July 1, 2025 • 53 mins
In this episode, I sit down with Western United futsal goalkeeper and RMIT sport captain Lucas Grigg about the creation of the Victorian Intervarsity Football League, a new futsal tournament aimed at fostering futsal community and competition among university students. We dive deep into the event planning and sports logistics involved in organising intervarsity sports and the importance of university sports in building camaraderie, and the potential for futsal to grow as a recognized sport. Lucas shares his vision for the tournament's future such as campus events and future university leagues as well as the challenges faced in its organisation, and the impact of sports on mental health and community building.
Be sure to follow: Victorian Intervarsity Futsal on Instagram to keep up to all the latest information for the upcoming tournament: https://www.instagram.com/victorianintervarsityfutsal/
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Chapters
00:00 NBA Draft Talk
14:13 Introduction to the Victorian Intervarsity Football League
16:44 The Birth of the Idea
19:50 The Importance of University Sports
24:21 Tournament Structure
29:48 The Future of Futsal in Universities
33:21 The Role of Community and Culture in Sports
36:51 Challenges and Growth
40:49 Mental and Social Impact of Futsal
44:03 Lack of Investment from Universities in Sports
47:47 Final Thoughts and Messages for Students
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Huddle Within podcast, where we go beyond the
surface to uncover the real impact of sports on our lives.
Whether it's lessons of resilience, the passion that
fuels us, or the stories that connect us all, This is where
the game gets personal. I am Daniel, a regular sports
fan just like you, and together we'll explore what sports truly
means beyond the surface. So step right into the Huddle
and let's get into it. What is going on, everybody?
(00:40):
And welcome to another episode of The Huddle Within podcast.
Thank you once again for tuning in.
We have made it to episode 21, fifth away from the 100 mark,
which is a goal I've set out forthis podcast to get to 100
episodes. And we're 1/5 of the way there,
(01:01):
which is great. And I'm so happy that I've been
able to put out 20 episodes, 20 very different episodes, but
ones that I've enjoyed. And I would love to hear your
feedback on basically this journey so far.
And for those that have listenedto all 20 episodes and have
given yourself 20 plus hours of time to listen, thank you.
(01:25):
But would love to get your kind of feedback and sort of what
you've been liking and what you haven't been liking as well with
these podcasts. So I can sort of steer it to a
direction where sort of everyoneis pleased with the content
rather than me just putting out random stuff and one thing you
probably won't like and the other you will.
So let me know. Your feedback is greatly
(01:47):
appreciated as well. I do want to kind of clarify one
thing, the camera. So at the start, I think two or
three episodes back, I said thatit was a refereeing 1.
I said that the camera improved because I was using my iPhone.
And literally as I recorded it, I noticed that there was so much
(02:09):
like fog or sort of kind of light air coming through the
window. But it turned out that my camera
wasn't bloody clean on my phone.So after I recorded it, I sort
of crashed. Out.
And it was like far out I. I stuffed up here because I did
tell everyone that the the camera was going to be better,
(02:29):
but it wasn't. But if you can tell from this
episode, I can promise you and clearly tell you now that the
camera quality is a lot better. I've purchased a new webcam.
I've got the box here for those that are watching the video.
We've got the nice Insta 360 Link C webcam, which I purchased
(02:49):
before the end of financial year.
The financial year has really cooked me as a person working in
business, in digital marketing, lots of work to be done at this
time. But hopefully I can get a decent
tax write off for this and use it for quote unquote work
purposes. But yeah, definitely a lot
(03:09):
better. And I can promise you that's the
case too, because I've done a lot of trial recordings and I've
also cleaned the camera to make sure that there was no fog
there. But for context, you might see
that the camera might be a little bit different for some
other episodes that I've pre recorded.
Those have been back on the iPhone, but they'll look a lot
better than what it was before. But due to the episode that I've
(03:31):
got coming up, which is with Lucas, a good friend of mine
from you can tell from the titleof the episode, that's where the
clarity comes through with the with the camera and stuff.
So now I'm going to be doing videos of this camera, which I'm
extremely excited about and yeah, it's great quality.
For anyone that is wanting to use a webcam for recording
purposes, whatever they're doing, I would highly recommend
(03:52):
this one because of the camera quality and the the ability to
to record in 4K is also a plus. The one that I had before was
AHP. It recorded in 1080P, which I
did like, but I just wasn't happy with kind of how it
looked, especially when I was creating reels to kind of put
out there. Wasn't really a fan of just the
recording quality and that the fact that it was 1080P and not
(04:14):
2K. So I've purchased that.
But anyway, before we get into the interview, I thought I'd get
some updates views regarding thedraught.
So as you know, I did speak a little bit about the NBA draught
before the interview of Vince regarding which was a fantastic
episode and I really appreciate you guys listening in.
For those that are new listeners, I noticed that there
(04:36):
was a few of yous. I really appreciate that.
And it did seem that a lot of people enjoyed the content.
So Vince was a great guest. He made it a lot easier for me.
But essentially before that, theWizards ended up picking up Trey
Johnson. Which?
I did say I wanted Jeremiah Fears to begin with, and I had a
feeling that we weren't going toget Ace Bailey.
(04:57):
It did seem as though we're we were getting a game due to the
fact that he really wanted to come to us and that we were in a
good position. He was ducking out teams.
But at the end of the day, Utah did take him and I had a feeling
they were gonna take him. Danny Ainge is a sort of GM that
takes those risky moves. And yeah, all respect to them
for picking him up. And I wasn't too upset given
(05:17):
that Fears were still on the board and also Trey Johnson,
which if we didn't get Fears, Trey Johnson would have been the
next pick for me. And we ended up getting Trey
Johnson and I'm very happy aboutit. 39% off the dribble from
threes and a three point shoot up.
Perfect for this league. Someone that can we can plug in
straight away and give us a lot of scoring, which is what we
need at the moment. A lot of our players that we
(05:38):
have at the moment are very two way, especially defensively.
Alex Stars who picked up last year, basically number one pick
is a defensive first player working on his offensive game.
We've got Bilal Kulabali who's also a defensive specialist
who've also got Keyshawn George who picked up last year.
That's also a defensive specialist too, and Bob works
(05:58):
both ends as well. He's someone that's gonna
obviously develop a lot this season, but to pair him up with
Trey Johnson, who is someone that probably needs to work on
his defence, is a microwave scorer and someone that can.
Shoot the ball. And in this league, you need
someone that can shoot the ball and we definitely have someone
that can shoot the ball. So really excited for this pick.
(06:19):
We also got Will Riley in the inthe first round.
I don't know too much about him to be honest, but he did play at
pretty sure it's Illinois in Chicago and got drafted with
Kasparis Jakakunis, who was a projected top ten pick, ended up
going down to 20, his teammate, and there were stretches where
(06:40):
Will Reilly was actually playingbetter than him.
So really excited to have him aswell.
He fits the kind of the core of the wings that we've been
drafting as well. So really exciting times for the
Wizards. We've got those veterans as well
to team up and kind of mentor these blokes too.
We have lost Anthony Gill, however, which is really sad.
He was our glue guy, our locker room guy, but.
He. Is not going to be signing with
(07:00):
the team. All the best for him if he is
listening to this. But if you guys do enjoy the
Wizards talk, I do have an episode with Greg Finberg, who
is a upcoming Wizards journalistwho I interviewed on this
podcast. He has all the information,
insights, everything Wizards, and he does a great job in
breaking everything down. And that's where I sort of get
my information from. And we did speak about Anthony
(07:22):
Gill a shit tonne. So it's sad that he's gone.
But As for other winners of the Draught, I think New Orleans did
a really good job in getting Dairy Queen.
However, it's going to come at abig risk because they've given
up a 2026 first round pick to Atlanta Hawks and that's going
to be the best of Milwaukee and New Orleans.
So all the worst of So if Giannis decides that he he wants
(07:45):
out and doesn't want to play forMilwaukee with Damian Lillard
out for the season, that team could literally fall into the
lottery and that pick will go straight to Atlanta, which is
which is pretty insane. So New Orleans must have seen
something really special in Dairy Queen, who I agree is very
special and they also got Jeremiah fears as well.
So if those two hit, this could be a very good trade for for New
(08:05):
Orleans. But I think the most interesting
trade was the and I got 2 Portland fans, best mates of
mine that do go for the Trail Blazers by getting Yang Hanson.
And it was a massive shock for everyone.
No one expected Yang Hanson to get anywhere near the lottery.
He was literally in the stands when he got picked up.
So for those that don't know much about the draught, a lot of
(08:26):
players already know that they're going to get picked in
the first round, which is the 1st 30 picks and they are in the
green room. And the green room is sort of
kind of the function area at thefront.
This guy straight out of China, no width of English was sitting
in the stands as a spectator, just with the off chance that he
could have got drafted the the first night because he was
(08:47):
projected to get drafted in round two around the mid to late
30s and Portland traded up or down to get him actually.
So they've got themselves a first round pick in the future,
which is good, but traded down to get him.
And this was a purposeful move considering that they were
scouting him for two years. They sent their scouts to China
to to check Jen Hansen. Now they've worked him out in
(09:09):
the past and they're really highon this guy and the fact that
they already have 4 centres, which it was 5 when they drafted
them. But as of this recording now,
John Joe Aiden is actually getting bought out, so he's not
going to be part of the Blaze anymore.
They drafted Donovan Clinton last year and now they've picked
up this Yang Hansen, which is a surprise for everyone.
(09:31):
But I think that looking at his kind of stats and stuff, they
are calling him the Chinese Yokich.
And I kind of understand that given that he is an extremely
elite passing big man. And that's something that's
going to be very valuable. I saw that in his highlights as
well. And I think Poland are taking a
hit here. If they can get themselves a
star in Yang Hansen, this could be something for the ages.
(09:53):
And I think they they're in position to get that, especially
given that their team does have a few young players to fit young
Hansen into that call would be great.
And I don't think they're in need of another role player at
the moment. They're really in need to take a
start and they can afford to do that because worst case, they've
got that 2028 first round pick as well under their sleeve too.
So I'm actually really happy with the pick.
And the reason why I'm talking about it is because of the fact
(10:14):
that it was probably the biggestsurprise in in the draught
itself. But even if it doesn't work out,
Portland have probably already made millions in in jersey sales
as well. China is such a big basketball
market worldwide, internationally, especially for
the NBA. And the fact that this is the
third ever Chinese player drafted in the first round,
there's already going to be thatthat massive revenue boost from
(10:37):
from Yonkers and jerseys. And he is a centre out of China.
The last centre out of China wasYao Ming and he was
unbelievable. So hopefully for the sake of
Portland and even for that storyline and Yang Hansen
himself that this could be a bighit and, and, and it turns out
well as well. But I would have to say the
winners of this draught would have to be obviously Dallas
(11:00):
Mavericks Kenny Cooper flag, which is amazing.
But I've got to give smart credits to Atlanta Hawks for
trading to get their 2026 first round pick.
And if New Orleans hits on Fearsand Queen, then I think that
they're going to be the overall winners of the draught because
those two players are really good.
And before that, I would have hoped that Queen would have fell
to the second round, given that he's from Baltimore, which is
(11:21):
about one hour from Washington DC.
He's a local kid. He would have been good to play
to be under the Wizards colours.But that's all that now, free
agencies kicking on. So a few teams have signed some
deals. You've got Nazarene that's
signed A5 year 125,000,000, which was massive.
Julius Randall's looking to signa 300 million, James Harden
signing A2 year 80 million. And Malik Beasley's about to get
(11:44):
arrested for for gambling as well, which is which is pretty
crazy. Looks like he's been gambling on
some NBA teams. I've got a controversial take
when it comes to gambling. I know it's not right to match
fix games and players to gamble in their own leagues.
But the fact that the leagues use that to make money and
revenue off and also advertisement bonuses.
(12:05):
It's quite hypocritical that they're very strict on players
and they don't expect them to tobet as well.
So something that I think needs to be addressed.
Overall, I know that there are gambling advisories and people
that the league sends out to kind of educate these these
players on it. But I think it's been an issue
all around all sports and probably something that now like
I talked about it, something to really address in another
(12:27):
podcast. So maybe I'll get an episode on
sort of the impact of sports gambling and, and these players
and how like essentially they'rein a position where like they're
seeing advertisement all over the board.
They have an opportunity to win money and it's really easy to do
so. Yeah, definitely something that
I'll that I'll include and incorporate here.
(12:48):
But again, as you can probably tell by now, the structure of
these podcasts, I like to put inthe news before essentially the
main interview. So this 12 minute rant, that's
why I've got chapters. Feel free to skip it because
this is for kind of my own passion and knowledge is about
covering sports and things that I like.
And then we get on to the real stuff, which is the interview
that I have with Lucas Grigg. And before I sort of introduce
(13:11):
him, essentially he's running a varsity event for futsal and
it's going to be really exciting.
He's doing this all on his own. From the day I've known him
since kind of meeting him through university sports, he's
the perfect person to run this event.
And I think his passion for the game needs to be addressed on my
on my podcast. And the fact that he's able to
(13:32):
try to grow futsal here in this country and in this state is
great. And also incorporating that with
university sports. And we kind of go into the
depths of the impact of university sports and and how it
can really help represent different universities and also
create that community and that bonding between people.
They are known for someone that's been at a University
(13:53):
Games, which is nationals with people playing and also
coaching, it's an incredible experience and for those that
are in university that play any sort of sport, I would highly
recommend them to get involved into this because the memories
and experiences you do make, which we do talk about are a
lifelong SO. I'll leave it at that.
Thank you very much for kind of listening into this little
(14:14):
spill. And without further ado.
We'll get straight into the interview, but cheers.
I am here with a good mate of mine, Lucas, who's not just
organising a university varsity event but is building something
meaningful and we're diving deepinto that because that's exactly
what we do here on this. Podcast.
So without further ado, Lucas. Would you like to introduce
(14:34):
yourself to the audience, please?
Thanks, Daniel. Yeah, thank you.
So as Daniel just said, my name's Lucas Craig.
I have created the sort of Victorian into varsity Football
League over the last week and still very fresh and still
developing. But yeah.
(14:56):
And nice. Well, the reason why I got you
on the pod today is obviously it's kind of inspired by the
fact that you you went out of your way to really organise a
sporting event. And I love my good old sporting
events. I love my food too.
So what better way to sort of announce the league and talk
about it than on this podcast? And I sort of want you to kind
of get into that, but. Before we do.
I did want to ask where was the idea and how did this kind of
(15:19):
varsity event come about? OK.
Yeah, normally, Yeah. Just as a bit of a background,
I've been with the RMIT University team for four years
now and we our main event is just University Nationals, which
normally takes place in September or October.
(15:40):
So we normally form the team in April or May and then kind of
just train for four or five months up until the event.
But then there's nothing really meaningful along the way.
So the initial thought was kind of just say who else in Victoria
is interested, try and get some sort of lay going.
(16:03):
And then yeah, once I kind of send out those initial messages,
the reactions which are just massive and so positive.
So I kind of just felt like everyone was going to get so
into it, so I started pushing for it.
Yeah. So take me through kind of the
initial planning. So obviously when this idea came
(16:24):
about, you obviously wanted to grow that foots in Victoria and
have an opportunity to have a tournament.
What was like the first, who's the 1st union you contacted?
And I guess what was their kind of reception to, to what you
offered and kind of how did you guys all sort of congregate as
a, as a university, as differentuniversities to sort of agree
on, on having a tournament as well?
(16:44):
It was actually Fed Uni who had this is their first year having
a football team and they reachedout to me just randomly and just
sort of went, hey, what's the deal with futsal when you to the
scene? Can you tell us much?
Is there a league? Is there anything really going
(17:05):
on in Victoria or is it kind of just nationals focused?
So yeah, they were kind of kind of, I guess unintentionally gave
me the idea to develop a league and then that one of the
universities still involved and they're going to be entering a
team in this league. So yeah.
(17:27):
So then after them last year, wehad friendly matches against
Monash Swinburne and Nuna Melb. So yeah, after that phone call
went off, contacted them, kind of just said, hey, you honour.
And then from there we kind of just started actually planning
(17:48):
it out, making the logistics. And then, yeah, we kind of
decided about two or three weeksago, it was kind of crunch time
because everyone had kind of held trials, decided on their
team pretty much. So all of the teams were ready
to start playing. And then, yeah, we started
(18:10):
crunching everything out and planning out the logistics.
And is it mainly planned by yourself?
Do you have anyone helping you at this point?
Well, it's mainly just me and then I'll kind of bounce ideas
off of the other what the other four team managers.
But but yeah, mainly it's just myself planning everything out
(18:30):
at the moment. Yeah, cool.
Well, I do want to say because I've obviously been part of the
system as you probably know and aware, what I do like about uni
games futsal is that a lot of uni students come from sort of
like an outdoor background or a background where futsal is not
really something that's kind of known in their in their junior,
in their junior lives and kind of growing up and developing.
(18:51):
It's very heavy outdoor you obviously do get.
People that are across futsal aswell, but one thing I love is
that that opens the gate to a lot of opportunities to play
futsal and there is a really clear pathway through university
and uni games. And also now that you're having
this varsity tournament to really funnel up to series
futsal. And for those that don't know
what series futsal is, it's the elite Victorian state futsal
(19:15):
division here. Series being the top and then it
funnels down 4 divisions as well, which Lucas can kind of
jump on me for this one as well.But a lot of these players that
come from outdoor, they have an opportunity to play at this
level and it really starts from getting into the university game
system. And the reason why the
university game system is very important is because it offers
(19:35):
the trainings and the ability tokind of represent your, your
university in such events such as nationals, which I'd love for
you to talk about. Because I think from the
conversations we've had previously, this is sort of a
stepping stone to, to nationals.So for people that are listening
and there are uni students that are keen on kind of joining uni
sports, how would you kind of advertise nationals?
(19:57):
Because to me, I think it's one of the the best events this this
this country's got to offer whenit comes to to university and
sports. Yeah, I 100% agree.
It's one of like genuinely one of the best weeks you'll
experience. But yeah, for those listening
that don't know, Uni nationals is kind of, it's kind of
(20:17):
structured the same as the Olympics where it's just a
variety of, I think at the moment they have about 35
different sports. And yeah, it's over about 10
days where they have different events starting on different
days, just like the Olympics. But all of the universities from
across Australia have trials, build teams, sending their
(20:39):
athletes up to compete at nationals against each other.
And then, yeah, it works the same way as the Olympics with
the team that wins the most goldmedals, wins overall.
So it's just such a good environment.
I think last year there was, I think it was about 8 1/2
thousand athletes, so just 8 1/2thousand uni students just
(21:04):
travelling up to the Gold Coast just to play sport and have a
good time. Well, it kind of reminds me of,
as you say, having a good time just as like a sports school is
having like 8500 people congregated full of uni students
in one city in one area. That screams like a good time.
And I think uni games is perfectwhen it comes to that.
(21:26):
Congregating people of similar age with similar kind of sports
and mindsets into kind of 1 area.
And I think the connections thatare built from there pretty
powerful. Like I know from when I was
there, sort of my best friends came from being able to spend a
whole week with with people thatI wasn't, I didn't know really
well and then found that they were like amazing.
(21:46):
And I think Uni Games brings that as well.
So obviously you have the competitive sport and you have
the opportunity to really dive into your craft, but there's
also that opportunity to socialise and connect with
people. And I think that's something
that's really powerful when it comes to to University Games as
well. Do you remember any good
University Games experiences congregating?
Like anything to adhere to that as well?
(22:08):
Yeah, definitely. So, yeah, but those, I don't
know. Daniel was actually coaching the
RMIT side for the 2023 Nationals.
Yes, I would say, but it was only FUTSU, unfortunately.
We didn't actually. There were so many complications
to that, which we won't dive into, but yeah.
Yeah, yeah. So Daniel came up, coached the
(22:31):
team and yeah, just so many memories and, yeah, friendships
made on that trip, especially that they're just unforgettable.
Yeah, for sure. Can't really disclose too much
of what's happened there. You got to experience, got to
experience it for yourself. But no, he's right.
He's just being able to kind of congregate with different
(22:53):
people, different personalities and have some fun as well.
Like obviously sport is there tokind of there to be competitive
and you want to win as well, butyou also want to enjoy the good
times. And I think for uni students,
this is probably the one chance that you're able to feel that
you're in a sort of professionaltournament environment where
you're representing a certain club or a college and going out
(23:14):
to play sports. And I think that's that's pretty
cool as well. So I guess did that sort of
inspiration kind of funnel you into into doing this tournament
or it's sort of just like the the passion of futsal that sort
of wanted to grow in that aspect?
You might have been a bit of both as I probably could assume,
but why? Why of inter varsity event?
(23:35):
Yeah, no, I definitely reckon it's a bit of both, like just
the the chance to grow football as a sport, especially futsal in
Melbourne as a sport and then also building on what happens at
nationals. That's sort of group sort of
camaraderie and like community that gets built.
(23:58):
So yeah, just really, really growing both has just driven me
so much so. Yeah, nice.
I was going to say as well. Like how how does the the
structure work in sense of the tournament?
I haven't I've honestly haven't had a look at it and the reason
why I haven't is so I could talkto you about it here.
I'm really interested to know how the tournament works and who
wins and kind of what are the rewards or kind of the the
(24:21):
benefits of of participating in in this competition and like
what are your plans for this initial season?
Yeah, so the the initial thoughtwas kind of just sort of, Oh
yeah, you'll get some bragging rights in Victoria.
Kind of just the like you'll getsix games of pre season practise
(24:42):
against high level competitors to prepare internationals.
But we've actually we look like we're going to get a few
sponsors. So maybe like we'll get
obviously a trophy, some sort ofmedals, but then maybe some sort
of cash prize to motivate people.
But yeah, so just for those thatdon't know the format either.
(25:02):
So there's six teams that have entered and then each just going
to play one match against each other.
So that'll be 5 league matches and then we'll just go into
straight into the finals becausewe're just under a bit of a time
pressure since nationals is really creeping up.
So yeah. And then just two Evers on the
ladder in first or second, they will go to a gold medal match.
(25:26):
Teams in 3rd and 4th will go into a bronze medal match, and
then teams in 5th and 6th will just go into a 5th place match,
just as a bit of a consolation prize.
Nice, nice. I'm hearing there's going to be
potential commentary and video recording as well, so give us a
kind of rundown on how that's kind of going to work.
(25:47):
Yeah, so at the moment the venues are just going to be at
the university home grounds, butthe AFA and series football have
actually made contact with me. They want to they believe that
this is a huge event and can actually draw in some crowds and
attention. So both of them have kind of got
(26:09):
keen looking at sort of potentially hiring us a venue.
And then from there, they obviously have the streaming
equipment to stream the matches.And then Adam Palombi, who's the
SFA commentator, he's put his hand up.
He said he's excited and kind ofhappy to do some commentating
(26:30):
work, which will be huge to thatcommentator because you'll
probably agree if you're watching a live stream that's
just silent, that's so dead compared to actually having like
someone who knows the sport, who's excited about the sport
commentating along. 100% it alsobrings that professionalism as
well, but just correct me if I'mwrong.
So they're going to give you thethe stadium?
(26:52):
Or did you say that everyone's got their own home, home floor?
We're still still trying to figure it out at the moment.
The plan is so obviously the RMIT have the RMIT centre so we
can play there. Monarch has the RMIT at the
Monarch Sports Centre. They'll play there, for example.
But if if we do sort of knock out the logistics for live
(27:15):
streaming. So I'd be obviously easier if we
just have one venue with 1 camera, with one technical crew
rather than having, because they'll be each round there'll
be 3 games. So instead of just having like 3
camera crews, just having one camera crew filming 3 games
instead of three. So for sure it's yeah, still
(27:39):
very early works. But if we can get it to 1 venue,
that would be huge because that'll allow us to sort of go
on and live stream the games andactually record them.
And what do you think, what do you think it's going to take for
that to get done? How likely does it seem?
How, how confident do you feel that that could happen?
(27:59):
I, I, I'm optimistic because I only put the, I think put an
Instagram page up two days ago. And then since then, so many
people have reached out to me totry and get involved, you
included, to try and jump on this sort of opportunity.
(28:19):
And then, yeah, I think what, 48hours since that first post went
up the page or already has, I think I just saw 8000 views in
two days, which is insane. So it's growing pretty quickly.
So, so, yeah, I'll say I'm optimistic.
(28:41):
I'm not, I'm not certain becauseworst case scenario we just play
it out home grounds and that's still a good experience because
instead of like just having one home centre and it's like, oh,
it's match day, let's just travel to Reservoir.
It's going like, oh, it's match day.
We need to go down to Monash. And then that becomes a big
community thing because it's travelling down to Monash.
(29:03):
We've got Monash away. Yeah.
Can you be on the green floor inMonash is what I'm being?
No, I totally totally understandthat.
Yeah, yeah, I feel like both, both experiences would be good.
Obviously live streaming it takes up that professionalism
getting a commentated, getting some like obviously with live
(29:25):
streaming it, you then have recordings you can then post
highlights, that sort of thing just really boosts the
professionalism of it. But then at the same time, if we
don't quite get there, since we've got a deadline pretty
close, it's, it's not the worst case scenario to just play at
home, home grounds because that's the foots all in
(29:47):
Victoria, that's pretty unheard of as well.
Yeah, I think the same. Like I was like, imagine like I
made that joke like cold, not a cold green fall in one ash.
But imagine having that just like university atmosphere, you
can sort of have like the eventsposted and advertised at
people's uni's and you can literally get big crowds that
maybe if they're finishing a lecture or finishing a kind of
(30:09):
tutorial, they come straight to the to the to the to the court.
And you can create that kind of hype and buzz there.
But again, since that's a timeline, there's always room to
develop and grow this. So there's actually limitless
possibilities. I think for this I like the idea
of having them in different courts and I also like the idea
of of having it obviously professionally viewed and in
(30:30):
cameras and whatnot and live stream.
But you could probably opt to dolike a potential final there if
worst case and have that recorded if need be too.
As a suggestion, will the courtsbe like 20 by 40 like the real
FV courts or will they be normalsized?
I. Or basketball size.
Sorry, not normal, but basketball size.
(30:50):
I would love to play like proper40 by 20 FIFA standards, but
that that, that would be anotherbig reason I'd be pushing to
kind of find one venue for us all to share because like we
play series at the moment, for example, that's it's got all the
equipment, it's got that 40 by 20 cohort.
(31:14):
So that would be a good scenariojust to pick up there video and
then if that can't happen unfortunately we are just on
those sort of basketball court size.
So that's sort of like 25 by 15.So it's obviously not best case
(31:34):
scenario, but it's not worst case scenario, Yeah, so.
As I mentioned, I see the benefits and kind of the
possibility of drawing crowds, more likely draw crowds if you
have a Homer away, but still a potential to really draw crowds
in in reservoirs, especially finals too.
I'm honestly really excited for it, given that it's like the
first time it's going to happen and I think there's going to be
(31:55):
a lot of things that will elevate and grow.
And is this something that you plan on doing every single year?
I'd love to run it every year. So yeah, yeah, I was kind of
chatting with most of the managers.
Most of us are still sticking around in the teams next year
onwards. So I, I won't be as a player.
(32:16):
This is my last year of study, so obviously last year in this
team. But who knows, maybe I'll be
there as a coach or still sort of as a manager or just being a
third party, just sort of organising the event sort of now
that I'm in an external person, I can spend more time on
actually coordinating the event rather than doing the event as
(32:39):
well as coordinating our MIT. So yeah, yeah, who knows, maybe,
yeah, this year is yeah, it's just the pilot, but it's
definitely not just a one time thing.
I want to, yeah. I want to keep this coming.
My mind goes like boggling on ideas and stuff.
I'm not the one obviously organising it, but I do see an
(33:00):
opportunity of it to grow and especially if you, if you do
finish your studies, you have more time and you can externally
run this as well. I think this is a very big
opportunity for futsal and college.
Even I say college sports, but university sports in Australia
to, to potentially grow as well.I think having a successful
varsity event, which we do see in in other sports, but being
(33:21):
able to kind of advertise that has so many different benefits
and values. One being that you you attach
your university to something that is precious to you and you
get to represent that against other people.
And that's what I love about sport.
It brings fans in, people that are probably futsal fans or
sporting fans, but don't play and love to watch.
They have something to look forward to during their studies
(33:43):
and it kind of gives them a representation to their to their
university. Like I really find that anyone
that has played university sports and represented their
university can tell you that youhave a sort of attachment and a
passion for your university. And I, I can definitely say that
I do because of the fact that I played uni games.
(34:04):
And if you look at the sports inAmerica, everyone has a passion
for their university to their college because they are
watching their team playing a certain sport.
There is a place where they are representing their university
and a scale that is across all other universities.
So I find that very, very important and very valuable.
And I think with this varsity event having and I like, I
(34:25):
really like the idea of having them in different in different
homes. That's obviously given that
there's no 40 by 20, but having it every year, there's always
something to improve that creates some hype.
And it also, if you take away that point, you're also looking
at the development part. I, I mentioned to you at the
start of this episode, this is agreat funnel for people to go
into the domestic leagues here in Victoria as well and
(34:46):
ultimately grow futsal that way that even those high level
futsal clubs can really find talent within within the
university as well. Especially if it starts getting
advertised more because futsal is growing, but I feel like it
is at a standstill. But when you have university
kind of tournaments where you can represent your university,
it's a sort of benefit. Then you it's like really
(35:07):
growing the sport in another way.
And it doesn't affect the leagues itself.
It's not like the college sportsare going to take over the the
leagues to begin with. But it's just something that I
think will develop to be something great.
So that's why I really wanted toto get you on and talk about it.
But I guess that's what I see asthe vision.
What would be your vision? And I guess the success that
you're going to take out of the pilot, I guess, season and then
(35:30):
start looking forward from then on.
Yeah, I mean, I feel like just, yeah, as you said, drawing a
crowd, sort of getting that culture going, that would be
like an incredible way for the first year to happen.
Like it is just the first year. I'm not expecting huge things,
(35:52):
but but yeah, no, I'm I am optimistic because Uni Nationals
has so much culture and that sort of backing behind it.
And over the last three days, this is looks to be like it
could become a huge event, not so much this year, but maybe
down the track. So yeah, maybe just, yeah,
(36:15):
really building that, as you said, that's sort of like
dynamic between college, especially college football,
then to the professional football.
This could just become that hugestepping stone where SFA teams
may come in, have a look and go off.
I've never, I've never seen thisplayer before.
(36:36):
It's not bad. Let's keep an eye on him and
then who knows? That's sort of their pathway
into SFB, which wouldn't be there if this didn't.
Happen so totally. I do want to move on to sort of
the challenges and kind of growth you've come from
organising the tournament. I know that it takes a lot of
(36:56):
time and effort and it's something that is always under
appreciated or undervalued when when people look at these
things. It's not ever as easy as it
seems. So talk to me about kind of the
hardest parts of organising thisat the moment and sort of the
stuff that's been happening behind the scenes that I guess
people aren't aware of and wouldlove to know.
(37:18):
Yeah, OK, cool. I feel like, I feel like this is
still such a fresh, fresh event that not much is has had to go
on behind the scenes. Most of it's been pretty open
doors, especially with that Instagram page now live.
(37:41):
There's now quite a few posts onthere kind of explaining what's
going on. But yeah, it's, it has been
quite a push to get 6 teams in this play because I feel like if
there's any less than six teams,it's not really worth running.
So 6 was kind of the the minimumI was sort of pushing for.
(38:02):
And we ended up getting a Uni Melvin about two weeks ago.
They seemed like they were struggling for varsity numbers.
And then Swinburne on the other hand, they were really
confident. So they, they've actually
entered in two teams into the league.
So actually getting that to happen.
(38:22):
So yeah, I've, it's obviously a men's league at the moment, but
I've been trying to push for a women's division as well, which
would be a huge stepping stone for them because especially for
the women's, all they have is their SFA.
Like they don't have what we've got championship and then state
(38:45):
one through 4. They just have SFAS.
There's no stepping stone at allfor them.
So actually having this in placefor the women would be huge.
So that's something that I've been working on and really
pushing for. I think at the moment there's
only four, four varsity teams sort of interested.
So I'll. Yeah, obviously keep pushing
(39:08):
that behind the scenes, working on it, see if we can kind of
pick up other teams. So yeah, we'll see with that.
Yeah. Besides sort of trying to get
people and teams involved, we haven't really come up against
any challenges yet. Most unis have seemed pretty
(39:30):
like useful, like every time we reach out that obviously happy
to survive venue or like jerseysbecause all of that stuff's
already pre established and I'vegot it all.
So it's actually been relativelycrazy up to this point.
Like, obviously it's been busy, but it's like it's been good.
(39:51):
It's been pretty unproblematic so far.
No, it's good. You don't want too many problems
when it comes to these things, but I guess if when things are
easier, it's easier to run and that's kind of how you want
things to be normally as well. But yeah, let's guys feel free
to check it out. I'm going to put more details of
the tournament as well, but personally really excited to
(40:12):
kind of have a look and see how I can get involved with the
Huddle Within as well and potentially.
Yeah, get my nose in in some futsal stuff as well, which I
know and love, especially when it comes to to university and
varsity events as well. But I did want to kind of talk
about sort of deeper stuff, which is like what we'd like to
do on the huddle here and sort of get your kind of view in mind
(40:34):
on what do you think about sport, especially futsal as a
whole and how it can help students mentally, socially and
emotionally too. Because there could be a lot of
people with a few people listening in that probably don't
have that pathway in their clubsto really to really have this.
But how does, I guess universitysport really dive into that?
(40:55):
Yeah, no, I feel, I feel like futsal as a whole is constantly
just in the shadows of outdoor, which is such a shame because
it's such a beautiful sport. And for those players that are
properly into football, they they just go crazy about it.
(41:16):
So yeah, I feel like football always kind of it's just in the
backseat. It's not really in the
spotlight, which, yeah, I love football to get to the stage
where it's kind of seen as a professional sport, but rather
than kind of just like a social sport you'd play after work or
something, which Victorian footballs at least sort of going
(41:40):
in that pathway. Like some of the big clubs the
past goes, the Western United's,the Fitzroy's and Moreland's.
That's sort of getting to the stage where they're like paying
their players properly, sort of getting that sort of
professional atmosphere going, which is incredible to say that.
Development, paying players, paying players, big hair, big
(42:03):
secret under the table type stuff.
That's serious football. But yeah, keep.
Going no, I'm sure it's on the books, but yeah, just sort of
finally getting that professional atmosphere and
professional like level exposurein Melbourne at least.
But yeah, obviously so much moreroom for it to grow.
(42:24):
But obviously since COVID we haven't had serious total
Australia back. So if I did sort of have like a
long term goal organisation wisefor futsal, definitely be
getting that back because yeah, that used to get so much hype
around it and now that's sort ofjust gone.
(42:46):
So there's like obviously there's like one Nationals
tournament every year, but that's just so like it's not
taken, not taken seriously. It's just like a cheeky end of
year tournament. So yeah.
I think people need, we need people like you to sort of grow
(43:07):
the sport and if the passions are there, that's what we that's
what we want. And that's kind of the main
thing that comes with that. In terms of just the university
in general, do you think the culture and undervalues the type
of events or the university itself?
Yeah, I definitely think there'sthere's definitely people that
are high up in the UNI. It's like RMIT for example,
(43:28):
we've got like we've got such a big committee at RMIT active
that do have that sort of sort of nurturing and growth mindset
that want to back as many sportsas possible.
But obviously with university, RMIT I think now offers that 25
different sports and clubs, but it is obviously just hard to for
(43:52):
them to sort of grow all of them.
So it is kind of not so much theuniversity's responsibility, but
yeah, it gets put on, put on theactual players and students, so.
Yeah, I bet I can speak on this because I'm not at university
anymore, but I can definitely say that the universities can do
a better job at funding these events.
(44:14):
And the reason why I say that, and you don't have to comment on
it, I can because there is so many international students.
There is so many students that pay a boatload of money to
study. My university degree cost me 40
grand. You're telling me that that 40
grand of one student cannot be put into kind of investment and
then financing in sport. I totally disagree.
(44:35):
And I know that they do put money into the sport, but I
think they can do it at a much amuch higher level.
And you can hold your tongue, Lucas.
Don't worry, I'll speak for for everyone that's finished
university as well. But I, I think that it does sort
of in a way undervalue the events and because they don't
really see the value in, in the importance of camaraderie and,
(44:55):
and representation across sportsand competitiveness.
And I think the only thing that can really do that is sports.
And if you want the best way to kind of get people that are
really passionate about being atuniversity and wanting to
represent your university, it's through sport.
And I'm not saying they don't dothat.
I'm just saying that there is more room for investment in
(45:15):
that. And that's not just for RMIT
that goes across all the universities.
So This is why I'm, I'm excited to see this event as well,
because I'm hoping that university uppers and those
people up there that are, that have their money in their
pockets, lots of money in their pockets can realise that this
can be a very good investment opportunity and a good community
growing opportunity. Where there's an opportunity,
(45:37):
there's a there's a chance to really.
Grow. That, that rivalry, that
fierceness and, and sport in general as well.
Like you look, I mentioned all the time, United States have it
perfect when it comes to collegesports.
Maybe they spend too much money on college sports instead of
other things. But there there is that
investment there and it comes through those kind of values
that I kind of hold dear to my heart as well.
(46:00):
I'll just say yeah, American sport, more American College,
which is definitely right. They're definitely yes.
That probably over glorifying itthat they're at least at least
doing something. Well, you look at all the
professional athletes, they all come from the college system and
I think it's a well rounded system.
And I'll tell you why. Not only are you participating
(46:22):
in your sport, but you're also required to be a good student
and get good grades. So it really gives a double
benefit there. And if if athletes can be taken
on scholarships, then there's a,there's a real pathway for
people to have good lives and successful lives as well.
And I think that's something that I think America do a really
good job at. But if someone if running this
(46:42):
tournament went up to you and just be like it's just futsal,
what what would you say to them?So much more than futsal, like
if if they were genuinely just like, oh, it's just a game,
what's the point? It's so much more than just a
game. Like just the league itself has
so many growth opportunities culture wise and community wise.
(47:05):
Like it's quite exciting to be honest.
So yeah, no, I tell them to. Piss off.
So it's always more than the game, as I like to say it's it
goes deeper than just five players in this aspect.
Kicking a ball on a blue court or on a basketball court.
It really it really goes deeper.So that's why I like to talk
(47:27):
about those things because I think sometimes people forget
about that and they get lost in the source of the game and
futsal really shows that now forgood and bad.
But they does show a really strong community and stuff that
goes deeper and that needs to grow in this country.
And it should, I guess. Before we kind of leave off.
What do you want people to remember about the first event?
(47:50):
What do you mean like the first year this league is running?
Yes, I at a bare minimum I want it to be a good enough
experience that they come back. That is all I hope, because just
then if you have athletes comingback, either as an athlete or a
(48:12):
spectator, then it kind of keepsthat level.
And then you get the first and second years or the people
hearing about this sort of getting fed in.
And then it just grows and it builds and it just, yeah, keeps
sort of snowballing into this bigger and better sort of
tournament. And if it does become an annual
(48:35):
tradition, how would you want itto evolve?
I'd love, so there's I think 12 universities across Victoria.
I'd love to see 12 teams. I'd love to get it to the stage
where there's every year 12 competitive series levels teams
(48:59):
competing in this where the beautiful thing is as well, we
have no idea who's going to win.So at least with SFA you've got
those Marlins and Fitzroy's thatcan bring players over.
You don't have that in this. This is just you get what you
get. It's kind of the same with
international sport. You don't pick your players, you
(49:20):
just get given your players and then you just have to work with
that. Everyone gets into it.
Everyone is just so motivated and hungry to fight for their
uni. So that like as a long term
goal, that's what I would want. All 12 unis with passionate
people or hungry to win or determined to win.
(49:42):
And yeah, like, just yeah. Who do you think's going to win?
This year, yeah, I'm a bit biassed.
RMIT is taking it home. I have to have to agree.
I know the team, I've seen it. If it's the players that I think
that I come in, then I think we're in good position to win
it. And I'm going to say we because
I'm still, I know I'm my team man at heart, but I think Monash
(50:06):
is looking pretty strong as wellfrom what I've heard.
So that's the team to look out for and then.
Was it Latrobe? Have Scott Rogan.
Rogan's studying at Uni Melt butI'm not sure if he's I'm not
sure if he's in the team. OK.
Yeah. Well, that's, that'll be a good
surprise if we do see that. Yeah.
(50:26):
Yeah. Well, not for you guys, but
yeah, you are playing this tournament, aren't you?
Yeah, yeah. And you are a goalkeeper.
That's right. You're not going to play on
field. Do you remember the last time I
put you on field when we had no players?
I I, I scored nine goals at Nationals.
Golden Boots. I did what had to be done for.
Those that don't know, Lucas hasone of the most powerfulest
(50:49):
right foots I've ever seen in mylife.
Like I'm not even saying that tobe biassed.
The shooting is unreal, and mostof the goals came from just that
right foot. PowerShot.
Yeah, he's gonna know. He's too humble to really say
that. It's good, but it's it's a
Canon. It's a real Canon, I gotta say.
And then the last question before I leave you is what's 1
(51:10):
message you'd leave for other students who want to create
something meaningful meaningful on their campus?
I mean, for anyone inside of what's so outside of what's so
involved in other sports or not involved, get involved.
Like don't just don't just sit back, do nothing.
(51:31):
Get involved. The opportunities are there.
If they're not there, create them like you're at yeah,
there's endless possibilities. We are so, so like, yeah, we're
given so much in Melbourne. We have so many opportunities
just go to taken. It's a great way to end there.
(51:56):
Well, anyways, it's been anotherepisode of The Huddle Within
Luis. Where can everyone find this
event and how can everyone get involved?
So the event is live on Instagram under Victorian
Intervarsity Futsal. On there you'll find 5 other
universities tagged which is just there what's called
(52:20):
University Futsal Clubs. Go follow them, follow your uni,
get involved, follow the page, stick around, see what's to
come. So like you can say.
Well said. I'll drop a link into the
description as well for sure foryou guys to check it out.
I highly encourage you guys to tune in as well.
If you're someone that doesn't even like futsal but have a sort
(52:41):
of representation to a certain university, this is a good
opportunity for you to see your university on a futsal stage and
maybe get into a new sport as well.
And for those that love futsal, that are into futsal listening
to this, I highly encourage you to watch this as well.
There are some really good players in this tournament.
A few are playing in our highestlevel already, and then there's
some new developing players as well.
(53:02):
So make sure you check it out, but that'll be it.
Thank you very much once again for tuning in and I will catch
you guys next week. Cheers.
So that's a wrap for this week'sepisode of The Huddle Within
podcast. I appreciate you for tuning in
and being part of this communitywhere we go beyond the game and
into what really matters. If this episode resonated with
you, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it
(53:25):
with someone who sees sports just the way that we do.
And hey, I'd love to hear from you.
Connect with me on my social medias, which will be linked
below. Send in your thoughts and even
be part of a future episode. Until next time, keep that
passion alive, stay in the huddle, and remember it's always
deeper than the game. Cheers.
Welcome to the Huddle Within podcast, where we go beyond the
surface to uncover the real impact of sports on our lives.
Whether it's lessons of resilience, the passion that
fuels us, or the stories that connect us all, This is where
the game gets personal. I am Daniel, a regular sports
fan just like you, and together we'll explore what sports truly
means beyond the surface. So step right into the Huddle
and let's get into it. What is going on, everybody?
(00:40):
And welcome to another episode of The Huddle Within podcast.
Thank you once again for tuning in.
We have made it to episode 21, fifth away from the 100 mark,
which is a goal I've set out forthis podcast to get to 100
episodes. And we're 1/5 of the way there,
(01:01):
which is great. And I'm so happy that I've been
able to put out 20 episodes, 20 very different episodes, but
ones that I've enjoyed. And I would love to hear your
feedback on basically this journey so far.
And for those that have listenedto all 20 episodes and have
given yourself 20 plus hours of time to listen, thank you.
(01:25):
But would love to get your kind of feedback and sort of what
you've been liking and what you haven't been liking as well with
these podcasts. So I can sort of steer it to a
direction where sort of everyoneis pleased with the content
rather than me just putting out random stuff and one thing you
probably won't like and the other you will.
So let me know. Your feedback is greatly
(01:47):
appreciated as well. I do want to kind of clarify one
thing, the camera. So at the start, I think two or
three episodes back, I said thatit was a refereeing 1.
I said that the camera improved because I was using my iPhone.
And literally as I recorded it, I noticed that there was so much
(02:09):
like fog or sort of kind of light air coming through the
window. But it turned out that my camera
wasn't bloody clean on my phone.So after I recorded it, I sort
of crashed. Out.
And it was like far out I. I stuffed up here because I did
tell everyone that the the camera was going to be better,
(02:29):
but it wasn't. But if you can tell from this
episode, I can promise you and clearly tell you now that the
camera quality is a lot better. I've purchased a new webcam.
I've got the box here for those that are watching the video.
We've got the nice Insta 360 Link C webcam, which I purchased
(02:49):
before the end of financial year.
The financial year has really cooked me as a person working in
business, in digital marketing, lots of work to be done at this
time. But hopefully I can get a decent
tax write off for this and use it for quote unquote work
purposes. But yeah, definitely a lot
(03:09):
better. And I can promise you that's the
case too, because I've done a lot of trial recordings and I've
also cleaned the camera to make sure that there was no fog
there. But for context, you might see
that the camera might be a little bit different for some
other episodes that I've pre recorded.
Those have been back on the iPhone, but they'll look a lot
better than what it was before. But due to the episode that I've
(03:31):
got coming up, which is with Lucas, a good friend of mine
from you can tell from the titleof the episode, that's where the
clarity comes through with the with the camera and stuff.
So now I'm going to be doing videos of this camera, which I'm
extremely excited about and yeah, it's great quality.
For anyone that is wanting to use a webcam for recording
purposes, whatever they're doing, I would highly recommend
(03:52):
this one because of the camera quality and the the ability to
to record in 4K is also a plus. The one that I had before was
AHP. It recorded in 1080P, which I
did like, but I just wasn't happy with kind of how it
looked, especially when I was creating reels to kind of put
out there. Wasn't really a fan of just the
recording quality and that the fact that it was 1080P and not
(04:14):
2K. So I've purchased that.
But anyway, before we get into the interview, I thought I'd get
some updates views regarding thedraught.
So as you know, I did speak a little bit about the NBA draught
before the interview of Vince regarding which was a fantastic
episode and I really appreciate you guys listening in.
For those that are new listeners, I noticed that there
(04:36):
was a few of yous. I really appreciate that.
And it did seem that a lot of people enjoyed the content.
So Vince was a great guest. He made it a lot easier for me.
But essentially before that, theWizards ended up picking up Trey
Johnson. Which?
I did say I wanted Jeremiah Fears to begin with, and I had a
feeling that we weren't going toget Ace Bailey.
(04:57):
It did seem as though we're we were getting a game due to the
fact that he really wanted to come to us and that we were in a
good position. He was ducking out teams.
But at the end of the day, Utah did take him and I had a feeling
they were gonna take him. Danny Ainge is a sort of GM that
takes those risky moves. And yeah, all respect to them
for picking him up. And I wasn't too upset given
(05:17):
that Fears were still on the board and also Trey Johnson,
which if we didn't get Fears, Trey Johnson would have been the
next pick for me. And we ended up getting Trey
Johnson and I'm very happy aboutit. 39% off the dribble from
threes and a three point shoot up.
Perfect for this league. Someone that can we can plug in
straight away and give us a lot of scoring, which is what we
need at the moment. A lot of our players that we
(05:38):
have at the moment are very two way, especially defensively.
Alex Stars who picked up last year, basically number one pick
is a defensive first player working on his offensive game.
We've got Bilal Kulabali who's also a defensive specialist
who've also got Keyshawn George who picked up last year.
That's also a defensive specialist too, and Bob works
(05:58):
both ends as well. He's someone that's gonna
obviously develop a lot this season, but to pair him up with
Trey Johnson, who is someone that probably needs to work on
his defence, is a microwave scorer and someone that can.
Shoot the ball. And in this league, you need
someone that can shoot the ball and we definitely have someone
that can shoot the ball. So really excited for this pick.
(06:19):
We also got Will Riley in the inthe first round.
I don't know too much about him to be honest, but he did play at
pretty sure it's Illinois in Chicago and got drafted with
Kasparis Jakakunis, who was a projected top ten pick, ended up
going down to 20, his teammate, and there were stretches where
(06:40):
Will Reilly was actually playingbetter than him.
So really excited to have him aswell.
He fits the kind of the core of the wings that we've been
drafting as well. So really exciting times for the
Wizards. We've got those veterans as well
to team up and kind of mentor these blokes too.
We have lost Anthony Gill, however, which is really sad.
He was our glue guy, our locker room guy, but.
He. Is not going to be signing with
(07:00):
the team. All the best for him if he is
listening to this. But if you guys do enjoy the
Wizards talk, I do have an episode with Greg Finberg, who
is a upcoming Wizards journalistwho I interviewed on this
podcast. He has all the information,
insights, everything Wizards, and he does a great job in
breaking everything down. And that's where I sort of get
my information from. And we did speak about Anthony
(07:22):
Gill a shit tonne. So it's sad that he's gone.
But As for other winners of the Draught, I think New Orleans did
a really good job in getting Dairy Queen.
However, it's going to come at abig risk because they've given
up a 2026 first round pick to Atlanta Hawks and that's going
to be the best of Milwaukee and New Orleans.
So all the worst of So if Giannis decides that he he wants
(07:45):
out and doesn't want to play forMilwaukee with Damian Lillard
out for the season, that team could literally fall into the
lottery and that pick will go straight to Atlanta, which is
which is pretty insane. So New Orleans must have seen
something really special in Dairy Queen, who I agree is very
special and they also got Jeremiah fears as well.
So if those two hit, this could be a very good trade for for New
(08:05):
Orleans. But I think the most interesting
trade was the and I got 2 Portland fans, best mates of
mine that do go for the Trail Blazers by getting Yang Hanson.
And it was a massive shock for everyone.
No one expected Yang Hanson to get anywhere near the lottery.
He was literally in the stands when he got picked up.
So for those that don't know much about the draught, a lot of
(08:26):
players already know that they're going to get picked in
the first round, which is the 1st 30 picks and they are in the
green room. And the green room is sort of
kind of the function area at thefront.
This guy straight out of China, no width of English was sitting
in the stands as a spectator, just with the off chance that he
could have got drafted the the first night because he was
(08:47):
projected to get drafted in round two around the mid to late
30s and Portland traded up or down to get him actually.
So they've got themselves a first round pick in the future,
which is good, but traded down to get him.
And this was a purposeful move considering that they were
scouting him for two years. They sent their scouts to China
to to check Jen Hansen. Now they've worked him out in
(09:09):
the past and they're really highon this guy and the fact that
they already have 4 centres, which it was 5 when they drafted
them. But as of this recording now,
John Joe Aiden is actually getting bought out, so he's not
going to be part of the Blaze anymore.
They drafted Donovan Clinton last year and now they've picked
up this Yang Hansen, which is a surprise for everyone.
(09:31):
But I think that looking at his kind of stats and stuff, they
are calling him the Chinese Yokich.
And I kind of understand that given that he is an extremely
elite passing big man. And that's something that's
going to be very valuable. I saw that in his highlights as
well. And I think Poland are taking a
hit here. If they can get themselves a
star in Yang Hansen, this could be something for the ages.
(09:53):
And I think they they're in position to get that, especially
given that their team does have a few young players to fit young
Hansen into that call would be great.
And I don't think they're in need of another role player at
the moment. They're really in need to take a
start and they can afford to do that because worst case, they've
got that 2028 first round pick as well under their sleeve too.
So I'm actually really happy with the pick.
And the reason why I'm talking about it is because of the fact
(10:14):
that it was probably the biggestsurprise in in the draught
itself. But even if it doesn't work out,
Portland have probably already made millions in in jersey sales
as well. China is such a big basketball
market worldwide, internationally, especially for
the NBA. And the fact that this is the
third ever Chinese player drafted in the first round,
there's already going to be thatthat massive revenue boost from
(10:37):
from Yonkers and jerseys. And he is a centre out of China.
The last centre out of China wasYao Ming and he was
unbelievable. So hopefully for the sake of
Portland and even for that storyline and Yang Hansen
himself that this could be a bighit and, and, and it turns out
well as well. But I would have to say the
winners of this draught would have to be obviously Dallas
(11:00):
Mavericks Kenny Cooper flag, which is amazing.
But I've got to give smart credits to Atlanta Hawks for
trading to get their 2026 first round pick.
And if New Orleans hits on Fearsand Queen, then I think that
they're going to be the overall winners of the draught because
those two players are really good.
And before that, I would have hoped that Queen would have fell
to the second round, given that he's from Baltimore, which is
(11:21):
about one hour from Washington DC.
He's a local kid. He would have been good to play
to be under the Wizards colours.But that's all that now, free
agencies kicking on. So a few teams have signed some
deals. You've got Nazarene that's
signed A5 year 125,000,000, which was massive.
Julius Randall's looking to signa 300 million, James Harden
signing A2 year 80 million. And Malik Beasley's about to get
(11:44):
arrested for for gambling as well, which is which is pretty
crazy. Looks like he's been gambling on
some NBA teams. I've got a controversial take
when it comes to gambling. I know it's not right to match
fix games and players to gamble in their own leagues.
But the fact that the leagues use that to make money and
revenue off and also advertisement bonuses.
(12:05):
It's quite hypocritical that they're very strict on players
and they don't expect them to tobet as well.
So something that I think needs to be addressed.
Overall, I know that there are gambling advisories and people
that the league sends out to kind of educate these these
players on it. But I think it's been an issue
all around all sports and probably something that now like
I talked about it, something to really address in another
(12:27):
podcast. So maybe I'll get an episode on
sort of the impact of sports gambling and, and these players
and how like essentially they'rein a position where like they're
seeing advertisement all over the board.
They have an opportunity to win money and it's really easy to do
so. Yeah, definitely something that
I'll that I'll include and incorporate here.
(12:48):
But again, as you can probably tell by now, the structure of
these podcasts, I like to put inthe news before essentially the
main interview. So this 12 minute rant, that's
why I've got chapters. Feel free to skip it because
this is for kind of my own passion and knowledge is about
covering sports and things that I like.
And then we get on to the real stuff, which is the interview
that I have with Lucas Grigg. And before I sort of introduce
(13:11):
him, essentially he's running a varsity event for futsal and
it's going to be really exciting.
He's doing this all on his own. From the day I've known him
since kind of meeting him through university sports, he's
the perfect person to run this event.
And I think his passion for the game needs to be addressed on my
on my podcast. And the fact that he's able to
(13:32):
try to grow futsal here in this country and in this state is
great. And also incorporating that with
university sports. And we kind of go into the
depths of the impact of university sports and and how it
can really help represent different universities and also
create that community and that bonding between people.
They are known for someone that's been at a University
(13:53):
Games, which is nationals with people playing and also
coaching, it's an incredible experience and for those that
are in university that play any sort of sport, I would highly
recommend them to get involved into this because the memories
and experiences you do make, which we do talk about are a
lifelong SO. I'll leave it at that.
Thank you very much for kind of listening into this little
(14:14):
spill. And without further ado.
We'll get straight into the interview, but cheers.
I am here with a good mate of mine, Lucas, who's not just
organising a university varsity event but is building something
meaningful and we're diving deepinto that because that's exactly
what we do here on this. Podcast.
So without further ado, Lucas. Would you like to introduce
(14:34):
yourself to the audience, please?
Thanks, Daniel. Yeah, thank you.
So as Daniel just said, my name's Lucas Craig.
I have created the sort of Victorian into varsity Football
League over the last week and still very fresh and still
developing. But yeah.
(14:56):
And nice. Well, the reason why I got you
on the pod today is obviously it's kind of inspired by the
fact that you you went out of your way to really organise a
sporting event. And I love my good old sporting
events. I love my food too.
So what better way to sort of announce the league and talk
about it than on this podcast? And I sort of want you to kind
of get into that, but. Before we do.
I did want to ask where was the idea and how did this kind of
(15:19):
varsity event come about? OK.
Yeah, normally, Yeah. Just as a bit of a background,
I've been with the RMIT University team for four years
now and we our main event is just University Nationals, which
normally takes place in September or October.
(15:40):
So we normally form the team in April or May and then kind of
just train for four or five months up until the event.
But then there's nothing really meaningful along the way.
So the initial thought was kind of just say who else in Victoria
is interested, try and get some sort of lay going.
(16:03):
And then yeah, once I kind of send out those initial messages,
the reactions which are just massive and so positive.
So I kind of just felt like everyone was going to get so
into it, so I started pushing for it.
Yeah. So take me through kind of the
initial planning. So obviously when this idea came
(16:24):
about, you obviously wanted to grow that foots in Victoria and
have an opportunity to have a tournament.
What was like the first, who's the 1st union you contacted?
And I guess what was their kind of reception to, to what you
offered and kind of how did you guys all sort of congregate as
a, as a university, as differentuniversities to sort of agree
on, on having a tournament as well?
(16:44):
It was actually Fed Uni who had this is their first year having
a football team and they reachedout to me just randomly and just
sort of went, hey, what's the deal with futsal when you to the
scene? Can you tell us much?
Is there a league? Is there anything really going
(17:05):
on in Victoria or is it kind of just nationals focused?
So yeah, they were kind of kind of, I guess unintentionally gave
me the idea to develop a league and then that one of the
universities still involved and they're going to be entering a
team in this league. So yeah.
(17:27):
So then after them last year, wehad friendly matches against
Monash Swinburne and Nuna Melb. So yeah, after that phone call
went off, contacted them, kind of just said, hey, you honour.
And then from there we kind of just started actually planning
(17:48):
it out, making the logistics. And then, yeah, we kind of
decided about two or three weeksago, it was kind of crunch time
because everyone had kind of held trials, decided on their
team pretty much. So all of the teams were ready
to start playing. And then, yeah, we started
(18:10):
crunching everything out and planning out the logistics.
And is it mainly planned by yourself?
Do you have anyone helping you at this point?
Well, it's mainly just me and then I'll kind of bounce ideas
off of the other what the other four team managers.
But but yeah, mainly it's just myself planning everything out
(18:30):
at the moment. Yeah, cool.
Well, I do want to say because I've obviously been part of the
system as you probably know and aware, what I do like about uni
games futsal is that a lot of uni students come from sort of
like an outdoor background or a background where futsal is not
really something that's kind of known in their in their junior,
in their junior lives and kind of growing up and developing.
(18:51):
It's very heavy outdoor you obviously do get.
People that are across futsal aswell, but one thing I love is
that that opens the gate to a lot of opportunities to play
futsal and there is a really clear pathway through university
and uni games. And also now that you're having
this varsity tournament to really funnel up to series
futsal. And for those that don't know
what series futsal is, it's the elite Victorian state futsal
(19:15):
division here. Series being the top and then it
funnels down 4 divisions as well, which Lucas can kind of
jump on me for this one as well.But a lot of these players that
come from outdoor, they have an opportunity to play at this
level and it really starts from getting into the university game
system. And the reason why the
university game system is very important is because it offers
(19:35):
the trainings and the ability tokind of represent your, your
university in such events such as nationals, which I'd love for
you to talk about. Because I think from the
conversations we've had previously, this is sort of a
stepping stone to, to nationals.So for people that are listening
and there are uni students that are keen on kind of joining uni
sports, how would you kind of advertise nationals?
(19:57):
Because to me, I think it's one of the the best events this this
this country's got to offer whenit comes to to university and
sports. Yeah, I 100% agree.
It's one of like genuinely one of the best weeks you'll
experience. But yeah, for those listening
that don't know, Uni nationals is kind of, it's kind of
(20:17):
structured the same as the Olympics where it's just a
variety of, I think at the moment they have about 35
different sports. And yeah, it's over about 10
days where they have different events starting on different
days, just like the Olympics. But all of the universities from
across Australia have trials, build teams, sending their
(20:39):
athletes up to compete at nationals against each other.
And then, yeah, it works the same way as the Olympics with
the team that wins the most goldmedals, wins overall.
So it's just such a good environment.
I think last year there was, I think it was about 8 1/2
thousand athletes, so just 8 1/2thousand uni students just
(21:04):
travelling up to the Gold Coast just to play sport and have a
good time. Well, it kind of reminds me of,
as you say, having a good time just as like a sports school is
having like 8500 people congregated full of uni students
in one city in one area. That screams like a good time.
And I think uni games is perfectwhen it comes to that.
(21:26):
Congregating people of similar age with similar kind of sports
and mindsets into kind of 1 area.
And I think the connections thatare built from there pretty
powerful. Like I know from when I was
there, sort of my best friends came from being able to spend a
whole week with with people thatI wasn't, I didn't know really
well and then found that they were like amazing.
(21:46):
And I think Uni Games brings that as well.
So obviously you have the competitive sport and you have
the opportunity to really dive into your craft, but there's
also that opportunity to socialise and connect with
people. And I think that's something
that's really powerful when it comes to to University Games as
well. Do you remember any good
University Games experiences congregating?
Like anything to adhere to that as well?
(22:08):
Yeah, definitely. So, yeah, but those, I don't
know. Daniel was actually coaching the
RMIT side for the 2023 Nationals.
Yes, I would say, but it was only FUTSU, unfortunately.
We didn't actually. There were so many complications
to that, which we won't dive into, but yeah.
Yeah, yeah. So Daniel came up, coached the
(22:31):
team and yeah, just so many memories and, yeah, friendships
made on that trip, especially that they're just unforgettable.
Yeah, for sure. Can't really disclose too much
of what's happened there. You got to experience, got to
experience it for yourself. But no, he's right.
He's just being able to kind of congregate with different
(22:53):
people, different personalities and have some fun as well.
Like obviously sport is there tokind of there to be competitive
and you want to win as well, butyou also want to enjoy the good
times. And I think for uni students,
this is probably the one chance that you're able to feel that
you're in a sort of professionaltournament environment where
you're representing a certain club or a college and going out
(23:14):
to play sports. And I think that's that's pretty
cool as well. So I guess did that sort of
inspiration kind of funnel you into into doing this tournament
or it's sort of just like the the passion of futsal that sort
of wanted to grow in that aspect?
You might have been a bit of both as I probably could assume,
but why? Why of inter varsity event?
(23:35):
Yeah, no, I definitely reckon it's a bit of both, like just
the the chance to grow football as a sport, especially futsal in
Melbourne as a sport and then also building on what happens at
nationals. That's sort of group sort of
camaraderie and like community that gets built.
(23:58):
So yeah, just really, really growing both has just driven me
so much so. Yeah, nice.
I was going to say as well. Like how how does the the
structure work in sense of the tournament?
I haven't I've honestly haven't had a look at it and the reason
why I haven't is so I could talkto you about it here.
I'm really interested to know how the tournament works and who
wins and kind of what are the rewards or kind of the the
(24:21):
benefits of of participating in in this competition and like
what are your plans for this initial season?
Yeah, so the the initial thoughtwas kind of just sort of, Oh
yeah, you'll get some bragging rights in Victoria.
Kind of just the like you'll getsix games of pre season practise
(24:42):
against high level competitors to prepare internationals.
But we've actually we look like we're going to get a few
sponsors. So maybe like we'll get
obviously a trophy, some sort ofmedals, but then maybe some sort
of cash prize to motivate people.
But yeah, so just for those thatdon't know the format either.
(25:02):
So there's six teams that have entered and then each just going
to play one match against each other.
So that'll be 5 league matches and then we'll just go into
straight into the finals becausewe're just under a bit of a time
pressure since nationals is really creeping up.
So yeah. And then just two Evers on the
ladder in first or second, they will go to a gold medal match.
(25:26):
Teams in 3rd and 4th will go into a bronze medal match, and
then teams in 5th and 6th will just go into a 5th place match,
just as a bit of a consolation prize.
Nice, nice. I'm hearing there's going to be
potential commentary and video recording as well, so give us a
kind of rundown on how that's kind of going to work.
(25:47):
Yeah, so at the moment the venues are just going to be at
the university home grounds, butthe AFA and series football have
actually made contact with me. They want to they believe that
this is a huge event and can actually draw in some crowds and
attention. So both of them have kind of got
(26:09):
keen looking at sort of potentially hiring us a venue.
And then from there, they obviously have the streaming
equipment to stream the matches.And then Adam Palombi, who's the
SFA commentator, he's put his hand up.
He said he's excited and kind ofhappy to do some commentating
(26:30):
work, which will be huge to thatcommentator because you'll
probably agree if you're watching a live stream that's
just silent, that's so dead compared to actually having like
someone who knows the sport, who's excited about the sport
commentating along. 100% it alsobrings that professionalism as
well, but just correct me if I'mwrong.
So they're going to give you thethe stadium?
(26:52):
Or did you say that everyone's got their own home, home floor?
We're still still trying to figure it out at the moment.
The plan is so obviously the RMIT have the RMIT centre so we
can play there. Monarch has the RMIT at the
Monarch Sports Centre. They'll play there, for example.
But if if we do sort of knock out the logistics for live
(27:15):
streaming. So I'd be obviously easier if we
just have one venue with 1 camera, with one technical crew
rather than having, because they'll be each round there'll
be 3 games. So instead of just having like 3
camera crews, just having one camera crew filming 3 games
instead of three. So for sure it's yeah, still
(27:39):
very early works. But if we can get it to 1 venue,
that would be huge because that'll allow us to sort of go
on and live stream the games andactually record them.
And what do you think, what do you think it's going to take for
that to get done? How likely does it seem?
How, how confident do you feel that that could happen?
(27:59):
I, I, I'm optimistic because I only put the, I think put an
Instagram page up two days ago. And then since then, so many
people have reached out to me totry and get involved, you
included, to try and jump on this sort of opportunity.
(28:19):
And then, yeah, I think what, 48hours since that first post went
up the page or already has, I think I just saw 8000 views in
two days, which is insane. So it's growing pretty quickly.
So, so, yeah, I'll say I'm optimistic.
(28:41):
I'm not, I'm not certain becauseworst case scenario we just play
it out home grounds and that's still a good experience because
instead of like just having one home centre and it's like, oh,
it's match day, let's just travel to Reservoir.
It's going like, oh, it's match day.
We need to go down to Monash. And then that becomes a big
community thing because it's travelling down to Monash.
(29:03):
We've got Monash away. Yeah.
Can you be on the green floor inMonash is what I'm being?
No, I totally totally understandthat.
Yeah, yeah, I feel like both, both experiences would be good.
Obviously live streaming it takes up that professionalism
getting a commentated, getting some like obviously with live
(29:25):
streaming it, you then have recordings you can then post
highlights, that sort of thing just really boosts the
professionalism of it. But then at the same time, if we
don't quite get there, since we've got a deadline pretty
close, it's, it's not the worst case scenario to just play at
home, home grounds because that's the foots all in
(29:47):
Victoria, that's pretty unheard of as well.
Yeah, I think the same. Like I was like, imagine like I
made that joke like cold, not a cold green fall in one ash.
But imagine having that just like university atmosphere, you
can sort of have like the eventsposted and advertised at
people's uni's and you can literally get big crowds that
maybe if they're finishing a lecture or finishing a kind of
(30:09):
tutorial, they come straight to the to the to the to the court.
And you can create that kind of hype and buzz there.
But again, since that's a timeline, there's always room to
develop and grow this. So there's actually limitless
possibilities. I think for this I like the idea
of having them in different courts and I also like the idea
of of having it obviously professionally viewed and in
(30:30):
cameras and whatnot and live stream.
But you could probably opt to dolike a potential final there if
worst case and have that recorded if need be too.
As a suggestion, will the courtsbe like 20 by 40 like the real
FV courts or will they be normalsized?
I. Or basketball size.
Sorry, not normal, but basketball size.
(30:50):
I would love to play like proper40 by 20 FIFA standards, but
that that, that would be anotherbig reason I'd be pushing to
kind of find one venue for us all to share because like we
play series at the moment, for example, that's it's got all the
equipment, it's got that 40 by 20 cohort.
(31:14):
So that would be a good scenariojust to pick up there video and
then if that can't happen unfortunately we are just on
those sort of basketball court size.
So that's sort of like 25 by 15.So it's obviously not best case
(31:34):
scenario, but it's not worst case scenario, Yeah, so.
As I mentioned, I see the benefits and kind of the
possibility of drawing crowds, more likely draw crowds if you
have a Homer away, but still a potential to really draw crowds
in in reservoirs, especially finals too.
I'm honestly really excited for it, given that it's like the
first time it's going to happen and I think there's going to be
(31:55):
a lot of things that will elevate and grow.
And is this something that you plan on doing every single year?
I'd love to run it every year. So yeah, yeah, I was kind of
chatting with most of the managers.
Most of us are still sticking around in the teams next year
onwards. So I, I won't be as a player.
(32:16):
This is my last year of study, so obviously last year in this
team. But who knows, maybe I'll be
there as a coach or still sort of as a manager or just being a
third party, just sort of organising the event sort of now
that I'm in an external person, I can spend more time on
actually coordinating the event rather than doing the event as
(32:39):
well as coordinating our MIT. So yeah, yeah, who knows, maybe,
yeah, this year is yeah, it's just the pilot, but it's
definitely not just a one time thing.
I want to, yeah. I want to keep this coming.
My mind goes like boggling on ideas and stuff.
I'm not the one obviously organising it, but I do see an
(33:00):
opportunity of it to grow and especially if you, if you do
finish your studies, you have more time and you can externally
run this as well. I think this is a very big
opportunity for futsal and college.
Even I say college sports, but university sports in Australia
to, to potentially grow as well.I think having a successful
varsity event, which we do see in in other sports, but being
(33:21):
able to kind of advertise that has so many different benefits
and values. One being that you you attach
your university to something that is precious to you and you
get to represent that against other people.
And that's what I love about sport.
It brings fans in, people that are probably futsal fans or
sporting fans, but don't play and love to watch.
They have something to look forward to during their studies
(33:43):
and it kind of gives them a representation to their to their
university. Like I really find that anyone
that has played university sports and represented their
university can tell you that youhave a sort of attachment and a
passion for your university. And I, I can definitely say that
I do because of the fact that I played uni games.
(34:04):
And if you look at the sports inAmerica, everyone has a passion
for their university to their college because they are
watching their team playing a certain sport.
There is a place where they are representing their university
and a scale that is across all other universities.
So I find that very, very important and very valuable.
And I think with this varsity event having and I like, I
(34:25):
really like the idea of having them in different in different
homes. That's obviously given that
there's no 40 by 20, but having it every year, there's always
something to improve that creates some hype.
And it also, if you take away that point, you're also looking
at the development part. I, I mentioned to you at the
start of this episode, this is agreat funnel for people to go
into the domestic leagues here in Victoria as well and
(34:46):
ultimately grow futsal that way that even those high level
futsal clubs can really find talent within within the
university as well. Especially if it starts getting
advertised more because futsal is growing, but I feel like it
is at a standstill. But when you have university
kind of tournaments where you can represent your university,
it's a sort of benefit. Then you it's like really
(35:07):
growing the sport in another way.
And it doesn't affect the leagues itself.
It's not like the college sportsare going to take over the the
leagues to begin with. But it's just something that I
think will develop to be something great.
So that's why I really wanted toto get you on and talk about it.
But I guess that's what I see asthe vision.
What would be your vision? And I guess the success that
you're going to take out of the pilot, I guess, season and then
(35:30):
start looking forward from then on.
Yeah, I mean, I feel like just, yeah, as you said, drawing a
crowd, sort of getting that culture going, that would be
like an incredible way for the first year to happen.
Like it is just the first year. I'm not expecting huge things,
(35:52):
but but yeah, no, I'm I am optimistic because Uni Nationals
has so much culture and that sort of backing behind it.
And over the last three days, this is looks to be like it
could become a huge event, not so much this year, but maybe
down the track. So yeah, maybe just, yeah,
(36:15):
really building that, as you said, that's sort of like
dynamic between college, especially college football,
then to the professional football.
This could just become that hugestepping stone where SFA teams
may come in, have a look and go off.
I've never, I've never seen thisplayer before.
(36:36):
It's not bad. Let's keep an eye on him and
then who knows? That's sort of their pathway
into SFB, which wouldn't be there if this didn't.
Happen so totally. I do want to move on to sort of
the challenges and kind of growth you've come from
organising the tournament. I know that it takes a lot of
(36:56):
time and effort and it's something that is always under
appreciated or undervalued when when people look at these
things. It's not ever as easy as it
seems. So talk to me about kind of the
hardest parts of organising thisat the moment and sort of the
stuff that's been happening behind the scenes that I guess
people aren't aware of and wouldlove to know.
(37:18):
Yeah, OK, cool. I feel like, I feel like this is
still such a fresh, fresh event that not much is has had to go
on behind the scenes. Most of it's been pretty open
doors, especially with that Instagram page now live.
(37:41):
There's now quite a few posts onthere kind of explaining what's
going on. But yeah, it's, it has been
quite a push to get 6 teams in this play because I feel like if
there's any less than six teams,it's not really worth running.
So 6 was kind of the the minimumI was sort of pushing for.
(38:02):
And we ended up getting a Uni Melvin about two weeks ago.
They seemed like they were struggling for varsity numbers.
And then Swinburne on the other hand, they were really
confident. So they, they've actually
entered in two teams into the league.
So actually getting that to happen.
(38:22):
So yeah, I've, it's obviously a men's league at the moment, but
I've been trying to push for a women's division as well, which
would be a huge stepping stone for them because especially for
the women's, all they have is their SFA.
Like they don't have what we've got championship and then state
(38:45):
one through 4. They just have SFAS.
There's no stepping stone at allfor them.
So actually having this in placefor the women would be huge.
So that's something that I've been working on and really
pushing for. I think at the moment there's
only four, four varsity teams sort of interested.
So I'll. Yeah, obviously keep pushing
(39:08):
that behind the scenes, working on it, see if we can kind of
pick up other teams. So yeah, we'll see with that.
Yeah. Besides sort of trying to get
people and teams involved, we haven't really come up against
any challenges yet. Most unis have seemed pretty
(39:30):
like useful, like every time we reach out that obviously happy
to survive venue or like jerseysbecause all of that stuff's
already pre established and I'vegot it all.
So it's actually been relativelycrazy up to this point.
Like, obviously it's been busy, but it's like it's been good.
(39:51):
It's been pretty unproblematic so far.
No, it's good. You don't want too many problems
when it comes to these things, but I guess if when things are
easier, it's easier to run and that's kind of how you want
things to be normally as well. But yeah, let's guys feel free
to check it out. I'm going to put more details of
the tournament as well, but personally really excited to
(40:12):
kind of have a look and see how I can get involved with the
Huddle Within as well and potentially.
Yeah, get my nose in in some futsal stuff as well, which I
know and love, especially when it comes to to university and
varsity events as well. But I did want to kind of talk
about sort of deeper stuff, which is like what we'd like to
do on the huddle here and sort of get your kind of view in mind
(40:34):
on what do you think about sport, especially futsal as a
whole and how it can help students mentally, socially and
emotionally too. Because there could be a lot of
people with a few people listening in that probably don't
have that pathway in their clubsto really to really have this.
But how does, I guess universitysport really dive into that?
(40:55):
Yeah, no, I feel, I feel like futsal as a whole is constantly
just in the shadows of outdoor, which is such a shame because
it's such a beautiful sport. And for those players that are
properly into football, they they just go crazy about it.
(41:16):
So yeah, I feel like football always kind of it's just in the
backseat. It's not really in the
spotlight, which, yeah, I love football to get to the stage
where it's kind of seen as a professional sport, but rather
than kind of just like a social sport you'd play after work or
something, which Victorian footballs at least sort of going
(41:40):
in that pathway. Like some of the big clubs the
past goes, the Western United's,the Fitzroy's and Moreland's.
That's sort of getting to the stage where they're like paying
their players properly, sort of getting that sort of
professional atmosphere going, which is incredible to say that.
Development, paying players, paying players, big hair, big
(42:03):
secret under the table type stuff.
That's serious football. But yeah, keep.
Going no, I'm sure it's on the books, but yeah, just sort of
finally getting that professional atmosphere and
professional like level exposurein Melbourne at least.
But yeah, obviously so much moreroom for it to grow.
(42:24):
But obviously since COVID we haven't had serious total
Australia back. So if I did sort of have like a
long term goal organisation wisefor futsal, definitely be
getting that back because yeah, that used to get so much hype
around it and now that's sort ofjust gone.
(42:46):
So there's like obviously there's like one Nationals
tournament every year, but that's just so like it's not
taken, not taken seriously. It's just like a cheeky end of
year tournament. So yeah.
I think people need, we need people like you to sort of grow
(43:07):
the sport and if the passions are there, that's what we that's
what we want. And that's kind of the main
thing that comes with that. In terms of just the university
in general, do you think the culture and undervalues the type
of events or the university itself?
Yeah, I definitely think there'sthere's definitely people that
are high up in the UNI. It's like RMIT for example,
(43:28):
we've got like we've got such a big committee at RMIT active
that do have that sort of sort of nurturing and growth mindset
that want to back as many sportsas possible.
But obviously with university, RMIT I think now offers that 25
different sports and clubs, but it is obviously just hard to for
(43:52):
them to sort of grow all of them.
So it is kind of not so much theuniversity's responsibility, but
yeah, it gets put on, put on theactual players and students, so.
Yeah, I bet I can speak on this because I'm not at university
anymore, but I can definitely say that the universities can do
a better job at funding these events.
(44:14):
And the reason why I say that, and you don't have to comment on
it, I can because there is so many international students.
There is so many students that pay a boatload of money to
study. My university degree cost me 40
grand. You're telling me that that 40
grand of one student cannot be put into kind of investment and
then financing in sport. I totally disagree.
(44:35):
And I know that they do put money into the sport, but I
think they can do it at a much amuch higher level.
And you can hold your tongue, Lucas.
Don't worry, I'll speak for for everyone that's finished
university as well. But I, I think that it does sort
of in a way undervalue the events and because they don't
really see the value in, in the importance of camaraderie and,
(44:55):
and representation across sportsand competitiveness.
And I think the only thing that can really do that is sports.
And if you want the best way to kind of get people that are
really passionate about being atuniversity and wanting to
represent your university, it's through sport.
And I'm not saying they don't dothat.
I'm just saying that there is more room for investment in
(45:15):
that. And that's not just for RMIT
that goes across all the universities.
So This is why I'm, I'm excited to see this event as well,
because I'm hoping that university uppers and those
people up there that are, that have their money in their
pockets, lots of money in their pockets can realise that this
can be a very good investment opportunity and a good community
growing opportunity. Where there's an opportunity,
(45:37):
there's a there's a chance to really.
Grow. That, that rivalry, that
fierceness and, and sport in general as well.
Like you look, I mentioned all the time, United States have it
perfect when it comes to collegesports.
Maybe they spend too much money on college sports instead of
other things. But there there is that
investment there and it comes through those kind of values
that I kind of hold dear to my heart as well.
(46:00):
I'll just say yeah, American sport, more American College,
which is definitely right. They're definitely yes.
That probably over glorifying itthat they're at least at least
doing something. Well, you look at all the
professional athletes, they all come from the college system and
I think it's a well rounded system.
And I'll tell you why. Not only are you participating
(46:22):
in your sport, but you're also required to be a good student
and get good grades. So it really gives a double
benefit there. And if if athletes can be taken
on scholarships, then there's a,there's a real pathway for
people to have good lives and successful lives as well.
And I think that's something that I think America do a really
good job at. But if someone if running this
(46:42):
tournament went up to you and just be like it's just futsal,
what what would you say to them?So much more than futsal, like
if if they were genuinely just like, oh, it's just a game,
what's the point? It's so much more than just a
game. Like just the league itself has
so many growth opportunities culture wise and community wise.
(47:05):
Like it's quite exciting to be honest.
So yeah, no, I tell them to. Piss off.
So it's always more than the game, as I like to say it's it
goes deeper than just five players in this aspect.
Kicking a ball on a blue court or on a basketball court.
It really it really goes deeper.So that's why I like to talk
(47:27):
about those things because I think sometimes people forget
about that and they get lost in the source of the game and
futsal really shows that now forgood and bad.
But they does show a really strong community and stuff that
goes deeper and that needs to grow in this country.
And it should, I guess. Before we kind of leave off.
What do you want people to remember about the first event?
(47:50):
What do you mean like the first year this league is running?
Yes, I at a bare minimum I want it to be a good enough
experience that they come back. That is all I hope, because just
then if you have athletes comingback, either as an athlete or a
(48:12):
spectator, then it kind of keepsthat level.
And then you get the first and second years or the people
hearing about this sort of getting fed in.
And then it just grows and it builds and it just, yeah, keeps
sort of snowballing into this bigger and better sort of
tournament. And if it does become an annual
(48:35):
tradition, how would you want itto evolve?
I'd love, so there's I think 12 universities across Victoria.
I'd love to see 12 teams. I'd love to get it to the stage
where there's every year 12 competitive series levels teams
(48:59):
competing in this where the beautiful thing is as well, we
have no idea who's going to win.So at least with SFA you've got
those Marlins and Fitzroy's thatcan bring players over.
You don't have that in this. This is just you get what you
get. It's kind of the same with
international sport. You don't pick your players, you
(49:20):
just get given your players and then you just have to work with
that. Everyone gets into it.
Everyone is just so motivated and hungry to fight for their
uni. So that like as a long term
goal, that's what I would want. All 12 unis with passionate
people or hungry to win or determined to win.
(49:42):
And yeah, like, just yeah. Who do you think's going to win?
This year, yeah, I'm a bit biassed.
RMIT is taking it home. I have to have to agree.
I know the team, I've seen it. If it's the players that I think
that I come in, then I think we're in good position to win
it. And I'm going to say we because
I'm still, I know I'm my team man at heart, but I think Monash
(50:06):
is looking pretty strong as wellfrom what I've heard.
So that's the team to look out for and then.
Was it Latrobe? Have Scott Rogan.
Rogan's studying at Uni Melt butI'm not sure if he's I'm not
sure if he's in the team. OK.
Yeah. Well, that's, that'll be a good
surprise if we do see that. Yeah.
(50:26):
Yeah. Well, not for you guys, but
yeah, you are playing this tournament, aren't you?
Yeah, yeah. And you are a goalkeeper.
That's right. You're not going to play on
field. Do you remember the last time I
put you on field when we had no players?
I I, I scored nine goals at Nationals.
Golden Boots. I did what had to be done for.
Those that don't know, Lucas hasone of the most powerfulest
(50:49):
right foots I've ever seen in mylife.
Like I'm not even saying that tobe biassed.
The shooting is unreal, and mostof the goals came from just that
right foot. PowerShot.
Yeah, he's gonna know. He's too humble to really say
that. It's good, but it's it's a
Canon. It's a real Canon, I gotta say.
And then the last question before I leave you is what's 1
(51:10):
message you'd leave for other students who want to create
something meaningful meaningful on their campus?
I mean, for anyone inside of what's so outside of what's so
involved in other sports or not involved, get involved.
Like don't just don't just sit back, do nothing.
(51:31):
Get involved. The opportunities are there.
If they're not there, create them like you're at yeah,
there's endless possibilities. We are so, so like, yeah, we're
given so much in Melbourne. We have so many opportunities
just go to taken. It's a great way to end there.
(51:56):
Well, anyways, it's been anotherepisode of The Huddle Within
Luis. Where can everyone find this
event and how can everyone get involved?
So the event is live on Instagram under Victorian
Intervarsity Futsal. On there you'll find 5 other
universities tagged which is just there what's called
(52:20):
University Futsal Clubs. Go follow them, follow your uni,
get involved, follow the page, stick around, see what's to
come. So like you can say.
Well said. I'll drop a link into the
description as well for sure foryou guys to check it out.
I highly encourage you guys to tune in as well.
If you're someone that doesn't even like futsal but have a sort
(52:41):
of representation to a certain university, this is a good
opportunity for you to see your university on a futsal stage and
maybe get into a new sport as well.
And for those that love futsal, that are into futsal listening
to this, I highly encourage you to watch this as well.
There are some really good players in this tournament.
A few are playing in our highestlevel already, and then there's
some new developing players as well.
(53:02):
So make sure you check it out, but that'll be it.
Thank you very much once again for tuning in and I will catch
you guys next week. Cheers.
So that's a wrap for this week'sepisode of The Huddle Within
podcast. I appreciate you for tuning in
and being part of this communitywhere we go beyond the game and
into what really matters. If this episode resonated with
you, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share it
(53:25):
with someone who sees sports just the way that we do.
And hey, I'd love to hear from you.
Connect with me on my social medias, which will be linked
below. Send in your thoughts and even
be part of a future episode. Until next time, keep that
passion alive, stay in the huddle, and remember it's always
deeper than the game. Cheers.
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