Awards aplenty at 2009 Futsal Premier and Super League Presentation night
The awards night culminated with the Player of the Year Awards for both the Futsal Super League and the Futsal Premier League competitions.
Over the 300 guests were well entertained by comedian and master of ceremonies Joel Ozborn. Special guest on the night was SBS television?s Les Murray who stated that Futsal was an old favourite of his and of his great friend, the late Johnny Warren.
?Futsal has basically replaced street football which is what many children grow up with around the world,? Murray stated.
The prestigious Men?s Player of the Year Award for the Premier League went to Yavuz Ekinci of the Mascot Vipers.
Ekinci, aged 30, also managed to capture the Golden Boot Award in his competition. Afterwards he stated that he needed to thank his club and teammates.
?My teammates at Mascot Vipers, who have an average age of 34, are really special because of all the support they have given me throughout the season,? he said.
In the Super League, the Men?s Player of the Award went to 21 year old Tobias Seeto. However, he was unable to collect his award in person because he is playing professional Futsal in Spain with the Players Castillon club.
Seeto, capped six times for the national Futsalroos, is only one of two Australian Futsal players who are playing professionally in Europe. His mother accepted the award on his behalf.
In the women?s categories it was Natalie Spirovski of Sydney Magic PCYC who snared the Player of the Year Award in the Premier League division, while Belinda Seers of Sydney University took out the equivalent in the Super League.
In the Youth Men?s categories it was Daniel Fogerty of Inner West Allstars who claimed the top honour in the Premier League, while Rhys Giovenali of Dural Warriors claimed the equivalent award in the Super League division. Fogerty also managed to take out the Golden Boot Award.
The Golden Boot winners for the women?s categories belonged to Laura Elliot of West City Crusaders in the Premier League category, while in the Super League the leading goalscorer and award winner was Fatima Agar of Parramatta Blueberries.
The men?s Super League Golden Boot Award went to Rogerio Texeira of the Botany Bay Pirates, but he was unable to claim the prize personally which was accepted on his behalf by a very proud club president. Hussein Akil of Sydney Benfica FC was the winner of the Super League Men?s Youth Golden Boot.
The Goalkeeper of the Year categories were shared by a variety of clubs. In the Premier League, the men?s award went to Peter Akers of the Western Raiders, while the equivalent prize for the Super League belonged to Elliott Jurd of the Northern Tigers.
In the women?s divisions, the best shot-stopper prizes went to Melissa Khoury of West City Crusaders FC in the Premier League and Ingrid Haralovic of Enfield Rovers in the Super League.
In the Youth Men?s categories the best goalkeepers were judged to be Roberto Maiorana of Sydney Magic PCYC in the Premier League and Cameron Nacson of Sydney University in the Super League.
The coaches of the year prizes went to Zvi Ben David of Mascot Vipers for the Premier League and Cathie Sweeney of Breakers FC for the Super League.
Referee of the Year was Gavin Lee who proudly accepted his award from Football NSW director George Jackson. The Young Referee of the Year Award, named after the late Mario Mazzeo, went to Nick Backo.
Part of the many earlier awards was the Club Championship prize. Michael Quarmby of Football NSW did the honours and the recipients were Sydney Magic PCYC in the Premier League and Sydney Benfica FC in the Super League who will now earn promotion to the Premier League.
-By Joe Russo
