NPL NSW Women’s football pitches will be graced with the presence of defender Alex Huynh after spending some time in Europe, before returning back home. 

The last time Huynh played in this competition, she wore the maroon of APIA Leichhardt. She’ll be in maroon once more, this time in the colours of the Macarthur Rams.

Huynh’s arrival coincides with the departure and retirement of club legend Renee Rollason, a worthy replacement for the club captain.

The strong defender’s football journey over recent has been one of success and excitement.

“The last few years have been a bit of a whirlwind,” said Huynh.

“After a successful season with the Western Sydney Wanderers in the A-League Women’s, I was able to utilise that momentum and get a contract in Italy with Napoli in the Serie A.”

What was to follow would be one of Huynh’s greatest football achievements.

“Whilst in Italy I received a call up to the Matilda’s squad and was fortunate enough to get my first cap against Germany,” said Huynh.

From there, Huynh spent half a season in Denmark with Australian coach Stephen Nelligan at Fortuna Hjorring before deciding to return home and sign with the Western Sydney Wanderers again.

Alex had the honour to play football in one of the most crazed city’s on the planet for the world game, Napoli.

“Italy is a country full of passionate people and that extends to the football field. The culture of football is everywhere and they just love football, Huynh commented.

“I would have locals who I didn’t know come up to me in grocery stores and try and talk to me about how the team was doing.  My season in Italy was probably one of my most challenging but also most rewarding seasons as a footballer.

“A lot of the Italian girls couldn’t speak English, so communicating with them was hard at first, but we were able to overcome that through football. Neapolitans are some of the most generous people I’ve ever met and my time in Napoli.”

While in Napoli, the city was struck with tragedy. It’s legend and icon Diego Maradona passed away, something the city struggled to come to terms with.

“I was living a couple of streets away from San Paolo Stadium when Maradona passed away. The city was in mourning and the gates that surrounded the field were completely covered with Maradona memorabilia and jerseys and signs. It was such a sad time for the whole city,” Huynh remembers.

After almost two years, Huynh decided to return back home.

“I decided to terminate my contract in Denmark because I wasn’t getting as much game time as I would have liked and after 18 months of living overseas, I wanted to come back home and play football,” said Huynh.

After spending last season with the Wanderers, Huynh is now focused on reaching her goals with the Macarthur Rams.

“I think this season at rams is going to be an exciting one. We have a good mix of experienced players and young players that just have raw natural talent. I’m also excited about the depth and versatility of the squad,” Huynh said.

“On a team level, I think we have the potential to make the top 5 and play some finals footy. This team has some untapped potential that is coming together the more the girls train together and get used to everyone’s playing style.”

Stephen Peters, head coach at the Rams, played a major role in Huynh signing for the Lynwood Park based club.

“One of the things that attracted me to Rams this season was the team culture and a lot of the girls were extra stoked with Stephen and how he coached the team last season,” said Huynh.

“This is my first time working with Stephen and I think his doing a great job at meeting players where they are this preseason and bringing the girls together so we are all on the same page. From what I’ve seen so far, I think he is a great player manager and knows how to get the best out of different players.”

“He has a level of intensity about him which he achieves without losing his cool. I definitely think he has the passion and football IQ to be coaching in Europe and I don’t think he’d be out of place amongst them,” concluded Huynh.

-By NPL NSW Women’s Chief Writer and Commentator Nikola Pozder  

National Premier Leagues NSW Women’s side Macarthur Rams have begun its new rebuilding process for the 2021 season after appointing Stephen Peters as the club’s new head coach.

The 36-year-old experienced Women’s coach has held previous positions at the Blacktown Spartans and NWS Koalas will no doubt bring his invaluable knowledge in bringing back the glory days to the Rams once more.

Joining Peters will be the club’s newly appointed Reserve Grade coach Peter Nowakowski who will be responsible for pinpointing future youth talent to the senior squad.

The Rams have also made the decision to appoint Troy Spink as the club’s new Youth Technical Director where he will be able to devote his time, energy and expertise in overseeing the development and progression of all the youth teams.

The club finished in tenth position and will look towards bettering this performance for the 2021 season.

Macarthur Rams’ lethal attacker Patty Charalambous has been a shining star in what has been a tough start to the newly rebooted National Premier Leagues NSW Women’s season for the proud club.

The 25-year-old has been on fire having scored five goals thus far in what has been a pretty competitive competition as 2019 Champions Sydney University SFC continues to lead the way currently leading the league ladder.

“It was unfortunate that the season was affected by COVID-19 but this shortened season has made this year’s NPL NSW Women’s competition a lot more exciting and intense I believe.

“We only play everyone once, so every team needs to win as many games as possible to have the best chance to be in the finals.

“I think a lot of teams feel the pressure and have the mentality that there is no room for error because there is simply not enough rounds.

“Overall, all clubs have recruited very well this season to be honest, there was a lot of movement with players going to new clubs and new players coming in.

“For us, we’ve tried to focus on our football, we go out giving 110 percent and demand three-points each week.

“Goal-wise, technically I’ve scored five goals so far as one of those goals is still pending because we still have to finish the second half of the NWS Koalas match that was called off due to poor weather.”

Round six will see the Rams taking on the talented Football NSW Institute side at Valentine Sports Park, a match the W-League star hopes her side can do their thing in claiming maximum points away from home.

“This Sunday’s match will be a good one as the Football NSW Institute side have always been a fast and nippy team throughout the years so we are looking forward to it.

“We know we need to be on our game as we will be facing some talented players but hopefully we can bring the three points back to Campbelltown.”

Proud of her Cypriot heritage, Charalambous’ love for the game commenced at a young age thanks to her father Nearchos who played first team football for Cypriot giants APOEL Nicosia.

Away from the game, the pint-sized Rams star runs her own business designing and creating her own Sports and Travel bags.

“When I’m not on the pitch playing or training I am concentrating on running my own business, HB1.

“It’s something that I’ve been working on over the past year or so now.

“HB1 kicked off early this year and is succeeding so far – I’m excited to see where it can go in the future.

“Our goal is to provide footballers with our bags to change the way they travel to and from matches and training.

“Throughout my career, one thing that we as footballers always receive are football bags, each a different size, style and design. Once I started to get older and playing at higher levels, the teams I played for were required to complete a recovery program after training and games. I found myself carrying a lot more things in my club bag and sometimes even carrying an extra bag because I wanted to keep my clean clothes out and away from my boot bag, that’s where I thought why don’t I just make my own bag?

“I jumped online and did some research to see what type of bags were out in the market and started to draw mock-ups on my laptop and designed and created my little own  prototype out of cardboard and duct tape with rough measurements of what I wanted in an ultimate sports bag.

“With the help of my family, my eldest sister Sam and business partner, HB1’s first samples were created.

“We used samples in real situations at my training, games and getaways to find what was needed to be changed to make the bag better and it’s great to know things are looking positive.”

Check out Patty’s brand here and for those that have yet to register to NPL.TV, for FREE, you can do so by clicking here to view each and every NPL NSW Women’s top tier matches for the 2020 rebooted season.

It was a season to forget for the perennial NPL NSW Women’s powerhouse Macarthur Rams in 2019.

By some teams’ standards, finishing 6^th, just outside finals football would be a successful campaign, not at Lynwood park though.

After years of trophies and accolades, Rams’ legendary coach Norm Boardman stepped aside allowing understudy and up and comer Troy Spink to lead the team into the new season.

Spink is raring to go and the former Bankstown City coach will have some rebuilding to do following the departures of some key players.

“The ladies have been working extremely hard in preseason.

We’ve lost a couple players to rival teams and other to overseas opportunities. While other are growing their families, meaning more young Rams in the future.”

One of Spink’s major aims is to provide a pathway for youngsters to the Rams first team and create a squad with a winning mentality.

“I come into the program looking for a way to provide progression for local footballers ato able to play and experience first team football in the Women’s NPL.

“We want to build an attractive brand of football not just in our senior program but right through the club.”

There’s no doubt where Spink sees his side this season but also has other expectations for the younger footballers at the club.

“We want to establish a solid platform for up and coming footballers.

“We’d love to see our team in finals football again.”

“We have experienced players along with a mix of young new players that will be given the opportunity to step up in first grade football.”

Spink’s side welcomed the Emerging Jets at home for the first game of the season on Sunday afternoon.

Major Signings: Natasha Prior (Injured for majority of 2019)

Major Departures: Elizabeth Ralston, Nikola Orgil

Up and Coming Stars: Zoe Dribbus and Ivana Galic

Player to Watch: Rachel Goldstein

By: Nikola Pozder, NPL NSW Women’s Writer