St Albans Saints SC
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| Full name | St Albans Saints Soccer Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Dinamo, Saints |
| Founded | 1954 as St Albans, '75 as Dinamo |
| Ground | Churchill Reserve |
| Capacity | 3,500 |
| Chairman | Ivan Maric |
| Manager | Kruni Razov |
| League | NPL Victoria |
| 2016 | 1st in NPL Victoria 2 West (promoted) |
| Website | Club home page |
St Albans Saints Soccer Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in St Albans, Victoria. Established by local Croatian Australians, the club is a regular participant in the Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament. The club is well known for having produced many great players over the years, including many that have gone on to play for its sister club the Melbourne Knights. In 2017, Dinamo will compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria.
The club was formed by Croatian migrants as Dinamo in 1975. The club based its identity on the Croatian club GNK Dinamo Zagreb. In 1982, Dinamo took over the German backed St Albans Soccer Club, which was near bankruptcy. The club took on the name St Albans Dinamo and took residence at Churchill Reserve in St Albans. The club still remains there to this day. The club would go on to build a social club there which holds 400 patrons. It has become an important meeting place for the local Croatian community.
St Albans Dinamo won its first title in 1983, winning the Victorian State League Division 2 with Melbourne Knights legends Billy Vojtek (former Socceroo) and Branko Culina leading the way. Billy Vojtek was the league's top goal scorer with 16 goals. The following year the club joined the Victorian Premier League, skipping Division 1, after several VPL clubs joined the expanded National Soccer League. The club had a poor first year in 1984, finishing 12th and narrowly surviving relegation.
By the late 1980s the club had become one of the leading sides in the competition. From 1986 to 1989 the club finished in the top 5 each season. 1988 was the season the club came closest to winning the championship, they finished 4th only 3 points behind first place. In this time the club produced many great players like Ivan Duzel, Ivan Kelic, Velimir Kupersak and Oliver Pondeljak, all of whom went on to great success in the National Soccer League.
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