Northcote City FC
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| Full name | Northcote City Football Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | City, Hraklis |
| Founded | 1960 |
| Ground | John Cain Memorial Reserve |
| Capacity | 9,000 |
| Manager | Zeljko Kuzman |
| League | NPL Victoria 2 West |
| 2016 | 13th (relegated from NPL Victoria) |
| Website | Club home page |
Northcote City Football Club is a soccer club based in the suburb of Thornbury, Victoria, Australia. Formed in 1960 by local Greek Australians, the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 2. This club was known as Princes Park Hercules during the 1960s and 1970s.
In 2011, Northcote won the inaugural Mirabella Cup, their first Victorian top-level silverware. In season 2013, Northcote City won their first Victorian Premier League Championship, defeating Bentleigh Greens 3–2 after extra time at AAMI Park.
Northcote City FC was formed in 1960 by a group of Greek migrants new to Australia with a passion for sport and a need to form friendships in a new country, with soccer being the major connection. Northcote City FC is the third oldest Greek club in Victoria behind South Melbourne FC and Heidelberg United FC and in its formative years the club fielded teams not only in soccer but also in Volleyball, Basketball and Table Tennis. The club has enjoyed varied success since its formation and has the Dockerty Cup and Hellenic Cup to its list of achievements as well as reaching the Victorian Premier League (the highest League in Victorian soccer). A milestone in the club’s history was moving to John Cain Memorial Park in 1979, which even today is considered one of the state’s best soccer venues. In its formative years, the club was known as Hercules before adopting the Princes Park Hercules name given that it was playing at Princes Park, before changing venues to Fairfield Park in 1977 and adopting Collingwood City as the club’s new name. The new name was to only last a short time however and in 1980 the club clinched a significant breakthrough by negotiating with the Northcote City Council a move to John Cain Memorial park and another name change for the club with Northcote City SC the new identity. To this very day it is still the club’s home and name. The club first gained promotion into the Victorian Soccer Federation leagues in 1964 after competing in the amateur competitions in its formative years. In 1965 it achieved its first ever championship winning the Metropolitan League Division 4, suffering only one loss for the year. In a somewhat golden era for the club, consistent finishes in the upper reaches of the ladder, saw the club achieve a second championship in the 60’s with the Metropolitan League Division 3 title won in 1969. The early to mid 70’s saw the club struggling to make an impression on Metropolitan League Division 2 until a wonderful 1977 campaign saw the club finish second to Doveton and thus gain promotion to Metropolitan League Division 1 for the first time in its history. Another top 4 finish in 1980 saw the club achieve the ultimate and win promotion to the Victorian State League, which would later become the Victorian Premier League. The 1980s were not kind to the club and many bottom half of the table finishes ultimately saw the club relegated in 1991 back to the State League Division 1 competition.
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