Tim Cahill

Cahill was born on 6 December 1979 in Sydney, Australia. He is the third child out of four children, with an older brother, Sean, an older sister, Dorothy, and a younger brother, Chris. His father, Tim Cahill Sr, is of English and Irish descent and worked as a merchant seaman before settling in Australia, where he worked as a rigger and trawler. Cahill's mother, Sisifo, primarily has Samoan ancestry and was born in the small village of Tufuiopa, Apia, where his grandfather and great-grandfather held chief positions. His mother took on two jobs as a hotel employee and a factory worker to support the family financially after his father suffered a hip injury and was unable to work. Their financial position meant that Cahill and his family had to move frequently due to rent increases. Growing up in a soccer-loving family, Cahill developed a passion for the sport from an early age, playing constantly with his brothers, Sean and Chris, and watching Premier League matches on TV with his father, who is a West Ham United fan from his upbringing in London. However, during the holidays, Cahill frequently visited family in Australia and Samoa where he played rugby with his cousins, including Frank Winterstein and Ben Roberts, both of whom became professional rugby players. Though his biggest influence came from his maternal grandmother, Asofa, who taught him the Samoan culture and beliefs of discipline, hard work, and perseverance – something Cahill would carry throughout his life. As a junior player since the age of four, Cahill had played for Balmain Police Tigers, Marrickville Red Devil, and Lakemba SC. He also played futsal with his friends, creating a team named Banshee Knights, who his father named, after drawing inspiration from the Celtic legend's banshee screams. In his school years, Cahill enrolled in Bexley North Public School, Annandale North Public School, Tempe High School, and Kingsgrove North High School. During these years, he has represented the public school select team, Metropolitan East before representing the NSW PSSA team, which went on to win the school tournament. Measuring up to 1.65m in high school, teachers doubted Cahill's dream, saying he could not become a professional soccer player due to his small stature which he later said was the best thing he was ever told, saying, "To the people who said I couldn't do it, I say thank you." Cahill joined NSL club Sydney Olympic, a club heavily influenced by their Greek ancestry, in Belmore. He began in their youth ranks and also became a ball boy for the first-team games, which fuelled his aspiration to play for the club's senior team. After spending five years at Sydney Olympic, where he embraced the Greek culture and even learned some Greek, Cahill was released by the club in the same year after failing to pass the annual trial, as a coach believed he was too small and slow. Disheartened by the setback, he joined the NSW Institute of Sport in Lidcombe to improve his speed and physicality. The same year, he joined Belmore Hercules, a club that played three divisions down from Sydney Olympic. Cahill impressed in the under-18 team, resulting in him being promoted to the first team. Cahill became the youngest player at the age of 15 to ever play for the club, making his senior debut as a substitute and scoring his first goal with a header. By the end of the season, he emerged as the club's top goalscorer across the under-18, under-21, and senior squads, netting a total of 30 goals. Cahill then joined Sydney United, another club influenced by their Croatian heritage similar to Sydney Olympic's Greek origins. He became part of their under-21 team, where he received significant playing time under manager Phil Pavela. He eventually made his senior debut as a substitute at St George Stadium on 22 March 1997, in a 0–0 league draw against St George. As the Cahill family had relatives in England, Cahill's parents offered him an opportunity to move to England to pursue his soccer career after his father phoned Allen Batsford, a talent scout from Nottingham Forest, for trials. After much thought, he accepted and his parents took out a $10,000 loan in order to pay for his trip. The loan made his family nearly broke and in debt, forcing his older brother to stop playing soccer and pull out of school to work full-time as a mechanic to repay the debt. Cahill arrived in England in late-1997, meeting his relatives, Glen and Lindsey Stanley, and their kids. ==Club career==