Marconi Stallions FC
 | |||
| Full name | Marconi Stallions Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Stallions | ||
| Founded | 1958 | ||
| Ground |
Marconi Stadium Bossley Park, Sydney New South Wales, Australia | ||
| Capacity | 9,000 | ||
| Chairman | Vince Foti | ||
| Head Coach | Jeff Suzor | ||
| League | National Premier Leagues NSW 2 | ||
| Website | Club home page | ||
|
| |||
The Marconi Stallions Football Club is an Australian semi-professional football club based in Fairfield, Sydney, New South Wales. The club won the National Soccer League title a record four times, along with South Melbourne and Sydney City SC. The club is one of only two clubs to have competed in every season of the NSL.
The club is a member of the National Premier Leagues NSW 2, playing their home games out of Marconi Stadium, in Bossley Park.
History
Club Marconi was founded in 1956[1] by 106 foundation members of the Italian community in the Western Suburbs of Sydney to play Bocce. It is named after Guglielmo Marconi, who was highly regarded in sending the first direct wireless message from Great Britain to Australia. The football (soccer) club first appeared in 1959 as a youth team, and the first senior side competed in the 1961 NSW amateur championship that it won by 8 points.[2] The football team for Club Marconi was formerly known as Marconi-Fairfield to reflect the geographical location of the club at Bossley Park within the City of Fairfield (New South Wales).
In 1971 the club was accepted into the NSW State League and was coached by Les Scheinflug.
National Soccer League (1977-2004)
Marconi were one of the original 14 teams to compete in the inaugural National Soccer League (NSL) In 1977, and finished second on goal difference to Eastern Suburbs (Sydney City).[3]
Marconi were NSL champions in 1979.[4] The club's 'golden' era started in the late 1980s where they made three consecutive grand final appearances in 1988, 1989 and 1989-90. They won the 1988 and 1989 grand finals, and were minor premiers in 1989 and 1989-90.[2] Marconi won their final NSL championship in the 1992-93 season.[5]
NSW Premier League (2004-2012)
After the 2003-04 NSL season the competition was ceased. Marconi entered the NSW Premier League for the 2004-05 season. Between 2004 and 2011 in the NSW Premier League the club had mixed results, with their best season in 2009 when they finished second.[6]
In 2012, Marconi Stallions were the Champions of the NSW Premier League.[7] After a third placed league finish, Marconi beat Sydney Olympic 2-0 in the Qualifying Final, then lost to Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC 2-0 in the Major Semi-Final. In the Preliminary Final they faced Blacktown City Demons who led 2-1 at half time, but Marconi scored 3 unanswered goals in the second half to win 4-2. In the Grand Final, they came up against the minor premiers and favourites Bonnyrigg, who had won the league by 15 points and had already beaten Marconi in the finals series. Marconi won the Championship with two second half goals to win 2-0.[8]
National Premier Leagues NSW (2012-Current)
In late 2013 the Marconi Stallions were accepted into the newly formed National Premier Leagues NSW. The NPL NSW replaced the previous NSW Premier League. In their first season in the NPL NSW, Marconi finished in 8th place in the 12 team division.
Marconi was relegated to the NPL NSW 2 on 16 August 2015, after enduring the worst season in their history and for the first time ever will compete below the top division in 2016. The Stallions earned just seven points all season and after a mass player exodus, ended the season with ten consecutive defeats.[9]
The Stallions began their rebuilding in October, 2015, with the aim of getting straight back in the top NSW division. They signed Oakleigh Cannons FC duo Sean Rooney and Mirjan Pavlović, along with Rockdale City Suns attacker Marko Ješić.[10] All three players have former A-League experience with Newcastle Jets FC. The club released a statement on November 6 confirming the three aforementioned signings, along with announcing that former Sydney Olympic captain Petar Markovic and Emmanuel Giannaros have also joined the Stallions cause for 2016.[11]
Rivalries
Marconi vs Olympic has always been one of the biggest rivalries in Australian football, constantly involved in big and important matches multiplied by the fact that both clubs were backed by large migrant populations of Italians (Marconi) and Greeks (Olympic).
Marconi has a rivalry with Sydney United due to closeness of the two clubs. Sydney United is located in Edensor Park and play out of King Tomislav Club which is only 1 km south of Club Marconi. The Croatian club have been rivals of the Stallions since 1971 when Marconi were promoted to the State League.
The Stallions and the Tigers have a friendly rivalry. These two clubs are the two Italian backed clubs in New South Wales. The two clubs compete every season in the Italian Derby.
Honours
- NSL Champions – 1979, 1988, 1989, 1992–93
- NSL Minor Premiers – 1989, 1989–90, 1995–96
- NSL Cup Winners – 1980
- NSW 1st Division Champions – 1972, 1973, 2012
- National Youth League Champions: – 1988, 1995–96
- Brad Maloney won the Johnny Warren Medal while playing for Marconi in the 1998-99 NSL season.
Divisional History
- 1962-1963 NSW Federation Amateurs
- 1964-1969 NSW Second Division
- 1970-1976 NSW First Division
- 1977-2003/4 National Soccer League
- 2004/5 – 2012 NSW Premier League
- 2013-2015 NPL NSW
- 2016–present NPL NSW 2
Former players
References
- ↑ Alic, Dijana (July 3, 2013). "Shifting Grounds: Identity Politics and Sydney's Ethnic Clubs" (PDF). Retrieved November 30, 2015.
- 1 2 "History of Marconi". www.ozfootball.net. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
- ↑ "Australian Soccer". www.ozfootball.net. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
- ↑ "Australian Soccer". www.ozfootball.net. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
- ↑ "The Australian National Soccer League". www.ozfootball.net. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
- ↑ "Marconi Stallions - PS4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men's 1". www.nswpl.com.au. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
- ↑ "NSW Premier League 2012 Index". www.socceraust.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
- ↑ "NSW Premier League 2012 - Fixtures/Results". www.socceraust.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
- ↑ "Fixtures/Results - PS4 National Premier Leagues NSW Men's 1". www.nswpl.com.au. Retrieved 2015-11-30.
- ↑ http://www.cornerflag.com.au/pavlovic-rooney-depart-oakleigh/
- ↑ http://www.clubmarconi.com.au/wp-content/uploads/bsk-pdf-manager/21_PRESS_RELEASE_-_VAUGHAN_PROFILIO.PDF
External links
- Club official website
- Deepika Ratnaraj and Sahar Shirazi (2012). "Club Marconi Fairfield". Dictionary of Sydney. Dictionary of Sydney Trust. Retrieved 9 October 2015.[CC-By-SA]. Origins of Italian social club which founded soccer club.
| Preceded by West Adelaide |
NSL Champions 1979 |
Succeeded by Sydney City |
| Preceded by APIA Leichhardt |
NSL Champions 1988–1989 |
Succeeded by Sydney Olympic |
| Preceded by Adelaide City |
NSL Champions 1992/93 |
Succeeded by Adelaide City |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||