Like any natural-born footballer, all Josip Skoko has ever wanted to do is play. At the age of six in Australia he would go to church wearing full kit - including shin pads - under his Sunday best....
There is, however, another country that tugs at his heart strings. Croatia was part of Yugoslavia when his father emigrated to Australia from the Croatian enclave in Herzegovina in 1969 to find work and escape Marshall Tito's communist regime. Ivan Skoko worked as a tree-feller, returning to marry a Croat and taking her back Down Under where their three daughters and two sons were born.
The place where they settled in South Australia, Mount Gambier, had a small Croat community. The family took on a dual identity common to the Greek and Italian populations in Australia. "Outside the house, we did things as Australians," Skoko recalls. "At home, everything was more Croatian. We kept up the traditions; the food, the music, the language. It was only when I began school that I learnt English."
With Mount Gambier Croatia FC he embarked on the road that has led him from the city on the slopes of an extinct volcano, with its caves, lakes, shipwreck beaches and wineries to a Lancashire town famous for its pier, pies and rugby league.
"Me and my brother Ante kicked about endlessly in the back yard," says Skoko. "But the big day at the club was Sunday. I went to mass in the morning wearing my strip beneath my clothes - everything except boots. Our game was first up and we spent the rest of the day watching the bigger boys play. Once I played for the under-10s, under-13s and under-16s, all in one day."
At nine he moved with his family to the Melbourne area, where he joined North Geelong Warriors and graduated to the Victoria under-13 side. "I was spotted in the national championship and chosen for the Institute. It was a world away in Canberra so I had to leave my family, friends and school. But the coaching was the best, and once I got over my homesickness and linked up with Mark [Viduka] and others I knew from Victoria, I had a brilliant time."...
The place where they settled in South Australia, Mount Gambier, had a small Croat community. The family took on a dual identity common to the Greek and Italian populations in Australia. "Outside the house, we did things as Australians," Skoko recalls. "At home, everything was more Croatian. We kept up the traditions; the food, the music, the language. It was only when I began school that I learnt English."
With Mount Gambier Croatia FC he embarked on the road that has led him from the city on the slopes of an extinct volcano, with its caves, lakes, shipwreck beaches and wineries to a Lancashire town famous for its pier, pies and rugby league.
"Me and my brother Ante kicked about endlessly in the back yard," says Skoko. "But the big day at the club was Sunday. I went to mass in the morning wearing my strip beneath my clothes - everything except boots. Our game was first up and we spent the rest of the day watching the bigger boys play. Once I played for the under-10s, under-13s and under-16s, all in one day."
At nine he moved with his family to the Melbourne area, where he joined North Geelong Warriors and graduated to the Victoria under-13 side. "I was spotted in the national championship and chosen for the Institute. It was a world away in Canberra so I had to leave my family, friends and school. But the coaching was the best, and once I got over my homesickness and linked up with Mark [Viduka] and others I knew from Victoria, I had a brilliant time."...
The year of 2006 has thrown plenty at Josip Skoko; the good, like being awarded the freedom of Mount Gambier, along with the bad. But the resilience is beyond doubt, the desire to compete still burns and the shin pads are on.
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