Without fear or favour

"Unless you have a deeper sense of what sport can be, it’s impossible to navigate the ups and downs you face every day."

John Didulica grew up in football clubs forged by migrants, led by his grandfather, who came to Australia after leaving Croatia via Italy, Switzerland, and possibly Germany to a migrant camp in Bonnagilla in the early 50s, arriving with very little but with everything to give.

Those clubs became sanctuaries of the willing. They taught John that when people feel safe enough to be who they are, they also become strong enough to carry what the game and life will ask of them.

These are the best stories. Told with love, humility and deep insight, John Didulica is one of the great storytellers.

You connect with his stories. They lift you.

The stories carry an idea. They shift you.

The stories demand something. They challenge you.

Leadership, for John, is the same. No bullshit, and nothing can be taken for granted. Just have the courage to show up, really show up, and the rest will take care of itself, even when the expectations feel unreasonable, as they will.

To lead without fear or favour is to create spaces where people can be themselves.

To serve something larger than yourself. Not just what you bring to the team - what are you prepared to do for the team?

Heavy lifting

What we celebrate in sport is always built on what few get to see.

John speaks of it as an iceberg: the visible tip is goals, triumphs, and the unique joy that follows, but it is only made possible by the weight carried by volunteers, families, all of whom bring their own form of leadership.

Those who make it possible.

Leaders make it possible.

His own memories are not just of matches, but of his mother running the club canteen, and prospective players trying on boots in their family garage - experiences that shaped his understanding that the essence of sport is not found in the limelight, but in the unseen, heavy lifting of those who just show up, week by week, year upon year, decade after decade.

For John, and everything important to him, this is where leadership lives.

The willingness to do the work just so others can have their moment.

What leadership asks…

Nowhere is this clearer than in John’s work with the formation of the Afghan women’s team in Australia.

It is hard to think of a story less likely, yet more important.

When the Taliban forced players to flee, John and Melbourne Victory did something quite extraordinary. The future was unknown and unknowable for these footballers. John and a group of willing leaders from Melbourne Victory simply asked:

“What does leadership ask of us now?”

The answer was to form a team. Find the women a coach, some kit, and a venue to train, but most significantly, a place to belong. Just as John’s grandfather did when arriving in Australia decades earlier.

For three years, those women played, studied, and rediscovered their voices and identity. In time, they no longer needed Melbourne Victory’s shelter. They were ready to be the Afghan national team once more.

Every generation needs its own Afghan women’s team — a reminder that sport’s greatest calling, for all of its want for silverware, is the transformation of lives.

Such is leadership.

Such is John Didulica.

Notebook ready

Play on!