# 268: Jackson Irvine (Part A)

An episode of [The Howie Games](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1146329262), 12 May 2026, 47 min.

Audio: https://enrichment.soundstack.com/4vjqq8/episode.flightcast.com/a9q3qqtur3ea18vkm54a83oj.mp3

A global footballer, a leader, and unapologetically himself. Vice-captain of Australia, and yes… the coolest Socceroo there is. Beneath the style is a story built on dedication, sacrifice, and an unshakeable belief in the dream. From kicking a ball around Rowville, to packing his life at 16 and heading to Scotland with no guarantees, this is a journey of pure intent. Irvine opens up on the mindset that carried him from suburban Melbourne to Europe, the brutal realities of professional football, and the moments that tested everything, including turning down generational money, the loneliness of lockdown training in a park, and fighting his way back when the game almost slipped away. There’s stories from Celtic to St. Pauli, from Hamburg streets to the World Cup. From local footy nostalgia to standing across from greatness like Lionel Messi. It’s about ownership. It’s about resilience. And it’s about building a life bigger than the game itself, through culture, community, and connection. For the next generation, this one hits deep, what you can control, what you can’t, and how consistency, effort, and self-belief stack up over time. This special episode of The Howie Games, powered by Powerade, is all about fuelling your journey, on and off the field. Because as Jacko shows, greatness isn’t given, it’s built. *** Follow the Howie Games on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thehowiegamespod/ Follow the Howie Games on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thehowiegames See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] A listener production.
[0:04] Okay, are you recording?
[0:11] Hey team, thanks to the good folk at Powerade, welcome to episode 268 of the Howie Games part A, featuring Socceroo Jackson Irvine.
[0:20] Leckie almost getting in each other's way, Boyle into the air, he's done bellingly, the cutback and the goal from Jackson Irvine.
[0:27] Sutter waiting, Goodwin's delivery, back post, it's 1-0 Australia, it's Jackson Irvine, he's torn the ball home.
[0:35] And still going, here's Jackson Irvine, it's there for Australia.
[0:40] Jackson Irvine Shuffle again from Craig Goodwin Oh lovely header Jackson Irvine That's a pitch Jackson is a very cool cat Who has played football all over the globe Currently in the Bundesliga
[0:56] Good name for a comp.
[0:58] The Bundesliga.
[1:11] Jackson is captain of St. Pauli, yes, in the Bundesliga.
[1:16] He's also been the skipper of the Socceroos, and he's set to head to his third World Cup.
[1:20] Phenomenal, really, for a bloke from the suburbs of Melbourne.
[1:23] Personally, I can't wait for the World Cup.
[1:25] Jacko comes to us courtesy of Powerade, powering your game.
[1:29] Hydration's the key.
[1:30] Pros like Jacko can tick over 14km of running in a game, look after yourself, stay hydrated when you're putting in the hard yards.
[1:38] Spaniard Lamine Yamal is Powerade's new global ambassador.
[1:42] Can play.
[1:43] Maybe we need to get him on the podcast anyway.
[1:45] Thanks also to the star that is Shannon Beck from TGI Legends who made this episode come together.
[1:51] Let's get straight to it with Jackson Alexander Irvine.
[1:55] Very.
[1:56] Very cool.
[1:59] So when you search and then you find And know just where to go And thoughts that once used to cloud your mind You see clearly and now you know Mystery, what is to be revealed In King Selassie Come on children, trod with me We want to reach Mount Zionist
[2:23] Well, this guest comes to you courtesy of Powerade, but I've never met this bloke.
[2:27] I've seen him for the first time on Riverside.
[2:30] He's in Germany, but I don't know why, but he is my favourite socceroo because he's a very cool character.
[2:36] I've read, I've watched, I've fully invested in where he's at in the world.
[2:39] Jackson Irvine, I'm pumped, mate.
[2:41] Welcome to the Howie Games.
[2:42] How are you?
[2:43] Thanks, Howie.
[2:43] Thanks for having me, mate.
[2:44] Yeah, buzzing to be here, mate.
[2:45] Looking forward to it.
[2:46] Well, as I said, I think it's as simple as I like the long hair, the tats and the moustache and watching you play on the Socceroos, I think that's what got me in.
[2:56] And now I've read that you are a style merchant.
[2:58] So, yeah, a big, I don't know.
[3:01] I like a man with long hair.
[3:02] What can I say?
[3:03] Yeah.
[3:04] Yeah, listen, I'm not exactly conspicuous on a football pitch most of the time.
[3:08] I think you can usually spot me from far away, which, yeah, it's a bit of a look.
[3:13] It's been cultivated over many years.
[3:16] But, yeah, I think I mastered it at 33.
[3:18] Well, so I need to sit...
[3:20] explain to people the setup.
[3:22] You're in a cool sort of, looks like an Adidas all in one tracksuit.
[3:26] You've got a Bend It Like Beckham poster behind you.
[3:29] I can see Keira Knightley.
[3:30] You've got a Maradona poster over your shoulder.
[3:33] This is the best home podcast studio I think I've ever seen on this show, mate.
[3:38] Yeah, again, curated.
[3:39] I'm very lucky.
[3:40] My wife is also a designer.
[3:42] She actually designed both of these posters behind me as well.
[3:45] So I'm working with experts.
[3:48] I can't claim it all to be my own taste.
[3:50] Well, mate, we'll go into your journey, but like for a dude from the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, the far eastern suburbs, you have had a wonderful, varied career.
[4:01] So congratulations to you because your profession has taken you around the globe.
[4:05] We'll get into the fact that they love you where you are currently.
[4:08] But do you ever sit there and think, I'm a dude from Melbourne who's kicked on pretty well?
[4:13] Sometimes, yeah, I literally was walking down the street here in Hamburg yesterday and I was on my way to dinner to meet some friends and I just hear this voice in the street and it was just this kid and he just yelled, Jacko!
[4:25] And I was like, what's that?
[4:27] And it's this young lad that I bumped from Essendon who's just moved to Hamburg and he was like, oh...
[4:34] He says, I can't believe I just moved here.
[4:35] I thought, I wonder if I'll ever see you, Jackson, walking around.
[4:38] And then I'll just walk past you in the street like a couple of days later.
[4:41] So we had a quick chat and everything.
[4:42] And, yeah, sometimes it's, yeah, you do, I don't know, lose sight a little bit.
[4:47] I left Melbourne in 2009.
[4:48] It's been a long, you know, I've spent more of my life in Europe now than I did, you know, ever did in Australia.
[4:55] So it's a funny little contrast.
[4:58] But, yeah, you forget sometimes that especially that connection when you bump into someone, I love it.
[5:02] You never lose it.
[5:04] I must explain to people.
[5:05] So you are in Hamburg, which is northern Germany.
[5:09] Tell me a little bit about the area you live in.
[5:12] We'll get to the fact that the locals have embraced.
[5:14] Are they hamburgers?
[5:16] Hamburgers.
[5:16] Okay.
[5:17] Well, the hamburgers have jumped on board you, but tell me about living in Hamburg.
[5:21] Yeah, I love it, mate.
[5:22] It's an unbelievable city.
[5:23] It's everything you could want from like a big European city, but probably just under that super city style of like a London, a Berlin, a Paris, you know, where you're dealing with –
[5:36] Huge scale, I guess.
[5:38] But you get everything you would want from a big European city, but just on a slightly more condensed version.
[5:46] It's an unbelievable city to live in.
[5:48] You've got big lakes, lots of water and parks.
[5:52] It's super...
[5:54] cultural loads of really good music, art, the sport, really big sporting culture.
[6:00] It's ASAR, it's a top place.
[6:01] The weather's not the best, but other than that, I can live with it.
[6:04] I was going to get to that.
[6:05] So it's the north of Germany.
[6:06] So in the middle of winter, when you're applying your trade in a night game, what sort of temperatures are we talking when it gets really rough?
[6:13] The coldest we hit this year was minus 10 during the – it was actually during the derby against the other team from here in Hamburg.
[6:21] And it's quite easily the coldest I've ever been on a football pitch in all my career.
[6:26] It was Arctic is the way I would describe it.
[6:29] It was like nothing I've ever experienced.
[6:32] I've actually never seen players like mid-game coming to the bench to get like gloves and like extra layers to like put on during the game because it was so cold.
[6:42] It was ridiculous.
[6:43] And if I was lucky enough to be in Hamburg, now I presume hamburger may be the answer to this, but if I'm going out for a quintessential Hamburg meal, what am I going for?
[6:54] To be fair, yeah, there is that.
[6:56] But I would say there's two things that are very niche and specific to Hamburg.
[7:02] One is a thing called fishbrochen.
[7:04] which is like I actually hate it.
[7:07] I think it's great.
[7:09] But it's basically a fish sandwich.
[7:13] And it's like a real thing here that people go down because we're on the – it's a harbour city, which is why it's all about that.
[7:18] So everyone goes down either at the end of a night out at like 6, 7 a.m. or if you're up in the morning to go for breakfast, people go down to the fish market and they get these fish broochins.
[7:30] And it's such a –
[7:32] wild sight to see.
[7:34] It's like people with, like young people and like families and stuff going for like the fish market in the morning.
[7:39] And then you've got like people stumbling in at the end of a night, like six, 7am and everyone's going to eat these fish sandwiches.
[7:45] It's quite bizarre, but that's very Hamburg.
[7:48] So I have an enormous love for people with creative interests, which you do, which we will explore music.
[7:56] But I am a very unfashionable character.
[7:59] But looking at your...
[7:59] I wouldn't say so.
[8:00] You've got to look.
[8:01] No.
[8:01] Well, I've gone a straight white tee today, Jackson, because I thought I'm speaking to a fashionista, so I'm just going to go straight down the line.
[8:07] But describe...
[8:10] You've got the Bend It Like Beckham poster in the back.
[8:12] I don't know how much you were influenced by David Beckham, but your clothes are a thing with you.
[8:16] We'll get to football and sport, but I'm not going to know the answer to this.
[8:20] How would you describe your fashion look?
[8:22] To me, it's cool, but what are you rolling with?
[8:24] What are you going with?
[8:26] Everything that I...
[8:28] like and wear has generally got some kind of connection to me, either through like some form of nostalgia.
[8:35] Like people know I love the retro football shirts.
[8:37] I love, you know, even like Adidas equipment.
[8:39] This was like such a 90s range.
[8:41] You know, it's all things that I can...
[8:44] that I don't know, I've got some kind of story or connection to and things that I like a lot.
[8:48] I wear a lot of band tees, stuff like that.
[8:49] Things from, yeah, of course there's a fashionable aspect to everything, but generally I just try to wear what I like.
[8:55] And I think you can make things cool when you wear it in your own way, I guess.
[9:00] And yeah, I don't know.
[9:03] I would say generally though, it's a combination of
[9:06] Music and football nostalgia, I would say, is definitely my aesthetic.
[9:12] And when you're rolling up in the Bundesliga, which you play, and you're heavily involved in the fact that your team is in the Bundesliga, which we'll get to.
[9:21] So, you know, you grew up in an AFL town where you have to wear your club polo and your slacks.
[9:26] Obviously, the Americans in the NBA, you wear what you want.
[9:28] Do you have a team uniform you wear to the game, or can you go a bit more avant-garde?
[9:33] Sadly, we do have a uniform.
[9:35] It is football.
[9:36] Football is that we're not quite at like that, that American sport tunnel fit time in our football yet.
[9:45] I will say football has changed a little bit and there is a little bit more space for expression, I would say, especially from when I was growing up, when I was coming through as a youth player where...
[9:55] you know, anything, as soon as you stepped out off the track, everyone was like, what are you doing?
[9:59] Like, why are you doing this?
[10:01] Why are you growing your hair?
[10:02] What are you doing?
[10:03] Like, I don't know.
[10:03] It was all, it was like, it was like you're trying to make some kind of statement, you know, whereas it's like, no, this is just what I want to do.
[10:10] It's no big deal.
[10:11] But I will say that space has opened a little bit more now and you see it a lot in football, but we're not quite at the, we haven't quite broken the barrier yet.
[10:21] I think it's time, especially for a man like you.
[10:23] So in your fashion journey, before we get to your football journey, what is the one outfit or item that you roll with that you look back and you think even a man as cool as me maybe didn't quite nail that particular piece?
[10:36] Have you had any shockers?
[10:37] So many.
[10:37] So many.
[10:39] Oh, actually.
[10:41] Last night my cousin posted like a memory on Instagram of a festival that we went to in like 2012 or something.
[10:50] So I was about 19 and it was like up to your knees in mud in Scotland like at this music festival in the summer.
[10:57] But I looked at the outfit and it was an absolute shock.
[11:00] I was wearing like these skinny jeans with like this leopard print, like leopard lined leather like coat thing like that.
[11:10] I don't know.
[11:11] With a cat eye, it was a shocker.
[11:14] And even my wife was like, oof, I think she's glad she didn't meet me then.
[11:19] Okay.
[11:20] Not great.
[11:21] So you're now a European fashionista, but this all started for you in Melbourne.
[11:26] So tell me a little bit about your family and where you grew up in the city where I am now in Melbourne.
[11:31] Yeah, so I grew up in the southeast in Listafield, just like at the bottom of Listafield, Park Lake, kind of around there.
[11:37] And, yeah, the first few years in Roeville and then we moved out there.
[11:44] And, yeah, it was a great place to grow up, loads of space.
[11:48] I don't know, it was, yeah, I often reflect on my childhood now that I live in an extremely urban area, you know, I live in the heart of the city, like in where there's very little space.
[12:01] And you take for granted how I grew up in that sense with, yeah, with all of that.
[12:07] But no, it was amazing.
[12:09] There was not a whole lot of football around me at that time.
[12:12] But, you know, I kind of made my way into those communities mostly through my family.
[12:18] So just before we get to your family and the connection, as a kid growing up in Melbourne, it would be unusual not to have a footy team.
[12:24] Did you have a footy team growing up, an AFL team or not?
[12:27] I do and still do.
[12:28] I am a Collingwood fan.
[12:30] Always have been.
[12:33] My family is not AFL really at all.
[12:35] I have a few cousins that are Swans fans.
[12:38] But I don't even remember how.
[12:42] I think it was probably the standard, probably my best friend at kindergarten went for Collingwood and I said, yeah, I like them too.
[12:48] So, and I've stuck with them.
[12:49] I've been there ever since.
[12:50] So, yeah.
[12:52] So do you just, you have no idea how they're going?
[12:54] You keep an eye on their scores.
[12:56] You watch them somehow or you read everything about them.
[12:58] Where do you sit on that scale?
[13:00] Oh, I watched the Fremantle game on the weekend, actually.
[13:02] I had it on...
[13:03] This is actually a good story.
[13:04] I had it on in, I was in the gym at the training facility and the time difference lined up.
[13:10] So I put it on in the gym at the training facility and I've got like, I was trying to explain the rules to all Germans, like to try and they all came in, everyone came in and was like, oh, rugby.
[13:21] I was like, nope.
[13:23] And then they were like, oh, what's this?
[13:25] And then I had to try and explain the rules and it was
[13:28] quite entertaining trying to, through absolute blind eyes, explain AFL to people.
[13:35] They had absolutely no idea.
[13:36] But it was great.
[13:36] So I got to watch the game and explain it to everyone as well.
[13:39] And to be fair, mate, I was at that game and the rain was coming in sideways and Collingwood kicked about seven goals.
[13:44] So I don't think it was a real spectacle.
[13:45] So let's move off footy and where Collingwood are at.
[13:47] So who do you first play football for and why do you play football?
[13:50] Is it a friend?
[13:51] Is it a family member?
[13:52] How do you end up at the local soccer club?
[13:54] Yeah, so it was my late grandfather,
[13:55] who's from the Netherlands and football man.
[14:00] So is my dad, my dad's Scottish.
[14:02] So both played all through their life.
[14:05] All my uncles also played.
[14:07] So it's strong in the family.
[14:08] And it was, I actually did start doing Auskick when I was like five, six.
[14:13] And my granddad was like, I'm not having that.
[14:15] Good on you, granddad.
[14:16] A good, strong Dutchman.
[14:18] Yeah, exactly.
[14:18] So he started picking me up from school and taking me down to Ringwood City.
[14:23] It was my first junior club.
[14:24] And, yeah, I played there for four or five years and then moved on to Nock City and then Endeavour United.
[14:31] They were my three junior clubs out in the southeast.
[14:34] And do you remember a first game or a first goal or your earliest memory of playing a competitive game of footy?
[14:41] Like how old are you?
[14:42] What's your strip and what are your memories of the game?
[14:44] I definitely do.
[14:45] I've got loads of memories of that time.
[14:48] And we were called Ringwood City Ajax for the football.
[14:52] Oh, so Dutch, perfect.
[14:53] Yeah, the Dutch.
[14:54] We used to wear the – we wore bright orange like the Dutch national team.
[14:58] It was very, very strong.
[15:00] It's still the Dutch club now, the –
[15:03] The stadium was Wilhelmina and everything was, yeah.
[15:06] So I've got so many memories of that, but I've got more memories of playing for the, you know, the under sevens, under eights, whatever it was, and then going to watch the first team where my uncles played kind of later in the day and your typical, you know, standing around, running around the outside and watching the games.
[15:21] Yeah, good times.
[15:22] And were you able to sneak into the rooms afterwards and sort of smell the liniment and the boys after a game and maybe having a cold one?
[15:30] Yeah, definitely.
[15:31] I often think about those times and my dad also played good level state football in Victoria and...
[15:41] when I did eventually make it to that level right before I moved to the UK, you reflect on that as when you were a young kid.
[15:47] And there's something so special about that local scene of sport at that level.
[15:54] Like there's no glamour, no glory, no nothing.
[15:58] It's just pure love of the sport, doing it with your mates, having a laugh.
[16:02] And like, yeah, it's just the atmosphere is something –
[16:06] It's something different.
[16:07] And the further away you get from it, I don't know, you tend to miss it more and more.
[16:13] And as a kid, do people call you Jacko or do you Jackson?
[16:17] Like, well, okay, I'm going to go with Jacko then.
[16:19] We're 15 minutes into our Zoom relationship.
[16:22] So, Jacko, as a kid, what was it about football that grabbed you, that became obviously your passion and your life?
[16:31] hard to pinpoint one specific thing.
[16:35] I immediately fell in love with playing the game itself.
[16:39] There was something, I found there was something beautiful about the game itself.
[16:44] Like, I don't know, I've always just been in love with it and obsessed with it from as long as I can remember.
[16:50] But then I think when my eyes kind of got opened to the world of it, I suppose, I look back on certain moments like 1999 when Manchester United came out to play against the Socceroos.
[17:01] A champion summer roadshow went on tour to the Far Eastern Australia.
[17:04] First stop, the magnificent MCG.
[17:08] 70,000 were packed in to see United's new signing, Bozzy, the Aussie.
[17:12] I was there and I think I was about six and I was already Beckham and football mad at that time.
[17:19] But I don't know, there's just like little moments in there where you realise the scale of the sport and kind of what it means in a global sense.
[17:29] And I just, I'm a romantic and I kind of got like, yeah, I was entranced by it, by the, yeah, how, what, yeah, the game itself and how romantic it can be.
[17:41] So were you watching the Premier League?
[17:44] Were you watching World Cups as a kid?
[17:46] Were you engrossed in football on television?
[17:49] Because at that stage, early stages of the A-League, I guess there's not many big, bold heroes, but were you seeing the Europeans and those in the World Cup?
[17:58] 100%.
[17:59] And I love the Socceroos.
[18:01] Socceroos mad from – I was at all the early qualifiers in 2001 at the G and then obviously in 05 for the big night.
[18:10] Did you go to the one in 2005 in Sydney?
[18:12] I was there.
[18:13] Yeah, I was there.
[18:14] Here's Aloisi for a place in the World Cup.
[18:15] You made it for us.
[18:17] He scores!
[18:21] How good?
[18:21] I know.
[18:22] I know.
[18:22] And I was at the game in 01 as well when we beat Uruguay at the MCG.
[18:27] Oh, Musket.
[18:28] Yeah, Musket.
[18:28] Scored a penalty, didn't he?
[18:29] Yeah, exactly.
[18:30] Oh, Kevin Musket.
[18:32] A Melbourne boy.
[18:35] Focused.
[18:38] Concentrating.
[18:42] I was a part of that world for as long as I can remember.
[18:46] I was a fan of the team.
[18:48] But also, yeah, European football too.
[18:50] I used to get up and watch the Champions League at 4.30 before school on a Tuesday.
[18:57] Yeah, loved it, obsessed with it, just couldn't get enough.
[18:59] Who was your team?
[19:00] Always been United.
[19:02] Like that was my, I think in the 90s with limited access pre-internet, pre-streaming, pre-everything, that was the most accessible team in the world.
[19:14] And, of course, I took immediate shining to a certain Dave Beckham and it made quite the impact on me.
[19:21] Always makes me feel not as old when I speak to someone about the pre-internet days because my kids don't actually think those days existed, Jaco, the wild world without internet.
[19:30] I ask this to everyone.
[19:31] I've asked it for 10 years of this podcast and I use the same analogy and I'll use it with you.
[19:36] Were you...
[19:38] Ricky Ponting, who was always talented enough and destined to play for his country, or were you Justin Langer, who has had to work and fight every moment of the way?
[19:48] Were you a freak talent as a kid or not?
[19:51] No, I'm definitely the Justin Langer.
[19:56] I was never even the best player on a lot of those junior teams that I played for, but
[20:03] Of course you've got to be good enough and, you know, you've got to have the baseline of ability to be able to get yourself to a certain level.
[20:11] But for me, I've genuinely willed and yeah, um,
[20:20] It's funny, the older you get and at this point in my career, you often reflect on these kinds of questions of how did it get to this point and why.
[20:31] And I think for me, I was the most singularly focused person.
[20:37] like on football as anyone could possibly be.
[20:41] My parents often tell stories when I was at school and, you know, you have to write down, you know, what are you going to do when you grow up?
[20:46] And, you know, and even up until when I was, you know, 15, you know, where most kids are already in professional academies in college,
[20:55] you know, starting in the way into the professional game, you know, and I'm just at high school in Melbourne and I was still saying to my teachers, no, but I'm going to play football.
[21:04] Like that's it.
[21:06] That's all there is for me.
[21:07] Like it has to be that.
[21:09] I had no other path that I was even interested in pursuing.
[21:14] And I think it was definitely my mentality that was what has driven me to this point.
[21:19] I love the answer.
[21:20] So I made notes, copious notes, but I only like to refer to them for dates, Jackson.
[21:26] So from 2010 to 12, you're part of the Celtic Youth Squad.
[21:31] So tell me, how do you end up in Scotland?
[21:34] How old are you?
[21:35] Because my experience in this show...
[21:38] Like Craig Johnston came on here and told the most phenomenal story about how he ended up playing football.
[21:44] And then John Aloisi, the same thing as a young man when he went to Europe and, you know, didn't know the language.
[21:50] Like how do you end up in Scotland?
[21:52] Is it a phone call?
[21:53] Is it an email?
[21:54] And what's it like when you get there as a young man?
[21:56] How old were you?
[21:57] So I was 16 when I went.
[22:00] That's crazy, isn't it?
[22:02] Like 16.
[22:02] Yeah, yeah.
[22:04] And again, yeah.
[22:05] the older you get and the further from that time you get, you reflect on it in a different way.
[22:10] And, again, I had no concept of the scale of what I was doing moving to the other side of the world without my family to go and pursue this, like, dream of professional sport.
[22:20] Like...
[22:20] I was just like, yeah, well, that's, you know, that's what I've got to do.
[22:24] And you don't even think about, you're so selfish.
[22:27] You don't even think about your parents.
[22:28] You don't think about, like, you know, what they have, the sacrifice that they have to make to give you that chance.
[22:35] And even that me even getting that opportunity would never have come without
[22:40] them like, and having the, fortunately to have access to resources to be able, cause I was offered a trial by an extension of, of the Celtic youth academy, whose cousin was my coach at Frankston pines, which was my last kind of club that plays senior football for in, in Victoria.
[22:58] And, um, you know, they said, well, I've got this kid here.
[23:00] He's, he's got something.
[23:02] And they basically said to me, if you ever, they knew I had Scottish family.
[23:05] And they said, if you ever come over to visit family, um,
[23:08] we'll throw you in for a week and you can have trained with the team and see how you go.
[23:12] Like it wasn't like an official, you know, scouting report, you know, blah, blah, blah.
[23:19] That kind of was just, and we went over, um, exactly for that.
[23:24] You know, my, my parents actually didn't even come with me to the, like the training sessions, the training session at the end, I was there with my auntie who, who, who Scott, who lives in Scotland, who drove me to the game.
[23:35] And, um,
[23:36] Yeah, again, I never had any real expectation that it was going to lead to a contract offer and a career in Europe.
[23:46] I think it was just a chance to see, test myself on that scale of like kids my own age who, you know, at the highest level of the game in the UK.
[23:56] So, yeah, I went over, I played a game, and I remember after the game they took me upstairs to like the kind of like boardroom at the training ground.
[24:04] Yeah.
[24:04] And I thought, oh, this must be where they're like...
[24:06] Tell me how I went.
[24:08] I don't know.
[24:08] Like, you know, I was 16.
[24:09] At 16, I had no idea.
[24:11] And it was like the head of the academy, the under-19s coach and a couple of, you know, other people.
[24:17] And I'm just in there with my auntie.
[24:20] And they said to me, yeah, like...
[24:23] You've done really well.
[24:24] Yeah.
[24:24] They really liked my physical scores, like from like the testing and stuff, like athletically.
[24:30] And they were like, yeah, there's something there.
[24:32] We want to offer you two years, you know, in the academy as a professional contract.
[24:39] And I was like, right.
[24:41] And again, I didn't really like know, again, I've never been part of this conversation.
[24:46] I was like, what does that mean?
[24:47] And they're like, so that means you'll obviously move here, you know, as soon as possible.
[24:53] And the first words out of my mouth were, but what about school?
[24:58] That was literally the first words out of my mouth.
[25:00] I was like, what about school?
[25:02] And they were like,
[25:03] well, obviously, you know, you'll have to leave school and you'll move here and this will be like, like explaining to me like what it meant.
[25:09] I had no, not a clue, no agent, no nothing, no, it was literally just me and my auntie sitting in that room and yeah, and that was it.
[25:17] So, and we'll progress to where you are now, where you're, you know, you're financially, you're in a fantastic place and you can be congratulated for that because your skills have got you to that point.
[25:28] But so a youth contract at Celtic,
[25:32] Like what do you get paid?
[25:33] Like what deal did you and your auntie cook up?
[25:36] Because I'm not sure your auntie was asking for an extra 15% at this stage.
[25:40] No, no.
[25:41] There was no negotiations at any point.
[25:45] I think my first like months, you know, when I went over, I was on – I used to get £100 a week cash expenses.
[25:53] Like so basically you used to have to go to the offices at the end of the week and they'd give you a little envelope without £100 in it.
[25:58] And then –
[26:00] And then basically they put you in digs.
[26:02] So I got put with a family there with two other players who were living there and the family got paid to board me and feed me and everything like that.
[26:11] And then we were just given 100 quid a week to live on basically.
[26:16] Yeah, that was my first taste of the professional life.
[26:22] Back to Jackson in this Powerade special shortly.
[26:25] Some really, really exciting content coming out on your Howie Games feed at the moment.
[26:29] So do not miss any of it.
[26:30] It's easy.
[26:31] Hit subscribe.
[26:32] Bang, it's free.
[26:33] You will not miss anything we drop next week on the podcast.
[26:37] What about this?
[26:37] To celebrate Sir Doug Nicholls' round in the AFL, we have, for your listening pleasure,
[26:43] Brad Hill.
[26:44] Brad Hill, a bit of brilliance for the Saints.
[26:46] Garmin Impey.
[26:47] Impey!
[26:48] Impey!
[26:49] Right over that top of Wilsmore.
[26:51] And Morris Rioli Jr. Rioli with a big chase.
[26:54] About to be run down.
[26:58] And he's got him.
[26:59] What a chase from Rioli.
[27:00] Yeah, well, obviously he hasn't given up on the chase.
[27:03] And he's about 30 metres away.
[27:05] And this shows what it means to him and what he does for his team.
[27:08] And, yeah, it's an unreal chase.
[27:09] It's a pretty good one now, Maurice.
[27:10] We're always quick like that.
[27:12] Well, yeah, if you're chasing possum, buffaloes and wallabies on the islands, yeah, most of us are pretty quick and have to be quick to catch them.
[27:20] And run away from the crocodiles.
[27:25] So that is next, but we're also currently dropping the Pendlebury Diaries record breaker, which is a really, really cool project.
[27:31] As Pendles approaches breaking the all-time VFL AFL games record, he's taking you behind the scenes in the lead-up.
[27:39] The first episode dropped last Friday, so go back and check that out.
[27:43] Here is a little sneak peek of what is coming up this Friday as Pendles gets ready to play in his 19th Anzac Day game.
[27:50] Spoiler alert for those of you who don't follow the AFL,
[27:53] he won the Anzac medal for the fourth time with an all-time performance.
[27:59] That's the time, 6, 7, 8.
[28:01] This is Anzac Day morning.
[28:04] Breakfast for me.
[28:06] I'll always have a coffee and overnight oats, which are in the fridge, and I'll get out once I've whipped it up.
[28:14] I've been up since 6.
[28:17] Jumped in my pool, barefoot walk outside on the grass, um...
[28:22] it's safe to say that a lot of questions throughout the week do you get excited to play in this game I think today's my 19th but yeah, safe to say I couldn't sleep from 6 because I'm bloody excited to play
[28:37] The Pendlebury Diaries Record Breaker.
[28:39] It's intimate.
[28:39] It's behind the scenes.
[28:41] It's Scott's real, unvarnished thoughts.
[28:45] Access that you'll not find anywhere else.
[28:47] It's a momentous moment for the game, and Pendles is giving you a front row seat to the build-up as he takes us all along for the journey.
[28:55] Episode 2 of the Pendlebury Diaries Record Breaker drops Friday.
[29:03] Alrighty, let's get back to Jackson.
[29:06] the moving from home, moving in with a family, the different weather, the different food, what was the hardest thing that you found as a 16-year-old kid that have said goodbye to mum and dad, your mates, your school and everything you know?
[29:21] Yeah, a lot of it was tough.
[29:23] You do your best to integrate into the culture as quick as possible.
[29:28] I had, again, I think probably one of the toughest things was from the sporting aspect was just not understanding how –
[29:36] how things worked just you know because again you play local I play I was training two nights a week with a local team in Melbourne and all of a sudden you're full-time professional you know like that I'm sure a lot of other players can relate to the same thing of just not understanding how things operate and not knowing the dynamics between players staff club fans you know even like there's just dynamics that you don't even know that at work and you're at Celtic you're at like the
[30:02] like one of the biggest clubs in Europe, in a city, you know, in a city where they literally live and breathe.
[30:10] for the Celtic and Rangers, for these two teams, and you're part of that.
[30:13] And like the scale, having no reference or understanding of the scale of what you're dealing with and even all the political and religious inclinations that come with that as well.
[30:22] Like there's so many dynamics at play that you just had no clue about at all.
[30:27] So navigating that was tough.
[30:29] And then you throw in, you know, I actually finished high school via correspondence.
[30:33] So I was like studying while going full-time for those first...
[30:37] you know, first year.
[30:38] And then, you know, I had to sit my exams in like real time, like my VCE exams.
[30:42] I sat them at like in the middle of the night in Scotland time to like finish.
[30:46] So to make sure I finished high school and everything.
[30:48] Cause at that time you have no idea if you're going to make it or what.
[30:51] So it was important that, you know, finished my education and stuff.
[30:54] So, so many things.
[30:55] And then, yeah, dealing with what kind of what we spoke about in the beginning, the, probably one of the hardest parts is that, you know,
[31:02] understanding that you you're now a piece of a of a much bigger puzzle and when you uh don't exactly fit into that puzzle it's quite difficult to you know not be accepted but you know find your place i guess because i was always a little bit different i i was you know expressed myself in very different ways and yeah i struggled to to kind of fit into the into the big into the world that it was at that time
[31:30] Were you rocking long hair at Celtic, a highly conservative organisation or not?
[31:36] Well, I tried.
[31:37] They wouldn't let me.
[31:38] Okay, that answers that.
[31:39] Yeah.
[31:40] Yeah, they actually literally wouldn't let me.
[31:42] It was a bit like, yeah, it was very militarised, no long hair, no...
[31:49] No short hair.
[31:50] It was very like black boots at training.
[31:53] No, yeah, it was very much keeping you, you know, in line, which I didn't like.
[32:01] No.
[32:03] So, again, doing some reading, the time you're at Celtic, you made one senior appearance for the football club?
[32:11] Mm-hmm.
[32:11] Yep.
[32:12] Came on at halftime against Hibs?
[32:14] Yep.
[32:15] What's...
[32:18] We'll continue your journey, mate, but that's a famous football club and a famous jersey running on.
[32:24] I don't know if it was home or away.
[32:25] I haven't written that down, whether it was at Celtic Park or away.
[32:28] But what's that experience like?
[32:31] That's full-time professional football for a storied club.
[32:35] Yeah.
[32:35] And it's, it's still, it's why the club's still a massive part of my life now.
[32:38] And I still call myself a Celtic fan.
[32:40] Like it made such an impression on me.
[32:42] And obviously I was a very impressionable age kind of from 16 to, to kind of 22 when I was at the club, you know, even though I was on loan a couple of times away, I still was very much a part of it.
[32:52] And, and,
[32:54] To make a professional debut in front of 50,000, 60,000 people in that stadium and at that level, obviously I'm very proud that I got that chance.
[33:04] Obviously, you have a little bit of disappointment that I never quite cracked it.
[33:08] I never broke through and managed to maintain a place at the club.
[33:13] But in hindsight, I probably wasn't ready from the footballing level.
[33:18] But yeah, amazing to have, what a place to play your first professional game.
[33:23] And, you know, as you say, it's such a famous, famous jersey.
[33:27] So, Jacko, a question here.
[33:29] So, 13, 14, you go on a loan to Kilmarnock.
[33:32] 14, 15, a loan to Ross County and then Ross County.
[33:36] So, what does a loan mean?
[33:38] What does that actually mean?
[33:40] It's essentially when you're a club, you're maybe not at the level that you need to be to play for the club that you are contracted with.
[33:49] So, but they still see that there is potentially a future there for you with some more development.
[33:54] So what they do is obviously you get put to, I got, I had two fantastic loan moves in the same league.
[34:00] It's not often you go on loan within the same league.
[34:04] I guess you would normally go down a level to kind of progress back up.
[34:07] But fortunately I was able to play both my loan seasons in the Scottish Premier League.
[34:12] So for me, it was an immediate transition.
[34:14] I was immediately playing at the top level in the country and playing against the...
[34:18] So you play against Celtic?
[34:19] No, you're not allowed to.
[34:20] Even though you're a Celtic player?
[34:21] No, you're not allowed to.
[34:22] Oh, so when you come up against Celtic, they've got to stick you on the bench.
[34:24] You can't play that day?
[34:25] Can't play that day.
[34:27] That's interesting.
[34:29] Yeah, it's a little bit of like...
[34:32] it negates elements of risk, you know, if you're involved in an incident or a tackle or a, you know, I don't know, you score the goal that, you know, denies them the league title at the end of the last day of the season or something and then you're, you know, and then you have to go back.
[34:44] It kind of takes away the drama a little bit.
[34:48] I get it.
[34:49] Yeah.
[34:49] Yeah.
[34:50] So no, I was never able to play against him when I was on loan.
[34:53] But those two, it's invaluable experience for a young player to go away and play senior football and be around.
[35:02] Because even the jump from a youth environment to a senior environment is completely different.
[35:06] And, you know, I found out that, you know, the hard way, especially at Kilmarnock my first year where I was, you know...
[35:14] Yeah, dealing with, again, things that I'd never had to challenge, as I'd never been faced with.
[35:19] Like what?
[35:20] It really does make you as a player.
[35:21] Well, like the pressures of being in a relegation battle was a huge thing, which unfortunately I've sadly got a lot of experience with now.
[35:29] But you're dealing with, you know, as a youth player, and you're playing with guys that are playing for their careers, playing for, you know, contracts that are...
[35:41] mean mortgages and family life and everything, the pressures on them is so much higher than what you experience as a young player where you're just trying to, you know, make it in the game and you realise what guys are playing for and what clubs are fighting for and what it means to be, you know.
[35:57] I went to Kilmarnock and the club's facing relegation and you don't realise that if the club goes down that people lose jobs, you know, within that.
[36:05] And all of a sudden you're like kind of...
[36:09] that's in your hands a little bit like on the pitch, like your on pitch performances can, can decide what happens.
[36:16] And yeah, that's, it was a huge learning curve for me.
[36:19] And from a, from a footballing perspective as well, cause I, I struggled a lot that first year, didn't play well, got shuffled around positions a lot.
[36:26] And yeah, it was, it was really tough, but in the end, yeah, the experience was invaluable.
[36:32] So that's sort of what I wanted to ask you.
[36:34] So, you know, you've been to Kilmarnock, Ross County, you go to Burton Albion in the championship, you go to Hull City.
[36:40] Jackson Irvine finishes with a simple header to a 23-year-old who signed from Ross County in the summer.
[36:47] About to tick into the final minute of normal time.
[36:49] Irvine, he's done it!
[36:51] And Hull City take the lead.
[36:56] When you're a young man, hopefully on the way up, and you step into these clubs, and they want to be successful clubs, so they want you to succeed.
[37:05] But when you walk in there, let's say, as your central midfielder, and there's two other central midfielders, you're ostensibly there to take their job.
[37:14] So as a young man, how do you fit into that competitive environment?
[37:18] I imagine it must be difficult.
[37:20] Yeah, it is.
[37:21] Yeah, especially, as you say, when you come on loan from... Because there's certain perceptions around Celtic and Rangers within the country, it's within there itself.
[37:30] And when you come to the smaller clubs from those clubs, there's already a big sense of expectation on you because you're coming from one of those two clubs.
[37:40] And as you say, then you're dealing with, yeah, other dynamics of guys that have maybe been...
[37:45] mainstays in that team for years and have, have experience.
[37:48] And then they're bringing in a young player to, to play that role.
[37:52] And it's, it's, it's a fine margin because in the end you'll want the same thing.
[37:56] You'll want the team to be successful, but you're also, everybody wants to play and there's only 11 positions.
[38:01] And there's also relationships within that, that, that,
[38:06] Yeah, that can be complicated when you're coming in to take someone's spot.
[38:09] So it can be a difficult space to navigate if you're not sensitive.
[38:15] And at the end of the day, you just try and focus on doing what's best for the team.
[38:19] And I think most guys can respect that even if they're not happy that someone's playing in their position, you know.
[38:24] I was shocked by this.
[38:25] I was slightly concerned, but I wasn't because I knew the history of what played out.
[38:28] But you played in 2011-12 three under-19 internationals for Scotland.
[38:35] I did.
[38:35] Now, fantastic footballing nation, but you're a Melbourne man.
[38:39] So you could have played for Scotland.
[38:41] Was there a decision point?
[38:43] Because we're seeing that a lot now.
[38:44] Yeah.
[38:45] We don't need to go into some of your teammates having to decide whether they're going to play for the Socceroos or other European powerhouses, let's be honest.
[38:53] What was the decision-making process for you, mate?
[38:55] So for me, I had a complicated relationship with Football Australia in the beginning of my career.
[39:01] So actually during that phase when I first went to Scotland, I...
[39:07] My international clearance wasn't given by the Australian side.
[39:13] So actually I wasn't allowed for the first like near six, seven months, I wasn't actually allowed to play competitive games in Scotland, even in the under-19 level.
[39:24] At all?
[39:24] At all, no.
[39:26] Because my international clearance.
[39:27] Because they didn't give me, they wouldn't give me the international clearance.
[39:31] But why wouldn't they?
[39:32] Because at that time there was a whole thing about players under the age of 18
[39:40] which was kind of crazy because I was never a part of any elite academy system.
[39:44] I was never part of any...
[39:47] you know, I kind of wasn't part of the system.
[39:49] I wasn't part of any of the youth national teams, Joey's or anything like that, AIS, VIS.
[39:55] I wasn't selected for any of these programs.
[39:57] So it wasn't like my path to Europe came completely through, you know, kind of a bit of luck and, you know, it was kind of not because of that.
[40:07] So, you know, I had a little bit of, I didn't feel like the Australian system had really given me anything at that point in a lot of ways.
[40:14] You know, I played in...
[40:16] Vic Schoolboys at under 11s.
[40:17] I think that was the last representative team I was selected for before this.
[40:24] So when I got given the chance to play for Scotland, I've always had an extremely strong connection to the Scottish side of my family.
[40:31] My dad, I used to like... A lot of people...
[40:34] often said to me when I was young that they, you know, because I used to try and copy my dad's voice.
[40:38] I used to want to have a Scottish accent.
[40:39] So I always had this kind of weird in-betweeny accent, even as a kid.
[40:45] And then, yeah, I got the chance to play, you know,
[40:50] living in Scotland, being half Scottish, playing for the biggest club in Scotland.
[40:55] At that time, I'd also never been selected for any Australian national teams and it was a chance to play international football.
[41:02] So at that time, it wasn't a decision because there was no decision.
[41:05] I'd never been selected for anything from the Australian side.
[41:08] So then I played for Scotland.
[41:11] I loved it.
[41:12] Like, it was amazing.
[41:12] I went to this one tournament where I played three games, but I immediately kind of knew it wasn't...
[41:19] It wasn't for me.
[41:20] You know, when I think about my life growing up as a Socceroos fan, as my relationship with the Australian football, it was the only team I ever wanted to play for really was the Socceroos.
[41:30] And then after kind of, yeah, that kind of transpired, that...
[41:36] year.
[41:37] I've kind of flagged on the radar of Australian football.
[41:42] And then I was eventually selected for the under 20s about a year later.
[41:46] And I immediately kind of made the switch.
[41:47] It was never really much of a decision.
[41:50] Scotland were amazing.
[41:52] We had some good conversations.
[41:53] They really wanted me to stay and be involved in their setup.
[41:56] But I think they knew where my heart really was.
[42:00] And as soon as there was a decision, there wasn't a decision.
[42:03] That's the only team I
[42:05] So tell me about 15th of October 2013 versus Canada.
[42:11] Mille Yedinak, who is a man that sat in his studio, and he's a ferocious physical beast of a man, to be fair.
[42:19] He comes off.
[42:20] You make your debut as a sub in the 83rd minute versus Canada.
[42:24] Well, here we go.
[42:26] Mille Yedinak makes way, and it's going to be another full international debut.
[42:32] for jackson urban nominally of celtic but he is on loan at kilmarnock for the year this season youngster born in melbourne dad from aberdeen he is now a fully fledged australian international congratulations to him um i can see you smiling about it now on the other side of the world there in hamburg what what did it mean to you and your family mate yes still one of the best moments of my career probably always will be you never forget it um and
[42:57] It's just, yeah, it's, as I said, like my relationship with the Socceroos has always been so special and I'm so grateful and fortunate that it's grown into this like story over a decade.
[43:09] But, you know, that one, the first one, yeah, you never forget it.
[43:13] And because I think also because I got to take the pitch with so many guys from the last generation who I idolized and growing up loving, like Lucas Neal and Bresch was in the squad and, you know, these kinds of players that...
[43:27] um short and you know yeah like i don't know it felt it felt a little bit different it was like it was when i think about that game that one game i played compared to the rest of my soccer it was like it existed in a different time where like you know there was i don't think there's i think maybe lex was the only player maddie was in the squad as well but i think no one else was even that still playing football was even in that squad you know kind of thing it's it was existed in a different in a different time and yeah just that first one you never forget it it was incredibly special
[43:55] Well, those were blokes that you would have been watching in 2005 at that amazing night in Sydney.
[44:01] Now, I'll get this wrong.
[44:02] Was Ange coached then or not?
[44:04] No, it was – so Holger was the coach.
[44:07] He actually got sacked during that camp.
[44:11] And then it was Irelia Vidmar who took touch for the Canada game, and he was the one who gave me my debut.
[44:16] So tell me what it is like –
[44:19] 28th of March 2017 and this was under Ange, you score your first international goal versus the UAE, what's it like Jacko, as a Melbourne kid who's now sort of travelled around the world a bit, left home at 16 and you score for the Socceroos ...rise in expectation Troisi with the out swing, ah!
[44:40] And it's gone in.
[44:43] Jackson Irvine.
[44:44] He nearly scored in Tehran.
[44:46] He has scored in Sydney.
[44:48] A first international goal for the young midfielder.
[44:51] What a start for Ange Foster-Coglu's team.
[44:54] That will steady the nerves.
[44:56] Yeah.
[44:57] It's such a long road to that point.
[45:01] You know, it's when I look back on that game as well, I think about conversations I have with younger players now and, you know, it kind of ties into what you were talking about, about the stories of players and expectations around national team.
[45:13] Like not a lot of people probably realize this, but it was four years between my first cap and my first start for the national team.
[45:21] Wow.
[45:21] Like it's...
[45:23] I think nowadays there's an expectation that when you come into squads, that young players should just come in and play, come in and be involved straight away, that there's not this like process within international football to try and learn and understand and be a part of a squad over time to, to,
[45:38] to earn the right to be on that pitch.
[45:43] Yeah, it was years in the making for me.
[45:46] And I started the game against Iraq and Iran kind of four days prior.
[45:50] That was my first start.
[45:51] And then my second start was in Sydney.
[45:55] And yeah, scoring that goal.
[45:57] If anyone's ever gone back and looked at the celebration, I think it's like, I think it's the quickest I've moved all game.
[46:04] Run into the corner flag to celebrate.
[46:07] I've been reading and watching from a distance the emergence of Jackson Irvine.
[46:11] Burton Albion in England has been the beneficiary of exactly this type of move from set pieces and from general play.
[46:19] Rising above the pack, Jackson Irvine.
[46:22] Yeah, an insane moment.
[46:24] And again, those first moments, those key moments in your career, they're the ones you never forget.
[46:31] That was a huge highlight for me, huge highlight.
[46:35] That's the end of Jackson Irvine Part A.
[46:37] In Part B, our man tells us the incredible story of taking St. Paulie to a title, playing against Harry Kane, Mbappe, and Lionel Messi, and turning down a multi, multi-million dollar deal.

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