Rising AFL star Josh Rachele talks Greek heritage and family
Source: NEOS KOSMOS
Young Adelaide Crows star Josh Rachele is making name for himself in the AFL world. Playing up forward and in the midfield, he has become known for his flashy goal celebrations.
Not many people know that he is actually Greek, on his mum’s side. His dad is Italian.
Rachele also had an opportunity to play soccer professionally but chose Aussie rules. He was part of the academy for Melbourne City FC and the under-17s Australian team.
Selected at pick No 6 in the 2021 AFL Draft, he went on to debut in round 1 2022, having an immediate impact with five goals.
Neos Kosmos interviewed the 21-year-old Victorian now playing in South Australia.
Tell us about your family heritage.
My grandfather was originally born in Greece, from Florina, and lived there for a period of his life when he was younger.
He came to Australia via boat when he was a young boy and then he moved to Melbourne and that’s when he met my grandmother. She’s from here but her parents came from Greece.
How connected are you to your Greek side?
I’ve got a lot of cousins on both sides of the family. We are actually planning on doing a trip to Greece after the footy season with my grandparents and my girlfriend, so it’d be great to go see where my grandfather was born in the villages and because I’m getting older now, I’d like to learn about that stuff a bit more.
We’re pretty traditional with our Greek Easters and our Christmas. Even around Easter time when we throw the cross in the water, I’ll go watch my cousins do it and we’ll celebrate that and go out for lunch.
What it was like leaving his close-knit family to move to Adelaide?
It was originally quite scary but I was pretty fortunate enough to go to a boarding school for year 11 and 12, so I kind of already was used to living away from home and my family.
I’ve got onwards of like 20 first cousins and a lot of second cousins and aunties and uncles, a lot of friends, so it was quite difficult.
What made it easier moving to Adelaide is you get very close with a lot of your teammates and I’m living now with a couple of the boys that I never knew before.
Living with them for a couple years now, some of my closest mates. It’s been both good and challenging, but definitely wouldn’t change it.
What club did you follow growing up?
I was a massive Carlton fan. My dad’s side are big Blue Bagger supporters. The funny thing is on my mum’s side, they’re all Collingwood supporters.
My grandfather, after he moved from Greece, he moved to Collingwood and didn’t know anything about AFL and that’s when he started going for Collingwood because they were the closest team and he’s been a diehard supporter since.
What are your goals outside of footy?
I was going to start my uni course after I finished school as I always had interest in doing some type of physiotherapy or chiro.
But since having not started that course yet, I’ve been lucky enough to buy my first house now, so I’m pretty interested in the property game.
In the future I’d like to do some something involved in media.
Who are some of the players that you idolised and also who you tried to like mould your game to match?
A big one I used to watch before I got drafted was Toby Greene. He was a massive one for me, who I really enjoyed watching play football, just the way he attacked the footy and I guess now his reputation changing a lot to being an All-Australian captain now.
Since coming to the Crows people who have helped me under their wing are Tex (Taylor Walker) and Rory Sloane. Two of the biggest names in in our club. Especially Tex, he’s helped me from day one since I got drafted.
What made you want to dial down your goal celebrations?
That was probably just a period of time where I thought I just want to concentrate on doing the little things right.
In Adelaide where it’s the two AFL teams, we get a lot of criticism compared to other clubs.
So there’s a little bit of that and I guess some of my form as well, probably not feeling as confident at the time. But I definitely feel like the last month, that enjoyment factor is coming back and I’ve had so many great people in my side who have just told me just to express myself and that’s just how I’ve been since a little kid, especially playing soccer, celebrating goals has always been a massive thing for me.
So it’s definitely something that would never be ruled out. Lately, it’s just a few little tips, especially from guys like Tex, just getting around your teammates first and then celebrating.
But then again on depending on the occasion, I still love celebrating with the crowd and pulling out some little tricks here and there.
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