It’s a Christmas Eve family affair for Shay, Corey and Jake Hollman in Saturday night’s double header at Allianz Stadium.
17-year old Shay will play her fourth game of the season in Sky Blue in the Sydney Derby against Western Sydney Wanderers (3pm KO), before 21-year old Jake lines up for Macarthur FC against Sydney FC’s Men’s squad (5pm KO), of which 19-year old Corey is a member.
It’s a change of tradition for the Hollman’s but a welcome one as they look to take the bragging rights home for Christmas Day
“Yeah, I’ll definitely see them on Christmas Day,” said dad Stuart.
“But on Christmas Eve we usually go to an Italian restaurant down in Manly for a family dinner.
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“We won’t be doing that this year, but a gameday that they’ll all be involved in in some way will be a pretty special thing.”
All three of the siblings played together at club level and were products of the Sydney FC Academy but now find themselves on different sides, after Jake’s move to Macarthur FC.
A gameday they will all be involved in is pretty special
“We started playing when we were around five years old and we all started at Seaforth FC, it’s been our weekends ever since,” said Corey.
“I’ll be supporting Shay, but definitely not Jake, always a little bit of tension when we play each other.”
Shay has had a breakout season in the Liberty A-league Women featuring in three matches so far this season for the Sky Blues.
All three siblings followed the same path from Seaforth FC, on Sydney’s northern beaches through to the Sydney FC Academy, and now onto the professional stage.
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“It’s awesome that we’re all starting to achieve some of our goals,” she said.
“We used to go up to the oval and kick a ball around together so seeing us all happy playing football now is just amazing.”
Just like the Hollmans, who are spending Christmas Eve with their family at the football, Sydney FC’s $40 family ticket deal, will let Sky Blue families do it too.
“We’re all looking forward to it, it’ll be a good night,” said Stuart.
“From our perspective we just like to see the kids have a good game, and be happy with what they put out onto the field.”
Admitting two children and two Adults, it’s a great way to spend Christmas Eve.
