Young GIANTS’ sporting idols

By Alison Zell

The biggest names in the English Premier League will be in town on Saturday night but why not check out some of the next biggest stars of the AFL before the big clash between Manchester United and the A-League All Stars?

Anyone with a ticket to the exhibition game at ANZ Stadium will be able to see the GIANTS play Essendon at Skoda Stadium on Saturday afternoon free of charge – All fans have to do is present their ANZ Stadium ticket at the gates at Skoda Stadium to gain entry.

Many kids grow up with sporting heroes and GIANTS young gun Sam Darley is no exception. A massive Manchester United fan, the 20 year-old spends his AFL pre-season juggling a tough training load with early mornings watching his beloved team.

“It’s draining,” Darley said.

“Their games are during the pre-season too so we’re training pretty hard but I try and get back to sleep after and have about two or three coffees to try and keep me up for it.

“Probably the last two or three years I’ve followed them very strenuously – getting up at 3am, 2am to watch them – but before that they were always kind of my favourite team, not knowing much about soccer.

“So once the interest grew, my passion for them grew too.”

Darley is a typical sports nut, collecting the jerseys of his favourite players and completely one-eyed when speaking about his team.

“Obviously I thought we had the title won two years ago and Manchester City took it away about 5am so I was vicious about that but I think for the majority of the year this year we knew – or they knew sorry … not we, I don’t play for them – but they were going to take out the title so it was definitely exciting.

“I’m all about Robin van Persie at the moment; originally Cristiano Ronaldo was my boy and obviously he went to Madrid and van Persie made the transfer last season so I jumped on board him and I’ve got a number 20 van Persie jumper at home in the wardrobe.”

Van Persie’s isn’t the only jersey Darley collects, just say the word LeBron and the Tasmanian’s face lights up.

“He’s more an obsession rather than an idol I think,” Darley said.

“I’ve even gone to the extent of collecting Slam basketball magazines with him on the cover and I’ve got about 20 jerseys of just his alone so I’ve definitely got an obsession with LeBron.

“It was originally James Hird growing up but in terms of other sports it was definitely LeBron – I can tell you his birthday or anything else you want to know.”

Darley lives with best mate and fellow GIANTS star Adam Treloar with basketball the pair’s sport of choice but the EPL getting a good run too.

“Sam and I have a massive rivalry in sport,” Treloar said.

“Our biggest rivalry is probably basketball … he’s a Miami Heat fan and I’m an Oklahoma City fan.

“Miami Heat has won the Championship the last two years so it gets pretty heated and last year it was Oklahoma versus Heat in the playoffs and they won so there was no talking there for a while but I still love him.

“I think Sam’s maybe a bit more of an EPL fan but I love Man City and I’ve always loved them.

“He’s a huge Man United fan but I don’t watch it as much as I do basketball but I’m still interested – especially when United and City play.

“When they play it’s pretty heated but generally United have the wood over City in the last season so I think as soon as they had the title wrapped up I took no interest in it because I knew he was just going to get ahead of himself so I didn’t really care after that.”

While Treloar lost interest in last year’s Championship race, he’s still excited to see the side from Old Trafford in Sydney.

“It’s huge – you wouldn’t hear about a world team coming to play in Sydney, especially Olympic Park and I wish I could go,” he said.

“I know a lot of us want to go, obviously we’re playing and lets just hope we can have as many fans as we can going to the United game come and watch us play too.”

Darley played his first senior game for the year against the Swans last weekend and if selected, will play in front of another of his childhood heroes in Essendon coach James Hird when the GIANTS face the Bombers on Saturday afternoon.

It’s a big day of sport for Darley, who is also heading to the Manchester United game straight after.

“I couldn’t believe it, obviously they’re playing just around the corner from us – we had our game changed; originally it was going to be a night game but they’re playing at night so I was quite excited about that.

“I think to have the most successful and biggest club in England when you’re talking about EPL and they’re obviously the team that everyone knows, to be here in Sydney, they’re in our backyard so it’s definitely very exciting for not just me, quite of the other boys are excited too.

“Yep, I’ve got family up and I’m still going.”

If you have a ticket to the Manchester United v A-League All Stars game at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night, simply show your ticket at the Skoda Stadium gates for free entry to GIANTS v Essendon at 2.10pm or click here for tickets to the GIANTS game