Soccer player (1946?2023)
Attila Abonyi
(16 August 1946 ? 6 July 2023) was a
soccer
manager and player. Born in Hungary, he played for the
Australia national team
.
Abonyi made his senior international debut for Australia in 1967 at age 20, and had earned 61 caps, including appearing in the
1974 World Cup
; Australia's first entry into the
World Cup
.
[1]
In his first nine matches for Australia, he scored eleven goals all coming from the
1967 South Vietnam Independence Cup
. He scored his first of three international goals against
New Zealand
in November 1967.
[2]
Early life
[
edit
]
Attila Abonyi was born and raised in
Budapest
,
Hungary
. Abonyi did not play regular football in Hungary, as he could not play junior competitive football until the age of twelve. He migrated from Budapest to
Melbourne
at age 10 after the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956
.
[3]
He started playing for the St Kilda junior club when he turned 11 years old. He moved to his home club
Melbourne Hungaria
at age 14 until he made the senior team in 1962.
[4]
Club career
[
edit
]
Born in Hungary, he took up football after emigrating to
Australia
at age 10 in 1957. Attila played his senior debut for
Melbourne Hungaria
in 1962 at 15 years of age in the old Victorian State League. In 1967 Abonyi was a key player in helping the club achieve their first ever State League title. He was the top goalscorer for that season with 31 goals in 29 games, and he scored the goal that won them the title. In that same year Abonyi was man of the match in helping Melbourne Hungaria win the Australian Cup, with a hat-trick, to defeat the favoured
APIA Leichhardt
4?3 in extra-time. This turned out to be his final season with Melbourne Hungaria.
[5]
Abonyi moved to Sydney and joined
St. George-Budapest
between 1969 and 1976 where he was part of three NSW State League titles,
[6]
before finishing his career with
Sydney Croatia
between 1977 and 1979. In June 1975, Abonyi made a guest appearance for a touring
Manchester United
side, coming on as a substitute for
David McCreery
against
Queensland
. He scored United's third goal in a 3?0 win.
[7]
[8]
International career
[
edit
]
Abonyi made his debut for the
Australia national team
in May 1967 when he played against
Scotland
. The national team traveled to Vietnam for a friendship tournament where he scored a hat-trick on debut against
New Zealand
, and then scored another hat-trick in his second match against
Singapore
a few days later.
[5]
Abonyi was well known for being a member of the Australian
1974 World Cup
squad in
West Germany
and also represented
New South Wales
and
Victoria
. He scored 25 international goals for Australia in 61 games between 1967 and 1977 making him tied as the fifth highest goal scorer for Australia. He made a total of 88 appearances for Australia and scored 36 goals.
[9]
Managerial career
[
edit
]
After retiring in 1979 Abonyi switched to coaching at the state level after taking on the player-coach for the 1978 and 1979 seasons. Sydney Croatia won the minor premierships in those two years. Abonyi then moved to Melita as a coach only, where they won the minor premiership and lost the grand final. He was then offered a full-time job with Riverwood, the only full-time coaching position in the state league at the time. In his first season they finished seventh and then runners-up in 1982 on goal difference to Sydney Croatia.
[6]
Abonyi moved to Canberra in 1983 and coached Canberra City in the National Soccer League (NSL).
[10]
For the 1984 season Sydney Croatia in their first season in the NSL offered Abonyi the head coach position, which he accepted (as his family had remained in Sydney). He was sacked halfway through the season because of poor results and high expectations by the board. In 1987 and 1988 he assisted
Frank Arok
at St. George who were in the NSL. After the 1988 season, Abonyi moved away from Sydney and football (soccer).
[6]
Personal life and death
[
edit
]
Abonyi later lived in
Coffs Harbour
on the north coast of New South Wales.
[5]
He died on 6 July 2023, at the age of 76.
[11]
Career statistics
[
edit
]
Club
[
edit
]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club
|
Season
|
League
|
Cup
|
Total
|
Division
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Melbourne Hungaria
|
1962
|
Victorian State League
|
3
|
0
|
?
|
3
|
0
|
1963
|
Victorian State League
|
15
|
2
|
?
|
15
|
2
|
1964
|
Victorian State League
|
19
|
4
|
?
|
19
|
4
|
1965
|
Victorian State League
|
13
|
2
|
?
|
13
|
2
|
1966
|
Victorian State League
|
16
|
10
|
?
|
16
|
10
|
1967
|
Victorian State League
|
16
|
20
|
?
|
16
|
20
|
1968
|
Victorian State League
|
17
|
11
|
?
|
17
|
11
|
Total
|
99
|
49
|
?
|
99
|
49
|
International
[
edit
]
Team
|
Year
[12]
|
Competitive
|
Friendly
|
Total
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Apps
|
Goals
|
Australia
|
1967
|
0
|
0
|
9
|
11
|
9
|
11
|
1969
|
9
|
0
|
3
|
1
|
12
|
1
|
1972
|
0
|
0
|
5
|
2
|
5
|
2
|
1973
|
9
|
3
|
1
|
0
|
10
|
3
|
1974
|
2
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
5
|
0
|
1976
|
0
|
0
|
7
|
4
|
7
|
4
|
1977
|
10
|
3
|
3
|
1
|
13
|
4
|
Career total
|
30
|
6
|
31
|
19
|
61
|
25
|
Honours
[
edit
]
Melbourne Hungaria
St George-Budapest
Sydney Croatia
Abonyi Place in the Sydney suburb of
Glenwood
is named for him.
[13]
Abonyi made a lap of honour on the MCG at half time of the
1998 World Cup
qualifier against
Iran
.
[3]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Howe, Andrew (2018).
Encyclopedia of Socceroos: Every national team player
. Fair Play Publishing.
ISBN
978-0-648-13330-8
.
- ^
"AUSTRALIANS TO TIGHTEN UP MIDFIELD SOCCER PLAY"
.
The Canberra Times
. Vol. 42, no. 11, 839. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 7 November 1967. p. 29
. Retrieved
19 January
2021
– via National Library of Australia.
- ^
a
b
Forward Thinking
Archived
16 May 2011 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Vale Atti Abonyi | Football Victoria"
.
www.footballvictoria.com.au
. 7 July 2023
. Retrieved
13 July
2023
.
- ^
a
b
c
Gorman, Joe.
"Should the FFA Cup award the Attila Abonyi Medal?"
.
The Guardian
. Retrieved
9 December
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Atti Abonyi"
.
www.ozfootball.net
. Retrieved
9 December
2015
.
- ^
"61 days to go: Attila Abonyi's FIFA World Cup story | Socceroos"
.
www.socceroos.com.au
. 14 April 2018
. Retrieved
13 July
2023
.
- ^
"Who is Australia's leading all-time top goal scorer? Cahill, Jedinak and the Socceroos' greatest strikers | Goal.com US"
.
www.goal.com
. 23 September 2022
. Retrieved
13 July
2023
.
- ^
"Attila Abonyi"
.
Football Federation Australia
. Archived from
the original
on 4 March 2016
. Retrieved
9 December
2015
.
- ^
"SOCCER Arrows chose Abonyi"
.
The Canberra Times
. Vol. 57, no. 17, 432. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 21 June 1983. p. 26
. Retrieved
20 October
2020
– via National Library of Australia.
- ^
"Socceroos great Atilla Abonyi is mourned"
. Yahoo! Sport. 6 July 2023
. Retrieved
6 July
2023
.
- ^
Howe, Andrew.
"The Australian National Men's Football Team: Caps and Captains"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 14 May 2011
. Retrieved
10 November
2020
.
- ^
O'Maley, Christine (10 October 2010). "Park is a goner".
Blacktown Advocate
. Cumberland Newspapers. p. 14.
...streets are named after well known football identities...
External links
[
edit
]