Another well-known member of the Croatian community who has made a name in Australian soccer is Tony Popovic. Credit:Edwina Pickles But he was far from an outlier. In recent times numerous Socceroo stars who have forged impressive careers overseas have emerged from the Croatian communities scattered all over Australia. Mark Bosnich and Tony Popovic from Sydney, Ned Zelic from Canberra, Josip Skoko from the South Australian border town of Mount Gambier (before his move as a youngster to Geelong) are some of the best known names, along with Viduka, to have played for Australia in the past 20 years. Even a well-loved Socceroo veteran like Mark Bresciano, so widely regarded as a player of Italian heritage, has a link to the Croatian community given that his mother's family hails from there. But national allegiance is not always a straightforward matter for Australian-born-and-raised Croatians. It's not a given that they will don the green and gold of their native country rather than the red and white checks of their family's land.

The thing that makes their commitment to the game so strong also acts to divide their loyalties in the most heartbreaking of ways. At the 2006 World Cup Australia's 23-man squad had seven players (if Bresciano is included) who could boast a Croatian background. But the Croatian squad contained three players who were born and raised in Australia but chose to play for the European nation with which they felt such close cultural ties. Sydneysider Anthony Seric went to Europe as a youngster and made his decision to play for Croatia early. Geelong-born Joey Didulica had made his name with the Melbourne Knights and had been Australia's first-choice goalkeeper in the run-up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics before injury ruled him out. Didulica was keen to play for Australia but at the time Mark Schwarzer was firmly entrenched in the No.1 shirt and never missed a game, offering few opportunities to rivals. In the end Didulica grew frustrated, and when Croatia gave him the chance to be part of their squad for the 2004 European Championships he took up the offer. He was on the bench in Stuttgart when Harry Kewell's late equaliser put Australia into the round of 16 in the 2006 World Cup and sent the Croatians back to Zagreb after a 2-2 draw. An even more controversial figure for Croatia's Australian diaspora is Josip Simunic, a central actor that night in Stuttgart when he was eventually sent off having received an unprecedented three yellow cards.

Simunic was born and brought up in Canberra. He, too, went to the AIS and played for the Melbourne Knights, but made it very clear from an early age, having gone to Europe to follow his career, that he wasn't interested in appearing for Australia. Simunic went on to become a cornerstone of the Croatian defence for a decade or more. A passionate, determined figure, his commitment to the Croatian cause ended up in him receiving a 10-game ban from FIFA after a World Cup qualifier in 2013 when he led the fans in a post-game song that FIFA decided had racial and political overtones. Simunic's defenders countered by claiming it was merely a traditional song celebrating Croatia's heritage. Could Australia have done with Simunic, Didulica and Seric? Of course. They were all top-level players and it's fascinating to think how a Socceroo back four with a younger and mobile Lucas Neill playing at right-back alongside Craig Moore and Simunic in the middle, with Seric at left-back, might have fared in that 2006 World Cup. But to criticise them for opting to play for Croatia, not Australia, misunderstands the deep links those who grow up in Croatian Australian communities feel for their antecedents. As Didulica's brother, John - an NSL player whose career was cut short by injury and who now holds an executive role at Melbourne City - explains, those ties are all encompassing.

"Our parents came from a country where they weren't even allowed to acknowledge they were a separate country. The history, the culture, the language and the sense of identity was all very strong. And playing football and doing well in the game was a way of promoting your community, showing in this new country that Croatians could achieve things." Certainly there was no lack of affection for Didulica and Simunic earlier this month at a function held by the Croatian Australian Soccer Association when they, along with Viduka, Skoko, Billy Vojtek (a hero from an earlier era) and scores of past players, administrators, officials and coaches were inducted into the Croatian Australian Soccer Hall of Fame. Simunic was not there but when his image came up on the big screen along with footage of his career, including the infamous rugby tackle with which he brought down Viduka in the World Cup clash, the cheers were loud and sustained. Which goes to the heart of the matter, as CASA president George Dragovic explains. "When Croatian people emigrated to countries such as Australia, the US, Canada, Germany and Austria, these countries offered these communities a chance to express their culture and their nationality – something which these groups of people inevitably did via the social and soccer clubs they formed.

"Being of Croatian background and playing for a club that the local Croatian community had formed, was the equivalent of playing for a Croatian representative team when you consider that within Croatia itself, people there were not allowed to even say they were Croatian under Yugoslav communist rule. "When you combine this pride in your ancestry with a strong work ethic and a love for football, what you inevitably ended up having are hundreds of quality footballers with a healthy dose of Croatian identity. How else can you explain the fact that many Croatian national team players were not even born in Croatia, yet despite being called up by the country of their birth, always only dreamt of playing for Croatia?"