Dandenong Thunder
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| Full name | Dandenong Thunder Soccer Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Thunder |
| Ground |
George Andrews Reserve, Dandenong, Victoria |
| Capacity | 5,000 |
| Chairman | Gary Rowe |
| Manager | Gianfranco Impellizzeri |
| League | NPL Victoria 2 |
| 2016 | 2nd |
Dandenong Thunder SC is a soccer club from Dandenong, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They are an Albanian Australian-backed club. Thunder compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 2 East. In 2012, Dandenong claimed the famous treble of the Victorian Premier League Minor Premiership, the Football Federation Victoria State Knockout Cup and the VPL championship.
The club was founded in 1970 as South Dandenong by Albanian migrants. Even today the club is primarily backed and supported by Albanians and Albanian-Australians living in Melbourne. They started competing in the Victorian District League East Division, which was the eighth tier of football (soccer) in Victorian Football Pyramid. For decades they were playing in the lower divisions until the mid-1990s when they started to climb the entire Victorian pyramid. In 1994 they were playing in State League Division 3, and every year managed to get promotion to a higher level until they reached the Victorian Premier League in 1998.
After a successful 1997 season, when they became the champions of Victorian State League Division 1, South Dandenong played their first ever Victorian Premier League season in 1998. Being led by their player-coach Fadil Muriqi, the team managed to stay in the Victorian Premier League after finishing the season in 12th place. Same thing didn't happen in the following season and the team was relegated to Victorian State League Division 1.
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