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Eddie Thomson, the former Hearts and Aberdeen
defender who started his playing career at Whitehill
Welfare, has died.
Thomson, who went on to coach the Australian
national side, had been battling cancer. He was 55.
“It is a tragic loss for us,” said Whitehill
official Derek Waterson who played alongside Thomson
in the mid 60s when Welfare played in U21 football.
“Although he went on to great things in
Australia, he was always one of the boys. He always
kept in touch over the years,” recalled Waterson.
Thomson was brought up in Prestonhall Crescent,
Rosewell, and showed great promise as a footballer
during his school years at Rosewell Primary and
Lasswade Secondary. He
joined Whitehill, his local team, and his potential
was seen by scouts from Hearts, for whom he signed
in 1966.
Thomson was farmed out to Penicuik Athletic for a
spell but then made the breakthrough at Tynecastle
where he became a familiar figure in the defence.
He played 162 games for Hearts before
transferring to Aberdeen for £60,000 in 1973.
Thomson spent three years with the Dons during which
he played 91 games.
In 1976 he left for the United States and played 19
times for San Antonio Thunder in the North American
Soccer League.
Australia beckoned in 1977 and he signed for Sydney
City, which was then known as Hakoah Eastern
Suburbs. He became a key
player in the City team which he took the inaugural
National Soccer League Championship that year, and
also finished in the top three in the next two
seasons.
In 1980 he made the switch from player to coach
winning three NSL championships in a row.
With City he finished at the top of the
northern division ladder, and won the national cup
in 1986.
He moved on to the Olympic Sharks in 1987 and took
the club to the 1989 Grand Final before switching
the next season to concentrate on the national team.
These coaching duties actually started in 1984 when
he was in charge of the Australia B team in a
tournament against a prominent overseas club.
Indeed, his first game in charge was against Glasgow
Rangers in Melbourne, a match which finished 0-0.
He became assistant to head coach Frank Arok
in 1985 and took full charge of the national team
five years later on Arok’s departure. Thomson’s
first match in command of the Socceroos was against
South Korea in Seoul in September 1990 when his side
lost 1-0.
Australia easily won the Oceania group in the 1994
World Cup qualifiers and won a tough two-legged
play-off against Canada to meet Argentina in the
final play-off. Argentina,
who had reached the final of the previous World Cup,
were held 1-1 in Sydney and only won the second leg
1-0.
Thomson was also coach for the 1992 and 1996
Australian Olympic teams. Thomson’s side reached the
semi-finals in Barcelona in 1992 – one of the best
performances by an Australian team in a major finals
tournament.
His final years as a coach were in the Japanese
J-League at Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
The outstanding effort he put into the development
of football in Australia was recognised when he was
inducted into Australia’s National Soccer Hall of
Fame.
A
minute’s silence was held before Whitehill’s match
with Gala Fairydean on Saturday, and the club plan
to have a permanent tribute at Ferguson Park to one
of their most illustrious sons.
Eddie Thomson is survived by his wife Pauline, son
Steven and daughter Claire. |
