Courtesy: Star News group


Jack’s a father figure for futsal

By Mark Heenan

25th July 2006

Futsal fanatic ... Over the past 20 years Jack Dugonjic has played a key role in the development of futsal (indoor soccer) throughout the north west region of Melbourne.

AFTER moving to Australia from Croatia as a 13-year-old, Jack Dugonjic never imagined in his wildest dreams he would become one of the pioneers behind futsal in Victoria.

The St Albans local, a futsal and soccer coach for the past 20 years, has played a major role in bringing the game to thousands of people in Melbourne’s north west suburbs.

Futsal, a form of soccer, is a five-a-side game played on a basketball court indoor or outside.

The sport has its origins in South America with more than 17 million participants in Brazil.

“At 13, you really don’t know what you’re going to be or want to do,” said Dugonjic, 46, who was a catalyst behind futsal’s merger with the Victoria Soccer Federation.

“Football was always a game we played in Croatia and it was the only game. And then we came out here I saw Australian Rules and thought what a weird game. I had no understanding.

“I really fell into futsal by accident to be quite honest.”

The former Melbourne Knights player, who could not speak a word of English when he first arrived in Australia in the 1970s, has devoted his entire life to futsal and soccer.

He first opened an indoor soccer centre at St Albans during the 1980s, before opening centres in Brunswick and Airport West.

Dugonjic, who works regularly with the youth of the Hume region, is the current proprietor of northern futsal sites in Coolaroo, Greenvale and Craigieburn.

A vice-chairman of the Victorian Futsal Association, Dugonjic says the sport’s growth in Victoria is enormous and believes he could be forced to relocate his Greenvale futsal site to Broadmeadows because of the overwhelming demand.

But he insists futsal in Victoria still has a long way to go to match the popularity of the sport in New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.

“Futsal is already big in Australia, it’s just in Victoria that it is lagging behind a little,” Dugonjic said.

“NSW, Queensland and the ACT have massive numbers of players. They usually have at least two teams in every age group at the national championships.” Next year’s 28th Australian Futsal Championships will be held in Canberra in January.



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com