Richard Garcia cannot wait to welcome West Ham United to Australia!
The former Hammers and Socceroos favourite will be among the tens of thousands of supporters in the stands when David Moyes’ Irons take on Perth Glory and Tottenham Hotspur at Optus Stadium in his home city of Perth later this month.
To remind West Ham supporters, Garcia won the FA Youth Cup and played in the Premier League with the Irons and appeared for his country at the FIFA World Cup finals before playing for and managing Perth Glory.
The 41-year-old will be part of the Irons’ summer visit to Western Australia and is enthused by the prospect of seeing the UEFA Europa Conference League winners in action in his own backyard.
“I’m very excited, it should be great!” he smiled. “The last time West Ham were here [in 1995 for a Centenary Tour] was just before I joined West Ham. Now they’re coming back and it’s been a long time between trips.
“I definitely know of a lot of West Ham supporters over here who will be itching for them to come in and have a real go at Tottenham and have a good go at Perth Glory!
“There definitely is a lot of support for West Ham in Western Australia. I know that because when I was playing over there, they started up a West Ham Academy in Western Australia and you really did see how many people supported West Ham, so there is a lot of support down here in Western Australia.”
The 1995 visit Garcia alluded to saw Harry Redknapp’s West Ham squad visit Australian cities Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to celebrate the Club’s 100th birthday and paved the way for the forward to join the Hammers the following year.
Fellow Perthite Stan Lazaridis (pictured below) impressed Redknapp in one of the Irons’ four tour matches and earned himself a move to east London, laying the foundation for a succession of young Australian players to make the same journey, including goalkeeper Steve Mautone, defenders Hayden Foxe and Trent McClenahan and midfielder and fellow 1999 FA Youth Cup winner Michael Ferrante.
“It was a connection that started through Stan,” Garcia confirmed. “West Ham came here in 1995 and they took Stan from that trip because he played against them. That just opened up a little bit of a pathway and a bit of communication between the guy who was working for West Ham over here, looking for our best players.
“What ended up happening was that it created that little route to West Ham to trial and that little stepping stone to be able to then get your foot in the door at the Club. If you were good enough, they were more than happy to take you, so it was just that open mindedness from West Ham to actually take a chance and give guys from Australia a go.”
While Garcia made 22 first-team appearances in Claret and Blue, including nine in the Premier League, that historic, record-breaking Youth Cup triumph was arguably his finest moment in a West Ham shirt.
Playing alongside Ferrante and the likes of Joe Cole and Michael Carrick, the young Hammers defeated Coventry City 9-0 on aggregate in the final, while Garcia scored in every round, netting eight goals in total. Nearly 25 years on, the memory of the one of the greatest nights in the Academy of Football’s history still feels him with pride.
“It was a sensational night!” he recalled. “We were actually looking at each other on the pitch seeing people walking in before kick-off and thinking ‘this is crazy, we’re going to fill up the stadium here!’, and we did!
“It was something special for us young guys. We’d worked so hard all season and to cap it off by playing that game in front of a full Upton Park was something dreams were made of.
“Everyone from that group went onto professional football in some form. We were very lucky to have [Academy Director] Tony Carr and [1964 FA Cup winner and coach] Peter Brabrook and good people around the youth team and their version of success was us making a living out of the game, and I think they were very successful in that because most of the guys went on to have some sort of career in the game, which was fantastic.”
West Ham actually scouted Garcia while he was playing in his home city as a 15-year-old – the Club had gone to watch another player, but he stood out and was invited over for a trial – and he returned home in 2014, when he joined Perth Glory.
Despite the distance and time difference, he remains in touch with his old West Ham teammates even now.
“Now, with the beauty of social media, we can sort of keep in touch and keep track of each other’s lives,” he explained. “In September [2022], myself, Michael Ferrante, Sean Byrne and Michael Carrick met up in Bali! I know that Izzy Iriekpen and Adam Newton still see each other quite often and there are still people in and around the group who keep in touch. I think they are lifelong bonds you create with the people that you have success with, and I think with any team that you are successful with those bonds will never leave you.”
A number of the outstanding young players who repeated that achievement by winning the Youth Cup in May this year will travel to Perth, and the Australia U23 coach and supporters from across the country will be there to see them in action.
