On The Pitch

Whitsunday Life journalist Declan Durrant’s weekly sit down with a local sportsperson.

“It Was Always Soccer”

When he’s on a football pitch, Whitsunday United centre-forward Thomas Torszok is lithe and quick; there are few players like him in the region who glide on the grass.

The fluidity seems effortless, but details thousands of hours the now Airlie Beach resident put in training as a youngster.

That training led him to career heights representing the country as a schoolboy, time as a Brisbane Roar youth player, a stint in the United States D1 Soccer League, and in the Queensland National Premier League (NPL).

Born on Australia’s west coast in Perth to Hungarian parents, Torszok grew up on the Gold Coast from the age of 13. His father - a high-level footballer in Hungary – had made sure his son always had a ball at his feet.

“I matured at a good time, which is why I think it worked out for me; at 16, I was playing Gold Coast Premier League every year with Coomera Soccer Club.

“I had two good games and I never lost my spot.”

In 2012, he moved to Brisbane’s Wynnum Wolves – a Brisbane Premier League side at the time – playing in their first team. He ended the year with roughly 20 assists in a tally that earned him a call-up to an Australian representative schoolboy’s side.

When he returned, another call came, this one from Brisbane Roar.

“My time at Roar, I wasn’t there too long – about five months,” Torszok said.

“I went back to Brisbane Wolves and four games in I did my ACL.”

In the time away from the game – around nine months – Torszok would end up pursuing College in the United States, where he would again play football, but strangely turned to Gridiron, where he would play United States College Football in front of crowds of up to 30,000 as a kicker.

“It was one of the best times in my life,” he said.

When he did eventually return home in 2018, he picked up an NPL contract at Gold Coast United, but once again realised soccer had lost a bit of its shine.

He arrived in Airlie Beach in 2021.

“I moved in with a player from here – I wasn’t going to play, but I’m so glad I did. I love it here,” he said.

“The guys have made me enjoy playing soccer; I feel like a kid again, and I want to win the league.”

Torszok, when he’s not on the pitch, is an auxiliary fireman for the Whitsunday Fire Brigade. He hopes to someday become a full-time firey.

“I want to help the community; that’s why I do all of the things I do, and I really feel at home here,” he said.

Whitsunday United centre-forward Thomas Torszok is just one of the region’s extraordinary players with an extraordinary backstory

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