Sydney Olympic FC
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| Sydney Olympic FC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Sydney Olympic Football Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1957 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Ground | Belmore Sports Ground, Belmore, New South Wales |
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| Capacity | 11,500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman | James Kospetas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head Coach | Manny Spanoudakis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | New South Wales Premier League | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Premier League, | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian football (soccer) club based in Sydney, Australia. The club has also been known as Pan-Hellenic, UTS Olympic and Olympic Sharks.
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[edit] History
[edit] Foundation in 1958 to relegation from the NSL in 1979
Sydney Olympic was founded in 1958 by Greek immigrants, under the name Pan-Hellenic. The original strip as worn by the club consisted of blue and white vertical stripes. The club quickly became competitive in the New South Wales 1st Division, and also attracted good crowds. The highlight of the pre-National Soccer League era came ten years after the team's founding, when in 1968 they reached the New South Wales First Division Grand Final, eventually going down 4-2 to Sydney City.
In 1977 the club became a founding member of the National Soccer League, and also changed their name to Sydney Olympic. Just two years after the commencement of the NSL, Sydney Olympic was relegated back to the New South Wales First Division after finishing second last in 1979. The relegation was caused in a bid by the league to cut back on teams from NSW, and as Sydney Olympic were the bottom placed NSW team for the 1979 season, were the chosen candidate for relegation.
[edit] Regaining promotion in 1980, to NSL title in 1989/90
The spell back in State League competition did not last long with Sydney Olympic defeating the Parramatta Eagles in the 1980 Grand Final of the New South Wales First Division. That victory secured Sydney Olympic a return to top flight Australian football in 1981 where they remained until the NSL's demise in 2004.
After three consecutive mid-table finishes from 1981-1983, Olympic became one of the more formidable sides of the competition in the remainder of the 1980's. This period included Grand Final losses in 1984 to South Melbourne, 1986 to Adelaide City and 1989 to city rival Marconi. The following season, the NSL's first summer season, saw Olympic overturn their loss to Marconi when the two teams met again in the season 1989/90 Grand Final. Sydney Olympic won the game 2-0 with goals to Alistair Edwards and Robert Ironside before a crowd of 26,353 which was a record at that time in Australian club soccer.
[edit] 1990's - Mid-table struggler
The 1990's saw Olympic slip back somewhat, with a series of mid-table finishes, and a poor record in the finals when they did reach them. In season 1995/96, Sydney Olympic formed a partnership with the University of Technology, Sydney and became known as UTS Sydney Olympic. During that time, the club's home ground was Leichhardt Oval. Season 1996/97 saw a change of home ground to the Belmore Sports Ground. In April of 1997, Sydney Olympic enjoyed a record home attendance at Belmore of 13,724 against the Marconi Stallions. The club's worst defeat came in January 1998 when the Canberra Cosmos inflicted an 8-1 loss on Olympic. During season 1998/99 Sydney Olympic was involved in the match which attracted the largest crowd for a home and away game in the NSL's history. In what was the Nothern Spirit's debut match in the NSL, a crowd of 18,985 saw Sydney Olympic defeat the Spirit at North Sydney Oval 2-0.
[edit] 2000-present - Successful last years of NSL and return to State League
The 2000's saw Olympic's fortunes take an upturn, starting with their biggest ever NSL win, a 6-0 defeat of South Melbourne in January 2000 at Belmore Sports Ground. Season 2000/01 saw Sydney Olympic finish fourth on the competition ladder. During the finals, Olympic made it through to the Preliminary Final, losing 2-0 against Minor Premier and eventual runner-up South Melbourne.
Season 2001/02 saw the club move base once again, this time to the Sutherland Shire in Sydney's south, an area with no NSL represenation, but a large base of registered junior players to potentially tap into. Olympic played out of Toyota Park. The move had also involved a change of name from Sydney Olympic to 'Olympic Sharks' with the traditional blue and white colours of the Club still in place. This season also saw Olympic capture their second NSL title, a lone Ante Milicic goal being enough to defeat Perth Glory at Subiaco Oval in front of 42,000 fans. The following season saw the Olympic Sharks win its first ever minor premiership by finishing on top of the NSL ladder, which eventually lead to a rematch of the previous season's final. This time however, it would be Perth who would take out the title, winning 2-0.
Despite the on field successes, the move to the Sutherland Shire was short lived. Poor attendances took their toll on the venture and for season 2003/2004 the club chose to revert to the widely preferred name of Sydney Olympic and moving to OKI Jubilee Stadium at Kogarah. Following the demise of the NSL in 2004, Sydney Olympic participated in the NSW Premier League and just missed out on the end-of-season final series. In 2006 Sydney Olympic returned to Belmore Sports Ground and also forged a relationship with the Eastern Suburbs Soccer Football Association.
[edit] Honours
Australian National Champions: 1989/90, 2001/02 Australian Champion Runners Up: 1984, 1986, 1989, 2002/03 Australian Premiers: 2002/03 Australian Cup Winners: 1983, 1985
[edit] Famous former players
- Brett Emerton
- Joel Porter
- Nick Carle
- Jason Culina
- Chris Kalantzis
- Zenon Caravella
- Andre Gumprecht
- Ned Zelic
- Clint Bolton
- Ante Milicic
- Robert Ironside
- Clint Gosling
- Andrew Bernal
- Tony Franken
- Ian Rush
- Nick Theodorakopoulos
- Tim Cahill (juniors)
- Frank Soubris
- Charles Perkins
