SINGAPORE: Hougang United defender Zac Anderson buried his head deeper into his books in his latest move towards life after football amid the lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic.
Soon after the Singapore Premier League suspended play on March 24, the 29-year-old was continuing his work towards a Masters degree in Business Administration, all part of a plan to prepare for the days when he no longer pulls on his boots and takes to football fields around Asia.
“It’s been a big semester,” the former Sydney FC player told the-AFC.com.
“I got lucky that I turned it up a bit this year and then we’ve had what has happened globally. I went from two to three subjects and they’re all finance subjects, so it’s very mentally draining. As soon as football slowed down I sunk my energy into that.”
Life after football is a subject rarely discussed within the sport, but with a solid grounding in the importance of education Anderson has long had one eye on what he plans to do once his playing career has concluded.
Knowing he was never likely to reach the pinnacle of the sport from an early age made it easier for Anderson to put significant focus on life away from the game, no matter how much he loved football and dedicated himself to it.
“My parents are both school teachers, so I come from an academic family,” he said. “When I started my football career they pushed me to continue my academic studies.”
Despite his reservations about his talent, Anderson has been able to carve out a solid career. He represented Australia at the U-20 and U-23 levels and was part of the Central Coast Mariners squad that won the A-League title in 2013.
From there he went on to play for Sydney FC before joining Emirates FC in the United Arab Emirates as well as having a spell in Malaysia with Kedah, PKNS and Perak that he recounts with great affection.
“I went to the UAE and then I went to Malaysia, and that was probably the best time in my career because I was playing week in, week out and really felt it because I was playing in front of 30 and 40,000 fans,” he said.
