Croatian-Australian identity as revealed through soccer club support: a case study of Melbourne Croatia soccer club (Melbourne knights)

Since the 1960s, Croatian soccer clubs have been an important feature of all major Australian cities, and a number of regional towns, with the most significant of these being Melbourne Croatia and Sydney Croatia, both of which played in Australia’s now defunct National Soccer League (NSL) (1977–2004). Effectively barred from the new A-League, from 2005 to 2006, these clubs experienced marginalisation and discrimination
similar to that experienced historically by Irish-Catholic clubs inScotland. This article aims to explore both Croatian-Australian identity and narratives about exclusion through the perspectives of key Melbourne Croatia representatives.