Terry Greedy (born 27 August 1955) is an Australian retired soccer player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

. He represented the Australian national team between 1983 and 1985, making 16 international appearances. At club level, he played in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

for

St George Saints St George FC, commonly called Saints or Budapest, is a semi-professional Australian soccer club based in the St George district in the south of Sydney. The club was founded by Hungarian immigrants in 1957 as Budapest Club and by 1965 was renam ...

and APIA Leichhardt.

Early life

Terry Greedy was born in

Lismore, New South Wales Lismore is a city in northeastern New South Wales, Australia and the main population centre in the City of Lismore local government area; it is also a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State. It is situated on a low flood pla ...

, where he played in local junior soccer for Eastwood United and trained as a schoolteacher.

Club career

After completing his teacher training in 1978, Greedy was able to move to the Sydney area to pursue a soccer career. Over the next four years, he played semi-professionally in the New South Wales State League for Bankstown and

Melita Eagles Parramatta Football Club, commonly known as Parramatta Melita Eagles or just Melita, are a semi-professional Australian soccer club based in South Granville, New South Wales. The club was established by Maltese migrants in 1956 and played seve ...

. Melita coach

Attila Abonyi Attila Abonyi (born 16 August 1946 in Budapest) is a former Hungarian-born Australian soccer manager and player and played for the Australia national team. Abonyi made his senior international debut for Australia in 1967 at age 20, and had ...

recommended Greedy to his former club

, where Abonyi's friend and former teammate

Frank Arok Ferenc "Frank" Arok ( hu, Árok Ferenc; 20 January 1932 – 12 January 2021) was a Yugoslavian-Australian ethnic Hungarian association football player and coach. Career Arok played for FK Jedinstvo in Yugoslavia during the 1950s before coach ...

was coach. Greedy subsequently signed for St George and became a top-flight player in the

(NSL) at the age of 27. He played in the NSL for St George from 1982 to 1986, winning the league in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

, and for APIA Leichhardt in 1988.

International career

Following Arok's appointment as the coach of the Australian national team in 1983, Greedy was called up to the squad for a series of matches against the touring England team in June that year, making his international debut in the first match of the series at Sydney. He was the first choice goalkeeper over the next two years, including the qualifying matches for the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia had ...

. After winning the Oceania qualifying group, Australia faced

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

in a two-legged play-off to qualify for the finals, but lost 2–0 on aggregate. According to Greedy, he chose to retire from the national team after these matches on a point of principle following a dispute over money between the players and the national federation. Despite his brief international career, Greedy was later named in the Socceroos Team of the Decade for the 1980s. He made 16 full international appearances and – including unofficial matches against club teams – played for Australia 36 times in total. He also played for New South Wales state representative teams.

After soccer

Greedy was inducted into the

Football Federation Australia Hall of Fame The aims of the Football Australia Hall of Fame are to celebrate and highlight the achievements of retired players and other participants who have contributed significantly to the game. These are made up of either Australian and/or non-Austral ...

in 2007. Outside of his sport, he continued to pursue a teaching career and retired around 2015 having latterly been a school principal in

Woy Woy, New South Wales Woy Woy is a coastal town in the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, located on the southern reaches of Brisbane Water north of Sydney. It is a population centre within the local government area. Woy Woy is located in the nor ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greedy, Terry Living people 1955 births People from Lismore, New South Wales Australian soccer players Association football goalkeepers Australia international soccer players Parramatta FC players St George FC players APIA Leichhardt FC players National Soccer League (Australia) players Sportsmen from New South Wales Soccer players from New South Wales