Belconnen United FC
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| Full name | Belconnen United Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Blue Devils |
| Founded | 1970 |
| Ground | McKellar Park |
| Capacity | 3,500 |
| Coordinates | 35°12′52″S 149°5′3″E / 35.21444°S 149.08417°ECoordinates: 35°12′52″S 149°5′3″E / 35.21444°S 149.08417°E |
| Manager | Dean Ugrinic |
| League | NPL Capital Football |
| 2016 | 3rd |
| Website | Club home page |
Belconnen United Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in the northern Canberra region of Belconnen, ACT. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capital Football.
The Belconnen United Football Club was founded in 1970 as the Belconnen United Soccer Club. The football club has been based out of the north Belconnen suburb of McKellar since its inception during the establishment of the Belconnen district of Canberra in the 1970s. Belconnen has run youth and senior footballing programs from recreational to elite level since its establishment.
The Blue Devils first appeared in the top flight of ACT men’s football (then known as the ACT Division One) in 1975. The club quickly set-itself up as one of the top ACT clubs with a string of major ACT titles (15 in total) during the 80’s, 90’s and early 2000’s. This included five league premierships, seven finals championships and three Federation Cups.
In 2000, Belconnen United switched to the NSW Premier League and were renamed the Belconnen Blue Devils. Belconnen first competed in the NSW Premier League in the 2000-01 season. The Blue Devils competed in NSW top flight for five straight seasons before a dispute between the Blue Devils management and board of Football NSW resulted in the club losing its licence to compete in the competition from 2006 onwards.
During the club’s brief time competing in NSW, The Blue Devils enjoyed success, reaching the finals series in each season post their first and becoming league premiers in the 2003-04 season, beating St George Saints to the title with a +3 goal difference over the South Sydney club. Belconnen started the finals series with a narrow 4-3 overtime loss at McKellar Park to Sydney club Bankstown City Lions in the major semi-final. This meant The Blue Devils had to compete in the preliminary final while Bankstown advanced straight to the grand final. Belconnen once again played host in the preliminary final against league runner-up and winner of the minor semi-final, St George Saints FC. The Blue Devils were victorious over St George with a 2-1 victory thanks to a brace to Belconnen striker Macor. The victory led Belconnen to reach the 2003-04 NSW Premier League Grand Final, held at Marconi Stadium, where the Blue Devils faced-off against Bankstown City Lions once again. In front of a crowd of 5,000 the Blue Devils succumbed to two second half goals to lose the grand final 2-0. Bankstown were given a penalty in the sixty-fifth minute that was converted by Saso Boskovski before Belconnen player, Lee Pietrukowski, scored an own goal seven minutes later.
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