‘A funny lad’: How Jason Cummings revived his career with the Mariners and earned a Socceroos call-up
Jason Cummings loves a laugh and a good time – and it‘s gotten him in trouble before. But in a new career chapter at the Mariners, he’s now seriously in the running for the Socceroos, writes ADAM PEACOCK.
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Blazing sunshine in September. Socceroos tracksuit. Fan day at a club smashed by Brisbane’s autumn floods. Kids, oldies, King Charles Cavaliers all want to say hi.
Jason Cummings is new to it all ecstatic to take it all in.
The new boy in Australia’s national football team loves a laugh and a good time.
It’s stuck him in trouble before, and is actually the very reason he ended up leaving the UK, where he’d built a tidy career scoring regularly in Scotland and England’s lower leagues, to Australia at the start of 2022.
Late last year, Cummings, the good time bandit, decided to appear in a stage show, dressed as The Joker days before a huge game for then-club Dundee.
He was sent home from training the next day. Dundee manager James McPake was thunderous. Cummings protests he did nothing wrong to this day. Whatever the truth, the fact is Cummings never played for Dundee again and ended up moving to Australia in January.
To Gosford and the Central Coast Mariners. With an Australian-born mum, he was free to enter.
Ten goals and cult status already in concrete, here he is now.
In Brisbane with the Socceroos for the first time. Signing autographs and having a laugh with the good people of Mitchelton FC, smiling again after floods ruined their club in March.
Cummings laps up the attention, and when asked if he’s just trying to blend in like a nervy new boy, Socceroos manager Graham Arnold, standing nearby, bursts out laughing.
“Blend in? Blend in!” Arnold laughs.
Jason Cummings isn’t one to just blend in. He plays the way he lives. Never dull.
His exploits in 2022 with Central Coast, 10 goals and endless energy, meant a growing chorus calling for inclusion in the Socceroos games in March and then the squad for June’s World Cup playoffs.
Arnold left him out both times, with Mitch Duke, Jamie Maclaren and Adam Taggart preferred.
Place assured in Qatar, this week is the only time left to assess anyone on the periphery, so Arnold called Cummings into this week’s camps in New Zealand, well aware of Cummings’ lively reputation.
“Arnie and I have had a few chats,” Cummings says.
“Said just do the same as you do for the Mariners, and enjoy it.
“I can’t change my character! Had a few good managers, few bad ones over the years. Some managers like who I am, my character and style.”
Cummings is known to talk in third person, using his nickname, ahem, ‘Cumdog’, at every chance.
The name came about when a Scottish wrestler visited his club, Hibernian, and Cummings put on a show by stepping down to his underpants with his nickname written across his chest. Just another day Jason Cummings refused boredom.
Oi @gradowrestling it's Yersel Cumdog!! Think you can eat lunch in my training centre think again brother 💪🼠#Cumdogpic.twitter.com/gn7fJzEldu
— Jason Cummings (@Jasoncummings35) April 18, 2017
With mild trepidation, Socceroos staff gave Cummings an Instagram live session on day one of camp in Brisbane, the majority of which was spent by Cummings trying to dismantle his thick Scottish accent with ockerism. Despite tweaking Cumdog to ‘Cumdingo’ and various other twisted vowels, it failed.
Still, there was time for a nice little sledge of his teammate from junior days in Edinburgh, and another Scot turned Socceroo, Martin Boyle.
“Last time I saw him he was going bald, now he’s got a full head of hair, so he’s spending his money well,” Cummings told those who logged on.
Boyle arrives tonight (Tuesday AEDT) into Brisbane and the team hotel will be a fun time with Cummings and his little mate.
Old heads within the Socceroos have immediately taken to Cummings.
“He’s a legend,” laughs returning goalkeeping Mitch Langerak.
“Guys like him and Boyley, with a strong accent but playing for Australia, love it! Definitely brings out a good atmosphere and a good vibe within the team”
“He’s a funny lad,” offers veteran Mat Leckie.
“We’ve had Boyley for a few years now, and he’s brought a lot of life into the group, with a good personality and just being around Jason for the last 24 hours he seems to have that laid back, likes to have a laugh attitude.”
Cummings is not in the Socceroos squad because the team is making a Netflix comedy special.
“I like to have a laugh,” he says.
“But when it’s time to be serious, it’s time to be serious.”
He is a proven goalscorer, notably with Hibernian in the first part of his career. Starting in 2013, Cummings scored 55 goals in 114 appearances for Hibs. And of the Australian-eligible players in the A-League Men’s last season, only Jamie Maclaren scored more.
Cummings offers differences to Arnold’s other options upfront for the World Cup. Mitch Duke is known for his power, Jamie Maclaren for his prowess in the 18-year box, while Adam Taggart is a sharp finisher and crisp mover of the ball in the final third. Cummings has an eye for goal, but can drop off and link with midfielders and provide.
His initial chats with Arnold this week haven’t changed how he will go about trying to impress in the games against New Zealand.
“I want to be confident on the ball,” Cummings says.
“Scored goals my whole career so that won’t change, as long as there’s a ball and a goal I’ll put it in the back of the net. Excited man.”
And why shouldn’t he be. Career revived, personality unhindered, Cummings is relishing a new lease of life in new surroundings.
“It’s amazing, so grateful. Good hotel, good food, the boys are different class which makes it so much easier, enjoying every moment.
“It’s going to be a good week.”
Originally published as ‘A funny lad’: How Jason Cummings revived his career with the Mariners and earned a Socceroos call-up
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