Smith’s advancing Australia’s EPL fare
KEY Bournemouth signing Brad Smith is eager to fly the flag for Australia at a time when Australian influence on the English Premier League has scarcely been weaker.
In total 48 Australians have played in England’s top league since 1992 but rarely have the playing stocks been thinner than they are heading into this season, which gets back under way tomorrow morning.
On the eve of the new year, Socceroos skipper Mile Jedinak has been stripped of the captaincy at Crystal Palace – leaving his grip on a first-team spot tenuous at best – while two other prospects, Bournemouth’s Adam Federici and new Swansea City signing Mark Birighitti, occupy back-up goalkeeping roles.
The fewest Australian representatives used in a season previously was the four – Jedinak, Mark Schwarzer, Brad Jones and Chris Herd – from the 2013-14 season.
Even the previously indefatigable Schwarzer, the veteran goalkeeper who played in 514 Premier League matches across four clubs and was on the books at the past two title winners, is without a home and has turned his hand to TV punditry.
Jedinak has vowed to fight to keep his first-team spot but is likely to be subjected to another three weeks of transfer speculation – he was very nearly a deadline-day transfer to Stoke at the start of last season – leaving much of the Australian attention to land on the softly spoken Smith.
The unassuming left back made a $10.15 million move from Liverpool last month with an eye on locking down a Premier League starting spot – and he wants to see more of his countrymen alongside him.
“It’s a big thing for Aussies to be in the Premier League. The more players we can get in the Premier League, and playing, the better,” he said.
“I’m representing Bournemouth first, but obviously every time you play you’re representing Australia.”
Growing up in Lennox Head, Smith remembers being woken up in the middle of the night by his mum, brandishing a cup of tea, so he could watch the Premier League – so he knows how much it means to the soccerloving public in Australia.
“It’s getting a lot better in Australia, the A-League. You just have to keep building on it,” he said.
Smith is challenging leftback Charlie Daniels for a place in Eddie Howe’s starting line-up for Bournemouth’s season opener against Manchester United.