Blacktown City Independent BCI 39 June 2024 | Page 21

Matt Galysa – the complete showman

with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
Growing up as a young kid around western Sydney , I wanted to be a football star like Mark Geyer , Peter Kelly or Greg Alexander , or a cricket star like Steve Waugh , Greg Matthews or Merv Hughes . As kids we used to live out our dreams on the sports fields and empty paddocks with our mates across western Sydney , trying to live the dream and become one of the big pros and play at the top . This next guy is no different and lives the dream every weekend .
Matt Galysa is your typical weekend warrior . He lives through the week dreaming of the next weekend when he gets to show his own brand of skills to the
Matt drilling a Balmain player . broader public playing rugby union with his mates at Blacktown and Masters rugby league for Riverstone , in the state wide Masters rugby league competition for over 35s players .
Showbags , as Matt is known in the world of sports , constantly demonstrates an uncompromising style of play with bone jarring defence and ball running that are now considered to be old school .
He doesn ’ t take a backward step and picked up this apt nickname playing last year at Blacktown Rugby Club with his flashy skills and footwork , along with some very questionable stories and achievements that have been embellished as the years have gone on .
Matt started off back in the day playing junior rugby league at St Pats as a 9-year-old and played through until A grade , winning some competitions along the way . He said that the u14s was a memorable occasion for him in his career as they went through undefeated and were coached by Matt Cameron who is now at Penrith .
His experience in rugby union started in Colts ( u21s ) as a 20-yearold and then he had an eight-year layoff before his brother-in-law , Mitch
Jarvis , talked him into making a comeback at 29 . He loves the camaraderie in rugby union and being part of many end of season trips , he was an invaluable member of Blacktown ’ s boatrace team . They won 13 of their 14 boat races last season before being humiliated by Balmain away from home when the team were missing key members and scullers from the team .
Matt is currently playing Masters rugby league at Riverstone and says that the competition is strong , and the boys are good , so it makes the experience of putting your body on the line in the game you love one of the best experiences of a weekend .
Matt is also playing Golden Oldies rugby at Penrith this season and is one of the rookies of the competition at 42-yearsold with some of the boys pushing well into their 60s and 70s . He loves playing with and against the old boys and said that many of them still give a good account of themselves on the field . He still does his barnstorming runs , brutal defence and
Matt Galysa busting it up against Canterbury . Credit Eliescha Louwrens .
flashy skills that make you look twice .
Matt considers himself a member of the elite Supreme Athlete club ( its for props and big blokes who play footy that like to get on the beers and eat food ), and he enjoys all of the social interactions that come with this .
He never shirks away from a challenge and always gets in there in football and rolls his sleeves up to help his mates punch the ball up , or do the hard defensive work required . He doesn ’ t mind doing the leg work helping set up and pack down after matches .
Showbags truly epitomises what it means to be a weekend warrior and showcases exactly what local community sports is all about .

Blacktown City FC – flying high in 2024

with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin
After a solid finish to the season in 2023 which saw them pull back ground on eventual competition winners Apia Leichhardt , Blacktown City had a plan to hit the ground running for 2024 . Mark Crittenden recruited a strong team in 2023 to help Blacktown compete with the heavyweights of NSW NPL men ’ s football including eventual winners Apia , Sydney United , Rockdale City Suns , Marconi Stallions and Wollongong Wolves .
This season has seen the return of Mitch Mallia and Joey Gibbs . They ’ ve also
Travis Major . Credit : Blacktown City FC .
been able to retain the services of Travis Major , Adam Berry , Tristan Prendergast , Danny Choi , goal scoring machine Jak O ’ Brien who has picked up 12 goals so far for the campaign and captain Mario Shabow .
The consistency this season and good form rolling on from last season saw Blacktown blow away Apia Leichhardt at Landen Stadium in a 9-goal thriller which saw Blacktown win 6-3 in a boil over against last season ’ s champions , and it also saw Jak O ’ Brien pick up a bagful of goals , slotting away four .
The expectations were high , and the bar was set after beating last year ’ s champions . The following week they had a tough day out against a stout St George side which saw them end up with a 0-0 draw at Rockdale Illinden Sports Centre . Thankfully , they got back on track with a 3-2 home win against Sutherland Sharks . They then hit a flat spot which saw the team end up with an away draw against Manly Utd and a 1-0 home loss against National Second Tier bound Wollongong Wolves .
After that , Mark Crittenden ’ s men went on a 5-match unbeaten streak which saw them pick up their first away win against Rockdale Illinden 3-2 , and a massive 8-0 win against Sydney FC ’ s Academy squad .
Blacktown did then have a 3-0 home loss to local rivals Western Sydney
Wanderers Academy squad 3-0 and pulled one out of the fire against an extraordinarily strong Sydney Olympic squad 3-3 which boasts a host of former A League and professional football talent including Ziggy Gordon , Adam Parkhouse , Roy O ’ Donovan and Abraham Majok .
Since this game Blacktown have gone on another 3-game winning streak which saw them beat NWS Spirit 3-1 at home , the very strong Marconi Stallions 3-0 at home and a 2-0 away win against local rivals and new boys to NSW NPL Men ’ s football Hills United FC 2-0 .
There have been fabulous contributions right across the park so far in the first 15 rounds of the season as we cross the half way mark and start heading towards the business end of the season with Mitch Mallia ’ s return adding a lot of vest to the midfield , and Joey Gibbs returning has seen another goal outlet from a known goal poacher .
The goals have been coming from all over the park with Mallia and Gibbs chipping in , Danny Choi , some sterling displays by the effervescent Travis Major , who scores goals for fun , and flourishes playing with Blacktown with 115 goals in 252 prior to this season and another 6 this campaign in 15 matches .
Blacktown are currently sitting in 4 th place in the competition on 31 points , 4 behind league leaders Rockdale Illinden ,
Goal machine Jak O ’ Brien . Credit : Blacktown City FC .
with last year ’ s premiers Apia in 2 nd on 34 , Western Sydney Wanderers on 33 , with Marconi in 5 th place on 28 points breathing down their necks .
Round 16 sees Blacktown play the away leg of the initial 6-3 win against Apia Leichhardt who will be very happy to be playing at Lambert Park , and you get every feeling that a good result against Apia followed by solid displays in the month following will set Blacktown up for a serious crack at the premiership for this season .
They definitely have the talent to achieve another NSW NPL Premiership .
Let ’ s support the local boys as they take on the best in NSW !
BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine . com . au ISSUE 39 // JUNE 2024 21