The Croatian Soccer Association of Australia (CSAA) is one of the oldest and largest affiliation of soccer clubs of its kind in Australia and the Western Knights Soccer Club are proud to have been a member of this organisation of Croatian clubs since its inception in 1974. The “Savez” as it is known in Croatian, is the organiser of the hugely successful annual Croatian Australian Soccer tournament, which in 2014 celebrated its 40th anniversary with a fantastic tournament hosted by the Croatian Community in Wollongong, New South Wales.
To recognize the past 40 years of the Savez, and the contributions made by deserving club volunteers, the current Board of the Savez have created the CSAA Hall of Fame (Kuća Slavnih) – an exciting initiative that will give all member clubs the opportunity to have those players, coaches, administrators, and club volunteers who have given outstanding service to a CSAA member club, and/or made a most significant contribution to the promotion of our Croatian national identity either locally or nationally during their affiliation with a CSAA member club, to be formally recognized by the CSAA.
The centre-piece of this celebration will be the CSAA Hall of Fame Gala evening which will serve as the inaugural induction of deserving individuals within the Croatian soccer community of Australia (and NZ) into the CSAA Hall of Fame. This Gala evening will be held on Saturday 6 June 2015 at the Croatian House in Melbourne, where almost 60 past players, office holders or long standing volunteers will be inducted into the inaugural Hall of Fame.
The Western Knights, along with over 30 other Croatian Australian clubs around Australia, including powerhouse clubs such as the Melbourne Knights and Sydney United, were invited to nominate individuals who fit the right criteria for inducting into the Hall of Fame. The club made numerous nominations to the Savez, and following an extensive consultation process, the Western Knights are very proud to announce that it has received confirmation that 6 of its past and current volunteers have been inducted into the CSAA Hall of Fame. They are:
1) Ivo Simic
2) Dusko Lacman
3) George Grasa
4) Miso Bunic
5) Gordana Sliskovic
6) Marija Lacman
The above were chosen due to their contributions to both the Western Knights, the Savez and Croatian Soccer Clubs in the Eastern States. It should be noted that the Savez has encouraged all clubs to continue to nominate its people to the Hall of Fame as more inductees will join the inaugural list at each annual tournament.
All of the above inductees, with the exception of Dusko Lacman who is in Croatia, will be at the Gala Night in two weeks time.
For more information about the Western Knights inductees into the CSAA Hall of Fame, write to us at committee@westernknights.com.au
