I remember when Mark Bosnich turned out in goal for the Mariners in a pre-season game against Sydney FC. That was his first professional football game since his dramatic fall from grace because of drugs and other poor life choices he’s made in the past.

That pre-season A-League match did not make front page headlines around the world, but the return of Bosnich to football from the depths of depression and drug abuse is a remarkable and inspirational story, not just for football lovers but also for all of us who have fathered a son and dreamed that one day he would become a famous sportsman.

Born in Fairfield, in Sydney’s West in 1972, Bosnich made his trial debut for Manchester United on free transfer from Sydney Croatia, but he wasn’t signed by United and moved to Aston Villa in 1992.

Bosnich won two Coca-Cola Cups with Villa, but found himself in trouble with the football authorities and became famous for making a Hitler salute during a game at Tottenham’s White Hart Lane.

However, the keeper’s form in goal was so good that he attracted the attention of Old Trafford boss Alex Ferguson. A dream return to United and a very lucrative professional contract followed.

Within weeks of moving back to Manchester, Bosnich was arrested after an incident at a lap-dancing club.

Then an unfortunate injury robbed him of his starting place and he lost the prized United keeper’s shirt to France custodian Fabien Barthez.

Bosnich fell out with Ferguson and he went to Chelsea in search of first-team football.

He started as first choice keeper at Stamford Bridge, but again after another injury setback, lost out to Carlo Cudicini.
Mark Bosnich then made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Following a scathing attack on former boss Ferguson, Bosnich was admitted to medical care diagnosed as “suffering from severe clinical depression.”

In December 2002, came the bombshell that destroyed his Premiership career. A failed cocaine test ended his days at Chelsea. He was banned for nine months and at that point he made no attempt to reform or to try and resurrect his professional football career.

He admitted to the cocaine addiction, which had spiralled into shameful drug abuse, depression and tawdry tabloid tales of video sex romps, along with a destructive relationship with English supermodel Sophie Anderton, after walking out on his then pregnant wife.

Also revealed a few years later was the attempted murder of his father, who he had held in a headlock and pointed a pistol at his forehead. Bosnich claimed he thought his father was a burglar, but his father said that he knew it was him.

Bosnich was high on cocaine.

That was the turning point.

As Bosnich had grown into a man, his father had been very proud of how he had realised his dream of helping his much-loved son leave the suburbs of western Sydney to become the world’s best young goalkeeper, with unlimited potential and the chance of millions in earnings.

The same son who almost shot and killed him.

The turnaround was so complete that now the father’s challenge was to still love the son, and the son’s challenge was to change his life and to receive that love.

Bosnich’s dad didn’t abandon him; he worked very hard to help him get his life back together. He worked very hard to get the family back together. It’s been a long hard road for all concerned and it wasn’t going to be easy.

Six years after his last professional football game in the English Premier League, he ran out on Bluetongue stadium to play professional football once again for the Central Coast Mariners.

The way he has kept his head together to go on and become a professional sports commentator is a marvellous tribute to the man and the way he has turned his life around.

I will always respect Mark Bosnich as a human being who has experienced, braved and conquered the highest and lowest and cruelest of the vicissitudes of life as a professional footballer.

Andrew Wu has pro-MeIbourne RuIes form.

He once made a Sydney poll of 10 Most disliked journalists covering NRL.

Never has anything bad to say about cricket or MeIbourne RuIes.

Nobody plays soccer any more pip, move into the 21st century my friend.

We are all Australians and we play football.

Geez pip,
did you have to invent another fake football poster who calls it soccer and argues that it should be called soccer. Bit bored today, are we?

Interesting picture by the way, who is it?
Is that you and your middle ages thinking?

The game is football, get over it mate.

damo, your 2 cents worth is worth absolutely nothing mate, if you think QPR are in the EPL.

They are actually in the second division and currently play football worse than most A-League clubs. They are on track to be demoted to the third division by the end of the season.

This clearly demonstrates the ego-driven mis-informed twitter-following football fan in Australia.
Have an open mind and go along to an A-League game.

If you live in Sydney go along to the Sydney Derby next weekend (if you can get tickets) and then tell us what you think of the A-League.

Exactly.
If you can’t be bothered getting off your phone to watch an A-League football game are you a real fan of football or just a fan of twitter?

Please don’t refer to Andrew Wu and David Wu as “journalists”.

They are paid script writers for MeIbourne RuIes and Sydney Swans in particular.

Have you ever read any of their articles?
So sickly sweet they’ll make you vomit.

http://www.smh.com.au/afl/sydney-swans/afl-grand-final-2016-lance-franklins-chance-to-do-what-tony-lockett-couldnt-for-sydney-swans–win-a-flag-20160930-grsb5f.html

Well . . . if you like watching football highlights on your 3″ screen.

If you are a true football fan you go out and experience the game, whether its your 13 year old playing in the local comp or a Sydney Derby.

To follow football on your phone via twitter and then point fingers at the A-League, which you proudly admit you have never even seen, is very immature and childish behaviour.

Andrew Wu is a Victorian and a Sydney Swans lap dog for the Sydney morning herald and his brother David Wu is a Sydney Swans lap dog for the Daily Telegraph.

It not surprising that he claims he would never watch an A-League game,while at the same time says he is an avid follower of football.

He has no credibility whatsoever and is a hypocrite to be criticising the A-League, if he has never even seen a game or attended a game.

His mate Buzz Rothfield at least had the decency to attend an A-League game, was immediately converted and goes to all the Sydney Derby games now.

I remember Paul Okon well, from his time at Marconi Stallions, he went on to play in the big leagues of Europe, including Seria A for Lazio and Fiorentina and of course captained the Footballroos.

He was a great player and I always felt he didn’t get the full credit he deserved, possibly because of his wretched luck with injuries towards the end of his career.

I don’t think Paul is quite ready for top grade professional coaching just yet and he is not the one to save the Mariners this season.

I wish him all the best in his coaching career and am sure that one day he will become the great manager that we all know he can be. For the sake of the Mariners and the A-League in general, I sincerely hope that day comes sooner rather than later.

Forget the EPL Truth Bomb.

Mate, the biggest thing in Chinese sport right now is MeIbourne RuIes.
The locals just can’t stop talking about it.

The upcoming Port game is already a sellout and they have had to move the game to the open plains of Northern SIberia to accommodate the millions of Chinese Elvis RuIes fans who want to watch it live.

They’ve sold out of stuffed possums, kangaroo scr0tums and Andrew Demetriou biographies too.

Phenominal impact.

Got you a beauty again Pip.
LoL Mister MeIbourne RuIes. Haha.

Interesting comparison given the FFA is a not-for-profit organisation that ploughs all the money it makes back into football. Its not supposed to be there to make a profit.

That’s how the MeIbourne RuIes anti-matter brigade works Stuart.
They attack the man and try to discredit him/her rather than actually discuss the topic.

They just can’t accept that the MeIbourne RuIes marketing department are copy cats and have stolen the name “football” solely for their selfish cheap marketing purposes.

There are more Brazilian professional footballers playing in the Chinese Super League than in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A.
Supply and demand in the fastest growing economy and football league in the world.

CSL average attendance 22K. A-League doing very well in comparison for a country with only 23M citizens.

Popovic likes to test himself as a manager by sacking almost the entire squad in the off season and then rebuilding almost an entire team from scratch in the next season.

I think this season he has set himself too much of a challenge and he needs to go for a bit more stability. They have problems all over the park including goal keeper and I can’t see them making the Golden Toilet Seat decider.

Then again, I hope Popa reads this and proves me wrong.

I will be at the Sydney grand final, no matter whom we have to beat.

If you are in Sydney and want to see the Sydney Derby on Jan 14 at Allianz, then get your tickets this week. Not many left by the look of it.

With so much money, that foreign MeIbourne sport is still going backwards.
The people running it should be sacked.

punter, have you bought your AFL Peanut Butter today or your AFL Chips?

Women’s AustraIian RuIes has taken over the world and is now the most popular sport on the planet. . . as reported by the MeIbourne HeraId.

Just wait till they actually start playing a game.

WOW!

They’re all beatable Stuart.

Victory has 2 games in hand against easy opposition, so if they win both and SFC lose a couple, it could be a very different story.

As a SFC fan I’d rather be in our position than theirs and quietly confident we will lift the Premiers Plate.

My only disappointment so far this fantastic season is that Wanderers are not up there challenging.

I’d rather have 2 Sydney teams in the grand final played at ANZ stadium in front of another A-League record Grand Final crowd.

Absolutely Stuart and look how many consortiums are now lining up to buy A-League licenses at $5M+ a pop.

The extra money will flow back to the game right down to grassroots level and help it continue to grow.

Please refer to the Sutherland Shire FOOTBALL Association by its correct legal name.
http://shirefootball.com.au/

Have a nice year in 2017.

“… minor code …”

Football is the most popular team sport in the world and the most played sport in Australia. More Australians know about and are involved in football than any other Australian sport.
A bit more major than minor.

Just because a couple of other sports get more media attention doesn’t mean they are the best known.

By the way, the article was sarcastic and not meant to be taken seriously, you have committed the crime, not the author.

MeIbourne RuIes can learn from football, like by not stealing the name of another sporting code Mister MeIbourne RuIes.

The MeIbourne RuIes marketing department made a big mistake, they should have called their game ” Australian Elvis” and they would have got even more global attention.

I can see it now, the Elvis Toyota Premiership of Australian Elvis RuIes.

“A-League is so weak . . .because of all the rubbish . . . ”

There’s no promotion-relegation in MeIbourne RuIes, NRL or Super Rugby either and they all have a salary cap of some sort too.

Geez Pip, you can do better than that man, at least try and make some sense of it all.

Happy New Year Mr MeIbourne RuIes.

Soccer died out in Australia last century along with horse drawn buggies. Time for you to try and be more relevant and move with the times.

We all know you are hugely fake football fans and change your tone whenever it suits you, don’t we Pip?