Melbourne Knights FC

The Melbourne Knights Football Club is a football club from Melbourne, Australia. The club is one of the most successful football teams in Australia; they were twice champion of the former first division of the country and the predecessor of today's Victorian Premier League, the National Soccer League. The club is located in the southern region of Melbourne, and has great sympathy support from the Australian- Croatian community.

• 4.1 Social Role
• 4.2 Political Role

• 5.1 Footscray JUST
• 5.2 South Melbourne
• 5.3 Other

• 6.1 National Soccer League
• 6.2 Victorian Premier / Provisional League and regional titles
• 6.3 Other

History

The Melbourne Knights were founded in 1953 as Croatia SC by a group of Croatian immigrants in the region of Melbourne. Their first game they carried out on 10 April 1953. In 1954 she became a member of the Victorian Soccer Federation, and they were founded in the same year Victorian Provisional League at. The club rose mid-1960s to become one of the most successful teams in the state of Victoria. In the 1990s, the Melbourne Knights were the leading team in Australia; they reached in five of six cases, the final, which they won twice. In the season 1993/ 94, the renaming of SC Croatia followed to Melbourne Knights. After the collapse of the NSL in 2004, the club entered, in addition to the other representatives of Victoria South Melbourne FC, ​​back in the Victorian Premier League game.

Logo History

Fans

The Melbourne Knights have a large and loyal support group. It is the largest outside the Australasian A-League. Most fans come from the local community of Melbourne and Geelong, and have Croatian roots or they come from Croatia. But the Knights also have a large following throughout the country.

The Melbourne Knights have an unofficial fan club called MCF (abbreviation for " Melbourne Croatia fans "). She is the most active and most vocal in the VPL. Also known are the fans from Quary Hill. They were during the time of National Soccer League one of the leading fan clubs in this competition, but they broke up after the end of the NSL.

Stadium

The home of the Melbourne Knights is currently the Knights Stadium in Sunshine North, Victoria, which was built in 1989. Originally, the club house was situated on a villa plot, which you could buy through donations from the owner. The capacity of the stadium is 15,000 seats, and the " Knights " have with the Knights Stadium a few clubs as a private clubhouse.

2008, the stadium was completely renovated. For the 2009 season, the stadium was renamed " Mansion stage," according to the online betting shop Mansion88. 2011 were exchanged to perform the first round of the Australasian Supercross World Championships 900 old and broken seats.

Non- footballing roles

Social role

The club played and still plays a major role in the Croatian- Australian community. After many Croats fled to the south after the Second World War, many football teams were established, which were based upon the ethnic background. The Melbourne Knights was for many Croatian immigrants to the center of their community, because here they could communicate with others in their native language, and feel a part of these people. In addition, they allowed Croatian festivals and celebrations on the former sports ground the Melbourne Knights. Through the club many Croatian traditions and culture in Australia remained.

Political role

Over time, the association developed a symbol of Croatian nationalism in Victoria, where many people have fled the communist regime in Yugoslavia. So the club served as a "political message " of the Croatian people in Australia for a free Croatia. Even after the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, the Melbourne Knights were considered as a symbol of pride for the Croats. After Croatia became independent, there was the political role of the club any longer.

Rivalries

Footscray JUST

The Melbourne Knights had many rivals throughout the years. The largest was the one with Footscray JUST. Since JUST, as well as the Knights, had originated from Yugoslavia, hatred of the two clubs was great. The rivalry began in the 1960s when she competed for the first time in the Victorian State League against each other.

• Games: 32
• Wins: 12
• Losses: 12
• Draws: 10

South Melbourne

After Footscray JUST was relegated from the NSL, there was the greatest rivalry between them and the South Melbourne FC.

• Games: 96
• Wins: 25
• Losses: 45
• Draws: 26

Other

Also, there are rivalries between them and Perth Glory, the Preston Lions, Green Gully, Heidelberg United and Sunshine George Cross.

Achievements

National Soccer League

• Australian champion: 1994/95, 1995/96
• Australian runner-up: 1990/91, 1991/92, 1993/94
• Australian Minor Premiers Champion: 1990 /91 1991/92 1993 /94 1994/95
• Play-off participants: 1984, 1985, 1989, 1989/90, 1990/91, 1991/ 92 1993/94 1994/95 1995/96 1996/97 2000/01 2001/ 02
• NSL Cup winner: 1994/95
• NSL Cup Vice: 1984

Victorian Premier / Provisional League and regional titles

• Victorianischer champion: 1968, 1978, 1979
• Victorianischer runner-up: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 2008
• Victorianischer Minor Premiers Champion: 2007, 2008
• Play-off participants: 2007, 2008
• Victorian State League Cup Champions: 1971, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983
• Victorian State League Cup runners-up: 1982
• Victorian State League Cup semi-finalists: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983
• Dockerty / Mirabella Cup Champions: 1968, 1969, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1996
• Dockerty / Mirabella Cup runner-up: 1965, 1977, 1982, 1995, 2011
• Ampol Cup / Buffalo Cup Champion: 1968, 1971, 1972, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1986, 1987
• Ampol Cup / Buffalo Cup runner-up: 1969, 1984, 1985
• Victorian Division One champions: 1959, 1961 (as Preston Croat ), 1962, 1964
• Victorian Division Two runners-up: 1958
• Victorian Metropolian / Provisional League runner-up: 1954, 1955, 1957

Other

• Ansett Challenge Shield Champion: 1986, 1987
• Armstrong Cup Champion: 1966, 1977
• Intercity Cup Champion: 1971
• Intercity Cup runner-up: 1968, 1972
• Tynan Eyre Cup Champion: 2001
• Tynan Eyre Cup runner-up: 1998, 1999, 2000
• Australian- Croatian Soccer Tournament Champion: 1993, 2010, 2011, 2012