Maz Lucchesi's journey

Max Lucchesi

Born Mar 16 1927 in Lucca, Italy
Attended school in Pisa

Kids played football in the courtyards with balls made of rags.

Migrated to Perth in the early 1950s
Played for Azzuri there

In 1954 he represented WA at the interstate carnival in Adelaide.

He impressed many people in a WA team that went pretty well. He nullified the NSW striker (possibly Reg Date) in a noteworthy performance.

Adelaide Juventus liked what that saw and poached him in 1956 or so.

After a few years his trade as a fitter and turner took him to Sydney and then to Newcastle where he played for Austral.

He stopped playing in the early 1960s. Later that decade he obtained his coaching qualificationas and his first job was coaching the Newcastle rep team in 1970.

He then moved to Weston and here is where my stories converge. He basically revived Weston as a powerhouse in the Hunter region.

He returned to Adelaide in the late 1980s when he retired.

When I interviewed Max I asked him what the highlight was of his soccer career in Australia. Weston was very important but he also enjoyed his time with Juve.

Even though he played rep football (WA and 4 B internationals, once as captain) he seemed to want to downplay that.