Episode 10 Rale Rasic and the Fraser Coast Joeys Mini World Cup

Episode 10 Podcast with Rale Rasic

Welcome to today’s podcast and for our 10^th Episode we have some one very special with us. Rale Rasic Socceroo and FIFA World Cup coach is joining us by phone from Sydney.

Here is a brief summary about a man that has shaped Football in Australia

Rale has a very unique position in Australian football having been the first coach to take Australia to the finals of the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany. Rale coached Australia in 58 international matches in the 4 years from 1970 to 1974.

Rale Rasic immigrated to Australia in 1962 but returned to Yugoslavia after 18 months to serve in the army to full fill what was required of him. After he had met that obligations he returned to Australia and played football in the Victorian league. Not only did he play football, but he also revolutionized the game in Australia as a coach and was subsequently appointed as the national coach in 1970 at just 34 years of age, Rale masterminded Australia’s long road of qualification that we know ended up with being one of the 16 countries that had qualified for the 1974 FIFA World Cup.

After a mammoth task being drawn in a group with Chile, East Germany and West Germany the eventual winners of the 1974 tournament, Rale and his Socceroo’s performed far above expectations at the tournament but apparently not enough for the Australian Soccer Federation who replaced him as the national coach, replacing him with Englishman Brian Green. Rale believes that he was dumped because he was not seen as being a real “Aussie”. Rale stated, “They took from me something that I was doing better than anyone else. I was a true-blue Aussie, and nobody can deny that. I taught the players how to sing the national anthem”. These days, as the first coach to take Australia to the World Cup finals, Rale Rasic is widely respected in Australian football.

A massive lobby for Rale to return as Australia’s World Cup coach for 1979 began early in 1978 but never eventuated because Rasic made crystal clear his terms: complete and utter control and absolutely no interference from the Australian Soccer Federation. The ASF would never give a coach the job under those circumstances and conditions.

Rale’s first coaching job was in Footscray, followed by Melbourne HSC, St. George Budapest, Marconi, and Pan Hellenic. In 1967 he coached Footscray to the Victorian championship and from 1968 to 1970 he was the Victorian senior state coach. In 1970 he coached the Victorian youth team to win the national championships and in 1971 he coached St. George to win the NSW grand final and Tokyo International Tournament. He coached Marconi to the Australian championships in 1972 and to the NSW grand final in 1973. In 1979 he coached Adelaide to win the NSL Cup final. From 1986 to 1988 his teams won the national championships and the NSL Cup final.

In 1974 Rasic was listed among the top 35 coaches in the world by German Soccer expert Fritz Hack, and in 1977 and 1987 he was voted the national league coach of the year. He was a television presenter on SBS, during the Australian network’s 2006 FIFA World Cup coverage.

He is the only footballcoach featured in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, an inaugural inductee of the FFA Hall of Fame

In 2004 Rasic was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his service to soccer as a player, coach and administrator.

But now let’s listen to Rale Rasic and Heinrich Haussler your host in the studio.