Mark Viduka has been officially made a legend of Australian soccer – and is officially retired. The former Socceroos striker, who has not played since mid-2009, was bestowed with one of the highest honours in Australian football on Monday night – the Alex Tobin Medal from his peers.
He becomes only the fourth player to receive the award for his contribution to the Australian game after Johnny Warren, Joe Marston and Craig Johnston.
Humble as ever, the 35-year-old admitted he was enjoying being away from the spotlight in a retirement he has never officially announced publicly.
“(Retirement) is different to what I’ve been used to most of my life. But I think after being involved in such a high pressure environment for so long, it’s nice to be out of it for a while,” Viduka said.
“Just doing normal, everyday things that you don’t get a chance to when you’re always concentrating on the next game.”
Viduka, whose career highlight was captaining the Socceroos to the 2006 World Cup finals, is enjoying spending time with his family in Melbourne.
But he admits he is thinking about the prospect of coaching somewhere down the track.
And the retirement last weekend of long-time friend and former Socceroo teammate Josip Skoko has raised the spectre of the pair doing their coaching accreditation courses together.
They were among a large group of former Socceroos teammates who were reunited at Monday night’s function in Melbourne held by the players’ union – Professional Footballers Australia.
Viduka jokingly described the meeting of several members of the so-called “golden generation” as “like a pensioners’ convention”.
“We had so many memories over so many years together – I’m just really happy to see everybody,” he said.
“We had a special bond with the national team players, especially that group when a lot of us started playing overseas together, meeting up regularly.”
The PFA and Football Federation Australia have also signed off on new pay agreements for the Socceroos and Matildas up until the next World Cup.
The Socceroos have significantly improved their pay and won a larger slice of commercial revenue until the 2014 World Cup finals.
Australia’s women’s team will be rewarded with 23 individual contracts in a similar system to that which applies in cricket.
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