WORDS James Massola

Sydney FC coach Branko Culina speaks to Australian Catholics about football, its cultural roots, and the future of the game in Australia.  

For Branko Culina, legend of Australian football, SBS commentator and new coach of Sydney FC, faith, family and football intersect in some interesting ways.

Branko came to Australia with his mother in 1968, when he was ten years old. He made his football debut for Essendon Croatia in 1974, and also played for Sydney Croatia, the Blacktown Demons and the St Albans Saints in his long career. His coaching career has included stints at Saint Albans, Melbourne Knights, Sydney United, Canberra Cosmos and Sydney Olympic, winning championships, cups and minor premierships.

Now Branko faces one of the biggest challenges of his career as the new coach of Sydney FC, the big-money, high-profile Australian A League club. The A League is entering its third season, and after making a splash in the first season, Sydney fell behind last year, just missing out on the finals.

Despite last year’s setback, Branko is firm that the club is looking for success this year.  He says it’s important that the club fosters young talent at the same time as it aims to be at the top of the table.

‘It is our duty and responsibility to blood young players and give them an opportunity. I have always done that in previous stints at this level. The Vidukas, Emertons, Culinas, they have probably reaped the benefits of that policy, but we have also got to go for the results. A mix of youth and experience is best.’

The last few years have seen some enormous changes in the soccer landscape in Australia. Branko says the new A League is a different entity to the NSL.

‘I think the skill level is not as good as the previous NSL—there were many quality players. But what I’ve found is that the game, because of the professionalism, has picked up. The biggest difference has been the financial ability to market the game better. The general media, out there, has accepted this new A League far better than they did the NSL.’

One of the big differences between the old NSL and the new A League is the structure of the competition. The NSL was imbued with local rivalries and teams with a strong ethnic identity.

The large Croatian communities of Sydney and Melbourne were at the forefront of this. Football, and faith, were rallying points for the community in Australia for a long time, perhaps especially so before the collapse of the former Yugoslavia, and the independence that this brought for Croatia. The new league embraces a very different identity.

‘The passion shown at NSL clubs like Melbourne Croatia, Sydney United, South Melbourne, Sydney Olympic was fantastic, but the general Australian public never got behind it, because it was labelled as an ethnic sport.’

The talk of community and football leads the conversation to a discussion of the intersection of faith, football and life.

‘When I was a young kid coming through, we Croatians were brought up on football and church’, he says. ‘For Croatians in particular, until ’91 when they became independent, that was their way of coming together. Church and football played a big part.

‘If you look at the team at the World Cup [team from 2006], you will see the Croatian influence. Kalac, Viduka, Culina, Skoko, Covic, Popovic. All have a Croatian background. I think that [the prevalence of Croatian-Australian players] stems from them, and their parents, being part of the community, and I think in many cases the church as well.’

Branko says he recently went on a trip to Italy, where he visited the Vatican.

‘I do take every opportunity when I am overseas to visit various churches and pray’, he says. ‘I was very pleased to be able to visit the Vatican … I went to mass there and thanked God for everything I have been given.’

Being blessed with a good career and family, he says praying and giving thanks to God are regular parts of his day.

‘I am a believer in God, and I pray every night. For the best part of forty years, I don’t think I’ve gone to bed and not prayed and thanked God for what he has provided.’