Canning City Soccer Club

Canning City

Full name	Canning City Soccer Club
Nickname(s)	The Blues, Blue & Whites, City
Founded	1972
Ground	Willetton Sports Club Burrendah Boulevard, Willetton
Ground Capacity	~3000
Chairman	Jeff Rowlands
Manager	Paul Oliver
League	Football West First Division
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Canning City Soccer Club is a football (soccer) club, based in Willetton, Western Australia. They were originally established as Canning Corinthians in 1972, that entity dissolving in 1992, before returning to the Western Australia State League in 2001 as Canning City Soccer Club.

The team won promotion from the Football West First Division to the Football West Premier League in the 2008 season, in the process becoming the first team in 41 years to complete the promotion unbeaten. Canning won 16 of their 22 games and drew 6 en route to the Premier League, scoring 70 goals in the process. The club play their home games at the Willetton Sports Club, in Willetton.

Club history

Canning Corinthians were formed in 1972, and began competing in the old Third Division of the Soccer Federation of WA. Success was not far off, as in 1976, Corinthians won promotion to the Second Division. Corinthians enjoyed 7 solid years in the second division, finishing in mid-table places before being relegated at the end of the 1983 season.

Although hoping to return to the Second Division, it was not to be, and only one season after finding themselves competing in this division they were relegated further to the Fourth Division. Three years of mid-high table finishes culminated in 2nd place in the league in 1988, and a return to Third Division football. Corinthians spent 3 years in this division, eventually winning it in 1991 to ensure a return to the old Second Division.

Corinthians spent one last successful season in the Second Division, finishing a respectable 7th place, however, off the field, plans were in place that would change the club. In 1993, Canning Corinthians merged with Melville Alemania to become the Leeming Strikers football club. The junior entity of Canning Corinthians remained, rebranded as the Canning Cosmos.

Having developed one of the largest junior clubs in Western Australia, under the guidance of then-chairman Hans Meyer, the club decided that it would again compete as a senior side in the semi-professional leagues, and Canning City Soccer Club was born, entering the State League First Division in 2001.

After only 7 years in the First Division, Canning City won promotion to the Premier League by 9pts over its nearest rival. The development of the junior set-up in the club by Hans Meyer was instrumental in this promotion as nearly all of the first team squad had played football at some stage for the Canning Cosmos, a statistic which was a great source of pride to then chairman, Malcolm Watson.

Canning's debut in the Premier League started off considerably well taking points off Swan United FC, Inglewood United, Sorrento FC and Floreat Athena. However a poor 2nd half of the season saw the team slowly creep down the ladder, and only taking 2pts from 11 fixtures left the club bottom of the table. A 1-0 loss to Floreat Athena in the return fixture at Willetton Sports Club confirmed relegation for the club, as closest rivals Cockburn City were able to beat an under-strength Perth SC 2-0.

Club honours

Semi-Professional record

The table below shows Canning City's final standings in past seasons.

External links

• Official website
• Football West
• Football Federation Australia