Adelaide Raiders

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Raiders

Full name

Adelaide Raiders Soccer Club

Nickname(s)

Raiders, Adelaide Croatia

Founded

1952

Ground

Croatian Sports Centre, Gepps Cross
(Capacity -)

Chairman

Manager

League

FFSA Super League

2006

Super League, 3rd





Home colours





Away colours

Raiders are a football (soccer) club in Adelaide, South Australia. Raiders play in the new South Australian Super League. Their home ground is the Croatian Sports Centre in Gepps Cross, north of Adelaide. They are a Croatian-backed club and are also known by the name of Adelaide Croatia. Their rival club is the Serbian-supported White City Woodville.

[edit] History

The Adelaide Croatia Soccer Club was founded in 1952 by a group of Croatian migrants who named the club after their war-torn homeland. The group included the late Fahrudin Ceric, the then President, Cvjetko Milanovic & Drago Pispek.

They club affiliated with the SASFA and played in the metropolitan division for five years. Their first game against a team from the Phillips Factory at Hendon. Its first home ground was at the South parklands on Greenhill Rd.

In 1954, Mr Branko Filipi, who was a significant leader in the club's early history, became the club president and remained so for the next 14 years. Along with his enthusiastic committee, Mr Filipi began securing the services of a number of promising recruits. In 1958 Adelaide Croatia entered into the fourth division and narrowly missed being promoted into the third division. That same year, the late Charles Perkins, now remembered as a leading Aboriginal activist, joined the team and later represented Australia. Charles Perkins was one of the most well known individuals to come out of Adelaide Croatia Soccer Club. In his autobiography he reflected with fondness on his friendships with Adelaide Croats and other immigrants he met through the club. Football is a truly multicultural sport and Adelaide Croatia reflected this.

In 1959 the club convincingly won the second division championship and secured a place in the first division for the first time. Once in the first division, Adelaide Croatia's fixtures and results were listed in the international football pools. This was not historically significant as Adelaide Croatia was one of many Croatian teams from Australia in the pools.

In 1960 the club also made a move to its new headquarters at Hanson Reserve. There it remained until the year 2000 when it moved to its magnificent sporting complex at Gepps Cross.

The club's first major milestone was in 1961 when Croatia downed Cumberland 4-nil to win the Ampol Cup. The Advertiser, in its report on the match, wrote that any team in the state could have beaten Croatia; it was simply luck. The club then moved from strength to strength and became a force in local football; also based on good fortune. But it wasn't until 1980 that Croatia won the coveted first place in the first division. Since then Croatia has won the league on another four occasions: in 1984, 1988, 1997 and 2002.

A major higlight in the clubs history came in 1985. As the champions of South Australia, Adelaide Croatia was invited to take part in the National Soccer League Cup. Adeladie Croatia had a remarkable run defeating both of Adelaide's NSL sides, Adelaide City and West Adelaide, 1-0 in the opening two rounds. The club lost in the quarter-finals to another NSL side, Sunshine George Cross. It was a valiant display seeing Croatia go down 1-0 in a tightly fought match. The club also managed to win the 2007 Errea Cup against Campbelltown City 1-0 in extra time.