On the gates of the Sydney United Sports Centre are faded signs warning against national flags, emblems or slogans “other than the Australian flag”. Yet as you click through the turnstiles a mural of the old Croatia Sydney SFC logo, complete with the red and white sahovnica stares back at you. The most dedicated group of Sydney United supporters, SUS, gather at one end chanting in Croatian. A sizeable contingent of fans gather around them, some wearing retro National Soccer League jerseys and jackets, others wearing Croatian national shirts. On one sideline is a handsome blue two-tiered grandstand, while the other backs onto the rear of King Tomislav Croatian Club. Apart from the small Australian flag above the players’ race, this plot of land remains dedicated to the local Croatian community.

It’s also the setting for tonight’s round of 16 FFA Cup clash between former NSL giants Sydney United (née Croatia) and A-League side Sydney FC. Tonight is old v new, community v corporate, the shunned v the anointed.

Thousands of fans pile through one tiny entrance into a ground where the synthetic grass glows a brilliant shades of green under the floodlights. This is a familiar setting for Sydney Croatia coach Mark Rudan, whose first dream as a kid was “to don the red jersey and to play at the hallowed ground at Edensor Park.” There’s a lot of love for Rudan from the Sydney FC fans, who gather at one end on the grassy knoll, but it’s here at Edensor Park where Rudan grew to love the game. And it’s here that the Sydney FC coach, Graham Arnold, played some of his best football and took charge of his first game as a coach back in 1989.

If the FFA Cup is about community and uniting the tribes, there are few better stories than that of the Rudan family. In his first season with Sydney FC in 2005, Mark tried with little success to get his father to come to games. Luka Rudan immigrated to Australia in 1968, and quickly became a rusted-on Sydney Croatia supporter. “When he was a young chap when he first came out he was a bit of a rebel,” Mark told me in the lead up to this match. “Ironically he used to travel around Australia with my assistant coach’s [Jerry Bilokapic] father to get to know the country more, but more importantly get to know Adelaide Croatia, Melbourne Croatia and so on. He was a big football fan, and he was really upset about the demise of the NSL and in particular his club.

“It took a lot of persuading to try and get him to the first game [in 2005] against Melbourne Victory,” said Mark. “It was quite a good game, with a good crowd, but that was where it stopped. He continued on supporting Sydney Croatia every home game that season.”



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Flares landed on the pitch at one point during the game. Photograph: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

However, as the 2005-06 grand final approached, Luka Rudan made sure his son had a few spare tickets. “He got my mum to ask, because he’s a man of few words,” explained Mark. “But after Sydney FC won I looked up and saw my dad, who gave me a fist-pump with a smoke in his mouth. I can’t remember seeing that much emotion for a long time. My mum told me later that they tried to eject him a number of times for smoking, and he wouldn’t have a bar of it, when he got a tap on the shoulder from security he’d tell them to piss off.”

It remains a fond memory for Mark: a brief moment where family ties transcended the fractures between ‘old soccer’ and ‘new football’. But those fractures still exist, and they are on display tonight. After 10 years of existence, Sydney FC want to believe this city is theirs. Sydney Croatia, who paid for this land and built this social club and stadium, see them as little more than a cashed-up franchise. One without their home, without their history, without their club members, without their track record of producing junior players. As Adelaide City showed by beating the Wanderers in the Round of 32, to beat a team from the A-League isn’t just about knocking off a bigger club. It’s a battle for legitimacy and an opportunity for recognition. These former NSL clubs and their fans don’t forget in a hurry. Before Year Zero, Sydney was their territory.

The players walk out of the tunnel and onto the field, and SUS unveil a banner reading “These Colours Will Never Run”. Dozens of Croatian flags are thrust into the air. One SUS member tells me they’ve had to custom make the red, white and blue flags without the sahovnica in the middle in order to get round FFA’s ban on ‘ethnic’ slogans. Only in Australia.

As the game kicks off, this little stadium is now brimming with people, and there’s a growing sense of anticipation. The acrid smell of cigarette smoke lingers in the air as old friends reunite as they squeeze past one another on their way around the ground. “This is just like the old days,” says a Sydney Croatia fan to his mate, “imagine if it was like this every week?”

But it’s the visitors that dominate much of the early action, and when Christopher Naumoff thrashes the ball home from outside the box, it looks as if it might be a long night for the home side. As halftime approaches, I wander over to the bar for refreshments, and Sydney FC’s Serbian defender Nikola Petkovic takes an almighty air swing in the penalty box. The error allows Sydney Croatia midfielder, Stjepan Paric - who works as a gyprocker - to rush in and poke the ball into the back of the net, and one end of the ground shakes with jubilation. On the sidelines the chants for “CRO-A-ZIA” go up, while it’s carnage behind the goals as the young men fall over each other and throw their beers into the air in joyous abandon.

The equaliser raises hopes for a famous Cup upset, and when Mirjan Pavlovic lofts the ball over the keeper’s head and into the net just after halftime, the home crowd are cruelly disappointed as the goal is disallowed for offside.



Football often turns on a single moment, and from that crucial decision, the game swings back to the visitors. Naumoff, a player who is still very much on the fringe of Sydney FC’s first team, pops up again to belt home a left foot piledriver from a difficult angle. Like his first effort, it is absolutely unstoppable.

This time it’s The Cove’s turn to gloat, and they sing “this city is ours”, and “who are ya?” at the opposition. Two flares sail over the stadium fence and land not far from where the FC fans stand. Luckily nobody is hurt, but the synthetic grass gets a good singe. The Sydney Croatia fans sing “you can stick your fucken’ A-League up your arse”, before returning to the more familiar chants of their mother tongue.



A young Sydney United fan celebrates his team’s equaliser. Photograph: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

There is a bit of argy bargy in the box as Sydney FC goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic - a former Sydney Croatia player - literally picks up Ibrahim Haydar and moves him out of his way while Sydney FC line up to defend a free kick. The players rush in for the opportunity to push and shove each other before the referee breaks up the pantomime. As SUS bay for blood behind the goals an old bloke turns and yells something at me in Croatian, and I nod and smile, though I have no idea what he’s on about. Maybe he’s as impressed as I am that Vedran was able to lift ‘Ibi’ clean off his feet? He’s a big fella after all.

The resulting free kick sails over the bar, and as Rudan urges his boys on from the sideline, Sydney FC midfielder Ali Abbas sets off on a mazy run, bamboozling several defenders before sliding the ball into the back of the net. It is the third goal off immense quality for the visitors and Sydney Croatia’s Cup dream is crushed.

In Melbourne, another Croatian club, St Albans Dinamo, are beaten by Perth Glory. Palm Beach Sharks and Adelaide United go through to the quarter finals at the expense of South Springvale and Brisbane Roar. But all the focus is on the proceedings at Edensor Park, where the catharsis of competition brings the factions of ‘old soccer’ and ‘new football’ a little closer together.

Sydney Croatia might be disappointed by the result, but with more than 8,000 people through the gates, it’s still a red-letter day for the club. Assistant coach Jerry Bilokapic poses for a photo with a gaggle of kids holding Croatian flags, the players thank their supporters and club hero Luka Glavas says goodbye to his legion of fans for the last time. At least half of the players return to the dressing room without their shirts, having thrown them into the crowd for the kids to savour. Just as Mark Rudan dreamed of playing for Sydney Croatia as a boy, so will a new generation of youngsters. The cycle continues, and for a club that has produced over 40 Socceroos, that’s something all Australians benefit from.