Croatian migrants began to arrive in large numbers in Victoria in the late 1940s settling in Melbourne and Geelong in the 1950s. There is some debate within the community as to when the first soccer club was set up. Mato Tkalcevic states that the Croatia Melbourne Soccer Club was formed in 1952 at the home of Hinko Durakovic at 7 Leeds Street, Footscray. Among those present were Ivica Matosevic, Perica Filipovic (President), Tonika Durakovic (Secretary), Drago Jukic (Treasurer) and Hinko Durakovic. The objectives of the club were to promote the Croatian name in the Australian community and to bring together the Croatian youth. It is said too that Joco Radojevic-Rukavina of Geelong was one of the most active members of the early club’s committee. The club began playing in 1953. This Croatian club based in Melbourne took part in the first season of the Provisional League in 1954. The Provisional League was instituted by the Victorian Amateur Soccer Football Association to cater for the growing number of clubs applying for affiliation. Six teams took part and Croatia finished second, four points behind South Yarra. The President of the Croatian club was Steve Emamic and the Secretary Tony Durakovic. Given the general pattern of club formation in this period, it is likely that informal and friendly games were played in 1953, but the first formal competitive season was 1954 and this may be taken as the year of the affiliation of the club to the Victorian Amateur Soccer Football Association.

A second Croatian club, Hajduk, was started in Melbourne, probably in 1955. It played in Metropolitan North in 1956 and the Secretary was Dr T. B. Sartory. It was named after Hajduk Split, which toured Australia in 1949. Hajduk won Metropolitan North in 1956, and was promoted to Division Three for the 1957 season, finishing fourth. In 1958 when the State League began, CSA Hajduk played in Division One North. Harry Mrksa broke his leg in an industrial accident and agreed to coach the club, he says unsuccessfully (Hajduk finished 7th out of 10 in Division One North) and in 1958, according to Mrksa, it was wound up and this left a single Croatian club, then playing in Geelong.

There is photographic evidence that a Croatian team also existed in Geelong in 1954, but participation in competitive league matches dates from 1956, when Croatia (referred to in the Geelong Advertiser in September 1956 as Krotions) finished in mid-table behind the Dutch club Olympia.

The Geelong club proved very strong on the field and, according to Joe Radojevic, regularly defeated Croatia Melbourne and Hajduk in friendly matches. This eventually led to a take-over of the Melbourne Croatian club by the Geelong club. At the start of or early in the 1957 season Croatia moved its headquarters to Geelong, with Joe Radojevic as Secretary. In 1958 the club played in Metropolitan Second Division North, finishing in second place behind the other Geelong team, Corio, which represented the German community. Croatia was a mixed team at this stage, with Rino Tognon scoring a hat-trick in a five-one win over Fiorentina. Croatia played at Corio Oval, formerly the home of Geelong Football Club and in 1958 also the centre of Geelong Trotting.

1958 saw the foundation of a second Croatian team in Geelong, Zagreb. The initiative came from Jure Jakovljevic and Marko Volarevic at a meeting in a garage belonging to Nidza Jovanovic. The club was managed by Libo Jerinic and players included Josip Vlahovic, Ivan Blaskovic, Duro Jarak, Drago Vudl, Genda and Madunic. It played in the local league in 1959 and 1960. It only lasted two years and in 1960, when the merger between Croatia Geelong and Preston denuded the former of most of its senior players, Zagreb amalgamated with the Geelong club.

1959 was to be one of the most eventful years in the club’s history. In 1959 Croatia, playing at Corio Oval in Geelong, finished second in First Division North, a point behind Preston, according to the VASFA handbook for 1960. But the story was somewhat more complex than it appears. Winning and the promotion of the Croatian identity justified virtually anything, even the buying of success. Faced with a tight struggle for promotion to the State League from the First Division in the Victorian Soccer Football Association competition in 1959, Croatia recorded one of the highest scores in senior Australian soccer match, 29 goals to 1 against Brunswick. It is said that Croatia needed to win by at least three goals to nil to take the championship of the First Division and achieve promotion to the State League.

In a game late in the season it was due to meet Brunswick, which was certain of relegation and did not fancy the long trip to Geelong for a game which would not affect its fate. If Brunswick conceded a walk-over, Croatia would have gained two points, but the rules of the Association would not have credited it with any goals and that was not enough. It turns out that Joe Radojevic the Secretary of the Croatia club bought the match by agreeing to pay the almost bankrupt Brunswick £2 per goal on condition that they turned up. Brunswick did, but with only seven players who were not keen to take part. Eventually they were persuaded to start. The ploy nearly went wrong when the seven men of Brunswick took the lead. Radojevic said to a colleague about his own team, ‘If I had a machine gun I would shoot the lot of them’.

But then Croatia began to play. By half time with his team about thirteen goals up and the bill rising higher, the Secretary was running around trying to get his players to stop scoring. Then he had the great worry whether the Association would accept the result or smell a rat. The referee, innocent that he was, told Stuart Beaton, Secretary of the Association, that Brunswick had been trying, ‘They even scored first’, he said.

According to the myths this determined the championship, but in fact the battle for the league was not over. With three rounds to go Preston led by a point from Lions, with Croatia two points behind, but with a game in hand, as had Lions. Croatia thus had to win all its last three games to take the title, including two matches against Lions. Lions could afford to drop one point. In fact, Croatia beat Sunshine City four-nil, then Lions three-nil away, setting up the final game of the season in Geelong against Lions again. This time Croatia won by three goals to one. Thus Croatia won the league, was presented with the pennant, which was still hanging in Melbourne Croatia’s clubroom in 1992.

After the season was over, it is said that under pressure from forces within the Association, the Preston club, which came second to Croatia, protested against Lions, which finished third in the league, won the protest, got two points after the end of the season and jumped over Croatia into the State League. According to Mato Tkalcevic’s sources the decision not to promote Croatia was only notified to the club two weeks before the start of the 1960 season. The Sporting Globe however mentions the ‘recently promoted’ Preston club as having obtained a new playing ground behind the Preston District Hospital on 9 March, 1960, while the season began on Saturday 2 April 1960. This implies that the decision was made at the latest by the meeting of the VASFA Council at the beginning of March. The Liepold brothers who ran Preston now found themselves in a dilemma, since they had not expected or planned to be in the State League, and several of their players had left for other clubs. They approached the Secretary of Croatia and offered an amalgamation, in which Croatia would bring its players to Melbourne and play as Preston in the State League, then one year later it could change its name and move back to Geelong.

Radojevic hoped to sell the place which Croatia was vacating in Division One to the Macedonians. A split in the club occurred. The meeting of 6 or 7 people held in Enver Begovic’s flat in Chapel Street, St Kilda to decide on whether to amalgamate with Preston was deadlocked. A vote was taken which resulted in a majority of one in favour of remaining independent and trying to achieve promotion the following year. Joe Radojevic was not present up to this point, but he then walked into the room and told the members that their decision had come too late as he had just been at the Soccer Association and arranged the transfer of eight of the Croatian players to Preston.

The split within the club remained, with one group remaining in Geelong and continuing in the Second Division, while the others went to Preston. So Preston, with a mixed Croatian team, played in the State League in 1960, but was relegated at the end of the year.

In 1960 Croatia Geelong was playing at Corio Oval. Croatia and Corio both played in Division One North, with Corio in third and Croatia in fifth position. In 1961 Croatia Geelong continued in Division One North at Corio Oval and finished third. That year Preston Croatia with Joe Radojevic as Secretary and Harry Mrksa as Treasurer, won the First Division South without losing a game and was promoted to the State League as Croat. Between the 1961 and 1962 seasons the ‘breakaway’ from the old VASFA took place with Preston Croatia joining the Victorian Soccer Federation group. The leadership came from the State League clubs, among which Preston Croat was about to number itself. Croatia Geelong sided initially with the Association and so Preston was able to attract some players from Geelong when the Federation declared open season on the ‘amateur’ clubs. Lutzinger and Huber were also signed from Austria. Preston finished the season £1,000 in the black and the proceeds were divided up among the players. Eventually the rift between the Federation and the Association was resolved, largely on the former’s terms, after a legal battle which was settled out of court.

Croat just managed to keep itself clear of relegation in 1962, finishing in tenth place in the State League. The team known as Croatia was still in Division One North, but it now moved its ground to Maribyrnong Speedway and the Secretary was Tony Duray with Frank Burin as President, according to the 1962 Handbook of the new Federation. Croatia won the First Division North championship in 1962. This would have meant two Croatian teams playing in the State League in 1963 and competing for the same loyalties and resources. It is said that the Federation was not keen to take Croatia into the State League, despite its on-field success.

The Croatian community was divided on what to do. Probably the majority opposed a merger between the clubs, but it was eventually completed with Enver Begovic as President, Franjo Burin Secretary, Harry Mrksa Treasurer and Ivo Marinovic as Chairman.

Once again the amalgamation caused great heart-searching in the community, especially when the club failed to fulfil expectations on the field. Croat was relegated at the end of 1963. Its last game against Slavia was abandoned after 86 minutes, with Slavia leading four-one. The team that day included Mirko Kovacek, Franc Bot, Gulin, Sliver, Bozo Basic, Peter Basic, Billy Vojtek, Horst Rau, Jim Fernie, Hancock, Brkic, with Ward and Richmond as reserves. Croat’s Committee around this time consisted of Ivo Marinov (President), Joco Radojevic-Rukavina, Enver Begovic, Pasko Rokolj, Nikola Sosic, Kadro Aganovic, Halil Mujezin.

Enver Begovic and the President of Richmond Allemania, Adam Pfieffer, issued a writ against the VSF, arguing that the decision to relegate Croatia and Allemania was unconstitutional. The case came to court and the judgment by Adam J in Begovic v Marmaras was handed down on 18 December 1963. The decision went against the protesting clubs, and both clubs found themselves playing in Division One in 1964.

Croatia won First Division North by two points from Makedonia in 1964, after beating Makedonia in the last game of the season by three goals to one. Croatia had six players from Sydney Croatia on the sidelines. Frank Burin had travelled to Sydney to sign them and was on his way back with the players when a message was sent to his home that he might not play them. It was not allowed to use them because they were not cleared according to the Sporting Globe. The team was Kovacek, Briscuso, Becsi, Slivar, Matijevic, Tato, Jim Vojtek, Horst Rau, Richmond, Billy Vojtek, Ollie Norris. The match was played at Port Melbourne, and the attendance was said to be 4,000. The referee was Geoff Harrison and Croatia’s goals were scored by Billy Vojtek 2, and Horst Rau, Grosdanov replied for Makedonia, who had Jelasavich from Sydney whom they reported cleared.

Croatia was promoted to the State League once again where it finished sixth in 1965. It was the "Glamour Team" of 1965, according the Victorian Soccer Federation Yearbook. By the end of the season it was a team of mixed nationalities, with Scots in the majority. The early season form was poor, six of the first seven games were lost, and it looked as if Croatia would go back down again, but a clear-out of players and the attraction of Duncan Mackay, formerly with Glasgow Celtic, and a number of other players resulted in a transformation in the second half of the season when it finished with eleven wins. President Enver Begovic organised an open cheque-book approach that resulted in the expenditure of £5,000 in two months. Hammy McMeechan from Slavia was signed for a Victorian record fee of £1,200. Other newcomers were Joe Keenan, Ian Currie, Bobby McLachlan, Bill McIntyre and Brian Adlam. Frank Burin went to Scotland to sign the majority of these players. Croatia was also runner-up in the Dockerty Cup in 1965.

Croatia finished 6th in 1966, 3rd in 1967 and won the State League for the first time in 1968. 1968 was a tremendous year for the club, which was coached by Mirko Kiss, as it finished as champion seven points clear of Polonia. Only four league games were lost all season. The final match against Juventus was won by three goals to one and the team which played was Mirko Kovacek, Duncan Mackay, Frank Bot, Horst Rau, Hugh Gunn, Hammy McMeechan, Billy Vojtek, Bill McIntyre, Davies, Jim Mackay, Glaser. McArthur who had been injured in the previous match was replaced by Davies. Croatia had the ball in the net six times, but three were disallowed. The goals which counted were scored by Bill McIntyre, Croatia’s top scorer for the season, Jim Mackay and Billy Vojtek. In addition Croatia won the Ampol Cup and the Dockerty Cup to complete an extraordinary triumph.

Thereafter, Croatia was fourth in 1969 and runner-up in the Ampol Cup to South Melbourne. In 1970 Croatia was again fourth in the State League and it finished third in 1971. That year it won the Ampol Cup in Victoria and the Inter-City Ampol Cup, so for a year Croatia was the champion Cup team in Australia.

1972 was another highly charged year in the history of Croatian soccer in Victoria. On 30 July 1972, Croatia played Hakoah at Olympic Park, which was Croatia’s home ground at the time, in front of 1700 spectators. Croatia was fighting for a place in the top four, as was Hakoah. Jimmy Brennan was the referee. Fifteen minutes into the second half, he sent off a Croatian full back Hugh Gunn. It appears that Gunn had made a series of strong tackles on the Hakoah winger, Bobby Sanders who formerly played with AFC Bournemouth. The winger was described as a ‘jumper’ by his team manager Hedley Copeland. He made a meal of the tackles and Brennan decided to take action against Gunn.

Two minutes later Brennan gave another foul against Croatia. According to Tony Vrzina, Brennan then warned the Croatian player who had perpetrated the foul that a repetition would result in him being sent off too, and when he signalled this to the player by pointing towards the dressing rooms, the crowd interpreted the gesture as an indication that this player too was being dismissed. Frank Burin suggests that one of the younger players may have made a signal to the some members of the Croatian youth to come on because he was ready to take the team off. The crowd invaded the pitch and the referee, the linesmen and some officials and players were punched and kicked. According to Hedley Copeland, the players on both sides lined up to protect the referee, landing a few blows on spectators who were trying to get at him. The match was abandoned. There were five police in attendance, who were unable to prevent the assaults, but more police were summoned and matters were brought under control and the ground was cleared.

At the VSF Tribunal on Thursday 3 August 1972, Croatia was charged that it had failed to control its spectators resulting in the abandonment of the game and an assault on the referee and linesmen. The Tribunal unanimously found, ‘Croatia Club failed in its responsibility to control the spectators. It ordered that the Croatia Club Melbourne be forthwith disqualified from membership of the VSF. To the decision, the tribunal added, ‘The tribunal feels that if strong action is not taken to compel soccer clubs to control spectators the day is not far distant when such behaviour will result in the death or serious injury of some persons.’

Croatia appealed against the decision. In its appeal letter dated 5 August 1972 Croatia said inter alia, ‘Our Club admits that we are partly responsible for the control of the spectators at our home matches, but it is impossible for any club to maintain full control over spectators who are attending any game especially when people are sent purposely to our home games to create trouble and disturbance’. The Appeal Board on Tuesday, 8 August 1972 found Croatia guilty and disqualified the club from membership until the conclusion of the 1972 season. Thereafter it was specifically allowed to apply for re-admission, with the decision on that application being determined by the VSF in accordance with its Constitution and Rules. Croatia did apply on 22 August 1972 in writing, but this application was refused.

After a considerable debate within the club, Croatia then appealed to the Supreme Court of Victoria that the decisions of the Tribunal and the Appeal Board were invalid, that the club was still a member of the State League and that the club had not been guilty of an ‘offence’ in respect of which the Tribunal or the Appeal Board were empowered to impose any penalty on the club. Mr Justice Newton found for the VSF and awarded costs against Croatia.

Whatever the outcome of the expulsion, many people connected with the clubs were convinced that Croatia had been victimised. There were equivalent incidents that year which did not result in expulsion or comparable penalties, for example Sunshine George Cross versus Footscray JUST on 7 May 1972. Enver Begovic was reported to have said that it was humanly impossible for club officials and police to stop a determined group of troublemakers from creating a disturbance at any sporting event. ‘It has happened at four different State League rounds this season, yet charges have not been brought against any other club’, he said. ‘To disbar Croatia for an incident which it could not possibly prevent is both unjust and a threat to other properly administered clubs’.

We shall probably never know for certain whether there was decisive political pressure to expel Croatia in 1972. It is however hard to accept that the expulsion of Croatia from the State League, North Geelong from the Provisional League and North Geelong from the Ballarat and Geelong District League all in 1972 was just a series of coincidences.

The Croatian community was stunned by the expulsion. Many people severed their involvement with the game at this point and some never came back. Players, whose suspensions were lifted early in August, left for other clubs. Billy Vojtek joined Sydney Croatia, Jimmy Mackay went to Sydney-Hakoah, Bill McIntyre to Hellas and Kondarios, Turicar and Hadiavdic to Keilor-Austria.

Others Croatians were equally determined to keep the community identity to the fore and continued to hold meetings every Tuesday even though the club no longer existed as a competitive entity. On Sunday 21 April 1974 a delegation of juniors from the Croatia club took part in a gala opening ceremony of the State League at Olympic Park, prior to the match between Fitzroy Alexander and South Melbourne Hellas. The Croatian youngsters carried placards with slogans including “You were unjust in your decision”, “We’re young and like to play soccer”, “VSF: Your concern is sport not politics”. Later that year senior members of the community began to make moves to resume involvement in the game and came back into soccer through Essendon Lions which was gradually taken over by the Croatian community. Tony Vrzina became President-Manager with Duze Zemunik as coach. Eventually Essendon Lions evolved into Essendon Croatia and then Melbourne Croatia, then Melbourne CSC now the Melbourne Knights, which in 1993-4 plays in the National League.

In 1975 Lions was seventh in Division One and in 1976 it finished in the top four. Vrzina signed Branko Culina from St Albans and John Gardiner for $6,000 from George Cross, the highest fee to that date paid by a Metropolitan club. When the National Soccer League (the Philips League) began in 1977, Lions was promoted to the State League where it managed to reach eighth place.

1978 was another brilliant year as the club, playing now as Essendon Croatia, won the State League by six points from Makedonia. It also won the Ampol Cup and the State League Cup, and reached the quarter-finals of the Philips Cup and the semi-finals of the Dockerty Cup. It followed up this triumph with back-to-back State League championships in 1979, on goal difference from Frankston City, the Dockerty Cup and the State League Cup. It beat Preston Makedonia, coached by Tony Vrzina, in the final of the State League Cup. Croatia had started the season in crisis as Yaka Banovic and Eddie Krencevic transferred to National League clubs and Billy Vojtek, Dave Lesan, Alan Kerr and Brian Davison left the club. Ken Murphy and John Gardiner sought transfers. Coach Brian Edgeley resigned and John Gardiner returned to coach with Duje Zemunik. From then on Croatia proved unstoppable. Carl Gilder finished with fourteen League goals, Tommy Cumming with nine and Kenny Murphy and Branko Culina with seven apiece.

From 1980 to 1983 the club finished second each season in the State League. In 1980 Makedonia was the champion, then Green Gully won three times in succession, with John Gardiner, the former Croatia player-coach in the line-up in 1981 and 1982. Gardiner was recalled for 1983, but sacked just before the conclusion of the season. Tommy Cumming was appointed to replace him and took the club to victory in the final of the State League Cup by four goals to nil over Green Gully. Croatia went on to win the Dockerty Cup again in a one-sided final against Box Hill.

In 1984 the club, which had been renamed Melbourne Croatia, entered the National Soccer League for the first time, thus reaching the highest level in Australian soccer. The National League had been split into two conferences of twelve teams each. Croatia was in the National Conference consisting of eight Melbourne teams, two from Adelaide and two from Brisbane. Terry Hennessey was appointed coach but was replaced during the season by Tony Vrzina. Croatia came third after the home and away rounds and hence made the inter-conference play-offs. Heidelberg United Alexander beat Croatia in the match to decide the finalists in the National Conference, but then lost to South Melbourne which went on to beat Sydney Olympic over two legs in the Grand Final.

In 1985 Croatia finished fourth in the southern conference, but again failed to make the Grand Final which was won by Juventus. In 1986, the last year of the Southern and Northern Divisions, Croatia came tenth with only six wins for the season. 1987 proved to be marginally better as Croatia reached ninth position in a single National League, a performance which was repeated in 1988. There was a dramatic improvement in 1989, in the last year of a winter NSL, as Croatia came fourth in the league, and beat Preston Makedonia in the Elimination Semi-final only to go down to Sydney Olympic by three goals to two after extra-time at Olympic Park. Coach Ivan Raznjevic made a big difference to the side in his first season.

Over the first summer season Croatia went one better in the home and away series finishing third behind Marconi and South Melbourne Hellas. Marconi knocked Croatia out of the finals en route to a loss in the Grand Final to Sydney Olympic, which deprived Marconi of a hat-trick of wins.

1990-91 saw Croatia, with Ken Worden at the helm, win the Minor Premiership, finishing on top of the ladder after 26 rounds, three points clear of South Melbourne Hellas. The play-offs proved so near but yet so far, as Croatia beat Hellas one-nil to reach the Grand Final, then lost in a penalty shoot-out to the same team after a one-all draw at the end of extra-time. Josip Biskic won the Joe Marston Medal as player of the match.

In 1991-92 new coach Kenny Murphy went down the same road. A minor premiership was followed by a penalty shoot-out victory over Hellas at Olympic Park in the major semi-final, but Adelaide City won the Grand Final thanks to yet another round of penalty kicks.

1992-3 proved to be another traumatic year with Kenny Murphy sacked after only a few rounds and replaced by Branko Culina, fresh from Premier league success with North Geelong. Croatia struggled all year and completed the season in tenth place, though Culina began the transformation of the playing staff by introducing a number of new faces who were be critical in the successes of the next two years.

1993-4 started under yet another new coach Mirko Bazic who completed the reconstruction of the team giving a regular place to several young players who have proved to be highly talented including Mark Viduka, David Cervinski, Vinko Buljubasic and Zoran Markovski. Others to make an impact include Damien Vojtek, son of the legendary Billy Vojtek, Krunoslav Razov and keeper Frank Juric. Once again the Knights achieved the minor premiership but failed at the last hurdle against Adelaide City, when a brilliant individual goal by Damian Mori, ironically a former Knights player, was the difference between the two best teams in Australia. Mark Viduka won all the individual awards to the National Soccer League including leading goalscorer, young player of the year and player of the year. The last two awards were voted for by his peers. Mirko Bazic was coach of the year.

Finally in 1994-95 the Knights triumphed. In a marvellous season it began with a victory in the League Cup, then completed the home and away series with the minor premiership despite being without Viduka on the run-in, when he was in Qatar with the Young Socceroos. Beaten over two legs by Adelaide City in the Major-Semi-Final, the Knights had to beat South Melbourne in atrocious conditions at Olympic Park to reach the Grand Final. Viduka returned from Qatar to score a brilliant hat-trick and then swept the board at the NSL awards once again. The Grand Final was played in Adelaide at Hindmarsh Stadium, but the Knights began with an extraordinary shot by captain Andrew Marth and followed up with a second goal by Joe Spiteri to take the title. To complete the picture the Youth team was the Southern Division champion and beat the South Australian champion, Para Hills, to set up a clash with Sydney United for the National Youth league title. A late goal by Mario Jerman prevented what would have been a historic double.

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