but it wasn’t about convincing either.
“You could probably say we didn’t try to convince him either. I think he understood what we were about and it was his decision in the end.
“Contrary to what people think, the decision came quite easily because of the pressure we didn’t put on him.”
Thompson is set to make his long-awaited debut for Heidelberg this Sunday 4pm at Olympic Village, as they take on fellow finals-bound outfit Oakleigh Cannons in an enticing encounter.