Friday, October 17, 2014

Before I became a Professional Footballer I worked as......?


Stuart Pearce MBE: 

Stuart 'Psycho' Pearce was born 24 April 1962 in Hammersmith, West London. After leaving school he failed a trial at Queens Park Rangers and then rejected an offer from Hull City, instead settling into a career in the non-league game with his local side, Wealdstone, while training and working as an electrician.

In 1983 Wealdstone received an unexpected offer of £30,000 (then a huge sum for a semi-professional player) for Pearce from then top-flight club Coventry City, managed by Bobby Gould, making his professional debut for Coventry immediately.

Two years later he was brought to Nottingham Forest by manager Brian Clough as the makeweight in a £300,000 deal which also saw Coventry's centre back Ian Butterworth move to Forest. Indeed, so unsure was Pearce of his footballing future that, after the transfer, he actually advertised his services as an electrician in Forest's match-day programme.

Pearce went on to spend 12 years at Forest, making over 400 appearances, most of them as club captain. After leaving Forest in 1997, Pearce had spells with Newcastle, West Ham and Manchester City. The last of his 78 England caps was in a goalless draw in Poland on 8 September 1999. Throughout his career he was given the nickname of "Psycho," for his unforgiving style of play. His autobiography, "Psycho" was released in 2001 and became a Sunday Times best seller.


Chris Waddle: 

Waddle was born 14 December 1960 in Felling, Tyne and Wear.
Waddle began his footballing career with Pelaw Juniors, moving on to Whitehouse SC, Mount Pleasant SC, HMH Printing, Pelaw SC, Leam Lane SC and Clarke Chapman before joining Tow Law Town before the start of the 1978–79 season.

While working in a sausage factory, Waddle had unsuccessful trials with Sunderland and Coventry City. He joined Newcastle United as a 19-year-old in July 1980 for £1,000.
He made his professional debut for them in a 2nd Division match against Shrewsbury Town on 22 October 1980.

During his professional career that lasted from 1978 to 1998, he played for clubs including Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur, Sheffield Wednesday, bradford, Sunderland and Burnley in England, and Olympique de Marseille in France.
Waddle racked up more than 650 club appearances during his career and won 62 caps for the England national football team between 1985 and 1991.


Rickie Lambert:

Lambert was born 16 February 1982 in Kirkby, Merseyside.
Lambert joined local club Liverpool as a youngster aged 10, but was released when he was 15.
Lambert tried out for non-league side Marine,before becoming a trainee with Blackpool in August 1998 at the age of 16. He made his professional debut on 7 August 1999 as a 17-year-old but was released by Steve McMahon in November 2000.

Lambert remained a free agent for almost four months, during which time he worked in a beetroot bottling plant to make ends meet, until he was signed by another Third Division club, Macclesfield Town in March 2001. Lambert then signed for Stockport in 2002, Rochdale in 2005 and joined Bristol Rovers in 2006.
On 10 August 2009, with a total of 155 appearances and 59 goals for Bristol Rovers, Lambert completed a move worth in excess of £1 million to League One club Southampton.

On 2 June 2014, aged 32, Lambert was confirmed as a Liverpool player, signing a two-year deal for an initial £4 million transfer fee. To date Lambert has made over 600 appearances at club level, scoring over 230 goals in all competitions, as well as making a goal scoring England debut in 2013 versus Scotland and appearing in the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals.


Ole Gunnar Solskjaer:

Born in Kristiansund, Møre og Romsdal, Norway Solskjær completed a year's national service in the Norwegian Army, before signing the same year with Norwegian Third Division side Clausenengen F.K. He moved to Norwegian Premier League Molde F.K. in 1994.

Solskjaer joined Manchester United on 29 July 1996, for a transfer fee of £1.5m. He will perhaps be best remembered as a "super-sub" having earned wide acclaim for a habit of coming into matches late on as a substitute and scoring goals.

The Norwegian went on to score the stoppage time winning goal against Bayern Munich in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final held in the Camp Nou in Barcelona, again after coming on as a substitute. Ferguson introduced Solskjaer into the fray with just 10 minutes of the game remaining with United trailing 1-0. announced his retirement from professional football on 27 August 2007. He made over 230 Solskjaer appearances for 'The Reds' scoring over 90 goals.


Dean Windass:

Windass was born in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire on 1 April 1969.
He started his footballing career as a YTS trainee at Hull City before being released by manager Brian Horton. He had unsuccessful trials at professional clubs Sunderland, Cambridge United, and York City and instead started playing for non-league North Ferriby United while also having to work on building sites and packing frozen peas.

Windass was brought back to Hull by manager Terry Dolan in October 1991, entering professional league football at the relatively late age of 22.

Windass who was often seen as a controversial player, once being sent off three times in a game for Aberdeen, once for foul play (having previously been booked), another for verbally abusing the referee and a third for taking out his frustration on a corner flag as he left the field – for which he received a six-match ban. Windass went on to make over 700 appearances for a number of clubs including Hull, Bradford, Aberdeen, Oxford United, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and Oldham Athletic.
He announced his retirement on 19 October 2009 after a brief spell at Darlington as player–assistant manager.


Peter Schmiechel MBE:

Peter Schmeichel MBE was born 18 November 1963 in Gladsaxe, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Before becoming a professional footballer, Schmeichel had to work a number of jobs to make ends meet. His first job came in the dyeing department of a textile factory, but his concerns with the factory's policy on safety eventually forced him to hand in his notice. He then spent 12 months as a cleaner at an old people's home, before taking up an office job with the World Wildlife Fund. He originally worked in the organisation's shops, but three weeks after he joined, the store manager quit and Schmeichel was promoted to the position of sales manager. Soon after, Schmeichel was called upon to do his four weeks of compulsory military service.
A job with his father-in-law's flooring firm came next, until he realised that his knees could not support his 15 stone frame for eight hours a day, and he was offered a job with the advertising firm. This was to be his last job outside football, as he was offered a contract with Brøndby in spring of 1987.

Manchester United bought him in 1991 for £505,000 and he went on to win ten major trophies in eight seasons. Schmeichel decided to leave English football at the end of the 1998–99 season, and he moved to Sporting Lisbon. Schmeichel returned to England with Aston Villa in July 2001. In 2002, Schmeichel completed a move to Manchester City. Schmeichel announced his retirement from football in April 2003.


Neville Southall MBE: 

During his teenage years he worked as a binman, waiter and hod carrier. As a teenager, Southall had unsuccessful trials at Wrexham, Crewe Alexandra and Bolton Wanderers.

After a number of years as a semi-professional and amateur player Southall joined Bury from Winsford United for a £6,000 fee in 1980, and turned professional in his early 20's. In his first season for Bury Southall kept 15 clean sheets in his 44 domestic appearances during the 1980-81 season, and was named as Bury's Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year.

He moved on to Everton for £150,000 in 1981.
Southall went on to make a club record 750 appearances for Everton in all competitionsr as well as 92 caps for Wales. His honours with the club include a European Cup Winners' Cup medal in 1985, a First Division championship medal in 1984–85 and 1986–87, an FA Cup winners medal in 1984 and 1995. In 1985 Southall was named 'The Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year.'

Southall played his final game for Everton on 29 November 1997, before going on to play for some lower league clubs including: Stoke, Doncaster and Torquay. He eventually hung up his gloves at the end of the 2000/01 season.

In August 2012, his autobiography 'The Binman Chronicles' was released. It was the sixth best selling football book of 2012.


Charlie Austin:

Born in Hungerford, Berkshire, Austin trained with Reading's youth teams as a youngster but was released for being too small. He subsequently played for local team Kintbury Rangers and his hometown side Hungerford Town. Moving with his family to Bournemouth, he then switched to nearby semi-professional Wessex League Premier Division team Poole Town while also working as a bricklayer.

Austin was offered a trial at Swindon Town in September 2009 and made his debut appearance for Swindon Town on 6 October in a 1–1 draw with Exeter in the 2009–10 Football League Trophy.
On 28 January 2011, Austin signed for Burnley. On 23 October 2012, Austin scored two goals in a win over Bristol City, and subsequently equalled Ray Pointer's club record of scoring in eight consecutive appearances, set in the 1958–59 season. Two weeks later, on 6 November 2012, Austin broke another Burnley record, as he became the quickest-ever player to reach 20 goals in a season after scoring in a 1–0 win over Leeds United — his 17th appearance of the season.

On 8 July 2013, a fee was agreed between Burnley and Premier League club Hull City for Austin. However, on 9 July 2013, Austin failed his medical and Hull pulled out of the deal.
Austin moved to Queens Park Rangers, on a three-year deal, on 1 August 2013.


Alan Pardew: 

Pardew was born 18 July 1961 in Wimbledon, South London. Pardew started his career as a part-time player in non-League football at Whyteleafe and Epsom and Ewell, whilst working as a glazier. At one stage he gave up football for six months whilst working in the Middle East, but he returned to football at Corinthian Casuals before later having spells at Dulwich Hamlet and Yeovil Town.

Pardew moved to Crystal Palace in 1987 for a fee of £7,500. In 1989, he helped Palace win promotion to the First Division after beating Blackburn in the play-offs. The following year, in 1990, he scored the winning goal as Palace memorably beat Liverpool 4–3 after extra-time in a thrilling FA Cup semi-final at Villa Park.
He then played in both the final and the final replay as Palace lost to Manchester United.
After playing more than 120 games for Palace, Pardew moved to South London rivals Charlton Athletic in November 1991. He went onto make over 100 appearances for 'The Addicks' before joining Barnet, and becoming a player-coach under manager Terry Bullivant in 1995. He finished his playing career with the North London outfit in 1997.

Since turning to management in March 1998 with Reading, Pardew has been involved in several controversial and high profile incidents over the years. During this time he has upset the FA, the BBC, abused numerous managers and rival fans and even assaulted a player!

In March and November 2006, Pardew had disputes with Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger.
In February 2007, shortly before Pardew's new club Charlton faced West Ham, Pardew 'jokingly' made several disparaging comments about West Ham's fans.
On the opening day of the 2012/13 Premier League season, Pardew, the Newcastle manager pushed an official after an incident where the ball appeared to go over the touchline, but the referee deemed it to still be in play.
In January 2014, during the Premier League match against Manchester City Pardew verbally abused opposition manager Manuel Pellegrini. After the initial skirmish Pardew was caught on Sky Sports television cameras calling Pellegrini "a fucking old cunt."
In March 2014 Pardew was sent to the stands after headbutting Hull City player David Meyler.


Bill Shankley OBE:

Shankly was born on 2 September 1913 in a small Ayrshire coal mining village, called Glenbuck, whose population in 1913, the year of Shankly's birth, was around 700.
After Shankly left school in 1928, he worked at a local mine alongside his brother Bob.
He did this for two years until the pit closed and he faced unemployment.

While Shankly was employed as a miner, he played football as often as possible. Shankly developed his skills to the point that he was unemployed for only a few months before Carlisle United signed him. He was invited for a month's trial and was signed after just one trial match for Carlisle's reserves against Middlesbrough reserves, even though Carlisle reserves lost the match 6–0. Shankly made his senior debut on 31 December 1932 in a 2–2 draw against Rochdale and made 16 appearances for the first team. Soon after the 1932–33 season ended, Shankly received a telegram from Carlisle United asking him to return as soon as possible, Arriving at Carlisle, he discovered that Preston North End were keen to sign him and had who had offered a fee of £500. The terms for Shankly personally were a fee of £50 plus a £10 signing-on fee and wages of five pounds a week. Shankly's initial reaction was that it was not enough and the deal nearly fell through, but Shankly's brother Alec pointed out to him that Preston were in the Second Division and a bigger club than Carlisle with the potential to regain First Division status. Shankley helped Preston win the FA Cup in 1937–38.

Shankly had just reached his 26th birthday when the Second World War began and the war claimed the peak years of his playing career. He joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) and managed to play in numerous wartime league, cup and exhibition matches for Norwich City, Arsenal, Luton Town and Partick Thistle, depending on where he was stationed. With the resumption of full League football again in the 1946–47 season, Shankly returned to Preston who held his registration, but he was now 33 and coming to the end of his playing days. By 1949, he was Preston's club captain but had lost his place in the first team, and had decided he wanted to become a coach. So when Carlisle United asked him to become their manager in March of that year, he retired as a player and accepted the job. Shankley went on to become Liverpool manager between 1959 and 1974, winning seven major trophies and often labelled as one of the greatest managers of all-time. On 29 September 1981, he suffered a fatal cardiac arrest, aged 68. Three days later his ashes were scattered on the Anfield pitch at the Kop end.


Neil Warnock:

Warnock was born 1 December 1948 in Sheffield, Yorkshire.
Previous to his football career, Neil enjoyed a number of different occupations, most notably his time as a qualified chiropodist, and a brief stint as a costume designer for a local theatre production.
He also had and fruit-and-veg stall in Sheffield market.

Warnock started his professional playing career with Chesterfield in 1967, before moving on to Rotherham United, Hartlepool United, Scunthorpe United, Aldershot, Barnsley, York City and Crewe Alexandra, scoring 36 goals in 327 career league appearances. He retired in 1979 at just 30 to move into coaching.

Like many sportsmen and managers, Neil Warnock is highly superstitious and has revealed many bizarre rituals including stopping at all traffic lights following a win regardless of whether they're red or green, watching the Sean Bean film 'When Saturday Comes' the day before a big match, using the same razorblade, only urinating when he has held on for as long as possible and remaining in the dressing room after the players have left to play.

He is currently in his second spell as first-team manager of Premier League side Crystal Palace, having previously being managed the South London club between 2007-10.


Wednesday, October 08, 2014

Biggest Traitors in Football History


Loyalty is a dubious word in the world of football.

When a player transfers to a club in the same league, there's always the possibility of
friction and slight bad feeling. Often when the two teams then face each other, fans of the previous club boo their old boy, but generally get bored after a while. Then there are the transfers that incense fans for years, betrayals that they never get over. Even then there are the players that do it not once, but twice!

Here I look at some of the biggest traitorous players in football history:



William Gallas:

A player that has played for all big clubs in London and is one of, if not the biggest traitor in European football.

Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri bought Gallas from Marseille in 2001 for £6.2 million.
Once playing for Chelsea, Gallas was used in a deal to bring Ashley Cole to Stamford Bridge, and so he went to North London and joined Arsenal in 2006.

Gallas, a combustible character, lost the captaincy to Kolo Touré following his bizarre post-match sulk at Birmingham in February 2008. He ended up kicking lumps out of the advertising boards and sitting on the pitch in protest (right) after Arsenal drew with Birmingham, in a match that would ultimately end their title dreams.

In 2010 contract talks with Arsenal broke down when the Gunners felt that the contractual demands made by Gallas were unreasonable and not made in good faith.
It was reported that such demands included an £80,000 a week pay cheque, which Arsenal couldn't afford to pay him. As a result the Frenchman decided it would be a good move to join fierce rivals Tottenham Hotspur managed at the time by Harry Redknapp.


Robin van Persie:

The Gunners' hero was smashing in the goals in his first great season in his 8 years at Arsenal after spending most of the first 7 years on the injury list.
This was a big part of the reason Arsenal fans were incensed when the Dutchman decided to join rivals Manchester United in 2012, after the North London club had stood by him in his injury plagued years.

The striker joined up with Manchester United for an initial £22.5 million with an additional £1.5 million to follow if United won a Premier League or Champions League title within the next four years. In his first season he fired United to their 20th Premier League title, scoring 26 league goals in the process, further aggravating Arsenal's fans.


Roberto Baggio: 

The former Italian forward made an unforgivable switch back in 1990 - from Fiorentina to Juventus.
Back then he was sold for €10m - a world-record fee at the time - but soon after the transfer, there were full scale riots on the streets of Florence where fifty people were injured.
Baggio replied to his fans, saying: "I was compelled to accept the transfer."

When Baggio played for Juventus against Fiorentina on 7 April 1991, he refused to take a penalty, and when substituted he picked up a Fiorentina scarf (right) thrown onto the field by fans and kissed it, a gesture which, although was appreciated by his former Fiorentina fans, caused outrage amongst the Juventus supporters.
Baggio claimed: "Deep in my heart I am always purple," the colour of Fiorentina.


Sol Campbell:

When playing for Tottenham Hotspur, Sol Campbell earned himself a reputation as a great footballer. After almost a decade with Tottenham, Sol Campbell became one of the most hated men in the club’s history when he left for Arsenal in 2001.

Campbell was labelled 'Judas' by the Spurs fans, and rightly so. The England international defender was looking to play European football which was fair enough, with several top continental clubs expressing an interest. Tottenham offered him a new contract which would have made him the club's highest paid player ever, but after months of negotiations and several public assurances that he would stay at Spurs,

Arsenal proceeded to sign him on a free transfer. This left Spurs fans feeling angry and betrayed after losing a top player for nothing to their biggest rivals.
Campbell had previously stated in an interview with Spurs Monthly magazine that he would never play for Arsenal.

Campbell went onto became a part of Arsenal's 'Invincibles' team of 2003/04 and scored in the 2006 Champions League final against Barcelona.


Emmanuel Adebayor: 

The controversial striker really doesn't help himself when it comes to his popularity. After scoring 30 goals in a season for Arsenal, he demanded that his wages were doubled. When they were, he proceeded to underperform and then jumped ship for a big money move to Manchester City in 2009. 

Booed and jeered hugely by the Arsenal fans throughout his first encounter with the Gunners since his move, he scored a goal and ran the length of the pitch to slide in front of the Arsenal fans (right) in his famously idiotic, yet brilliant celebration.
To ensure Arsenal fans would despise him even further, the Togo international then joined North London rivals Spurs in 2011, showing a shocking lack of loyalty to the club that brought him to English football.


Luis Figo:

The Portuguese man was hugely popular at Barcelona before making his controversial switch across the El Classico to rivals Real Madrid in 2000. This caused uproar in the Barcelona fan base, with the some Barcelona fans showing their anger at his traitorous transfer by throwing a pig's head at him when he played in his first El Classico lining up for Madrid. He played for five years at both clubs, although fans of the Catalans only remember their anger at his departure.


Ashley Cole: 

Whether he was tapped-up or not will never really be proved, but the left-back was branded 'Cashley' by angry Arsenal fans after his move from North London to rivals Chelsea in 2006. He was said to be "trembling with anger" when Arsenal offered him a mere £55k per week, so he decided to jump ship to earn £90k per week at London rivals Chelsea. His wage increased to £120,000 a week when he signed a new contract in September 2009.
To be fair, his move did pay off, both in terms of trophies won, and his bank balance.

Never one to be out of the limelight Cole (right) married Cheryl Tweedy in 2006 in a flamboyant wedding ceremony, before her split from the philandering footballer and their subsequent divorce in 2010.


Cesc Fabregas:

Another former Arsenal player, Cesc Fabregas returned to the Premier League this summer after a three-year spell with Barcelona, but decided on a move to the Gunners’ London rivals Chelsea, rather than returning to the Emirates Stadium.

Fabregas had spent eight years at Arsenal between 2003 and 2011, so his move to Chelsea left many 'Gooners' feeling gutted.


Kenny Miller:

If there's one rivalry that can rival the intensity of El Clasico between Real Madrid and Barcelona, it's the Old Firm derby between Rangers and Celtic.

Given the rich political history behind the rivalry, that goes back well over 100 years, most players know that that is one rivalry you do not want to mess with.

The Scot crossed one of the biggest rivalry's in European football when he betrayed Rangers and joined fierce rivals Celtic in 2006. But this was not the end of his treachery, after spells in English football with Wolves and Derby, he then incredibly made the move back to Rangers in 2008.

He then left Rangers again in 2011 to play abroad, before re-signing for the blue half of Glasgow for a third time in June 2014 - to top off what was a shocking lack of loyalty.


Roanaldo:

Without a doubt Ronaldo was of the greatest footballers of all time, but he showed a complete lack of loyalty to any of his clubs.

Although, unlike some of the aforementioned men, he never transferred directly from one rival to another, he is the only player to have represented both Real Madrid and Barcelona, and Inter and AC Milan. The fact he was ridiculously good for all four clubs meant he was never victimised as much as most may have been.

The last move of his career is probably what puts him at number one; after training with Flamengo whilst recovering from knee surgery in 2009, he turned down a new contract offer to go play for arch rivals Corinthians.


Mario Götze and Robert Lewandowski:

Götze, the German World Cup winning midfielder joined Borussia Dortmund at the age of eight and made his Bundesliga debut on 21 November 2009. After spending four seasons at Dortmund, winning two Bundesliga titles and playing in a UEFA Champions League final he moved to arch rivals Bayern Munich in the summer of 2013, after the German champions activated his release clause of €37 million.

Lewandowski, the Polish international joined Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2010. Having played in the same successful Dortmund team as Götze, Lewandowski followed his former team-mate to Bayern Munich just a year later, leaving Dortmund fans' and boss Jürgen Klopp angry and frustrated feeling Bayern Munich is that school house bully who buys from other German clubs.

Jürgen Klopp put all his efforts in making them the most talented striker and midfielder and then they just left. The way the move happened is what hurts the fans the most. Although, there is no one denying the fact that they both helped Borussia Dortmund win the Bundesliga and reach the Champions league final, the fact remains that they were still indebted to the club and the fans for making them the players they are today.

Borussia Dortmund's much sort after attacking midfielder Marco Reus - former team-mate of both of Götze and Lewandowski has this message for them both and FC Bayern Munich --------------------------->








From what it seems money rules football and it seems that the fundamental thumb rule is show the players some money and all loyalty will be tossed aside. The very essence of loyalty and playing for the club seems lost now.


Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Babe of the Month - Ride Sally Ride, Sexy Aussie Surfer Sally Fitzgibbons


Gorgeous Sally Fitzgibbons was born on 19th December 1990 in Gerroa, New South Wales, Australia.
She is an Australian professional surfer on the Association of Surfing Professionals World Tour.

While attending Kiama High School Sally represented her State and Australia on many occasions in a number of different sports, including athletics, (winning gold at the 2007 Australian Youth Olympic Festival in the 800m and 1500m), touch football, soccer, surfing and cross-country running.

Sally started surfing at a young age. As a fourteen-year-old, Sally won the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Pro Junior open event, an event open to any female surfer 21 and younger. She also finished second at the World Qualifying Series (WQS) Billabong Easter Girls Festival on the same day.

She continued to set records throughout her junior years, winning the Australasian Pro Junior Series in 2007 and again in 2008.


At 15, Fitzgibbons represented Australia at the International Surfing Association (ISA) U18 World Surfing Titles in Brazil finishing runner-up.

At 16, she travelled to Portugal for the ISA U18 World Titles to win her first World Title, and backed it up the following year winning both the Billabong ASP U21 World Title and the ISA World Games Open Title.

In 2010 Sally was runner up in three ASP Women's World Tour events, and finished the year as runner up to Stephanie Gilmore in the 2010 ASP Women's World Title.

On 23 April 2011, Sally won her first ASP World Tour event, defeating Carissa Moore in the final of the Rip Curl Women's Pro at Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia.

On 30 April 2011, Sally won her second ASP World Tour event, once again defeating Carissa Moore in the final of the Subaru Pro in Taranaki, New Zealand. With this win she became the world's top-ranked female surfer and took the lead in the 2011 ASP World Tour.



In August, 2011, Sally won her third ASP World Tour event, defeating Lakey Peterson in the final of the US Open of Surf in California, USA. Fitzgibbons finished the season runner up to Carissa Moore in the 2011 ASP Women's World Title.

In February, 2012, Fitzgibbons won the first ever Australian Open after defeating 2004 World Champion Sofia Mulanovich, this meant Sally became the first person to ever hold the US and Australian Opens of Surf titles at the one time.

In March 2012 Sally won the 6-star event, the Hunter Ports Women's Classic during Surfest at Merewether Beach, Newcastle, Australia. Sally defeated Malia Manuel in the final. In April Sally took out the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach, Australia, beating four-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore in the final.

At the 2012 ASP World Surfing Awards Sally claimed three trophies. The first was for finishing runner-up in the 2011 World Tour. Sally's second award was for Women's ASP Heat of the Year, which was awarded to Sally and Carissa Moore by their fellow competitors. Finally Sally won the ASP Surfers' Surfer, another peer-voted award.

In 2013 Sally won the ASP Roxy Pro France, Hossegor, France and in 2014 Sally came 1st in both the ASP Billabong Pro Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (below) and the ASP Fiji Pro Fiji, Cloudbreak, Fiji.


"Behind The Smile," Sally's biopic, was released at the start of 2014, covering the previous year of Sal's life as she chased her dream of becoming World Champion.

"Behind The Smile" received rave reviews and was in high rotation on television in Australia, a great confidence boost for Sally to take into the new ASP WCT season.

As a sport fan, she supports the rugby league NRL team the St George Illawarra Dragons.

She also follows the AFL and is an enthusiastic Geelong Cats supporter.



Sally's sponsors include: Roxy, Red Bull, Range Rover, Garnier, Firewire Surfboards, Samsung, Waxaway, FCS fins, Gorilla and Nanotune.


You can follow Sally on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and on her Website.