Bankstown City Lions
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| Full name | Bankstown City Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Lions, Sydney Makedonia |
| Founded | 1960 |
| Ground |
Jensen Oval Sefton, New South Wales |
| Capacity | 8,000 |
| Manager | George Nohra |
| League | NPL Men's 2 |
| 2015 | 5th |
Bankstown City FC is an Australian soccer club from the Sydney suburb of Sefton in New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the National Premier Leagues NSW 2, playing their home games at Jensen Oval.
In the 1940s and 1950s the original Bankstown club played at Bankstown Oval and then in the 1960s and 1970s, they played out of a ground at Stacey Street and Gartmore Ave, Bankstown, then known as Bankstown Soccer Centre and now Ruse Park (Bankstown Football Centre) used by Bankstown Bulls Rugby League Club. Bankstown Soccer Club was always known as an underdog, and played against the big clubs of the day such as St. George Budapest, and Canterbury-Marickville Berries. Bankstown's most famous player from these early days was Bobby Madden who represented Australia against China in 1953. He also represented New South Wales in cricket. He died in 2008. Another well known person from a somewhat later era was Doug Turnbull, brother of a previous Central Coast Mariners FC Chairman Peter Turnbull. The Doug Turnbull Cup is played for annually between the two clubs.
In 1975, Yagoona Macedonia competed in their first domestic season and their first recorded game by the Bankstown Soccer Federation was against Padstow. As the years passed, so did the players and new faces began to emerge in the ever-growing Macedonian Sydney-based club.
By 1988, the original Bankstown club had become insolvent and there was no elite team in the local area for several years. A consortium of local businessman merged three amateur clubs: Yagoona, Caltex, and Mladost, and purchased Maccabi Hakoah's licence to participate in the New South Wales Division 2, formulating the Bankstown City Sydney Macedonia Soccer Club. Bankstown once again had a team in the NSW State League. The new club had strong support from the local Bankstown Macedonian community, and named itself "Sydney Macedonia". Sydney Macedonia finished 3rd in 1988.
In 1989, the club was Champion of Division 2, losing only 3 games all season and received promotion to New South Wales Division 1. They finished 6th in their first year in Division 1.
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