***
While the Matildas defender Dianne Alagich was the first woman in her family to make a mark on the Australian game, she followed in the footsteps of a long line of Alagichs that have shaped football today.
The Alagich football story began In Broken Hill, where Dianne’s grandfather Marin and his two brothers, established the Broken Hill Soccer Association in 1938.
Marin understood the power of sport – and football in particular – as an antidote to hatred and bigotry; a space where judgements and stereotypes could be seamlessly torn down.
After Broken Hill, Marin helped establish the Sydney Yugoslav Soccer Club in 1946 – the first of its kind in the area – as well as several other football clubs across Sydney Marin’s son, Joe, was also the first Alagich to represent Australia after being selected for the Socceroos in 1969.
It was almost inevitable that Dianne would follow the same path as though her football destiny was woven into the history of her family name.
“I grew up with four brothers, so they sort of forced [football] upon me,” Dianne said. “As soon as I could walk, I had a ball at my feet. I didn’t really know any different from there. I always had someone to play with in the backyard.”
Dianne’s raw talent – a product of her upbringing – was discernible from a young age, and she was quickly part of national team camps. She was selected for the under-16s women’s national team at 13.
“And I came into the team when they’d just missed out on the World Cup so there were some new players coming in as well. It was a pretty tough environment.”
“They’re not going to know who you are as a person, really, and you just sort of come in with starry eyes. So it was a combination of me being so young and feeling that intimidation, especially being from Adelaide when there was no one else in the team from Adelaide.”
Three World Cups, two Olympic Games, three years in the USA’s top women’s league, and captaining Adelaide United in their first W-League season in 2008, Dianne’s career for both club and country took her all over the world.
All the while, she had to hold down multiple jobs to make ends meet, which was the norm for women footballers throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. But the one constant in her life was always the Alagich family.
“My family were everything to me,” she said.
“Every time I didn’t make a team, or we lost a game, or I got an injury, I’d call my dad up or my brother or my mum and have a chat to them, and they’d give me that sense of ‘you’re more than just football, you’ve overcome this or that’.
Di Alagich has been inducted into Football Australia’s Hall of Fame, Football SA Hall of Fame, and the Sport SA Hall of Fame. She was also named in the Matildas Team of the Decade in the 2000s.
Footnotes:
