Shuffle the Back for Insurance
A decade on and the stylish left centre-back is still commanding respect at the heart of the West Sydney Berries defence in their inaugural season.
After those early days in the NSL, Sobczyk moved on to Parramatta Power for two seasons, becoming a regular in the side. A very pleasant young man appears before you off of the pitch, but ask any strikers who have faced the tough tackling defender on the field and see if they can say the same!
A move to Bonnyrigg White Eagles for a season but it was short lived as a ?re-shuffle? of the leagues caused changes and so it was he moved on to the Sutherland Sharks.
Realizing the ups and downs of football life and how short it could be saw Sobczyk take nothing for granted. Always a bright lad he pursued his personal career and at present works with the Insurance Australia Group (AIG) as a Procurement Officer: ?It?s interesting and a position where you near to think clearly and often quickly, so it?s like being in a match at times,? he said.
His partner of four years, Angelina Koncurat, is herself a player but unlike our boy, is a striker with Sydney Uni. What is that phrase about opposites attracting?
Another short stint, this time with Sydney Olympic, and Sobczyk wound up with the newly created West Sydney Berries for this current Telechoice Premier League campaign under the guidance of Scott Baillie which the 28-year old hopes will see the best of him;
?We are a new consortium as everyone knows and we have perhaps surprised a few with our pre-season results.
?Scott (Baillie) has got us all together and has been molding us into a coherent unit so we all think the same on the pitch and work hard for each other,? he admits.
But what are the real ambitions of the club for this, their first, season?
?Realistically we have set ourselves a target of reaching the semi-finals and from there, who knows.?
Who knows indeed but what we can assume is the dealer will shuffle his back not too often if Sobczyk fires into top form and deals out a blank card to strikers.
Micky Brock
