How the man who nearly quit to teach got Socceroos to the World Cup

If it wasn’t for a lifeline from Sydney FC five years ago, Andrew Redmayne would have been watching Australia’s World Cup play-off against Peru on his way to work at a local school.

The goalkeeper was consigned to the bench at rivals Western Sydney Wanderers after falling out of favour and form. Before the opportunity to jump to the Sky Blues presented itself, Redmayne was ready to hang up his gloves, finish his teaching degree and try to find work at a primary school in Sydney.

His demotion to a back-up goalkeeper and career upheaval, bouncing between four clubs in five years with varied success, form and performance took a toll on his confidence.

“I used to be plagued by self-doubt,” he told the Herald last year. 

Already halfway to becoming a teacher, he thought his future would be best served by starting his practical work. That was until a chance presented itself at Sydney FC where he would work with his former tutor, goalkeeping coach John Crawley. Signed initially as a back-up to Danny Vukovic in January 2017, Redmayne would become Sydney’s first choice goalkeeper six months later when the Socceroo moved to Belgian club Genk. After two seasons between the posts for the Sky Blues, Redmayne would himself become an Australian international.

“Physically and mentally, I am a completely different person and character to what I was here on day one,” he said last year. “I feel a lot more comfortable in the skin I am [in] now, not only off the field but on the field with what I am doing. I am just loving life.”

Redmayne’s ability was never in question, only his belief. His potential was noticed by the best from a young age and he was invited to trial for Arsenal’s youth team as a teenager in 2005. Training alongside Jens Lehmann and Manuel Almunia, Redmayne impressed Arsenal’s chief scout Liam Brady and was sent back to Australia with the promise he would be receiving a contract to join the North Londoners permanently.

That offer never arrived. Instead, he received an email apologising that Arsenal had used their final youth goalkeeping spot on a 15-year-old Wojciech Szczesny, who would go on to play more than 180 games for Arsenal before joining Roma and Juventus.

“You wonder what could have been,” Redmayne said in 2016. “You sometimes think ‘what if?’, but I guess it’s a learning experience.”

The change that got Australia to the World Cup: Redmayne (left) comes on for Mat Ryan.Credit: Getty

Having been besieged by setbacks from a young age, Redmayne rediscovered his confidence with Sydney FC. He was handed the A-League’s golden gloves as goalkeeper of the year in 2020, won three premierships, three championships and an Australia Cup (formerly the FFA Cup). He became a cult hero at Moore Park, earning the nicknames “Bluemayne” or “The Pink Wiggle” - the latter for his theatrics and dance moves before facing penalties.

On Tuesday morning, the man who nearly abandoned his professional career became a fan favourite of the entire country and earned a new nickname - “The Grey Wiggle”, due to the keeping kit he was wearing.

Redmayne replaced Socceroos captain Mat Ryan a minute before the penalty shootout and made the crucial save that sealed the country’s fifth consecutive World Cup qualification. Dancing along the goal line as he has done throughout his A-League career, Redmayne read Alex Valera’s penalty perfectly, diving to his right to seal the 5-4 win on penalties and send Australia to Qatar.

His reaction went viral – a celebration that looked as much astonished as ecstatic.

After the save, Redmayne pointed to his teammates before standing still with his hands his mouth wide open.

His action wasn’t done to draw the attention of the broadcasters, more that he was warned not to get too excited by referee Slavko Vincic.

“He said on the last two penalties: ‘If you save this, then you win’. That’s kind of how it hit home,” Redmayne said.

“He said: ‘don’t go running off because we need to check on VAR if you’ve come off the line because you move around a lot so don’t go running or celebrating’.

Arnold revealed after the match that the substitution was months in the planning and that he had brought Redmayne into the squad for penalties.

The 33-year-old goalkeeper knew his role.

“It’s a plan that was floated a month to six weeks ago and I probably didn’t think it would end this way,” Redmayne said.

He had trained specifically for penalties in the days leading into the match and he knew he would only be thrown in for the clutch moment. Even then, he refused to take the glory.

“I’m no hero,” Redmayne said after the match. “I just played my role like everyone else did tonight. The boys, the 11 on the pitch did much more than that.”

The man who nearly gave up the game got Australia to the World Cup. If he ever does become a primary school teacher one day, he’ll have one story that will always keep the attention of the class.

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