A Mancunian footballer flies halfway across the world, landing in Shepparton to ply his trade.
No, it’s not a long-winded set-up for a poor joke – rather it’s how departing Heidelberg United forward Dan Heffernan’s footballing journey began in Australia. However, there is a punchline to his story – an A-League berth with the Central Coast Mariners at the age of 28.
It’s hard to believe a player of Heffernan’s calibre went unnoticed for so long, especially given his towering 6’2 figure on the park. In fact it could’ve been so different for the burly Englishman, who only five years ago was plying his trade with Salford City FC in the eighth division of the English football chain. While he could’ve easily slipped through the cracks, playing non-league English football for the remainder of his career, he decided to gamble his football ambitions on a trip Down Under.
“Someone back home, he was a supporter of [non-league] FC United, he set up a website for non-league players to [make the move overseas],” Heffernan says.
“If you’ve not got the greatest of CV’s, it’s hard to go travel if you want to play football abroad, which is what I wanted to do. He contacted me, told me to throw my details on and within two weeks, I had a message from Shepparton to replace someone who’d left. It went from there.
“They’ve got the set up here in terms of visa players, obviously back home, you see the influx of foreigners, more or less the European based players going to England.
“As such, you do get the players who slip through the net. I’ve never been at an academy, so I can’t say that I slipped through the net like some players, but I took the move abroad to push me to the level I’m at now. Hopefully I can make the step up now.”
Road trip to Shepp… Watch the Gv Suns tonight! See some old friends before the big move ??
— Daniel (@DannyHeff1987) August 29, 2015
A stunning return of 29 goals from 19 games for Regional Premier League outfit Shepparton SC helped his side to a third place finish in his first year in Australia. Heffernan’s form put his name on notice, attracting interest from South Melbourne, who’d finished sixth in Dandenong Thunder’s championship winning VPL season.
But despite holding talks with South, the move never materialised. Instead, he opted for the recently relegated Heidelberg United, with his one-year stint in State League 1 returning 19 goals in a title winning side. The induction of the new NPL Victoria structure saw United back in the nation’s top-flight after a short sabbatical, and much like everything that Australia had thrown at ‘Heff’ up until then, he adjusted and adapted expertly in his first crack at the top of the Victorian pyramid.
A remarkable return of 18 goals from 25 games saw Heffernan poll the most votes in the 2014 Gold Medal count, but a sending off against Oakleigh Cannons in Round 15 saw him ineligible for the NPL’s best-and-fairest award. 14 goals from 22 games this year, on top of a further eight goals in five FFA Cup games signalled yet another year of improvement for the striker, who candidly admitted that his happiness at Heidelberg was paramount to his success.
“Before I came to Heidelberg, I spoke to South Melbourne and have spoken to other clubs since, but there’s no reason to leave a club if you’re happy. Some people leave for extra money, but at the end of the day you might not be happy,” he says.
“Why leave a place like here where I’ve been made to feel comfortable? That was the question I was asked when I first went up to Central Coast for a trial, Hutch [John Hutchison] asked me about the move.
“I said to him ‘there are a lot of players who say they’re comfortable in the NPL environment’. [He asked] ‘Are you willing to step out of your comfort zone?’ That’s something that I’ve taken great consideration into [in my decision]. As long as I’m happy with the move, then I’ll do it.
“That’s one of the things that Kats [George Katsakis], Steve [Tsalikidis], the boys and the committee [try to achieve at Heidelberg], is that we’re a close-knit dressing room. I can’t remember any in-fighting between the players, we get along well inside and outside the dressing room which is obviously very good.”
That camaraderie within the Heidelberg camp has seen Heffernan give his all for the club – and vice-versa – including holding off on his A-League dream to help Heidelberg contend for the NPL Victoria Premiership and their progression in the FFA Cup.
“We sat down after I came back from Coffs Harbour and the trial game against Western Sydney Wanderers. At the time, we were still in the mix for the title and I wanted to stay here and try to challenge the other two teams [Bentleigh and South],” he says.
“That didn’t work out, but obviously [the FFA Cup] was the big one. To be in the last eight of the cup, it’s the national stage. Kats says it, there’s no bigger stage than the FFA Cup.”
The 2-0 win against Sydney United in the Round of 16 proved to be his last for the Bergers, as he missed a penalty in their 3-0 shootout loss to Pascoe Vale in their NPL Elimination Final on Sunday. But despite the loss, he walks away from a three-year association with the club receiving only the best blessings from those involved with the club.
“At the moment he’s a Heidelberg player, what happens tomorrow, I can’t tell you,” said Heidelberg coach George Katsakis after last week’s FFA Cup triumph.
“The club has not let him down in over three years, he wouldn’t walk away from his teammates or the club [on bad terms]. To his credit, it’s just a great statement to make and it goes to show you how this club has gone over the last three-four years.”
While he’s now reaping the rewards of years of toiling under the radar, Heffernan admits that it’s his unwavering passion for the sport that has seen him continue to develop deep into his 20’s; a peculiar journey to the top that didn’t seem likely all those years ago.
“It’s the passion [for the sport] that drives me and a lot of players [at this level],” he says.
“It’s very hard when you’re working – I’m lucky, this season I’ve not been working – long winters and you’re working 9-5, then you’ve got to train three times a week, then play games.
“It’s hard; you’ve got to have a passion for the game, you’ve got to be enjoying it first and foremost because it’s the passion that’ll drive you. I’m passionate about playing and I want to play as high as I can.”
It’s that passion that’s helped continue to turn heads everywhere he’s stepped so far in Australia. From the modest surroundings of regional Shepparton, to the rise through the ranks at Heidelberg United, Heffernan has continued to prove his value even at the highest level level – scoring a hat-trick against Western Sydney Wanderers in a trial game for the Mariners.
No fear of slipping through the net now for the man that continues to show why his name – and Australia’s state leagues – shouldn’t be forgotten any time soon.
Photos: Matt Johnson