Socceroos and Stoke City defender Harry Souttar has received the Dylan Tombides Medal, a prestigious youth award which celebrates the overall conduct and commitment of a player to Australian football.
At 23, Souttar featured in three matches for Australia at the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games last year and made a significant impact on the pitch for the Socceroos during Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifying.
The Dylan Tombides Medal – alongside the Dylan Tombides Foundation – allows Dylan’s legacy to live on, after the Australian youth international tragically passed away at the age of 20 from testicular cancer in 2014.
The Medal celebrates the overall conduct and commitment of players representing Australia’s male junior teams, honouring the memory of former youth international Tombides and his bravery when playing for the green and gold.
Socceroos Head Coach Graham Arnold and national team staff identified Souttar’s exemplary attitude and leadership qualities and praised his positive reaction to his ACL injury as testament to his conduct and commitment to Australian football.
“It’s a massive honour to be named the winner of the medal,” Souttar said.
“In 2019 when the medal was first introduced, we got the opportunity to really understand the importance of the medal and what it meant for Dylan to represent Australia, the impact of the Dylan Tombides Foundation and his family, so it is a huge honour.
“Three months before he tragically passed away, he was playing for the Australian under 23s in the Asian Cup, which is absolutely amazing and reflects what the medal is all about.
“As players we don’t take playing for the country for granted, we know how privileged and lucky we are to pull on that shirt and we know what it meant to him as well to do it.”
In 2019, the PFA and Football Australia committed to recognising players representing Australia’s junior national teams via the Dylan Tombides and Collette McCallum Medals.
Souttar (2021) and Noah Botic (2019) have received the Dylan Tombides Medal and Karly Roestbakken (2019) and Jessika Nash (2021) have each received the Collette McCallum Medal.
