Canberra United would like to congratulate the Westfield Matildas and Qantas Socceroo Tommy Oar on being nominated as finalists for the 2010 Sports Performer of the Year Awards.
Canberra United would like to congratulate the Westfield Matildas and Qantas Socceroo Tommy Oar on being nominated as finalists for the 2010 Sports Performer of the Year Awards in the categories of Team Performance of the Year and Young Performer of the Year respectively.
The Westfield Matildas were nominated as Team of the Year finalists following their outstanding efforts in bringing home Australia-s first major piece of international silverware at this year-s AFC Women-s Asian Cup in China.
Starting the year with three wins and a draw against highly rated opponents New Zealand and DPR Korea, the Westfield Matildas went on to beat Korea Republic, Vietnam, Japan and DPR Korea on their way to lifting the prestigious Asian Cup.
This month the Westfield Matildas finished runners-up at the 2010 Peace Queen Cup and only last night were narrowly defeated by World number one ranked Germany in Wolfsburg.
In 2010 Westfield Matildas Head Coach Tom Sermanni and captain Melissa Barbieri have lead the team to an impressive 9 wins from 13 matches and successfully qualified for the team-s fifth successive FIFA Women-s World Cup to be held in Germany in June/July 2011 while advancing themselves to 11th in the FIFA world rankings.
Qantas Socceroos wunderkind Tommy Oar has been nominated as a finalist in Young Performer of the Year category.
Eighteen year old Tommy has had an extremely busy and successful 2010 so far.
Since bursting onto the scene as precocious teenager when Frank Farina signed him for Brisbane Roar at the start of the Hyundai A-League 2008/09 season, Tommy has had a meteoric rise through the ranks of Australian football.
Following a standout Hyundai A-League 2009/10 season, where he made 18 appearances, scored a goal and was named the NAB Young Player of the Year, Tommy signed a three-year to play for FC Utrecht in the Dutch Eredivise. He made his senior team debut for FC Utrecht in their UEFA Europa League victory over KF Tirana in July.
Internationally, Tommy was a key member of the Qantas Young Socceroos team that recently finished runners up at the AFC U-19 Asian Championship which was held in China and in the process helped his team qualify for the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup which will be played in Colombia.
Tommy-s efforts were also recognised when he was selected for his first Qantas Socceroos squad in January and in February of this year made his senior international debut against Indonesia at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. The highlight of Tommy-s year was definitely being selected in the extended Qantas Socceroos squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup where he travelled to South Africa and participated in the matches leading up to the tournament.
To top it off, at the Australian Football Awards, which were held in Sydney earlier this month, Tommy received the award for the Male Young Player of the Year.
The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald present the fourth Sports Performer Awards. These Awards are one of the most prestigious prizes in Australian Sport – recognising the very best performers from the previous 12 months. Unlike other major awards, the winner of all categories will be determined by an online public vote with the highest tallied Performer of the Year taking home $50,000 prize money, courtesy of Colonial First State.
Sports fans can vote for their Performer of the Year by visiting www.performerawards.com.au up until Wednesday 24 November with the winners to be announced at a gala function which will be held at the Crown Casino, Melbourne, on Tuesday, November 30, 2010.
Source: FFA
