Bankstown City Lions
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| Bankstown Lions - Sydney Makedonia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Bankstown Football Club |
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| Nickname(s) | CHAMPIONS, LIONS, MACEDONIA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 2002 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Jenson Oval | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 8000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | Cele | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Peter MALKISMENI | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | NSWPL | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NSWPL 2005 | Champions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bankstown City Lions Also known as Sydney Makedonia are an Australian football (soccer) team that plays in the New South Wales Premier League. The Bankstown City Lions are based in the Sydney suburb of Sefton and play their home games at Jensen Oval.
The Bankstown City Lions have a predominantly Macedonian support group with an organised supporters group called Lions Pride which were established in 2004.
A rivalry exists between the fans of Bankstown City Lions and the Rockdale City Suns, who also have a heavy Macedonian fan base. Due to past ethnic tensions between Macedonians and Greeks , rivalries also exist between Bankstown City Lions and several Sydney based teams with a large Greek fan base. These clubs include Sydney Olympic FC and the Canterbury-Marrickville Berries.
History of Bankstown Lions
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Summer of 1974 and all soccer seasons were in there pre-season and the annual 'Makedonia Soccer Tournament was being held in Port Kembla, Wollongong
Many Macedonians had migrated from Macedonia and were settling in Australia as the hot spots were Bankstown , Rockdale , Arncliffe etc in NSW.
13/14 Men aged from 17-30 with previous soccer experience in the Yugoslav republic attended the tournament from Sydney as spectators.
After hearing that the tournament had an odd number teams the organisors of the competition offered these blokes from Sydney a 'Wild Card' Entry to play.
The men all chipped in to meet the requirements for a $50 fee and At this point the first recorded Yagoona Macedonia squad was formed in history and played the tournament in borrowed/bought gear.
The progressed through the first day to the semi finals
the next day bringing there own gear and being prepared won there semi final which lead them to the grand final to meet Canberra Macedonia in the final.
When going back to Sydney they picked up a few more Macedonian top class players and were set to play the grand final against Canberra Macedonia.
They won 3-1 and was the first recorded cup victory for Yagoona Makedonia.
That night they celebrated the famous victory at a restaurant in Bankstown.
The following season (1975) Yagoona Makedonia competeted in their first domestic season and there first recorded game by the Bankstown Soccer Federation was versus Padstow. As the years passed so did the players and new faces began to emerge in the ever growing Macedonian Sydney based club. Gradually the club began to be a power house of Soccer in Australia and changed its name to Sydney Macedonia SC not long after 1975.
In 1988 they were promoted to New South Wales Division 2 where they finished 3rd and the following year (1989) they were Champions of Div2 only losing only 3 games all season and received promotion to New South Wales Division 1. They finished 6th in there first year in Division 1.
In 1992 Sydney Makedonia played its first game in the elite league of NSW. The following year the finished second however went onto win the grand final scoring a goal in the final minute vs Blacktown City and were Premiers of 1993 which set the foundation for the ever famous Sydney Makedonia '94 squad.
1994 was clearly the best year in the clubs history at all levels with some of the best talent such as Baillee , Reveley , Sooper , Josevski , Todorovski and more. The squad went through the season just losing one game out of 22 and winning 16. They scored 52 goals and only let 9 in all season. They went on to win the grand final. The silverware did not stop there Sydney Makedonia went on to play Sydney Olympic in 1994 for the prestigious Waratah Cup at Marconi Stadium. A Sellout crowd witnessed Sydney Makedonia defeat Olympic 2-1 at Marconi Stadium and were crowned Champions of all Clubs in NSW. The treble has been completed.
The next bit of silverware was in 2001 when the club played in division 1 during this period there home ground was getting improved with new lights and new covering. That year when all renovations were complete the club regained participation in NSW Premier League.
In 2004 Bankstown Lions finished once again in the top 4 and made it into the grand final, Without the services of a known playmaker George Nohra in the side, Bankstown coach Andy Papoulias pinned his faith in a veteran and relative unknown in a bid to breakdown the tough Blue Devils defence.
Saso Boskovski in the twilight of his career and Dimitri Nicolaou, a relative unknown, performed brilliantly in the centre of the park steering their side to a historic victory.
A veteran of the clubs last two championship wins in 1993 and 1994 Boskovski was the difference between the two sides, turning back the clock in a cameo performance which earned him Man of the Match honours.
Maligned for much of the season as 'pretenders' the Lions dominated proceedings from start to finish, not allowing their more profile opponents to get into any real rhythm. With Matthew Borg and Sean Babic using the speed to full effect, the Blue Devils spent most of their afternoon camped inside their back third as they tried desperately to repel the Lions onslaught and Bankstown come home with the victory 2 - 1
2005 was the year of the Lion once again with Sasho Petrovski joining the ranks shortly being grabed by A League Club Sydney FC , with bankstown being dealt the bad hand losing master mind coach Andy Papoulias leaving for Cyprus, Richard Luksic gone to malayasia along side Buddy Farrah and Chad Gibson going to Queensland Roar, Bankstown was left out in the rain until Peter Tsekenis took on the role of Player Coach, looking for someone to fill in the gap that the players that left had caused Tsekenis looked for a someone that will fill all these roles rapt in one he found Former Marconi Stallions,Millwall F.C and Piacenza player Daniel Severino , Daniel Severino joined the ranks and made a direct impact on arrival, Bankstown has the Championship in sight and its jurney was long and frustrating but they continued there 100% record in Grand Finals with defeating Bonnyrigg White Eagles 3 - 1
[edit] Players and Former Players
- Alen Stajcic
- Sasho
