Gutsy, determined, tenacious, uncompromising - these are just some of the words used to describe a footballer who played the game, and made it to the top, the hard way. From his junior days playing backyard cricket with Steve and Mark Waugh in the suburbs of Sydney to sharing the field with Diego Maradona in Buenos Aires' River Plate Stadium, Robbie Slater made the most of his humble beginnings.
His fighting spirit, on-the-ball skills and superb fitness saw him play close to forty internationals for his country and forge a distinguished career in Europe for clubs such as Lens, West Ham United and Southampton alongside and against some of the greats of modern football: Alan Shearer, Mark Bosnich, Dennis Bergkamp. But with the glory came the pain: Australia's heartbreaking exit from the 1998 World Cup qualifiers at the hands of Iran shattered his dream of playing on football's ultimate stage.
This is the no-holds-barred story of one of Australian soccer's true legends - a man who always put his body and heart on the line, no matter what the odds.
