Vladimir "Val" Perovic (; born 25 September 1953) is a former

Australian rules Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

footballer who played with St Kilda and Carlton in the VFL. Born in

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

(at the time part of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

), Perovic emigrated to

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australia and the third-largest city in Victoria. Within mo ...

in Australia with his family in 1958, at the age of four. Despite starting his career as a wingman, Perovic played mostly as a defender and was a centre half-back when he first represented Victoria in 1978. After 77 games with St Kilda during the 1970s he moved to Carlton in a trade involving

Alex Jesaulenko Oleksandr Vasiliovych "Alex" Jesaulenko ( ; , ; born 2 August 1945) is a former Australian rules footballer and who played for the Carlton Football Club and the St Kilda Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He also served as a ...

. He was a member of Carlton premiership teams in 1981 and 1982, playing in the

back pocket Vulfpeck is an American funk/soul music, soul band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2011. Founded by multi-instrumentalists Jack Stratton, Theo Katzman, Woody Goss, and bassist Joe Dart, the band has released four extended plays, six studio a ...

. Perovic was noted for his long right-foot kicks. During his time at Carlton, fans would shout "woof!" every time he kicked the ball. Perovic was the first Carlton player whose kicks were acknowledged in this way. This chant, originally based on the crowd mimicking a grunt that Perovic would make when kicking the ball, has since become a traditional chant bestowed upon later long-kicking left-footed Carlton players; specifically, Ang Christou in the 1990s,

Chris Bryan Chris Bryan (born 6 March 1982) is a former sportsman who played both Australian rules football and American football professionally. Bryan played in the Australian Football League (AFL) from 2005 until 2009, and then in the National Football Le ...

in the 2000s, Matthew Watson in the 2010s, and

Adam Saad Adam Saad (born 23 July 1994) is an Australian rules footballer currently playing for the Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League. He previously played for the Gold Coast Suns and the Essendon Football Club. Early career As a ...

in the 2020s. Perovic often polled well in the

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

, finishing as St Kilda's top vote-getter in the 1978 award and twice for Carlton, which included an eighth placing in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. Perovic lived in Ballarat throughout his VFL career, commuting to Melbourne twice a week for training and then again for matches on the weekend. He worked in the building industry."Life After AFL Footy - Val Perovic"
AFL YouTube, 7 June 2012.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perovic, Val 1953 births Living people VFL/AFL players born outside Australia North Ballarat Football Club players Carlton Football Club players Carlton Football Club premiership players St Kilda Football Club players Yugoslav emigrants to Australia Australian people of Croatian descent Australian rules footballers from Ballarat VFL/AFL premiership players 20th-century Australian sportsmen