George Tsamouras debut for Newcastle Olympic spoiled by injury

After a three-year absence from Newcastle Olympic the debut of George Tsamouras in the club’s senior team was spoiled by injury! Starting the first match of the 2024-25 NPL season of Northern NSW with the reserve team of Newcastle Olympic against Cooks Hill United, the 18 year old Novocastrian was forced to limp off in the 60^th minute with ligament damage to his right ankle!

Having spent two season with the Newcastle Jets Academy and one with the Academy of Super League 2 Greek side ASA Karditsa, in Greece, the player was looking forward to the opening game of the season after working very hard during the pre-season.

In a tight and well contested game in which 5 yellow cards were issued by the referee there were many physical challenges by both teams. The first half belonged to Cooks Hill during which the visitors were able to race to a 2-0 lead and the second half belonged to Olympic who were very unfortunate not to have scored.

During one of the many midfield tussles between two ex-Jets and ex-Olympic players Stanley Manning-Lourey and George Tsamouras, the later received a yellow card for a foul on the former. At the 60^th the exact opposite occurred! There was no malice in the incident, simply hard contested tackling by two players who were cancelling each other out throughout the match!

Following a visit to the hospital after the game which eliminated the possibility of a break or fracture, as well as a visit to the team physio, the diagnosis was ligament damage with a 3-4 week recovery period!

NPL ROUND 1 Results:

Belmont Swansea United FC – Adamstown Rosebud 5-2, Reserves 1-2.

Edgeworth Eagles – Broadmeadow Magic 1-0, Reserves 3-5.

Maitland FC – Valentine 3-3, Reserves 3-2.

Newcastle Olympic – Cooks Hill 4-2, Reserves 0-2

Charlestown Azzurri – Weston Bears 3-1, Reserves 0-7.

Lambton Jaffas – New Lambton FC 2-0, Reserves 3-2.