West Adelaide Soccer Club

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

West Adelaide

Full name

Nickname(s)

Hellas, Sharks

Founded

1961

Dissolved

1999

Ground

Hindmarsh Stadium

Capacity

16,500





Home colours





Away colours

West Adelaide Soccer Club is a defunct Australian football (soccer) club from Adelaide, Australia. It participated in the National Soccer League from the 1977 season until the end of the 1998/99 season, after which it folded, except for the periods 1987-89 and 1990-91. It was also known as West Adelaide Hellas and Adelaide Sharks. They played in various blue and white strips, and played most of their NSL home games at Hindmarsh Stadium.

The club in its most recent incarnation was formed in 1961 as an amalgamation between West Adelaide Soccer Club (formed 1910) and Hellenic Athletic and Soccer Club (formed 1945 as Olympic Soccer Club), a team supported by the local Greek community. The almalgamated club played under the name West Adelaide Hellas, and quickly became one of the dominant clubs in the South Australian 1st Division, winning six titles from 1966-76. Joining the NSL as a foundation member in 1977, in 1978 the club became the only non-Sydney based team to win the NSL championship in the years 1977-1983, a late goal by Vic Bozanic earning a draw against local rival Adelaide City on the final day of the season, which was enough to win the title by a point from Sydney City.

From 1979 until 1986 however, the club struggled, with a best finish of seventh in 1979 for that era, and a failure to make the finals in the conference system years of 1984-86 making them a prime candidate as one of the clubs to be dumped back to the state leagues when the NSL reformed its conference system back to a single division. A three season spell in the South Australian 1st Division followed, which saw two titles and a second place finish. Re-instated to the NSL for the 1989/90 season, the club performed poorly finishing 13th, and was bumped back to the state league for another two year spell, where they won another two titles.

West Adelaide were once again re-instated into the NSL for season 1991/92, and despite another 13th place finish, the club managed to reach the finals in two of the three following seasons. During this time the club also changed its name to the Adelaide Sharks in an attempt to broaden its appeal outside its Greek migrant base. But gradually declining performances on the field, and a worsening financial situation off it, saw the club fold entirely at the end of 1998/99 season.