Melbourne Knights
| Melbourne Knights FC | |||
| Basic data | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Surname | Melbourne Knights Football Club | ||
| Seat | Melbourne , Australia | ||
| founding | 1953 | ||
| Colours | red-white-blue | ||
| president | Ange Cimera | ||
| Website | melbourneknights.com.au | ||
| First soccer team | |||
| Head coach |
Andrew Marth Frank Juric (Assistant Trainer) |
||
| Venue | Knights Stadium | ||
| Places | 16,000 | ||
| league | Victorian Premier League | ||
| 2012 | 8th place | ||
|
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The Melbourne Knights Football Club is a football club from Melbourne , Australia . The club is one of the most successful football teams in Australia; they were twice champions of the country's former premier league and predecessors of today's Victorian Premier League , the National Soccer League . The association is located in the southern region of Melbourne and has great supporters from the Australian-Croatian community.
history
The association was founded in 1953 as SC Croatia by a group of Croatian immigrants in the Melbourne region . They played their first game on April 10, 1953. In 1954 they became a member of the Victorian Soccer Federation, and they joined the Victorian Provisional League , which was founded in the same year . The club rose to one of the most successful teams in the state of Victoria in the mid-1960s . In the 1990s the club became the leading team in Australia ; they reached the final in five out of six cases, which they won twice. In the 1993/94 season, SC Croatia was renamed to its current name. After the collapse of the NSL in 2004, the club, alongside the other Victoria representative South Melbourne FC , returned to the Victorian Premier League.
Logo history
Fans
The club is the largest outside of the Australasian A-League . Most of the fans are from local communities in Melbourne and Geelongs and have Croatian roots or are from Croatia. But the Knights also have a huge following across the country.
The club has an unofficial fan club called MCF (short for "Melbourne Croatia Fans"). It is the most active and loudest in the VPL. The fans of Quary Hill are also known . They were one of the leading fan clubs in this competition during the time of the National Soccer League , but they broke up after the end of the NSL.
Stadion
The club's home stadium is currently Knights Stadium in Sunshine North , Victoria , which was built in 1989. Originally the clubhouse was located on a villa property, which could be bought from the owner through donations. The stadium has a capacity of 15,000 and the Knights Stadium is the only club that has its own clubhouse.
In 2008 the stadium was completely renovated. For the 2009 season the stadium was renamed “Mansion Stadium” after the online betting company Mansion88 . In 2011, 900 old and broken seats were replaced for the first round of the Australasian Supercross World Championships.
Non-football roles
Social role
The club played and continues to play a huge role in the Croatian-Australian community. After many Croatians fled to the south after World War II, many football teams were formed based on ethnic background. The Melbourne Knights became the center of their community for many Croatian migrants, because here they could communicate with others in their mother tongue and feel part of these people. In addition, Croatian parties and celebrations were allowed on the former sports field of the Melbourne Knights. The club has preserved many of the Croatian traditions and culture in Australia .
Political role
Over time, the association developed a symbol of Croatian nationalism in Victoria, where many people fled the communist regime of Yugoslavia . So the association served as a “political message” from the Croatian people in Australia for a free Croatia . Even after the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, the Melbourne Knights were a symbol of pride for Croatians. After Croatia became independent, the club's political role no longer existed.
Rivalries
Footscray JUST
The Melbourne Knights had many rivals over the years. The biggest one was the one with Footscray JUST . Since JUST, like the Knights, had its origins in Yugoslavia, the hatred of the two clubs was great. The rivalries began in the 1960s when they first competed in the Victorian State League.
- All games against Footscray Just (from the Melbourne Knights perspective)
- Games: 32
- Wins: 12
- Losses: 12
- Draw: 10
South Melbourne
After Footscray JUST was relegated from NSL, there was the greatest rivalry between them and South Melbourne FC .
- All games against South Melbourne
- Games: 96
- Wins: 25
- Losses: 45
- Draw: 26
Other
There are also other rivalries between them and Perth Glory , the Preston Lions , Green Gully , Heidelberg United and Sunshine George Cross .
successes
National Soccer League
- Australian champion: 1994/95, 1995/96
- Australian runner-up: 1990/91, 1991/92, 1993/94
- Australian Minor Premiers Champion: 1990/91, 1991/92, 1993/94, 1994/95
- Play-off participants: 1984, 1985, 1989, 1989/90, 1990/91, 1991/92, 1993/94, 1994/95, 1995/96, 1996/97, 2000/01, 2001/02
- NSL Cup winner: 1994/95
- NSL Cup runner-up: 1984
Victorian Premier / Provisional League and regional titles
- Victorian Master: 1968, 1978, 1979
- Victorian runner-up: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 2008
- Victorian Minor Premiers Master: 2007, 2008
- Play-off participants: 2007, 2008
- Victorian State League Cup champions: 1971, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983
- Victorian State League Cup runner-up: 1982
- Victorian State League Cup semi-finalists: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983
- Dockerty / Mirabella Cup champions: 1968, 1969, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1996
- Dockerty / Mirabella Cup runners-up: 1965, 1977, 1982, 1995, 2011
- Ampol Cup / Buffalo Cup champions: 1968, 1971, 1972, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1986, 1987
- Ampol Cup / Buffalo Cup runner-up: 1969, 1984, 1985
- Victorian Division One Masters: 1959, 1961 (as Preston Croat), 1962, 1964
- Victorian Division Two runner-up: 1958
- Victorian Metropolian / Provisional League runners-up: 1954, 1955, 1957
Other
- Ansett Challenge Shield Champion: 1986, 1987
- Armstrong Cup Champions: 1966, 1977
- Inter City Cup champions: 1971
- Inter City Cup runners-up: 1968, 1972
- Tynan Eyre Cup Champion: 2001
- Tynan Eyre Cup runner-up: 1998, 1999, 2000
- Australian-Croatian football tournament champion: 1993, 2010, 2011, 2012
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The title was stripped of the Melbourne Knights because they used an unauthorized player.