During this podcast we catch up with the man affectionately known as ‘The Big Rooster!’
Julian Clark is not exactly a household name in Asian footy circles, but ‘The Big Rooster’ however, is an iconic name that sits among the highest of all the legends of our great sport within the region and furthermore to the international football brethren.
Rooster has played football for 24 countries and has helped to establish national teams in many of those countries, including the Myanmar Fighting Cocks Australian Football Club, whilst playing for the Cambodian Eagles, China Blues (previous name), Lao Elephants,Timor Crocs, Malaysian Warriors (Tigers at the time), Pakistan Markhors, Singapore Wombats, Thailand Tigers and the Vietnam Swans in own backyard!
The man with the most recognizable dome in Asian footy and sports the Kareem Abdul Jabbar googles has played at every Asian Champs bar 2006 due to injury, but attended in person as you’d expect from the Mr. Football of Asia!
There’s as many tales to this podcast as there are feathers on a rooster and we hope you enjoy our podcast interview with the larger than life character!
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Nicknames: Rooster, The Big Rooster, The Mythical Beast, Jules.
How many years have you been playing in Asia? This is my 26th season.
Preferred position/s: Full-forward these days, but as a fit young lad I quite liked centre half-back and played a little bit of ruck.
AFL team: Sydney Swans, but mad Carlton Blues supporters as a family back home.
Best player/s in Asia: Tony Boatman was a great footballer, who wears the number one for the Singapore Wombats and still pulls on the boots occasionally. Voted best player in the world at the Arafura Games in 1997.
Best teammate/s: My best mate Matt Rasheed. Played a Pennant Hills and UTS together and managed to take him on a trip to the Bali Masters.
Most annoying teammate: Steve Kennedy is a bit of a pest, but I’m gonna say the guy that moved from Singapore to Hong Kong and we call him The Pest. It’s even on his jumper! It’s Easty, James Easto.
3 things people don’t know about you: I’m an introvert, I have a birthmark on my bottom, and I like to sing.
Invite 4 people of your choice to a dinner party: Elvis, Al Gore, Al Gore’s wife and Elvis’s missus, but no one is as interesting as me.
Best AFL Asia memory: 2014 Asian Champs in Clark in the Philippines. That was the last time Singapore won. Ed Clarke coached us that year and we won due to coaching and execution of a game plan. We’d won before from skill and ability, but this year we’d won from good coaching and a good plan that was a season in the making. Safe to say the celebration continued for months afterwards in Singapore.
