Many father-son combinations have delighted generations of football fans throughout time. Cruyff, Lampard, Maldini, Sanchis, Blind and Schmeichel are names which spring to mind, while current Socceroo Jason Davidson has gone on to emulate his father Alan by featuring in the national team at left-back just as his old man did during the 1980s.
One familiar name that has popped up in the local football scene in recent years is Anthony Duzel, son of former St Albans Saints and Melbourne Knights midfielder Ivan, who was one of the finest imports to grace the Victorian football scene.
Ivan’s beginning
The Duzel story begins in 1964 in the small Dalmatian town of Imotski in former Yugoslavia. Ivan grew up and played most of his football on town’s the concrete pavements, located on the Biokovo mountain range and known for its medieval fortress on the rocks of the Blue Lake.
The youngster established himself as one of the town’s best up-and-coming talents, playing much of his junior football with one Zvonimir Boban, who was four years his junior. Boban went on to captain the Croatian national team in their debut World Cup in France 1998, where they finished third, and won numerous titles with Milan, including the 1993-94 Champions League when they dismantled Johan Cruyff’s Barcelona dream team 4-0 in the final at Athens.
The 52-year-old has remained in touch with Boban, with the pair from Imotski catching up in 2002 when the latter was on a holiday in Australia, visiting while the former was at the Fawkner Blues.
Ivan grew up at a time when the region’s local football team Hajduk Split were in the midst of their golden generation under the legendary Tomislav Ivic, claiming three Yugoslav titles in five seasons.
However, he preferred the blue of rivals Dinamo Zagreb, and in the early 1980s moved to Zagreb in the hopes of securing a spot in the powerhouse club’s first-team, which at the time was managed by the eccentric Miroslav ‘Ciro’ Blazevic. After failing to break into the Dinamo first team, Ivan returned to Dalmatia where he featured for GOSK-Jug of Dubrovnik, who were competing in the second tier of Yugoslav football at the time.
Move to Australia
In 1986, the then 22-year-old received an offer to come down to Australia from the St Albans Saints, a club he did not know much about at the time.
“To be honest, at the time I didn’t know much about Australia or who Dinamo were, but I thought to give it a go and planned to return to Croatia shortly back after,” Ivan says.
He made his debut for the Saints in May 1986 in an away clash against Thomastown and played 11 games that season, scoring four times under coach Tony Vrzina, who had been manager and president of the Knights in the 1970s. Dinamo managed to retain Ivan for the 1987 VPL season, a decision that proved to be a masterstroke during a memorable period at Churchill Reserve. His teammates included captain and future coach Branko Culina, future Sydney United legend Velimir Kupresak, and namesake and goalscoring sensation Ivan Kelic – who later joined him at the Knights.
Another impressive season in 1988 saw him win the 1988 Bill Fleming Medal, scoring seven times in 29 appearances and attracting interest from sister club Melbourne Croatia, for whom he signed soon after.
Playing professionally
Ivan quickly established himself in the NSL, playing alongside fellow Croatian import Joe Biskic in the centre of the park. The midfield maestro appeared 51 times for Croatia in his three seasons at the club, culminating in a heartbreaking Grand Final defeat to rivals South Melbourne in 1991 in front of just under 25,000 people at the old Olympic Park.
He moved back to Europe at the conclusion of the 1990/91 NSL season, playing professionally at lower-league FSV Frankfurt in the newly reunified Germany. Further spells at Wehen Wiesbaden and a short stint at second tier Mainz followed, where he was a teammate to one Jurgen Klopp.
However, a desire to come back to Australia and start a family saw the veteran midfielder return to Somers Street ahead of the 1996/97 NSL season. He made a further 11 appearances for the Knights under Ian Dobson as the defending champions were eliminated by old nemesis South Melbourne in the finals – proving to be Ivan’s NSL swansong.
Later career
Turning 33 at time, the midfielder resisted any notions of retirement and signed for Victorian Premier League outfit Fawkner, who were in the midst of a relegation battle. After aiding the club to avoid the drop in his debut season, Ivan became an integral member of the squad over the next six seasons, with this experience and skill helping Fawkner claim the 2002 Premiership. Grand Final heartache would follow him once more as the Blues were defeated 2-1 in extra-time by Preston Lions in front of a crowd of over 6,000 at Bob Jane Stadium. After 108 appearances and 14 goals over seven seasons for the Blues, Ivan made the move to Heidelberg United half-way through 2003, spending half a season in State League 1 at Olympic Village.
Despite reaching 40, he continued on his career at the club where it all began for him in Australia in St Albans under former Knights teammate Vlado Vanis. It all came to an abrupt end, however, when a broken leg suffered in a Round 12 clash against Green Gully forced Ivan to call time on his two-decade long playing career.
Coaching
Following a short hiatus from the game, Ivan returned in 2009 and took up the head coach role with third tier Dandenong City, who at the time looked certainties for relegation. However, the former midfielder steered them to safety while nurturing promising teenage pair Steven Topalovic and Stipo Andrijasevic – the latter handed his senior debut at just 15.
Ivan’s next appointment saw him named manager of his former club Melbourne Knights. “I feel great about taking on the job. It feels as though the dream I had, even when I was playing here at the Knights, has come true”, Ivan told the club at the time.
With the club under financial strain, Ivan set about employing an increased emphasis on youth by promoting several youngsters into the first team, as the former NSL champions fielded one of the youngest squads in the competition. Youngsters Bryan Bran, Anthony and Jacob Colosimo and Adrian Zahra all became integral first-team members of the squad, while teenagers Sebastian Mattei and Joseph Franjic were given their senior debuts at Somers Street. A ninth place finish in 2010 was followed by a disappointing start to the 2011 campaign, where the Knights won just two of their first nine league fixtures. The bad run of results ultimately cost Ivan his job, with assistant Paul Magdic taking over for the remainder of the season.
He returned to Dandenong City in 2014, succeeding Harry Bingham as the club embarked on its inaugural season in the NPL. An ongoing injury crisis halted City’s progress, finishing ninth, though Ivan’s reputation for promoting youngsters was enhanced by the emergence of Damian Miskulin, Nick Glavan and Marko Stevanja, who all subsequently joined Melbourne Victory and City’s NYL sides.
After leaving Frank Holohan Soccer Complex at the conclusion of the 2014 campaign, Ivan still harbours hopes of a return to coaching once his three children are older. “Definitely, once I have more time I will go back and complete my coaching badges before going into coaching, as I believe that I still have a lot to offer,” he says.
For the time being, he is content with watching Anthony and his two younger sons Daniel and Luke progress through the youth ranks.
Anthony’s beginning
Anthony’s football career began at the conclusion of his father’s, when the then seven-year-old began playing for the Melbourne Knights juniors in 2004, at a time when the former NSL champions were left in limbo regarding a delay of their inclusion into the top-flight of Victorian football by a season.
“Football was a part of my childhood ever since I first picked up the ball as a seven year-old at Melbourne Knights and it’s been a massive part of my life so far, and that of my family’s, as much of our days are centred on football and going to training and matches,” Anthony says.
The youngster progressed through the youth set-up at Somers Street, and by the end of the decade had earned selection into the elite state set-up, earning representative honours with Victoria. Selection into the Victorian Schoolboys, in addition to the successive State Futsal squads, saw him attract the attention of many scouts across the country. Anthony further enhanced his emerging status as one of the nation’s brightest talents after impressing for an Australian representative team in the 2010 AFC under-14 boys’ Festival of Football held in Malaysia, where he was named in the team of the tournament alongside current Victory teammate Lucas Spinella.
Another impressive showing at the National Championships in Coffs Harbour in 2011 for the Victorian Under 14s, coached by Michael McBride, earned him selection in the All-Star Team – which also featured current A-League rising stars Alex Gersbach, Steve Kuzmanovski, Anthony Kalik and Daniel Alessi – where he was named player of the tournament. From there, Anthony was promoted into the NTC set-up under the guidance of acclaimed Russian-born coach Boris Seroshtan, before eventually being promoted into the Melbourne Victory youth squad for the 2012/13 NYL season.
Melbourne Victory
While he didn’t see game time in the championship-winning season, he made his maiden appearance the next campaign as a 16-year-old. At state level, Anthony made his senior team debut for the Melbourne Knights in 2013 as Andrew Marth’s men finished the regular season second on the ladder.
Having previously attracted the interest of then Premier League outfit Blackburn Rovers, Anthony spent a few weeks in England that year training at Leicester City. At the conclusion of his time in the East Midlands, he was offered a place in the club’s under 18s side but declined the offer in favour of chasing a senior contract at Victory. “I impressed and at the end of my time there was offered a spot at the club’s Under 18s but I rejected as my focus for a while now has been to break into the Victory first-team and earn a senior-team contract,” he says.
A call up to the Joeys training camp followed before retuning back to Melbourne, where he continued his development at Somers Street, making 10 league appearances for the Knights over the course of 2014 as well as being a part of their Dockerty Cup-winning squad. Anthony credits many of the senior heads at the Knights for assisting him during his spell at his father’s former club, with the likes of Ljubo Milicevic, Andrew Barisic, Daniel Visevic, Marijan Cvitkovic and Tomislav Uskok being well established starters during his time at the club.
“I knew all the boys at the club pretty well and once I stepped into that dressing room, I knew that the standards were high and what the expectations were, he says. “They were always great with me, always encouraging me and helping me out whenever I needed it.”
The teenager then moved back to the Victory youth team, becoming a mainstay in midfield where his partnership with Stefan Nigro flourished in the side managed by the well-respected Darren Davies.
Upon the conclusion of the 2014/15 NYL season, Anthony braced himself for the club’s inaugural NPL 1 season and was an integral member of the promotion winning squad, appearing in every one of the side’s 30 league fixtures, with elevation into Victoria’s top flight clinched via a hard-fought 2-0 victory over North Geelong Warriors.
One of the challenges faced by Victory’s debut NPL campaign was the physicality of some teams in order to get the better of their younger opponents, although Anthony wasn’t fazed, admitting that it was all part of the learning process.
“We have to step out of our comfort zone and playing against men in NPL 1 has helped us particularly, given the fact that if we want to take the next step-up into the seniors, we’d need to be used to the physicality of more senior teams, and the boys in my opinion did well in that department,” he says.
Having trained with the senior squad once before, the 18-year-old – who attempts to model his game on the likes of Yaya Toure and Paul Pogba – will be an important and experienced campaigner once Victory open their NPL season against Northcote City next month, and praised the togetherness among the playing squad.
“The bonding and camaraderie at training and games is unbelievable as we’ve all gotten to known each other better over the years,” he says. “We are now almost like brothers and this bonding helps us out on the pitch too.”
Given that he has been part of the Victory set-up for four seasons now, Anthony has set his sights on breaking into the first-team, which has been depleted of late by the illness to captain Carl Valeri. The youngster is determined to put his case forward as he attempts to make his senior debut with the defending A-League champions.
“I’ve been at Victory for a while now and I’ve got to take the next step forward by breaking into the senior team and that comes with hard work and a lot of training, which I’m doing at the moment, so hopefully I can push through and make my A-League debut soon,” he says. “A lot of people might think it’s a bit daunting playing for this club, but if anything its motivating because you want to be a part of all the successes the club enjoys and I guess we got a bit of a taste of what it’s like in that game against North Geelong and I myself definitely want more of that.”
Family act
Anthony’s progress within the Victory set-up has seen him knocking on the door of the first team of late, and he could soon be joined by his siblings. 17-year-old Daniel won the Under 20 Player of the Year award at St Albans Saints, with his reward being a senior contract in Zeljko Kuzman’s 2016 playing roster. 14-year-old Luke is also an ex-Knights junior who is currently at the Victorian state squad, following in the footsteps of his older brothers. It all leaves dad Ivan and mum Nada flat-out driving their boys around the football grounds of Melbourne, as all three chase their dreams and hope to emulate their father by becoming national league players.