This week’s episode of A-Leagues All Access titled Manage and Nurture takes you inside the life of Matildas legend Emily van Egmond as she returns to the Liberty A-League to play for her dad Gary at Newcastle Jets. Watch the full episode below or KEEPUP YouTube.
Emily van Egmond was like every other football fan growing up.
When the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea rolled around, a nine-year-old Van Egmond had simple instructions for her dad, Gary – the current coach of the Newcastle Jets’ Liberty A-League side.
“There was a moment there that sticks out for me where I think she came up to me as a nine year old… and basically said, right dad, we’re pulling the mattress out in front of the telly and the World Cup’s on,” Gary said.
“You pick one team, I pick the next team and let’s see who wins and she wanted to watch every World Cup game.
“It was developing a love of football and I think, if we look at a lot of the players that have come through, whether that’s men or women, they had that love of the game given to them by their parents, and I think that was pretty important as well.”
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Fast forward 21 years and she is one of the players kids – just like a nine-year-old Van Egmond – around the country and the world have come to idolise.
The midfielder has been a key player for the Matildas for quite some time, but her performances at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup took Van Egmond and her teammates’ names to dizzying, new heights.
But her journey to this point started under the tutelage of her father, who went on to become an Isuzu UTE A-League Championship winning coach with Newcastle – a first stint at the club, 15 years bofore becoming the club’s women’s side coach.
It’s the same team Emily has rejoined on a unique four-game guest stint, where she will be once again mentored by her father.
“Yeah, he’s been huge,” Emily said.
“I’m obviously extremely fortunate to have grown up in a household with him and for him to help me with my football and to guide me in the right ways.
“I mean, with sport there’s always ups and downs and I’ve been lucky enough to have him and his experience just to guide me through those times.
“I think it’s been massive for me.
“It’s great [to be back]. I mean, it’s obviously a unique situation, but one that, it’s able to work, we’re professional about it.
“He will honestly probably push me harder than anyone else and he knows, how to get the best out of me and that’s exactly why I’ve decided to come back here and have a small stint to, to be here under him, it helps me as well.
“I’m excited to be here to see the future of women’s football players and obviously you get to come back and it’s my local team, the Jets and just appreciative that they’ve been able to make it work for me.”
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Incredibly, this is the first-time the father-daughter duo have ever worked together in this capacity, having only done so previously at junior level and with Gary as an assistant coach of the Matildas between 2015-19.
“When I was younger… he’s a bit of a control freak, so he would tend to try and stand back but he couldn’t help himself. So he’d end up taking over,” she said.
“He coached a couple of my junior teams, but in terms of at a professional level, aside from him being the assistant coach of the Matildas for a duration, this would be the first time he’s been (my) head coach.
“He’s passionate, he’s a winner. He just wants the best for, whoever he’s coaching, whether it be the academy, whether it be the A-League Women at the moment, whether he’s been involved with the men’s teams, he’s a winner and I don’t want to sound too biased but he’s actually not too bad at what he does!”
Gary recalled how his daughter’s sporting journey started, long before she signed for the Jets in 2008 where she joined the club in the first season of the then known as W-League as a 15-year-old.
“Look, it was great that she wanted to play football and she was coming through an era where, at that moment it wasn’t huge, women’s football but there was a real love of the game pretty early,” he said.
“She played netball, basketball, touch footy, played some tennis, played all different sports, but it seemed to be that football was the sport that she really gravitated to out of all of the sports.
“So it was just more or less, we’re just going to go along for the journey and see where that went and see what happens.”
Emily added: “I think he was good, he had a good balance in terms of when he had to push me and maybe when he had to put an arm around me. He’s been great.
“In terms of not just only when I’ve been here as a junior, developing and coming through the pathway that we had back in the day a bit.
“With all things, life experiences, signing overseas contracts, being in foreign countries that English isn’t the first language spoken and just being there really to kind of help me through those kinds of things. I’ve been really lucky.
“I honestly don’t think I would have had the career I’ve had to date if it wasn’t for him as well.”
But Gary credits Emily for the hard work she put in to become the player she is, despite the support he’s offered along the way.
“That’s the role of a parent or a coach, players make players, no coach will ever make a player,” he said.
“You can’t make someone become something. What you do is, you create an environment and you facilitate that environment to the best that you can and you look to see how the player looks to progress.
“Now, did I manipulate the way in which that she would compete. So, for example she was playing with boys and that was very important for her development.
“But it was hidden competition because we talk about explicit learning and hidden learning and competition is no different, at times where for her, she was just going to have a kick with her mates regardless that it was just all boys.
“It was just, she was going to have a kick with her with her mates and having that experience and that week in week out of training really helped her establish herself.
“She’s worked extremely, extremely hard, but the initial part is to ensure that she has a love of the game, because if you have a love of the game, you’ll go that extra mile.
“We always had football on in our family, obviously from myself, with what I did when I finished playing football and obviously going into coaching.
“It was interesting, when she was younger, 13-14 years of age and sometimes the windows were up, so we could have the conversation and sometimes the windows were down.
“There’s always been an acknowledgement from her that and it’s not to get my approval, it’s more to get my idea on it, so she respects my opinion and that’s all the things I need.”
Since returning to the Hunter, Emily has been on a tear, scoring two goals and tallying two assists in the first two games of her four game stint.
Her impact helped the Jets push league leaders Melbourne City to the brink, and then to a 4-3 win over Canberra United, which ended a four game winless run.
“It’s great, for her to be here to help with the playing group,” Gary said.
“The younger girls that’s one area of it, but from my perspective to have her here and to train with her on a fairly regular basis, come and talk football face to face rather than through the phone, that’s really nice.
“We’re very privileged to have what’s occurred. I’ve been to an Olympics with my daughter, I’ve been to a World Cup with my daughter and now I get the opportunity to be in a position where it’s a domestic league and to coach her, albeit only for a short period of time.”
