NSW Metro Sky Crowned Under 16 Boys National Youth Champions

It was a memorable day for the NSW Metro Sky Under 16 side who were crowned National Youth Champions while the NSW Metro Navy Under 15’s side took out the third-place playoff and rising young referee Rowan Fisher took out the Under 15’s Referee of the Tournament in Wollongong on Sunday.
The stands at WIN Stadium were rocking with eager spectators and supporters who witnessed the culmination of six days of high-quality competition from Football Australia’s nine state and territory Member Federations. A combined 331 goals were scored across the tournament which featured over 700 players and officials from 32 teams.
NSW Metro Sky emerged as National Champions in the Under 16 Age Group in a thrilling match against Queensland White.
NSW Metro Sky proved too strong for a defiant Queensland White outfit who competed until the final moments. Two goals in less than 90 seconds from Ewan Gasowski and John Lawson gave NSW Metro Sky a handy 2-0 advantage early in the match. Queensland White got one back with 25 minutes remaining and threw everything at the NSW side to find the equaliser, but ultimately, NSW Metro Sky won the decider, 2-1.
NSW Metro Sky Head Coach Spencer Prior was impressed with how much his side improved over the tournament and praised their resilience following a difficult start.
“I’m really pleased for the boys. They grew into the tournament and grew in terms of their desire for the ball and playing on the front foot with or without the ball and I’m really proud of all of them,” Prior said.
“We knew Queensland wouldn’t give up and they fought hard today. We tried to be quite direct to get in behind and sure enough, that’s where the goals came from.
“This side is absolutely pragmatic in their approach. Not everything’s going to go their way all the time and they showed their ability to adjust. We lost our first game to Queensland so to bounce back in the Final is pretty special,” Prior concluded.
Following the Finals, the tournament awards were presented with an array of Football Australia coaches and officials on hand to congratulate the recipients.
Graham Arnold presented the awards for Player of the Tournament, with the Under 15 trophy presented to Henrique Oliveria from South Australia.
South Australia then had plenty of reason to celebrate as fellow statesman Amlani Tatu was confirmed as the Under 16 Player of the Tournament.
Subway Joeys’ Goalkeeper coach, Dave Plowright presented the award for Under 15 Goalkeeper of the Tournament to Sevdim Banusevski from Victoria Blue.
Subway Olyroos’ Goalkeeper coach, Neil Tate then presented the Under 16 Goalkeeper of the Tournament award to Oskar Von Schrenk from Victoria Blue.
National Youth Championships Boys’ Referee Lead, Izzy Blaess presented the Under 15 Referee of the tournament to Rowan Fisher from Football NSW.
Blaess then presented the Under 16 Referee of the Tournament award to Jock Quartermain from Football VIC.
Former Socceroo Josh Kennedy was also in attendance to present all the runners-up and champions medals to all players who participated in the Finals while Arnold presented the winning captains the National Youth Championships trophy.
Football Australia would like to acknowledge the ongoing support of the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW along with Destination Wollongong.
Players of the Tournament:
Under 15: Henrique Oliveria, Football SA
Under 16: Amlani Tatu, Football SA
Goalkeepers of the Tournament:
Under 15: Sevdim Banusevski, Football VIC
Under 16: Oskar Von Schrenk, Football VIC
Referees of the Tournament:
Under 15: Rowan Fisher, Football NSW
Under 16: Jock Quartermain, Football VIC
Under 15 Final:
Victoria Blue 2 def South Australia 0
Victoria Blue: Jensen Bowering (46’), Luke Becvinovski (57’)
Under 16 Final:
Queensland White 1 def by NSW Metro Sky 2
Queensland White: Chimdi Nwogwugwu (35’)
NSW Metro Sky: Ewan Gasowski (10’), John Lawson (11’)
Under 15 Team Rankings
Position | Team |
1 | Victoria Blue |
2 | South Australia |
3 | NSW Metro Navy |
4 | Victoria White |
5 | NSW Meto Sky |
6 | Northern NSW |
7 | Queensland Maroon |
8 | Victoria Silver |
9 | Queensland White |
10 | NSW Metro White |
11 | Western Australia |
12 | Capital Football |
13 | Tasmania |
14 | NSW Country |
15 | Queensland Silver |
16 | Northern Territory |
Under 16 Team Rankings
Position | Team |
1 | NSW Metro Sky |
2 | Queensland White |
3 | Northern NSW |
4 | Victoria Blue |
5 | NSW Metro White |
6 | NSW Metro Navy |
7 | South Australia |
8 | Victoria White |
9 | Queensland Maroon |
10 | Capital Football |
11 | Victoria Silver |
12 | Western Australia |
13 | NSW Country |
14 | Invitational XI |
15 | Tasmania |
16 | Queensland Silver |