Spirit FC farewell Club Legends
Spirit FC legends Daniel Cunningham and Murray Nelson have decided to hang up their boots after proudly representing the Gladesville-Hornsby district for more than 20 years. Derek Royal spoke to the duo and team manager Bruce Macfadyen to see what all the fuss was about.
Goalkeeper Nelson, 35, began his football career as a right winger for St Andrews Eastwood at the age of 10, his Under 12s side winning the NSW Champions of Champions. Buoyed by this success, Nelson then decided to give the Gladeville-Hornsby Football Association rep team a crack and funnily enough he trialed as a goalkeeper, a position he’d never played!
“I’d never played goalkeeper before and I was a pretty terrible right winger,” Nelson laughs. “But I did enough to make the team between 13s and 16s and I’ve been a goalkeeper ever since.”
Nelson and teammate Daniel Cunningham were then selected for the new Northern Spirit club’s Colts side, an invaluable experience that taught them a lot about professionalism and the commitment needed to play at a high level. Apart from his time within the GHFA system, Nelson also had stints at St George, Canterbury and APIA Leichhardt Tigers, before being asked to return to Spirit by former coach, Tony Walmsley.
“I’ve had some pretty decent coaches and pretty decent influences,” Nelson says. “Tony Walmsley was fantastic and he was the one who asked me come back to Spirit after floating around at St George, Canterbury and Apia. He was definitely a big influence on me. From a goalkeeping perspective Bruno Jasiczek was also a positive influence and he’s now doing good things at APIA Leichhardt Tigers.”
When asked to name the highlights in his career, Nelson replies: “Winning back-to-back state league titles in 2007 and 2008, and then the PS4 NPL 2 Premiership in 2015. I’ve been a Spirit boy ever since I was a kid growing up in Eastwood, from Gladesville-Hornsby, to Northern Spirit and then Spirit FC, so winning those titles with players I’d known since childhood was special.”
So what’s so special about Spirit FC?
“I love the culture of the club,” Nelson replies. “I love what we as boys have been able to create since the formation of the club. Its been fantastic.”
Spirit’s 2017 season proved to be an inconsistent one, a slow start and an inability to score goals costing them a place in the top six.
“We just weren’t good enough,” Nelson says of a campaign that promised much but delivered little. “We had so many chances in each game we played but we couldn’t score. And you can’t win games without goals. We had some very good results against top five sides. We beat Mt Druitt twice and got over St George, but we were just too inconsistent over the whole season. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and you need to be able to perform consistently over 26 weeks. Unfortunately we couldn’t do that.”
So will Nelson be tempted to play some social football now that the serious stuff has been put to bed?
“There’s already talk of all the old Spirit players who are over 35 forming a super team,” he says. “There has also been talk that I’ll be playing left back, which is horrifying! It’d be great fun though but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
Maybe the 35s gig will give Nelson the opportunity to return to his original position of right wing! Now wouldn’t that be a story.
Meanwhile, Daniel Cunningham’s journey has virtually been identical to that of his good friend’s. Brought up in Ryde, “Richie” played for Gladesville Ravens between the ages of six and 12 and then represented GHFA between 11s and 16s. A defender, Cunningham continued his football education with Northern Spirit Colts before venturing to Apia, Fraser Park and a short stint overseas.
“I returned to Spirit in 2006 and stayed there until 2012,” Cunningham says. “I then went to Northern Tigers for three years and came back to Spirit in 2015,” the year the side won the PS4 NPL 2 premiership.
“Winning the premiership in 2015 with Spirit was the highlight of my career,” Cunningham adds. “I’d been there a long time at the club I’ve always loved, so winning with them was pretty special.
“I love the culture at Spirit. Everyone gets along and some of my best mates I’ve played with since I was 11 years old are there. It’s a pretty special group.”
Spirit’s fortunes weren’t so good in 2017. While Cunningham led one of the stingiest defence lines in the competition with aplomb, a poor start saw the side narrowly missing out on the semi-finals.
“We started slow and took a while to gel,” Cunningham explains. “We got a bit better towards the end of the season and found our mojo, but by then it was too late. Finding the back of the net was a major issue for us. Without goals you don’t win games.”
So now that he has hung up his boots, what will Cunningham miss the most about a game he has played since the age of six?
“I’ll miss the relationships and friendships I’ve built. I’ve known some of those guys since I was 11 years old and spending three or four days a week with them has been pretty good. That’s what I’ll miss the most, playing with my mates and spending time with them every week.”
Spirit team manager Bruce Macfadyen has known “Muzz” and “Richie” for a long time and he has tremendous respect for both of them, not just as footballers but as men.
“Muzz and Richie are club guys through and through,” Macfadyen says. “They’ve both been team captains and club captains. They instill in the new guys a sense of what the club’s all about. They’re always there lending a hand and doing whatever needs to be done. They take a big interest in training and organising things. They both have great attention to detail. Muzz is probably one of the best goalkeepers around and Daniel takes his role as team captain seriously and is a bit of a ‘Mother hen’ to the players, especially the younger ones.
“Daniel has always been reliable. Always gives himself. He’s always there. He’s there to make sure that whatever needs to be done, gets done. He makes sure the changing rooms are tidy and pays attention to detail.
“Our first graders always leave the changing rooms tidy at the end of the game, and we’re often commended for that when we play away. That’s just the way we are as a club, and a lot of that comes from the example set by the likes of Muzz and Daniel.
“You don’t realise what you’ve got until they’re gone and that’s what will happen now that these blokes have decided to hang up their boots. We’re going to miss them a lot.”
-By Derek Royal, Football NSW Reporter
