St. Albert soccer enthusiasts had the chance for instruction by a decorated English keeper this week.
Joe Corrigan, who played much of his club career for Manchester City in the English Premier League and also played for the English national team, was in St. Albert for a five-day camp.
About 40 to 50 people, who were separated into two groups, attended. The local goalies were grateful for the opportunity.
“I believe it’s been a great experience having a different coach who has played in the pros and knows exactly what he’s doing,” said Charles Ehalt, who plays for the U14 tier II St. Albert Impact.
Erik Nordlund of St. Albert, who plays for the tier I U18 Edmonton Drillers, said the group was going over the basics, everything from diving to positioning and cutting down the angles, as well as passing and everything in between.
Corrigan, 61, said this is the first time he’s had the chance to come over to St. Albert and visit his relatives because he just retired last spring from professional soccer.
He was in St. Albert last year to visit his aunt and cousins, came to check out the fields and met Graham Wood from the St. Albert Soccer Association (SASA) who invited him to come back this year for a camp.
Corrigan said Thursday that the camp had been going well and the goalies are all eager to learn. However, one thing that stuck out for him came when he was talking to some of the Team Alberta players that were at the SASA fields for a camp Wednesday. The goalies told Corrigan that they had had only one hour of instruction directed at them specifically.
“I think that’s a travesty. I do, honestly,” he said. “I don’t care if I’m stepping on anyone’s toes. I think people in North American soccer should be ashamed of themselves, the fact that kids that are coming out here to do select work aren’t getting select goalkeeping. It’s wrong. For any team, you need a great goalkeeper, you need a great centre-half and you need a great centre midfielder and a striker. It’s the backbone of your team.”
Corrigan said to properly develop players, you’ve got to have top-level coaching, that those coaches can be found in Canada and hinted that he could be the man to help out, though he is returning to England Sunday.
“There are people about,” he said. “I’m retired. I can do this in the summer. I’m not saying it will be me, but what an opportunity for Alberta soccer. I know people here. I’ve got family here. There’s no other reason [I can’t]. I love coaching. I wanted to be a goalkeeper coach ever since I started playing goal at five years of age. I’ve played at a top level, I’ve played for my country and know I want to give my knowledge back to kids because I didn’t have it when I was five years old.”
The Manchester product grew up cheering for the traditionally more successful Manchester United, but as a teenager, got a try-out with the rival Manchester City and immediately got an offer to join the squad. He went on to play in 476 games for the team over 16 seasons. In his first full season, he won the League Cup and the European Cup Winner’s Cup (now the UEFA Cup).
In 1981, his City team lost in the FA Cup final against the Tottenham Hotspurs where they held a second game after the first one was tied. Corrigan was named the man of the match in both despite losing.
After his playing career ended because of a neck injury, Corrigan spent some time as a freelance goalkeeper coach before joining Liverpool full-time for 10 years. He later coached West Bromwich Albion for six years, before retiring from professional coaching in 2009.
