As KEEPUP launches the My Football Passport podcast, host James Dodd reveals his own journey to discovering Australian football.
Growing up as a football-obsessed kid in England, I’ll be honest – I never thought I’d end up covering the beautiful game on the other side of the world.
Euro ’96 was the first tournament I remember and by the 1998 World Cup in France I was hooked. I lived and breathed English football but, like most kids my age, found it hard to understand why the England national team was so bad despite having all of these household names.
But strangely enough, I was always intrigued by the Australian players playing in the UK. My Grandad always told me that Australia were the best in the world at cricket so I assumed they didn’t really play football Down Under. How wrong I was…
The Socceroos’ 3-1 win over England at Upton Park was soon followed by Mark Viduka ending my beloved Arsenal’s title hopes with a classic Viduka display at Highbury. Then there was this silky winger called Harry Kewell and one of the best headers of a ball I’d ever seen in Tim Cahill. Throw in the likes of Mark Schwarzer and Lucas Neill and I soon realised that Australia produced really good footballers.
After it became apparent that I was never going to be good enough to play the game professionally I opted for the next best thing: I became a sports journalist. Working for UK radio station talkSPORT I got to cover the game in a way that I never could have imagined. For the best part of six years I worked at Premier League matches every weekend, Champions League games midweek and when the cold weather hit I’d be sent to cover the FA Cup.
My own Football Passport has seen me produce European Championship finals in Kiev and Paris whilst covering the FIFA World Cup in Russia. I’ve watched games in Brazil, I’ve produced radio shows from Tapas Bars in Madrid and frozen my backside off on a wet and windy night in Stoke. I’ve been fortunate enough to interview the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Arsene Wenger….but as cliche as it sounds, everything changed when I met my wife.
The idea of her moving back to Australia came up and I knew it was something I wanted to do with her. So with no job and no contacts I made the move to Sydney and it’s honestly the best thing I’ve ever done. I remember attending my first A-League game in 2017 and thinking, “This Milos Ninkovic guy is good!” Before long I was working for the host broadcaster and speaking to players and coaches at press conferences. Fast forward three years and I was hosting live games on the TV.
There are many things I love about football but one of them is the fact that it brings people from all parts of the world together. It takes a guy like Diego Castro from La Liga to the A-League and gives supporters the chance to see something they’ve never seen before. Whether it’s one of the world’s most famous footballers coming to Australia like Alessandro Del Piero or an Aussie like Ange Postecoglou conquering Japan and now Scotland, football has this amazing way of allowing people to follow their dreams whilst seeing the world at the same time.
But with everything in life, there are ups and down, challenges and triumphs. Footballers, just like us, experience all of these. So that’s why I started this podcast because I want to hear about the things they’ve been through. I wanted to know what it was like sharing a pitch with Zinedine Zidane and I wanted to understand how hard it was to be rejected week after week as an Aussie teenager trying to earn a deal at some of English football’s biggest clubs.
How does growing up in a war zone shape your career? What’s it like to seal a dream transfer only for it to become a nightmare? All of these things will be discussed across this series as footballers detail how they became the players they are today.
My Football Passport has many stamps in it and so too do those of my guests. I can’t wait to bring their stories to football fans across this brilliant footballing nation.
Introducing our new podcast – My Football Passport. Hosted by James Dodd, he will chat one-on-one with some of Australian football’s most popular players and coaches about their careers across the football planet, both in the A-Leagues, and abroad. You’ll hear from A-Leagues icons, Socceroos and Matildas legends, and globetrotting coaches paving the way overseas.
We launch by catching up with Perth Glory legend Diego Castro.
Diego talks us through his career, including how he snared Zinedine Zidane’s jersey in his second ever LaLiga game, as well as his journey to Australia: how he ended up here, his time in the Isuzu UTE A-League, why it ended and … will we see him back?
Some of your favourite players and personalities, past and present, will get the chance to reflect on their football journeys in My Football Passport – we hope you enjoy our new show!
You can listen below, or via your favourite podcast platform.
