On side: Young Phoenix Cerda celebrates a goal. Credit:Justin McManus He went to the kids’ houses and got permission from their parents to take the boys to the soccer club the next day, which he did. After that, rather than drive past and dodge stones, Chris stopped, picked up the kids and drove them to play soccer club. That was 21 years ago. From a handful of kids heading to the Mildura United Soccer Club, Chris soon needed a bigger car and more trips – by the end of the year, 30 indigenous kids had joined the club. Within a year, he needed to borrow a 40-seater bus from Mildura's Koori school, which has since shut down. Several times a week he would drive out to the neglected and disadvantaged communities over the Murray in Dareton and Wentworth to ferry kids back to Mildura, where he would and around the suburbs collect others. He was as relentless as the tide. But soon a strange thing happened: soccer became the sport of choice for indigenous kids in the Mildura area. It is now more commonly played there than AFL, rugby league or than basketball.

Around most parts of Australia, AFL has a stranglehold on the sporting interest of indigenous communities. Where AFL doesn't dominate, NRL has its place. In most parts, basketball is strong and soccer is the less popular game. Not in the Mallee. As the World Cup focuses attention on the world game, and Australia’s gallant but early exit leads to thoughts of the next generation of talent, Paddy Mills' success in the NBA evokes the idea that indigenous players could be the next to rise in both round-ball games. The Mildura United Soccer Club, however, had a vision for its players, not to follow an elite pathway but, rather, any sporting pathway in which they could connect with the community and learn from the team culture. Initially founded by the area’s Greek community, Mildura United soon became a club with a large number of koori kids and adults playing. That prompted some white players to leave, and with them, some sponsorship money, but the club survived. It endured a lean period and nearly folded – one year it fielded only a single women’s team – until Jonathan Thomas got back involved a few years ago and it prospered once more. Now there's a handful of junior teams, a women’s team and two senior men’s teams.

''We lost sponsorship money when the indigenous players came and some of the other kids left, but you get a different sponsorship arrangement. We are promoting healthier living, alcohol awareness, and gambling and drugs awareness, but because we promote those things, it’s more difficult to get sponsorship because you can’t go to the hotel and ask for a sponsorship,'' Thomas said. Chris has been ill in recent years so his involvement has diminished, but still the indigenous kids come, brought by others such as Buddy Parson and Gizza Finna. ''We have some of the older Aboriginal males who played here as juniors returning to play as seniors, which is a good thing. We are proud of that. The club is trusted by the community, it is seen as their club and I am proud of that,'' Thomas said. The talent is obvious. Jayco Gadeanang is only eight but he runs rings around older players. He recently joined the under-10s team in a competition and starred. ''Some of the kids, like Jayco, are pretty exceptional. Jayco is just a natural talent and you can spot it instantly,'' Thomas said.

Loading ''We also had Jahalan Mitchell and Charles Charles – he is now our senior captain – who both travelled to New Caledonia for a tournament. There was talk of them going to England to try out for Manchester United for a youth squad a few years back, but again, that came down to a funding issue. ''I think the talent here would jump right out at anyone coming in from one of the big clubs to look at the kids.''