Image: Mark Avellino
Taking a plunge into the unknown, American striker Kene Eze has surfaced a new man. It’s a long journey from the brink of Major League Soccer to the third division of Australian football. For most footballers, it would seem a risk not worth taking.
Luckily for the North Geelong Warriors, self-belief comes close second to blistering pace in Eze’s asset locker room. The relentless goalscorer, who netted 12 times in 20 league appearances this season, has been the undoubted key to Geelong’s NPL promotion.
The Warriors secured their bounce-back to the big time with two emphatic victories in the promotion play-offs; the clincher a 4-0 demolition of Richmond SC. Eze credits the surprising scale of the results to the confidence of his team.
“We knew we were good enough to get promotion, to where we wanted to be. Coming into the game we knew it’d be tough. Richmond is a top side, but we just stuck to our game plan. We knew if we put in 100 per cent we’d get the result. Luckily, we did.”
Luck does seem an apt descriptor. It wouldn’t have taken long for the fortunate Warriors’ coach Micky Colina to realise he’d captured a gem. Eze is now another glowing chapter in the undoubted success story of football’s globalisation.
The ability for a club in North Geelong to bring in a striker who had, albeit briefly, been drafted into one of the world’s richest and fastest growing competitions is a story in itself.
It was an almost one-in-a-million chance that a North Geelong side desperately seeking a striker would have been mad to pass up. In great form, Eze had been prolific at college level in the U.S before earning a coveted MLS draft pick from billionaire-backed Toronto FC.
Initially impressing in Canada, disaster struck mercilessly in the form of a hamstring tear a week before the MLS season started. Cut from the team and down on his luck, Eze needed a confidence boost. Who would have imagined a small Croatian-backed club 70 kilometres out of Melbourne could provide it?
Apart from the obvious need for adventurism on Eze’s part, this unusual career path emerges from a wealth of resource Australian semi-professional football clubs now seem to have at their disposal.
Visa providing organisations, for Eze an American service known as ‘SoccerViza’, can now promote the NPL as a promising career stepping stone to jet-setting talent from around the world. It’s a bit potluck, but in this case it’s paid dividends.
“There’s always a bit of pressure,” Eze remarks, reflecting on his arrival in Australia. “I just wanted to prove to myself that I could play at this level. I was excited to get the opportunity, honestly, to help the team. I love the team, it’s a great club.”
Looking back at his career to date, it’s hard to imagine Eze wouldn’t have been able to handle the pressure.
Two years ago, Eze was living in glitzy Toronto, population five million. He was trialling at BMO Field in front of 30,000 fans, where EPL star Jermaine Defoe featured for a while. Nowadays he lives in Point Cook, population 32,000. He plies his trade at Elcho Park, with a seated capacity of just 200.
You could forgive the forward for having felt disillusioned, given the toll injuries had taken on his career. But you wouldn’t expect it from someone willing to pack and up and fly 13,000 kilometres on a gamble. No matter how good you are, that takes some serious positivity.
When asked about the move, Eze sticks to his guns. “The move’s been okay. I’m a city guy, I like going out with mates but a couple of boys live around the area, we carpool to training. The boys are great. It’s real peaceful.”
The type of personality required to succeed at this level brings little regard in the modern era. Yet to have lived in three different countries by your early-twenties, to survive on a semi-professional salary halfway around the world from your hometown, requires a type of courage often seen in sport but rarely celebrated.
Perhaps it’s the relaxation that radiates from Eze’s voice that so purposefully masks any fear of failure. Yet Eze has reason to trust his instincts. After all, they’ve brought him this far.
When Eze makes the inevitable comparisons, it will come as no surprise that when it comes to Australian football, the same stereotypes emerge. “There’s more physicality here than in the States, over there there’s more pace. I know the game here’s growing but the standard’s good.”
However, one thing that has surprised Eze is the support. North Geelong has a proud history and loyal backing amongst Croatian-Australians in the region. It may not be 30,000, but it’s not unusual to have similarly vocal four figure attendances cheering him on.
“It blew me away, actually.” Eze says. “Some of the best supporters in the league. They play as a 12th man on the field and I was actually shocked at how passionate the fans were.”
Those fans certainly agree the NPL’s latched on to a keeper. Approaching next season, ‘King Kene’ also looks to have a little something in common, apart from the similar nicknames, with one of the NPL’s already deadliest strikers in Kenjok ‘King Kenny’ Athiu.
Eze, just like Athiu, is a tall, fast and creative striker. Both from central African heritage and encompassing the ambition to come back consistently from injuries, Eze won’t need to look far for inspiration next season should he wish to continue making a name for himself in Victoria’s first division.
For years Australia has been exporting its brightest young talent overseas to further their opportunities, to make a name for themselves. It may be early days yet, but who’s to say the tide will never turn.
The importation of quality footballers has been continuously lauded as a necessity in the development of Australian football. With figures like Eze, it would seem the grassroots, at least, are in good hands.