Myrtleford's Macgowan brothers heading back to native Canada

Canadian-born brothers Liam, 15, Lachy, 13 and Hunter, 10, Macgowan have become some of the North East's most talented young soccer players, and, after calling Myrtleford home for the past eight years, will return to native Vancouver by the end of October.

All three started their journey at Myrtleford Savoy Soccer Club before crossing to Murray United this year.

The Macgowan family moved to Australia from Vancouver in 2012 with the boys' father, Shawn, taking up a position at Carter Holt Harvey to assist with the expansion of the Myrtleford timber mill, while mother, Marnie, continued her work in sales and went on to join the team at Gapsted Wines.

What was only meant to be a one-year contract for Shawn has become eight years in the Alpine town, but the family couldn't put off the imminent move back to Canada any longer.

Liam was eight when they relocated to Australia and had played ice hockey and baseball in Canada, before taking to shine to soccer at Myrtleford.

The attacking midfielder and striker made his senior debut for the Savoys as a 14-year-old and was a key member of Murray's under-16 squad this year before COVID-19 stopped the season midway through March.

Liam said he will miss Australia, but will certainly be back.

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"It's been a big learning curve (at Murray United) because it's a different level of football compared to AWFA," he said.

"It's been really good. It's a great community here.

"It was a really good experience, but too bad it couldn't be a full season."

Liam added there's plenty of competition with his younger siblings and they push each other to become the best players they can.

All three won Victorian Country Championships in their respective age groups last year, and, after making the step up to Murray United, were accepted into Football Victoria's talented player development program and have been completing sessions regularly during the lockdown.

Lachy didn't take long to show he belonged at NPL level, scoring Murray's first goal of the season in the under-13s.

The midfielder, who played in an under-11s grand final win at Myrtleford, has taken plenty out of his limited time at Murray.

"There's lot of great coaches and people. It's great fun," Lachy said.

"There's lot of great teams we played against. It was fun to play against the big Melbourne teams because they're all pretty tough."

Hunter was only two when the family made the move, but was quick to follow in his brothers footsteps on the soccer field.

However, he plays a vastly different role to them, lining up at right back.

"It's been my first year at Murray, but COVID-19 hit and we couldn't really play the season," he said.

"I wasn't old enough to play in the older age groups at Myrtleford, except for the AWFA representative team.

"Hopefully we'll get a few more weeks of training in before we leave."

It's been an emotional week for Marnie as she prepares to pack up their lives and fly back to Canada.

"(Myrtleford) Savoy Soccer Club put a goodbye to us on their Facebook page that we weren't quite ready for," Marnie said.

"It was getting to a point where I think we'd pushed it as far as we could living in a regional area.

"Even if the opportunity came about in Australia, we would have been forced to move to Sydney or Melbourne. We didn't stay here (eight years) to live in the city, we stayed to live regionally where we were."

Marnie said she hopes to find a new club for the boys back in Vancouver and acknowledged the support provided by the Border soccer community.

"We want to say a big thanks to AWFA and the Murray United community from our family," she said.

"(Murray United teachnical director) Adam Carty has been really good to the boys over the years. Even though this is only their first year at the club, he's always made sure if there were opportunities he'd contact us.

"We hope that everyone gets back to normal next year. It's pretty tight in all the club's budgets right now, but communities always rise up to the occasion."