North Geelong Warriors FC

North Geelong Warriors FC
Full name North Geelong Warriors
Football Club
Nickname(s) Warriors, Croatia
Founded 1967
Ground Australian Croatian Sporting Centre, Elcho Park, Lara
Capacity 4,000
Chairman Andro Jurković
Coach Micky Čolina
League National Premier Leagues Victoria
Website Club home page

North Geelong Warriors (Croatia) Football Club is a semi-professional football club from the regional Victorian city of Geelong. The club is currently competing in the National Premier Leagues Victoria.

The club was founded in 1967 by the large contingent of ethnic Croatians in the city of Geelong and is a regular participant in the Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament, which it has hosted 4 times and won for the first time in 2014.

The club's biggest achievement is winning the 1992 Victorian Premier League title - becoming the first promoted side to ever achieve such a feat.

History

Early Beginnings

North Geelong Warriors FC was formed in 1967 as North Geelong Croatia by newly arrived Croatian migrants; namely Joe Radojevic, Vinko Radojevic, Aldo Siketa, Ivan Sesar and Mirko Hrkac. The club's first season saw them compete in Division 2 of the Ballarat and Geelong Districts Soccer Association in 1968.

The club slowly moved its way up the Victorian leagues. By 1972 the club was competing in the Victorian Provisional League. But that year would prove to be a dark year for the club. North Geelong was expelled from the Victorian Provisional League after an altercation in a match with Werribee City FC. North Geelong was accepted back into the Ballarat and Geelong Districts Soccer Association competition in 1973, but did not re-enter the Victorian Provisional League until 1979. By 1984 the club had risen up to Division 2 where they remained until they won the Division 2 title in 1989, achieving promotion to Division 1.

Victorian Premier League Success

1990 saw Melbourne Knights FC legend Branko Culina take over as head manager. He would lead the side for three seasons and go on to have an incredible impact on the club in what would be its most successful period. In 1991, the club won the Division 1 title, finishing a point ahead of Knox City. Their clinching of the Division 1 title meant that the side would be competing in the Victorian Premier League for the first time in the club's history. In its inaugural season, the club surprised everyone, finishing first and collecting the Minor Premiership. The club then went on to make the Grand Final, where they faced former National Soccer League champions Brunswick Zebras FC at Middle Park.

North Geelong’s George Karkaletsis opened the scoring on the 22nd minute. Brunswick equalized 4 minutes later. North Geelong then ripped Brunswick apart in extra time, scoring 3 unanswered goals from Adrian Cervinski, Robert Markovac and Robert Cosic. It was an unprecedented event, the only time a newly promoted side had won the title in their first season. Players in this championship side included Steve Horvat, Adrian Cervinski and David Cervinski. All three players would become successful players in the National Soccer League. All three were a part of the Melbourne Knights National Soccer League championship side of the mid 90s.

1993 was another successful season. The club finished third in the regular season, making the finals for a second year in a row. But this time their finals campaign did not prove to rewarding as in the previous season. The club lost both its finals matches, including a heartbreaking loss in extra time to Sunshine George Cross. The next three seasons saw the club miss out on finals action, finishing mid table. But some joy came with the club producing another star player in Josip Skoko.

State League Years

1997 proved to be a disastrous season for the club, finishing 2nd last and being relegated to Division 1. In 1999 the club was relegated to Division 2. It had been a quick fall from the top. The club remained in Division 2 for the next 6 seasons, with poor results.

All that changed by 2005, when fan favourites Adrian Cervinski and David Cervinski had returned to the club. The club won the championship in 2005, losing only 4 matches and were promoted to Division 1. The club went into the 2006 Division 1 season with high hopes, undefeated in their first 7 games, but slowly they fell away, eventually finishing a respectable 4th and missing out on promotion to the Victorian Premier League.

With a number of players leaving the squad at the start of the 2007 season, North Geelong struggled throughout and were subject to relegation. However, with a new batch of players and new coach Vinko Buljubasic the club came 4th at the end of the 2008 season. In 2009 the club was promoted back into the State League Division 1 after clinching the Division 2 title.

After an inconsistent 2010 season, the club finished in 8th spot, well clear of relegation, but also lower than expectations. In the summer of 2011, Vinko Buljubasic was relieved of his duties as manager and replaced by Ante Skoko with his brother, a recently retired professional footballer, Josip Skoko, as his assistant. At the end of the 2012 season, with the club just missing out on promotion, the Skoko brothers stepped down from their joint post as managers of the club.

Appointed in early 2013 was young coach Mario Jurjevic who had previously been in charge of a Melbourne Knights FC youth side. A large exodus of players, which included key players either retiring or moving onto greener pastures, meant that a large void had been left in the squad which the club aimed to replace with talented youth. The project ultimately proved unsuccessful with coach Jurjevic replaced as manager half way through the 2013 season with the club languishing in bottom place. Previous managers Ante and Josip Skoko returned to the helm to try and steady the ship. Despite a heroic end of season effort where the club won four games in a row and put them into a relegation play-off match, the Warriors lost this game and were relegated to State League Two.

National Premier Leagues Victoria Years

After a restructuring of football in Victoria in 2014, North Geelong found their bid for a place in the National Premier Leagues accepted, therefore avoiding relegation and remaining in the second tier of football in Victoria, now known as the National Premier Leagues Victoria 1.

Ante Skoko resigned from his post three months into the new season, with the club in 11th place in the new 14 team league. Former St Albans manager Micky Čolina took over and the club went on a historic run of form, including a run of eight straight wins, equaling a club record set in 1991. The club sealed their promotion to the 2015 National Premier Leagues Victoria on the 13th of September, 2014, with a 1-0 win over rivals St Albans Saints SC. The club ended the season in second place, three points adrift of league champions Avondale Heights SC.

In the summer of 2014/15, the club went for the route of stability, re-signing head manager Čolina to a two year deal and retaining the core of the promoted 2014 squad, rather than splashing out on lavish new signings.

City of Greater Geelong Cup

North Geelong also competes in the annual City of Greater Geelong Cup (previously known as the Geelong Advertiser Cup) which the club has dominated throughout the years and has won a total of 20 Cup titles (the most titles won by a club).

North Geelong holds the record in the City of Greater Geelong Cup with 7 consecutive wins from 1991 - 1997. North Geelong's biggest victory in a final was in 1996 at Stead Park with a record breaking 8-1 thrashing of rivals Geelong and in 2012 where North Geelong defeated Corio 8-1 at Bell Park Sporting Club. The Geelong Cup is in its 34th year with North Geelong winning more than half of the Cup's titles.

Rivalries

Rivalries of the club primarily include local clubs Geelong Rangers, Corio SC and Geelong SC. Apart from these three local rivalries, which stem mostly due to the geographical proximities of the clubs, the Warriors also have somewhat friendly rivalries against fellow Victorian Croatian backed clubs Melbourne Knights and St. Albans Saints

Affiliated clubs

North Geelong Warriors FC has a sister club relationship with Croatian based clubs Melbourne Knights and St Albans Saints with the frequent movement of players within each club.

Current squad

First-team

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
Australia GK Daniel Žilić
Australia GK Hamish Flavell
Australia GK Tonio Barešić
Australia DF Nathan Long
Australia DF Matthew Townley
Australia DF Darren Lewis
Australia DF Michael Grgić
Australia DF Anthony Banovac
Australia DF Nicholas Jurčić
Australia DF Josh Pugh
No. Position Player
Australia MF Reardo Luka
Australia MF Nikola Jurković
Australia MF Vito Cichello
Australia MF Mark Paleka
Australia MF Matija Dragović
Australia MF Milan Sekulić
Australia FW Robert Zadworny
Australia FW Micheal Anderson
Australia FW Juso Julardžija
Australia FW Tomislav Trbuhović

Honours

State

Other

Individual Honours

Victorian Premier League Gold Medal - VPL Player of the Year

Bill Fleming Medal - Media voted VPL Player of the Year

Victorian Premier league Coach of the Year

Victorian Premier League Under 21 Player of the Year

Victorian Premier League Jim Rooney Medal - Grand Final Man of the Match

Weinstein Medal Junior Player of the Year

Divisional History

International Representatives

Australia

Socceroos

Australia U-23

Australia U-20

Australia U-17

Croatia

Croatia national football team

Notable coaches

See also

Australian football (soccer) league system
Geelong Regional Football Association
List of Croatian football clubs in Australia

References

    External links