Bentleigh Greens SC

Full name Bentleigh Greens Soccer Club
Nickname(s) The Greens, Pagkyprio
Founded 1987
Ground Kingston Heath Soccer Complex
Ground Capacity 3,300[1][2]
Chairman Ray Georgiou
Coach John Anastasiadis
League NPL Victoria
2016 1st (League Champions)
Website Club home page

Bentleigh Greens Soccer Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Cheltenham, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The club was formed in 1986, by the Greek Cypriot community and currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. Bentleigh made nation-wide headlines as the first Club below the A-League to make the semi-final of the FFA Cup in 2014. The Greens hit another milestone a year later when they claimed their first major title, defeating South Melbourne FC in the 2015 NPL Victoria Grand Final at Lakeside Stadium.

History

Former Bentleigh Greens logo

Formation and Early Years

In 1986, a small group of former members of Cypriot Community's Soccer Club, Central City, met at 15–17 Heffernan Lane. This group determined to create a strong Greek Cypriot based team in Melbourne. There were two previous failed attempts, one in the mid-1950s and secondly Central City from 1977 to 1983 which ran under the control of the Cyprus Community of Melbourne and Victoria from 1977 to 1980.

The "Founders" at this initial meeting were Michael Christopher, Ray Georgiou, Andrew Nicolaou, Michael Iaonnou, Harry Theocharous, Phillip Philippou, Tony Antoniou and Harry Constantinou. After making a huge fund raising effort and gathering together 150 foundation members we were able to take over Greensborough and move it to Victory Park in the City of Moorabbin. The name of the club was changed to Bentleigh Greens.

Rise to the Victorian Premier League

The club competed in the First Division of the Provisional League in 1987 season. That year the club finished runners up to Chelsea on goal difference, achieving promotion to Victorian League Division 4. The club was promoted to Division 3 in 1989 after a second-place finish, after just two years in Division 4. Bentleigh amazingly were promoted to Division 2 in 1990, having just been promoted to Division 3 that year. Two more promotions followed in 1993 and 1995, taking the Greens from Division 2 to the Victorian Premier League for the first time in the club's history. The 1995 promotion was the fifth promotion for the club in nine years, marking a very impressive rise through the ranks of Victorian football for the recently established Bentleigh side.[3]

Bentleigh went into their first ever VPL campaign under the management of Harry Chalkitis, managing a fourth-place finish and qualifying for the finals series. The Greens met Green Gully SC in the elimination final, but went down 3–1. The following campaign was even stronger for Bentleigh, finishing runners-up in the regular season, finishing just two points behind winners Altona Magic, but then lost 4–1 to Green Gully in the qualifying final and 2–1 to Bulleen Inter Kings in the semi-final to crash out. Mark Bresciano scored the winner for Bulleen Inter that day.

Bentleigh were relegated in 2005, going down to the Victorian State League Division 1 for the first time since 1995. The side finished bottom of the league, managing just 16 points in 26 games. The Greens narrowly avoided successive relegations, finishing 10th in a 12 team league with the bottom two going down. The side finished just three points above the relegated Northcote City FC. Bentleigh were promoted back to the top flight in 2009, finishing second with 41 points. The side would have missed out on promotion and finished third had St Albans Saints not been deducted nine points that season.[4] In their first season back in the top flight, the Greens finished in 10th place, one above relegation.

Bentleigh made the VPL grand final in 2013, finishing third in the regular season. On their way to the final, Bentleigh beat Melbourne Knights FC 4–2 and then Northcote City 2–1, but lost to Northcote City in the grand final 3–2 in extra time.

2014–2015: FFA Cup Run and First Major Title

The club made nationwide headlines after making it to the semi-final of the inaugural FFA Cup in 2014. The Greens beat Blacktown City FC 1–0 in the Round of 32, Sydney Olympic FC 2–1 in the Round of 16, Adelaide City FC 2–1 in the quarter finals before going down 3–0 to A-League side Perth Glory FC. The match against Adelaide City was played in front of almost 2,000 people at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex,[5] while the match against Perth Glory drew a reported 3,300 people.[6] Bentleigh brought in a number of high profile players for the 2015 season, including the likes of Daniel Visevic, Steven Topalovic and Queensland trio Troy Ruthven, Matt Thurtell and Chris Lucas. The season hit a major snag when the Greens were knocked out of the 2015 FFA Cup in the qualifying stages by the unfancied Ballarat Red Devils but ended in fine style with the Club winning its first ever major title when it beat South Melbourne FC at Lakeside Stadium in the Grand Final, 3–1 after extra time.[7] Bentleigh finished runners-up to South Melbourne in the regular season, missing out on the minor and major double on goal difference.

2016: More Silverware

The Greens announced that they had secured 2015 NPL Victoria Gold Medal winner and former Melbourne Heart FC player Kamal Ibrahim as the latest addition to their 2016 roster in late 2015.[8] Later in the window, it was announced that key first-team players Steven Topalovic, Daniel Visevic and Alistair Bray would not be returning to the club in 2016.[9] Topalović and Višević joined NPL Victoria rivals Oakleigh Cannons FC and Hume City FC respectively, while Bray signed for A-League side Central Coast Mariners.[10] The Greens kicked of season 2016 by adding another trophy to their cabinet in emphatic style, this time the FFV Community Shield, beating foes South Melbourne FC at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex by a scoreline of 3–0, with McCormick, Ruthven and Wallace the scorers.[11] Bentleigh met rivals South Melbourne at the final qualifying stage for the 2016 FFA Cup. The Greens would go on to smash their opponents 4–0, sending the side through to the national stage of the Cup competition.[12]

On 17 August 2016, Bentleigh took out the 2016 Dockerty Cup, the second major trophy in its history and first Dockerty Cup title, with a 1–0 victory over Green Gully SC at ABD Stadium in Broadmeadows, with Ryan Paczkowski scoring and Ryan Scott delivering an outstanding performance in goals.[13] Just four days later, the Greens picked up their third piece of silverware for 2016, winning the NPL Victoria minor premiership for the first time in its history.[14]

Bentleigh were drawn against Adelaide-based side North Eastern MetroStars SC in the Round of 32 of the FFA Cup.[15] The Greens beat MetroStars on penalties, with the game tied at 2–2 after 90 minutes and 3–3 after extra time.[16] Bentleigh were drawn away from home against Tasmanian side Devonport City FC in the Round of 16.[17] Battling torrential rain and a stubborn Devonport Strikers side, it took extra time for Bentleigh to win through to the quarter-finals, with Matthew Thurtell scoring the game's lone goal in front of 3,000 fans at Valley Road.[18] In the quarter-finals, Bentleigh was paired with reigning Cup holders and A-League heavyweights Melbourne Victory FC.[19] Two second half goals to the A-League side saw it win out 2–0 in front of 3,754 people at Kingston Heath, a record crowd for the venue, and progress through to the semi-final of the competition.[20] After the clash, iconic captain Wayne Wallace announce his departure from the club after six years of service.[21]

Current squad

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

No. Position Player
Australia FW Ryan Paczkowski
Australia FW Matthew Thurtell
Australia MF Tyson Holmes
Australia DF Marinos Panayi
Australia DF Ross Archibald
Australia GK Ryan Scott
Australia MF Lambros Honos
No. Position Player
Australia DF Jack Webster
Australia DF Luke Pilkington
Australia MF Jakob Williams
Australia FW Chris Lucas
Australia MF Troy Ruthven
Australia MF Kieran Dover
Australia DF Joshua Brindell-South
Australia GK Kane Pierce

Honours

Individual honours

1996 – Ike Alagiozidis

2002 – Jim Kourtis

1996 – Ike Alagiozidis

1997 – Harry Chalkitis

2002 – Juan Nilo

2002 – Jim Kourtis

1996 – Vlad Babic

References

  1. ↑ "Kingston Heath Soccer Complex". Austadiums. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  2. ↑ "KINGSTON HEATH SOCCER COMPLEX". Soccerway. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  3. ↑ http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Clubs/B/BentleighGreensDH.html
  4. ↑ http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/States/VIC/2009SD1T.html
  5. ↑ http://www.theffacup.com.au/article/result-bentleigh-greens-2-1-adelaide-city/16uwcbtbx89p41jwntf1hf4ol6
  6. ↑ http://www.theffacup.com.au/matchcentre/Bentleigh-Greens-v-Perth-Glory/786063
  7. ↑ http://www.mfootball.com.au/greens-defeat-south-in-grand-final-extra-time-extraordinaire/
  8. ↑ http://www.bentleighgreens.com.au/media/1243[]
  9. ↑ http://www.cornerflag.com.au/championship-trio-depart-greens/
  10. ↑ Kounelis, Jordan. "Alastair Bray and Francesco Stella sign with Central Coast". MFootball. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  11. ↑ Kulas, Damir. "Bentleigh Bests South To Start 2016". Football Federation Victoria. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  12. ↑ http://www.theffacup.com.au/article/ffa-cup-bentleigh-greens-ecstatic-after-thrashing-south-melbourne/1devirxl90gei1qicakej7hrfw
  13. ↑ http://www.cornerflag.com.au/quintuple-alive-for-dockerty-cup-winners-bentleigh/
  14. ↑ http://www.mfootball.com.au/the-examination-bentleigh-claims-maiden-minor-premiership-in-style/
  15. ↑ http://www.mfootball.com.au/victorian-teams-learn-ffa-cup-fate/
  16. ↑ http://www.theffacup.com.au/matchcentre/MetroStars-SC-v-Bentleigh-Greens/862154
  17. ↑ "Westfield FFA Cup Round of 16 draw revealed". Football Federation Australia. 10 August 2016.
  18. ↑ "Westfield FFA Cup Round of 16 MD 2 wrap". Westfield FFA Cup. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  19. ↑ http://www.theffacup.com.au/article/westfield-ffa-cup-quarter-final-draw-revealed/13a7fz8yu85821ucyewzhaxfob
  20. ↑ Lynch, Michael. "Soccer: Victory through to FFA Cup semi-final with 2–0 win over Bentleigh Greens". The Age. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  21. ↑ "FFA Cup swan-song as skipper Wallace departs for Hume". The Corner Flag. Retrieved 28 September 2016.

External links

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