Forget ‘It’s coming home’, you shouldn’t be supporting England
JULY 11, 201812:37pm
Croatia’s players celebrate scoring a penalty during the Russia 2018 World Cup quarter-final.Source:AFP
Oliver Murray
news.com.au
IF YOU’VE been within a 10m radius of an English person within the past two days you’ve probably heard it.
The Three Lions have made the World Cup semi-final for the first time since 1990 and England are starting to dream:
“It’s coming home”.
It’s the three words England fans now feel brave enough to say without fears it could all come crashing down again.
It’s from the famous football song
Three Lions by comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner from 1996 about England’s hopes to end its tournament-winning drought.
Twenty-two years later it might actually happen.
You may have also heard the large number of Aussies who have decided to jump on the England World Cup bandwagon.
For a nation that takes such delight in beating England in other sports, it seems odd for us to jump on the England train.
Sorry Harry, Aussies shouldn’t want it to be coming home.Source:AFP
England play Croatia at 4am on Thursday (AEST) with the winner making the final in Moscow against France.
And while there is no doubt England’s journey to the final four is worth celebrating, it is not Gareth Southgate’s team that deserves Australia’s support.
The Croatian community’s influence on football in Australia over the past 30 years has been vast.
Writing for
The Guardian in 2013, Joe Gorman said: “The Croatian community has been a cradle of Australian football, with clubs big and small having nurtured generations of Australian talent.”
One of Australia’s greatest Socceroos, Mark Viduka, was nurtured at former NSL club Melbourne Croatia (now Melbourne Knights).
Mark Viduka is brought down by Aussie-born Josip Simunic during the 2006 World Cup clash against Croatia. Picture: Mike Hewitt/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images
He dominated the NSL so much with his goalscoring ability, the Croatian president at the time, Franco Tudman, personally flew to Australia to convince him to sign for Dinamo Zagreb in 1995.
Viduka spoke about how important being part of the Melbourne Croatia club was when he was growing up.
“Me and my dad, we were part of this whole thing. I’ve got four sisters and they used to come to every game,” Viduka said.
“We watched Melbourne Croatia play and hoped to God. When I look at a player who is not Croatian, and I think of him playing for my club, I probably loved him more than I did the Croatian players.
“I grew up with people — not just Croats — different nationalities. We were a football family. We were Europeans. It was natural for us to play football, because that was what our parents showed us first — that was their game, a European game.
“Aussie kids who were born here with an Australian background, usually they went to play cricket or footy or something else.”
Look at Australia’s squad from the breakthrough 2006 World Cup and you can see Croatia’s influence.
Viduka, along with Tony Popovic, Jason Culina, Mile Sterjovski, Josip Skoko, Ante Covic, Zeljko Kalac and Mark Bresciano had Croatian heritage.
And that doesn’t even mention the three Australian-born players — Josip Simunic, Joey Didulica and Anthony Seric — who were part of the Croatia squad in 2006.
Turn on the TV to watch football in Australia and hosts or former players on the screen will likely have Croatian links.
From
SBS host Lucy Zelic to her brother and former Socceroo Ned Zelic and Mark Bosnich on Fox Sports.
Even the current Socceroos squad owes a credit to Croatian clubs, with captain Mile Jedinak a product of Sydney United.
No other community has produced more Socceroos than the Croatian community.
And for a country of only four million to be just one game away from the World Cup final is impressive in itself.
There is no denying the strong link between Australia and the UK. It is on show in nearly every aspect of life in Australia on a daily basis.
But in our recent footballing history, Australia probably owes more to Croatia than any other nation.
It’s why we should let the England bandwagon go past and jump on Croatia’s instead.
