Norm Smith personally came and signed me up to the Melbourne Football Club. The fact that I then played cricket for Melbourne Cricket Club - the footy club didn't like it that much.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I'm definitely Australian and wouldn't have it any other way. I've been formed as an athlete in Australia.
I was a keen sportsman, and became school captain in soccer and cricket.
I basically sat around unemployed in Sydney for three years straight, and the two things that saved me were the rugby league and my dog.
I feel fortunate that there was a place like the CFL where I could hone my skill and become a consistent football player and have a nice career.
As soon as I signed for the French rugby union, it was just a huge relief, you know, because I was out of Sydney and out of sight doing what was best for myself.
I remember cleaning boots at Millwall on £250 a week and feeling like a millionaire. I'd made it then. At that time, if I never played for another club it wouldn't have bothered me too much because I'd made it with a football team in England.
But I did a lot of boxing and I was captain of an Australian surf club.
I played in the Premier League for Blackpool and earned the right to go to a club like Liverpool.
I had a very ordinary background in Sheffield; I went to a secondary modern, but I saw something on TV in 1968 that inspired me to join an athletics club, and 12 years later, with great coaching and the support of people who loved me a lot, I ended up at an Olympic Games.
There is such a rich sporting culture in Western Sydney, one that nurtured my sporting aspirations. Having Penrith Whitewater Stadium right at my doorstep was such an amazing advantage. It was a springboard to my success as an athlete, and I feel really fortunate to have grown up in this part of the world.