Fishing Chippers

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday September 16, 2006

Michael Cockerill

Scott Chipperfield has cast his net and refuses to rest until he lands Wollongong a spot in the A-League, writes Michael Cockerill.

COME to think of it, Scott Chipperfield did look a bit like death warmed up as he emerged from the after-match dressing room at the Kuwait Sports Club Stadium last week. But that's the way he is, and always has been: giving every ounce of his being to the cause.

Maybe it's because opportunity knocked late for a player who not long ago was famously, almost mythically, a bus driver in his hometown of Wollongong. Chipperfield didn't become a full-time professional until the age of 26, when he left Australia to accept an offer from an ambitious Swiss club, FC Basel. Five years later - unlike most of his peers - "the bus driver from Bellambi" still appreciates how lucky he is to be paid for doing what he loves the most. Which is why he gives everything, in every game.

He gave everything in his 51st appearance for Australia in the murderous heat of Kuwait City last week - almost too much. Team medical staff reckoned he lost four per cent of his body mass. Almost half of the padding he has on his wiry frame. He ran his heart out for 90 minutes, and stripped 31/2 kilos. The medicos claim he almost ran himself to death.

For all that, Chipperfield was still running when the final whistle went. He doesn't like losing, never has. The Socceroos' loss to Kuwait clearly still rankled as he wiped the sweat from his brow while he spoke to reporters almost an hour after the match. He mentioned the heat, but didn't dwell on it. "Chippers" doesn't say much, but he's never been one to make excuses.

That's why coaches love him, absolutely love him. Maybe former national coach Frank Farina didn't always appreciate him as much as he should have. But he still kept picking him, even if it was sometimes on the bench. However Guus Hiddink saw it straight away - here was a player who possessed the most important quality of all, consistency. Nobody can remember the last time Chipperfield had a bad game for his club, or his country.

It's no coincidence that he was instrumental in helping Wollongong Wolves win successive titles in the old NSL. Nor is it coincidental that in his five seasons in Switzerland, FC Basel have won the championship three times. There may be flashier players around, but not many better ones.

Chipperfield is a very, very good player - quick, purposeful, determined, intelligent and with a sweet left foot that regularly bamboozles opponents. But, more significantly, he's a winner. His bulging collection of silverware, which includes successive Warren Medals (for players' player of the year), bears testament to that.

Certainly, when Chipperfield wants to achieve, he generally does. Which is good news for the Socceroos, now that he has decided to keep offering his hand up for selection, perhaps all the way through to the 2010 World Cup. But it's also good news for the A-League, and in particular Wollongong. Chipperfield's been away a long time, but he's never lost sight of his roots. He loves his hometown, and is sad it's not represented in the A-League. So he's going to do something about it.

A Wollongong-based bid has been steadily gathering momentum, and Chipperfield has been kept in the loop. The moment the bid is accepted, he'll be back - contract with FC Basel or not. Having scaled the heights of the World Cup, his last big challenge is to resurrect professional football on the south coast. And, as always, he's going to give it his best shot.

"Wollongong needs a team in the A-League," he says. "You look at the national team, and see how many players are from Wollongong, and you can see how strong the area is. The key is to get everyone behind it. In the past, even when we were winning, we didn't get that many fans. But things have changed, the A-League is a totally different story, and I'm sure the people will come out to support it. I want to be part of it, definitely. I saw the crowd in Melbourne [almost 40,000 for Melbourne Victory's match against Sydney FC], I saw the crowd for the Kuwait game [32,000 at Aussie Stadium], and the games next month in Brisbane [against Paraguay] and Sydney [against Bahrain] are supposed to be sold out.

"It's an exciting time for football in Australia, and I'm just hoping Wollongong get accepted. If the money had been the same or similar, I probably would never have left in the first place. I loved playing for the Wolves, and overseas it's hard being away from family and friends.

"I've got three more years [at FC Basel], but if there was a Wollongong team in 2008-09, which is what I've been hearing, then I'd only have one more year left over here and I'm sure I could get out of it.

"I've spoken to [bid organisers] Glenn Fontana and Brian Hastings, and told them I'm ready to help out. If it's just to come back and play, that's fine. If it's doing a lot of the promotional stuff, no worries. And if they want me to twist a few arms I will. We also need blokes like [fellow Socceroos] Mile [Sterjovski], [Luke] Wilkshire and [Stephen] Laybutt to come back, as well as the other Wollongong players around the A-League.

"I wouldn't be where I am without the Wolves. To come home and play in Wollongong again would be something special. I want to give something back."

If, and when, Chipperfield does return to Australian fields, he will still have plenty to offer. A player who turns 31 on the second last day of the year may have had a slow start to his career, but has been making up for lost time ever since.

"I didn't play for Australia at youth level, I didn't go to the AIS, I was playing part-time and training two days a week when I was in my early 20s, so I guess I haven't been worn out," he says. "I still feel fit, I feel I can still run 90 minutes strong. Obviously it depends on injuries as well, but I feel I've got another three or four years at a good level."

Thankfully, that will probably encompass another World Cup campaign.

"After the World Cup I did think about retirement, I thought there was nothing else I could achieve with the national team," he says. "If we were still in Oceania, I probably would have packed it in. But now we're in Asia, there's a lot more competitive games, and I want to keep going. Retiring from your country, it's a big decision. I want to keep going until the coach tells me he doesn't need me anymore."

On the basis of what happened in Germany, where Chipperfield was arguably Australia's star performer alongside Lucas Neill, that's not likely to happen even when one of his keenest admirers, Graham Arnold, is eventually replaced at the helm.

"The World Cup was my best performance as a player, definitely," he says. "I didn't necessarily have doubts, but I was always wondering about playing at the top level. I mean Switzerland is a good league, but you're not up against the best players in the world week-in and week-out.

"But I think the [second round World Cup] game against Italy was probably the best game I've ever played. I was really happy with the way things worked out."

© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald

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