David Seal (born 26 January 1972) is a former Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who is currently retired. He played as a striker.

Career

Seal started his career in the old

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

(NSL) in Australia where he played for Sydney Croatia,

Marconi Fairfield Marconi Stallions Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Fairfield, Sydney, New South Wales. The club has been crowned Australian champion four times. The Stallions are the soccer team of Club Marconi, a socia ...

and Sydney Olympic and was the NSL top goal scorer two years in a row in the 1989–90 season with Sydney Croatia scoring 15 goals, and the 1990–91 season with Marconi Fairfield scoring 19 goals. He moved to Europe in 1993, joining

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side Eendracht Aalst in Belgium. He had a trial with

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

while at Eendracht but no contract was offered. In October 1994 he moved to England, joining

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

for a fee of £80,000. He moved to

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

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in August 1997, scoring four times in six league games during his loan spell. Such was his form that the move was made permanent, Seal costing the Cobblers £90,000, on 12 September 1997. Seal finished his first season with Northampton as their leading goalscoring, with 14 goals in league and cup games. He was also the leading goalscorer for their reserve side with 12 goals in 10 games. He remained with Northampton until May 1999 when he was released after Northampton's relegation to

Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the fo ...

. He returned to Australia to play for Northern Spirit in the 1999–2000 NSL season where he scored 9 goals in 20 appearances. However, after just one season Seal returned to England, where he joined Mangotsfield United in July 2000. In the 2001–02 season, he scored 11 goals in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

for Mangotsfield, earning him an award as the FA Cup's leading goalscorer. Seal scored 166 goals in 236 appearances for Mangotsfield, before joining local rivals Yate Town in July 2006. Seal's stay with Yate lasted only four months, returning to Mangotsfield United in December 2006. However, his return to Mangotsfield was a short one as in March 2007, he joined

Western Football League The Western Football League is a football league in South West England, covering Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, western Dorset, parts of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. The league's current main sponsor is Toolstation, so it is also known as ...

Premier Division side

Bitton Bitton is a village and civil parish of South Gloucestershire in England, to the east of the Greater Bristol area on the River Boyd. It is in South Gloucestershire. The parish of Bitton has a population of 9,307, and apart from the village ...

where he only made two appearances. In September 2008, Seal joined Western Football League Premier Division side Melksham Town as part of the coaching staff and as a player.Melksham Snap Up Former Bristol City Star (from This Is Wiltshire)
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International career

Seal represented the Australian Under 20's which finished fourth at the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship in Portugal, where he played all six games. He scored three goals in total which included one goal in a 2–0 win over

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in the first round, scored the only goal in a 1–1 draw with

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

in the quarter finals which Australia won 5–4 after a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

, and scored the only goal in the 1–1 draw against

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in the third place play-off match – which Australia lost after a penalty shoot-out 5–4. He also competed at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

in Spain for the Australian U23 team which finished fourth, playing in five games.

Honours

Mangotsfield United * Southern League Division One West championship: 2004–05 Personal honours * NSL top scorer: 1989–90 with Sydney Croatia – 15 goals * NSL top scorer: 1990–91 with

– 19 goals

References

External links

Player Statistics at www.ozfootball.net
*
Player statistics for 2007 at BittonPlayer stats for Melksham 2008/09 at webteams.co.uk
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seal, David 1972 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney Olympic soccer players of Australia Association football forwards Sydney United 58 FC players Marconi Stallions FC players Sydney Olympic FC players S.C. Eendracht Aalst players Bristol City F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Northern Spirit FC players Mangotsfield United F.C. players Yate Town F.C. players Bitton A.F.C. players Melksham Town F.C. players National Soccer League (Australia) players English Football League players Southern Football League players Western Football League players Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Australian expatriate soccer players Australian soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England