Billy Vojtek

William Vojtek (born 29 September 1943, in Croatia) is a retired Croatian Australian footballer. He migrated to Australia with his family as a child in 1956 and started playing for Essendon Juniors before representing Victoria from the under 13s to under 18s.[1] Vojtek played the majority of his career with Croatia (Melbourne) and is now the coach of the Melbourne Knights U/16 squad located in Sunshine Melbourne. In 2010 Vojtek was presented with recognition of 50 years of service to the Melbourne Knights.[2] Vojtek was selected in the Melbourne Knights Team of the Century as the number 9, the team's other striker was Mark Viduka.[3]

Billy Vojtek
Personal information
Full name William Vojtek
Date of birth (1943-09-29) 29 September 1943
Place of birth IS Croatia
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Essendon
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1962–1972 Melbourne Croatia
1973–1974 Sydney Croatia
1974–1976 Brunswick Juventus
1977–1978 Essendon Croatia
1979–1980 Green Gully
1981–1982 Western Suburbs
1983–1984 St Albans Saints
1984–1986 Essendon Royals
National team‡
1967–1973 Australia 44 (13)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16 Aug 07
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16 Aug 07

Playing career

In 1962 he changed clubs to Croatia (Melbourne) who were playing in Division One North at that time, and he was the club's top scorer and won the best and fairest award. In 1966 he represented Victoria, and played a total of 34 games and scored 12 goals for them. In 1972 Croatia (Melbourne) was expelled from the Victoria State Federation, and Vojtek moved to Sydney Croatia for the 1973 season before returning to Melbourne with (Brunswick) Juventus in June 1974.[1] In 1975, he won the Bill Fleming Medal.[4] In 1977, he moved to the Essendon Lions, who became known as Essendon Croatia shortly after he joined. He again changed teams to Green Gully in 1979. His career was interrupted by an Achilles tendon injury and he had spells at Western Suburbs, St Albans Dinamo and Essendon Triestina to finish his playing career.[1][5] In 1983 Vojtek and Branko Culina led St Albans to their first title, the Victorian State League Division 2. Vojtek was the league's top scorer that season with 16 goals.[6]

International career

Vojtek first represented Australia in 1967 as part of the squad that undertook an Asian tour. Between 1976 and 1971 Vojtek only missed one game for the national team.[1] He was the only Croatian in the Australian team at the time.[2]

He also represented Australia on 44 occasions.[7] He was included in the preliminary 40 man squad for the 1974 World Cup but was omitted from the final 22 man squad with suggestions it was because of differences with the coach Rale Rasic. Vojtek said that "Rasic told me I would definitely be in the World Cup squad. I had nightmares for days, you dream about it all your life. I was so close, yet so far away".

He is only recognised as playing 29 FIFA matches for Australia and scoring 6 goals.[5]

References
  1. "Billy Vojtek - Football Victoria Hall of Fame Nomination" (PDF). Football Federation Victoria. 2014. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2016.
  2. "Billy Vojtek – an icon of Melbourne Croatia celebrates 50 years - Melbourne Knights FC". Melbourne Knights FC. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  3. "Team of the Century - Melbourne Knights FC". Melbourne Knights FC. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  4. "Media Panels Victorian Premier League Player of the Year". www.ozfootball.net. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  5. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Billy Vojtek". www.national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  6. "About us". St Albans Saints. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  7. OzFootball
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