Joel William Porter (born 25 December 1978) is an Australian

football (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.

Club career

Australia

Before joining

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

, Porter had previously played for

Croydon Kings Croydon FC, formerly known as Croydon Kings, is an Australian semi-professional soccer club in Adelaide, South Australia. Croydon FC currently competes in the National Premier Leagues South Australia. They play home games at Polonia Reserve at C ...

, West Adelaide,

Melbourne Knights FC Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the second-tier of the Australian soccer league ...

and

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football, soccer club, based in Belmore, New South Wales, Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales, that plays in the National Premier Leagues NSW. The Club was founded as Pan- ...

. During his final season at

Porter managed to score 6 goals in 19 starts, having played many of those matches as a midfielder.

Hartlepool United

Porter decided to look to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

in a bid to find a club. Porter almost signed for

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

but the Spanish

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club were unprepared to take a gamble by signing him after doubts arouse over his fitness. After previously having trials in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

with

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, before visa problems prevented them, Porter finally signed for Hartlepool, as manager Neale Cooper added the Aussie to his ranks. Porter made his Hartlepool début against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

and scored his first goal against

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

shortly afterwards during a live televised

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 ...

match, victory which secured a third round tie at neighbours

. Hartlepool manager

Neale Cooper Neale James Cooper (24 November 1963 – 28 May 2018) was a Scottish football player and coach. He played as a midfielder during the 1980s and 1990s, most prominently for the Aberdeen team managed by Alex Ferguson, and later played for Aston ...

decided to offer him an 18-month contract at the end of 2003. However, Porter struggled to score in his first season and only notched up 5 goals in 31 appearances. Porter's fifth goal for the club was perhaps one of the most important as it earned Hartlepool a draw in the first leg of the play-off semi-final against

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 ...

. They lost the second leg 2-1. During the following 2004/2005 season, Porter became a huge fan favourite and was a massive success. After a slow start he forced his way into the team after coming on as a substitute against

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

and scoring two late goals to secure a dramatic 3-2 win. This earned him a place alongside

Adam Boyd Adam Mark Boyd (born 25 May 1982) is an English footballer who last played for Bishop Auckland. Boyd plays as a striker and started off playing in school while attending Grange Primary School, in his hometown of Hartlepool. During his studi ...

in the Hartlepool line-up and the pair formed a legendary strike partnership. He then went on to notch 14 goals in 37 appearances. Porter's performances earned him the Fans' Player of the Year award. His performances attracted the attention of a host of Australian clubs such as

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

and

Wellington Phoenix FC Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

who wanted to see him return home to play in the newly-formed

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

. Porter was closely linked to sign with the Phoenix, however Hartlepool elected to invoke the team option to re-sign him for one more year and he agreed to stay. In the 2005/06 season, Porter struggled with a long-term knee injury that lasted 10 months and prevented him from playing for the majority of the season. Porter returned to Hartlepool squad and came on as a substitute against

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

, scoring after 6 minutes to mark his return. However, his return could not prevent Hartlepool from being relegated from

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

. He helped Hartlepool win promotion back to the

the following season under Danny Wilson and helped Pools survive in the third tier the following two seasons. His final season at

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

was his most prolific, scoring 23 times including a hat-trick against Swindon Town. In April, he announced he was heading back to Australia that summer but signed off his time in England in style, scoring twice at Yeovil, before being crowned the Player of the Year by fans and players alike before his last home game against Leeds United. He returned to the town in 2015 for the reunion of the club's 2005 play-off squad, making a surprise return on stage to the delight of the crowd in attendance, his shock appearance coming after a short video was played of him sending good wishes to his former team-mates for the night which he seemingly was unable to attend.

Gold Coast United

On 24 April 2009 Porter announced he was leaving

for

Gold Coast United FC Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian Association football, soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first ...

International career

Porter also represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in the

2002 OFC Nations Cup The 2002 OFC Nations Cup took place in New Zealand, between 5 and 14 July 2002. The competition was divided into two group stages, with a knockout tournament at the end. Before the tournament, 11 of the nations were seeded according to their 20 ...

where he went on to make four appearances for the

Socceroos The Australia men's national soccer team represents Australia in international men's soccer. Officially nicknamed the Socceroos, the team is controlled by the governing body for soccer in Australia, Football Australia, which is affiliated with ...

, scoring six goals in the process and finished as his country's top scorer. Porter was gifted the chance to play in the tournament as Soccer Australia could not afford to fund for its bigger overseas stars to play.

National team statistics

Honours

Club

Hartlepool United *

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

runners-up: 2006–07

Individual

Player of the Year: 2009

References

External links

*
Gold Coast United profile

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Joel 1978 births Living people A-League Men players Association football forwards Australian soccer players Soccer players from Adelaide Australian expatriate soccer players Australia international soccer players National Premier Leagues players National Soccer League (Australia) players Croydon Kings players Cumberland United FC players Gold Coast United FC players Hartlepool United F.C. players Melbourne Knights FC players Northern Demons SC players Soccer players from Sydney Sydney Olympic FC players West Adelaide SC players 2002 OFC Nations Cup players