Frank Micic
The epitome of longevity, Frank Micic played a remarkable eighteen consecutive seasons in the Victorian State League, seventeen of them with Footscray JUST. He represented Victoria with distinction during a 15-year period between 1961 and 1975, earning a record 55 appearances, many against some of Europe’s finest club teams. He represented his adopted country on nine occasions, the highlight being his involvement in Australia’s first international tournament win in South Vietnam in 1967. He remains the only player to have won the media awarded Bill Fleming Medal on three occasions.
When Frank Micic arrived in Melbourne in 1959, few would have predicted the impact he would have on Australian football. Born in Zadar and having played his junior football in the former Yugoslavia until the age of 17, his family set sail for a new life in the United States, but a stopover would see Micic spend eighteen months playing local league football in Italy, before a snap decision to board a ship to Melbourne brought him halfway across the world.
It was a chance meeting with three young Yugoslavs on that voyage which convinced him to seek out JUST upon his arrival. After impressing in a couple of appearances in the reserves, Micic made his senior debut against fierce rival, Juventus, who won the encounter 4-1 with Micic to cool his jets in the Reserves for the remainder of the league season as he adjusted to the physicality of Australian football.
But it wouldn’t take long before he would make his impact. With the league concluded, attention turned to the Dockerty Cup where Micic scored his first senior goal for the club, against Juventus in a drawn quarter final. JUST would ultimately lose in a semi-final replay against eventual champions George Cross, but Micic had impressed onlookers with his skill and close ball control. By the start of the 1960 season and with a new decade beckoning, Micic was an ever-present in the JUST senior team.
As his reputation grew with each match, JUST would assemble a squad alongside Micic which would be the envy of the league for the best part of the next decade and beyond. Imports such as Cec Dixon, Enio Marinovic, Vero Mladenovic, Mirko Pejovic, Rale Rasic, Milenko Rusmir, Billy Rice, and Tommy Stankovic, many of whom would represent Victoria and Australia, would form the backbone of a team which would challenge for greater honours.
1963 would prove the year that JUST would take all before them, winning their final three league matches to claim the championship. Having negotiated the preliminary round and group stage of the Dockerty Cup, Micic would prove pivotal in the semi-final, claiming the only goal in a hotly contested encounter with Slavia. Micic himself claims the 4-2 final win against Polonia which sealed the League-Cup double as the “greatest club match ever played in Victoria”.
Few could doubt how important a cog Micic had become in the JUST juggernaut. State team selectors had also taken notice. He made his debut for Victoria on the Queensland tour of 1961, playing as a stopper as opposed to his usual wing half position at club level. Once Australia’s FIFA ban was lifted in 1964, international touring teams returned to Melbourne, and Micic, now at his peak and with an Argus Medal around his neck, impressed against many of Europe’s finest club sides, including wins against FC Basel and Preussen Munster, and in a 3-1 defeat to Everton in front of almost 30,000 fans at Olympic Park. It was against the Toffees that Micic would make his debut for Australia in Sydney.
JUST would finish a point behind South Melbourne-Hellas in the State League that year and would fall agonisingly short against Slavia in the final of the Dockerty Cup, but Micic, having played 38 competitive matches for club, state and country, capped off a remarkable individual season by claiming the Argus Medal. He would repeat that feat in 1967, a year that would see him finally break into Australian team calculations.
By then, Micic was match-hardened, with eight full seasons and almost 300 club matches under his belt, he was an ever-present for Victoria regardless of the opposition. Micic memorably scored the second goal which put Victoria 2-1 up against the touring AS Roma in 1966, a match played in front of a record Olympic Park crowd of 35,856. He was captain in arguably Victoria’s greatest ever result against European opposition, a 1-1 draw to Manchester United in 1967 and by season’s end, was called up to the Australia squad which embarked on a tour of South-East Asia.
Australia claimed its first piece of international silverware in the South Vietnam Independence Cup, and despite five appearances and a goal on tour, Micic would struggle to cement his place in national calculations. Upon his return to Melbourne, he would transfer to South Melbourne-Hellas and despite an impressive season and a career best return of eight goals, the urge to return to a struggling JUST, who had avoided relegation by goal difference alone, was too difficult to ignore. Now coached by compatriot Rale Rasic, the club would once again claim the league championship on the final day in 1969, a solitary point ahead of Juventus and Ringwood City Wilhelmina.
By the time the 1970 season was complete, Micic had turned 30, but there was no slowing down for the evergreen talisman. He guided JUST to another title in 1971 as they held out a fast-finishing South Melbourne-Hellas, again by a solitary point. By now, the club had gained the services of Jim Milisavljevic, Branko Buljevic and Dan Zoraja, and were unlucky not to claim the League-Cup double, falling at the final hurdle to Juventus.
1973 brought another Championship, Micic calming the nerves of the JUST faithful with a first-half penalty instrumental in a 2-1 win over Melbourne Hungaria in the final match of the season. He celebrated with his third Bill Fleming Medal (formerly the Argus Medal) to round out another stellar campaign just shy of his 33rd birthday.
While many may have considered retirement, there was still more in the Micic tank and a host of silverware to be won, with 1976 bringing another Dockerty Cup win over Polonia in the final, and a hat-trick of successive State League Cups. With the National Soccer League looming and still going strong at 36, Micic would play for his beloved Footscray JUST for one final season, this time at national level.
His 19 appearances that season footnoted a remarkable career in club football, where estimates suggest he played over 500 matches across league and cup competitions. However, the single greatest statistic which is a testament to his longevity is his appearance record for Victoria. With 55 official caps, he is streets ahead of the next best, his good friends in Billy Vojtek (32) and Branko Buljevic (30). With representative football a thing of the past, this is a record which will stand the test of time.
As wonderfully skilled and elegant on the ball that Micic was, he was also regarded as a gentleman on the field. Sent off just twice in his career, his second offence was rescinded by the Victorian Soccer Federation disciplinary tribunal given his exemplary playing record. Micic turned to coaching in 1978, taking the helm at St Kilda Hakoah midway through the season and managing three playing appearances off the bench. Fittingly, his last match as a player came as a substitute against Juventus in 1979, the club he made his debut against some twenty years earlier.
Half a lifetime has passed since Frank Micic last pulled on the boots, but his exploits have not been forgotten and he is remembered fondly by teammates and opponents alike as a skilled footballer ahead of his time.
Watch Frank Micic's FV Hall of Fame Series episode on YouTube
A snapshot of Frank Micic’s playing and coaching career
Playing record: 1
- 1959-67: Footscray JUST (175 appearances 17 goals)
- 1968: South Melbourne (22 appearances 8 goals)
- 1969-77: Footscray JUST (194 appearances 31 goals)
- 1978-79: Hakoah-St Kilda (4 appearances)
Representative record:
- Australia 1964-71: 9 appearances 1 goal
- Victoria 1961-75: 55 appearances 6 goals
Coaching record:
- 1978-79: Hakoah-St Kilda (Played 27, Won 13, Drawn 5, Lost 9)
Personal honours:
- Bill Fleming Medal Winner 2 (1964, 1967, 1973)
- Victorian State League Champion (1963, 1969, 1971, 1973)
- Dockerty Cup Winner (1963, 1976)
- Ampol Cup Winner 3 (1960, 1966, 1975)
- State League Cup Winner (1974, 1975, 1976)
Notes:
- All playing records include domestic league appearances only. Appearance statistics for Footscray JUST are estimates.
- The Bill Fleming Medal was formerly known as the Argus Medal, which Micic won in 1964 and 1967.
- The Ampol Cup was formerly known as the Sun Cup, which JUST won in 1960.