By JARROD POTTER
AS THE final minutes of the Hockey World Cup ticked away, former Springvale/Noble Park player Chris Ciriello was able to reflect on the successes and struggles he’d endured to get there.
Australian Kookaburras defender Ciriello, 28, from Endeavour Hills, had persevered through one of his toughest months leading into the World Cup, held from 31 May to 15 June in The Hague, Netherlands.
His paternal grandfather – Augustino Ciriello – died just before Ciriello was set to depart for the World Cup and shortly after arriving in Europe his father-in-law suffered a heart attack.
Ciriello didn’t know if he still wanted to go to the World Cup, but his father – Greater Dandenong Warriors Hockey Club coach Lou Ciriello – convinced him that his grandfather would want him in the Netherlands representing Australia.
“Just before the World Cup my grandfather died – Dad’s dad – and I was umming and ahhing whether I went to the World Cup or whether I went late or what the whole process was,” Ciriello said.
“I spoke with my Dad about it and he said ‘I’m sure that if anything he’d (his grandfather) want you to play’, so I stayed with the team and the first couple of days in England were tough.
“A lot of pressure eased off aside from a few more headaches along the way – we bought a house and my father-in-law had a heart attack as well, so a few life events happened within a week and a half.”
Hockey was there to keep Ciriello ticking along throughout and his choice to stick with the team paid off following a phenomenal tournament for Australia – with a great deal of the success coming from Ciriello and the other defenders.
Australia advanced to the World Cup final following a 5-1 semi-final whitewash of Argentina.
Ciriello starred with a hat-trick to guide the Aussies to a 6-1 win over the Netherlands.
Rotated off for the final minutes of the match, Ciriello was able to enjoy the celebrations and reflect on his monumental achievement.
As Australia’s expert drag flicker, Ciriello was most pleased with his opening goal of the hat-trick as he struck it past former club team-mate, Dutch goalkeeper Jaap Stockman.
“While I was sitting on the bench I felt quite relieved amongst a lot of things as everything had eased down,” Ciriello said.
“Then I got those couple of minutes on the bench to realise ‘yeah we’ve just played in a World Cup and we’ve won it’.
“It was good to see that and think about everything we’ve been through for the last month and a bit for the World Cup and my mind’s a bit clearer now more than anything else.”
As well as his seven-goal tournament haul, Ciriello was equally proud of the defensive work of his team-mates as they restricted their opponents to only three goals for the World Cup while Australia piled on 31 of its own.
His advice for the next generation of Dandenong area hockey players – playing at his old stomping grounds at Dandenong Oasis – is simple: hone the basics first and the rest will come later.
Ciriello’s next challenge will hopefully be announced this week with selections for the Australian Commonwalth Games hockey squad set to be confirmed.
