While watching the inaugural Hyundai A-League grand final, an observation by his father made Matt Thompson realise what the new national competition had achieved in Australia.

Over 40,000 people packed into the Sydney Football Stadium on March 5, 2006 to see Sydney FC defeat Central Coast Mariners 1-0 to claim the Hyundai A-League's maiden championship and Thompson was thrilled to see football take centre stage.



Having played some part in the last few seasons of the National Soccer League (NSL), Thompson had already made his own comparisons with the fledgling new competition but a complimentary comment by his father gave the then-Newcastle Jets midfielder another perspective.



"I don't watch much football and I still don't but that season, I watched [the grand final]," reveals Thompson to Goal from his current home in Thailand.



"It was massive, Dwight Yorke was there and I remember my old man saying 'this is how it should be'.



"He grew up with a football background himself, so for him to say that, that was a good feeling."



The 2005-06 Hyundai A-League campaign was a landmark moment in Thompson's career as the then-23-year-old joined the Jets as a key player in their inaugural squad.



The energetic midfielder played every match for Newcastle, including their two finals versus the Mariners, scoring four goals.



"[I thought] 'this is my season, this is where I start'. I was a little bit older [than during the NSL era], I was there as a starting player. It was my spot to lose," he says.



"So to me, that was the exciting part, knowing that I had to keep that spot, I had to train every day as hard as I possibly could to keep that spot...that's when [football] became a job to me."



Now in Thailand with PTT Rayong alongside fellow Australians Michael Beauchamp and Trent McClenahan, the veteran midfielder would still prefer to be involved in the Australian top tier even though he is enjoying a "breath of fresh air" in south-east Asia.

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