Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Nicholls electorate is a haven for sport. Our good weather, facilities and supportive families and volunteers provide the opportunity to participate in all manner of sporting activities. This week, of course, I want to focus on soccer or football and on Garang Kuol, who is part of Australia's World Cup squad—the Socceroos—in Qatar. Garang won his first cap in a friendly against New Zealand on 25 September so it has been a meteoric rise. Garang has made quite an impact on the world game since he started with the A-League side Central Coast Mariners. When he came on for the A-League All-Stars as a late substitute and carved his way solo through the world-class defence of Barcelona FC, more people took notice.

Garang's fearlessness and flair would have been news to many but not in Shepparton in my electorate. It was here that Garang cut his teeth as a junior playing in the Shepparton Junior Soccer Association and then through the Goulburn Valley Suns, under the coaching of Tommy Giuliani. Garang is from a Sudanese background and he moved to Shepparton, like so many others, with his family as a refugee. He made friends, joined a soccer team, went to school and thrived. After the World Cup, Garang will move to English Premier League club Newcastle United. I would like to place on the record just how proud we all are of Garang's achievements. And there's more good news for Australia from Shepparton, and that is that his little brother Didi is showing great promise and making defences around the region very nervous indeed.