By Andrew Paschalidis – Heartbeat of Football Founder
On Saturday, August 24, 210 people were united as one to celebrate the Socceroos 50 year World Cup journey, but at the same time raise much needed funds for Heartbeat of Football to help us make a difference in the heart health space.
It made me so proud to see such a high level of support for our signature Fundraiser at the Canterbury Hurlstone Park RSL Club, which has provided our Charity with Club grants funding since we launched in 2016.
Yes it was a celebration of our rich history at the elite level of the game, but it also gave us the opportunity to honour some of those players who have survived cardiac arrests on football fields in 2024 including popular Sans Souci FC player George Loupis who collapsed on the pitch on June 28. George is recovering from heart surgery so well. He might even make a comeback. Six footballers have been saved in seven incidents this year in Sydney.
Several of George’s family, work colleagues and teammates were present on the night, including his coach Peter Dimitriadis who was the first to respond to his life threatening situation by co-ordinating “Loupees” first steps in his chain of survival. There were many “angels” that night.
Some of the high profile attendees included NSW Sport Minister Steve Kamper who has supported our mission from day one. In fact, Steve ensured our Charity received its first ever NSW Government Funding with a $200,000 pledge for the next three years. Thank you Steve, particularly when you made reference to Emmanuel Alfieris’ passing at a Belmore Eagles FC game this year and highlighted his amazing contribution to the Greek Australian community at large.
This funding has already allowed us to provide additional free heart health checks into other sports as well. We have held testing activations in places like Wagga Wagga, Bathurst, Dubbo, Leeton, Griffith and Newcastle. Taree and Port Macquarie is next on our radar. By the way we will be testing at the upcoming Let’s Go Greek Festival at Parramatta on September 8 between 11 am and 6pm.
The night kicked off with a wonderful message from Heartbeat of Football Global Ambassador Tim Cahill, our greatest ever Socceroos scorer. Seven Network Sport Presenter Mel McLaughlin did an exceptional job as emcee, fresh from her sports team winning a Logie the previous weekend in Melbourne.
I went down memory lane with the first panel interview featuring 1974 Socceroo Ray Richards and Les Scheinflug who was the assistant coach to Rale Rasic. Ray spoke publicly for the first time about his own heart attack and how lucky he was to still be with us.
Mel was back on stage to interview another Socceroos legend Tony Vidmar who should have played in the 2006 World Cup in Germany but a previously undetected cardiovascular issue meant he had to miss Australia’s long awaited return to the world stage. How heart breaking it was for Vidmar knowing that he had previously been an integral part of three failed World Cup qualifying campaigns in 1994, 1998 and 2002.
It was then the turn of Heather Garriock – the Matildas legend, Heartbeat of Football Ambassador and Football Australia Board Member – to interview Socceroos coach Graham Arnold. It was an absorbing interview. Typically, during the auction of a signed and framed 2024 Socceroos shirt, “Arnie” also decided to throw in a donated training session. Marcus Pavlakis from the PNP Group outbid the room and did likewise when the opportunity arose later in the auction to have lunch with Mark Bosnich and five friends at the iconic Alpha Restaurant. Thank you Con Dedes (Owner of the Dedes Waterfront Group), who has added Alpha to his impressive portfolio of businesses.
The room was literally littered with football royalty in all levels of the game. Football Australia Chairman Anter Isaac hosted a table, as did Football NSW CEO John Tsatsimas. Great to see Football Canterbury Chairman Nick Kambounias on the FNSW table. Boxing legend Johnny Lewis was a guest of Niki White – a fellow HOF Board Member – who just happens to manage another one of our Ambassadors Caitlin Foord, Sam Kerr and Emily Van Egmond. Former Sydney Olympic defender Nick Plataniotis – another HOF Board Member – had a table, as did Steve Karavatakis and Bruce Spiteri from St George Saints FC.
Socceroos captains Tony Henderson, Craig Foster and Alex Tobin were also there along with Andrew Redmayne, Sasho Petrovski, Zlatko Nastevski, John McKain, Trent McClenahan, Jacob Timpano, Matt Bailey and many other footballers. Original Matildas Trixie Tagg and Cindy Heydon joined us as well.
There is an endless list of people to thank. In the first, my fellow Board Members and amazing team of volunteers deserve all the plaudits along with all those companies and individuals who donated all our auction and raffle items, including Bite Size Coffee Treats, Deploy Football, Football Australia, Anthony Ucchino, Souvlaki Brothers, Zoll Medical, CellAED, Paramount Pictures and Nikstar PR.
