Meet the future football stars trained by some of the UK’s best
Daily Telegraph Article
From as north as Coffs and as south as Newcastle, local soccer players had a rare opportunity to be trained by some of the best overseas coaches these school holidays.
George Cowie - About
Former West Ham United Player and International Coach George Cowie has 17 years experience organising and overseeing football tours to the UK. George joined West Ham United as a professional player in 1977. During his time, West Ham won the FA Cup and were League Cup runners-up, George being on the substitutes bench against Liverpool at Wembley Stadium in the 1980 FA Charity Shield.George has played in top level games against Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham and he was the captain of the Scotland U18 Professional Youth team in 1978. In 1983 George returned to his native Scotland where he went on to make nearly 100 appearances for Hearts in the Scottish Premier League before injury cut short his career.
In his first year in Australia, he coached Brisbane club, Wynnum Wolves to win the Queensland Cup, their first major trophy in 77years. He then coached Sunshine Coast FC to a Premiership Double and was voted “Queensland Coach of the Year” in 2008. George is a UEFA A License qualified coach and has worked as a Coach Education Instructor at A and B license level for Football Federation Australia. Following relocation to Australia, George has remained involved in the game as a coach at various levels including, Technical Manager of Football Queensland, National Coach of Papua New Guinea Under 23 Olympic Team, National Coach of the Solomon Islands.
WHUF - Twitter Post - 7/2/23
Giving our international partners George Cowie Football a taste of how things work at ⚒️⚽️
🔗https://t.co/S5avwYPaJM pic.twitter.com/Vu9oEnEMoQ
— West Ham United Foundation (@WHUFoundation) February 7, 2023
WHUF - Twitter Post - 23/1/23
Pleasure to host our Australian #international partners George Cowie Football last week! ⚒️🤝🇦🇺
On the first morning of their UK tour, the group visited our base in Beckton for training sessions & exhibition matches with our #Post16 #Football & #Education programme ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/pj6Ep4fUAa
— West Ham United Foundation (@WHUFoundation) January 23, 2023
West Ham United welcomes George Cowie Football from Australia and New Zealand
West Ham United welcomes George Cowie Football from Australia and New Zealand
As part of the West Ham United Foundation’s international programme delivery, George Cowie Football were invited to east London from Australia to experience the Foundation’s football development pathways.
As part of the Foundation’s wider international partnerships which uses the global appeal of Premier League football to engage and inspire communities, young footballers from regional and national camps in Australia led by Foundation coaching staff were selected to visit the UK and experience life as Academy players.
“Our international partnerships look to provide young people from around the world the opportunity to experience our football development pathways,” explained Foundation Director of Programmes Bryan Glover.
“Being able to provide these opportunities for boys and girls is something I’m very passionate about, especially with the Women’s World Cup coming to Australia and New Zealand this year.”