Engineer by day, giant-slayer by night: The Heidelberg soccer team living a fairytale

Last Tuesday night, Fletcher Fulton and his team of semi-professional soccer players from Heidelberg United faced the A-League’s Western Sydney Wanderers, who had in their side one current Socceroo and a former national team midfielder.

Heidelberg won 3-0.

By 7am the following day, Fulton had swapped his soccer boots for work boots and a high-vis vest, and was back at his day job as a civil engineer.

That’s the beauty of the Australia Cup (Football Australia’s answer to England’s FA Cup). On any given day, a local team such as Heidelberg, from NPL Victoria, can topple an A-League side such as the Western Sydney Wanderers.

That’s exactly what the Bergers did, to book a place in Tuesday night’s Australia Cup quarter-final against Wellington Phoenix.

NPL teams are no slouches. Heidelberg are a powerhouse of the state league and have two former A-League players in Anthony Lesiotis and Ben Collins in their ranks.

The team is a blend of people with full-time jobs, like Fulton, and players who focus on their soccer careers, sometimes while coaching juniors or balancing part-time work.

The coach, John Anastasiadis, is a former striker for Ange Postecoglou’s South Melbourne.

But the Wanderers result was still a genuine “Cup-set”; the A-League team boasted Socceroos squad member Lawrence Thomas in goal and past Socceroo Josh Brillante in midfield.

“You watch these guys on the TV, then all of a sudden, you are up against them,” said Fulton, a 22-year-old originally from Tasmania.

“We just came out, played freely and when we got that first goal, I thought, ‘We might be on here’.

“You can’t match that feeling. It was awesome to see so many people out in the weather supporting us and to enjoy the win with them after it was special.”

Fulton works for commercial construction and plumbing company PAD Civil, where his job is a mix of office and on-site work. Having supportive bosses means he can balance a 50-hour working week with four or five nights of training or analysis sessions, and matches all over the city.

“When I started at the club, I looked at the schedule and thought working full-time as well would be a big ask but things all sort of fell into place with work being five minutes down the road, which I’m pretty stoked about, as I could be driving an hour across town,” he added.

“I wouldn’t really change it for anything else.

“I love the lifestyle, I love the grind, or whatever you call it – it’s been really rewarding in that aspect, especially when we get the results like the other night.”

After a post-match souvlaki at Heidelberg’s historic Olympic Village home ground, celebrations in the change rooms and a match debrief, Fulton got to bed at about midnight.

“But you are still buzzing so much that you toss and turn and don’t get to sleep for hours – then the alarm goes off at 6am,” he said.

“I was at work at 7am the next morning. You just make it happen in both lifestyles, and you don’t want to let either of them down. It’s back to reality pretty quick.”

Last week’s upset was Heidelberg’s third win over an A-League side in Australia Cup games; they have the equal most wins with Sydney powerhouse APIA Leichardt.

They will try to do it all again against Wellington. The Phoenix are full of confidence after beating Nunawading City in the previous round but Heidelberg are unbeaten at Olympic Village this season.

Fulton will have done a full day’s work by the time he gets to the ground to begin his preparation. Then he will “switch off and focus on the game”, which kicks off at 7.30pm.

“Hopefully, I will get home before midnight and get more than six hours sleep,” he said. “That would be nice.”

Fellow NPL team Avondale FC are also in the Australia Cup quarter-finals, hosting Brisbane City at Green Gully Reserve on Wednesday at 7.30pm.

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