St George FC

For football clubs with a similar name, see Saint George (disambiguation).

St George FC

Full name	St George Football Club
Nickname(s)	Saints, Budapest
Founded	1957;66 years ago (1957)
Ground	Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre (NPL Youth Team) (NSW League One Senior Team) (NSW League One Women Team)
Capacity	5,000
Head Coach	Nefta Gonzalez
League	NSW League One
2023	2nd of 16 (Promoted NSW NPL 2024 via Playoff)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

St George FC, commonly called Saints or Budapest, is a semi-professional Australian soccer club based in the St George district in the south of Sydney. The club was founded by Hungarian immigrants in 1957 as Budapest Club and by 1965 was renamed to St. George-Budapest Club.

One of the top clubs of Australia from the 1960s to the 1980s, St George currently competes in the second-highest tier of Australian soccer, the National Premier Leagues NSW. Their former home ground was the St George Stadium, but due to its dilapidated state, St George has played its youth and senior fixtures at Ilinden Sports Centre since 2018.

St George FC Women compete in the New South Wales League One Womens, third tier of Australian women's soccer. Their home ground is Ilinden Sports Centre from 2023 and Fraser Park for 2022 season, due to the dilapidated state of their former home ground, St George Stadium.

History

The club was formed shortly after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 by Hungarian Immigrants and was originally known as Budapest. In the 1960s, led by pioneering soccer administrator Alex Pongrass, it became one of the first ethnic clubs in NSW to search for a district to call home and it chose the St George district. It later became known as St George-Budapest before shortening its name to St George some years later. They opened a licensed club, named Soccer House, in the suburb of Mortdale in 1968. In 1969 Frank Arok, the first full-time coach in Australia was appointed, serving two stints as coach, the last ending in 1983 when he left to coach the Socceroos. In between Arok's two stints as coach, Rale Rasic was coach, coaching the club at the same time as he was coaching the Socceroos. In 1971 the club was invited to an international club tournament in Tokyo, Japan. It won and remained the highest ever international achievement by an Australian club side, until South Melbourne FC won the 1999 Oceania Club Championship. However this was surpassed by Sydney FC (Oceania champions) when they finished 5th at the FIFA World Club Cup where, before them, South Melbourne had finished 8th and Western Sydney Wanderers (Asian champions) 6th.

Such was the dominance of St George in those days that up to 10 players on the national team would be St George players. Five of their players were in the Australian side that started against East Germany in the World Cup that year in West Germany, including the vice-captain of the side, the Australian soccer legend Johnny Warren. Another notable player (albeit at a lower level), was football commentator Les Murray. Together with Warren they would become known as "Mr and Mrs Soccer" ^[1] and would become the faces of soccer in Australia through their commentary work on SBS Television.

In 1975 at the urging of some former Hungarian soccer greats and youth coach Bob Szatmari, the meeting determined to establish the Australian National Soccer League took place at Soccer House with representatives from all founding clubs, including Hakoah Club (later known as Eastern Suburbs and Sydney City) president and Westfield Group founder and chairman Frank Lowy and Leslie Szatmari. The competition started in 1977 and St. George-Budapest won the competition in 1983. They played in the league until the 1990/91 season. Since then they have played in state competitions. In 2005 the side was controversially axed from the new look New South Wales Premier League and took legal action against the decision along with the Bonnyrigg White Eagles, but were unsuccessful.

Recent history

In 2012 St George competed in the New South Wales Super League, the second tier of state soccer, finishing seventh out of twelve clubs and missing out on the finals. ^[2] In 2013, St George were promoted from the NPL NSW Men's 2 after taking out the league championship, finishing seven points ahead of the second placed Macarthur Rams FC. The club also won the Grand Final, beating the Rams in the semi-final 2–1 and then beating Mounties Wanderers FC 3–1 in the final. The joy was not to last long, though, as in 2014, the club was immediately relegated back to the second tier of soccer in NSW. Managing just four wins and four draws in 22 games, St George finished dead last in the top tier. The Saints endured another tough season in 2015, finishing third last in the NPL NSW Men's 2.

In 2017 the club played most senior home fixtures out of Seymour Shaw Park, also playing one game at St George Stadium, Fraser Park and Blacktown Football Park. This didn't seem to deter St George as the side finished in 2nd place, losing the semi-final to Mt Druitt Town Rangers FC 4–2. ^{[3] [4]}

Due to the dilapidated state of St George Stadium, the club played senior fixtures out of Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre in 2018 and 2019. In 2018, St George finished in 2nd place in the league and won the NPL NSW 2 grand final, but were not promoted due to the 'Club Championship' ranking which takes into consideration the performance of the U20 and U18 sides. In 2019, St George finished 10th in the 14-team NPL NSW 2 season. ^[5]

During the 2019 season, St George reached the FFA Cup round of 32 after beating clubs such as SD Raiders, APIA Leichhardt Tigers and Dulwich Hill, but lost to Sydney United 58 in a 5–3 thriller after two goals from Mushi Kokubo and a stoppage time equaliser.

In 2023, St George FC were promoted back into the National Premier League by finishing 2nd place in League 1, then defeating and relegating Mt Druitt Rangers in a thrilling play-off series.

Honours

• National Soccer League

Champions: 1983

Runner-up: 1982

• NSL Cup

Runner-up: 1979

• NSW 1st Division/NPL NSW 1

Champions: 1967, 1971, 1974, 1975, 1981

Runner-up: 1962, 1964, 1965, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1976

Minor Premiers: 1962, 1972, 1976

• Federation Cup & Waratah Cup

Winners 1964, 1972

Runner-up: 1966, 1974

• NSW 2nd Division/NPL NSW 2/NSW League One

Champions: 2013, 2018

Minor Premiers: 2013

Season results

Season	League	Place	Cup
1961	NSW 1	7th
1962	NSW 1	1st
1963	NSW 1	6th
1964	NSW 1	2nd
1965	NSW 1	2nd
1966	NSW 1	3rd
1967	NSW 1	2nd
1968	NSW 1	11
1969	NSW 1	2nd
1970	NSW 1	2nd
1971	NSW 1	2nd
1972	NSW 1	1st
1973	NSW 1	3rd
1974	NSW 1	3rd
1975	NSW 1	2nd
1976	NSW 1	1st
1977	NSL	6th
1978	NSL	7th
1979	NSL	11th	2nd
1980	NSL	14th
1981	NSW 1	2nd
1982	NSL	2nd
1983	NSL	1st
1984	NSL	10th
1985	NSL	5th
1986	NSL	3rd
1987	NSL	3rd
1988	NSL	8th
1989	NSL	2nd	3rd
1989–90	NSL	10th
1990	NSW 1	4th
1990–91	NSL	10th
1992	NSW 1	11th
1993	NSW 1	11th
1994	NSW 2	10th
1995	NSW 1	5th
1996	NSW 1	10th
1996	NSW 1	3rd
1997	NSW 1	9th
1998	NSW 1	12th
1999	NSW 2	2nd
2000	NSW 1	4th
2000–01	NSW 1	6th
2001–02	NSW 1	10th
2002–03	NSW 1	9th
2003–04	NSW 1	2nd
2004–05	NSW 1	8th
2005	NSW 1 Champions League	7th
2006	NSW 2	10th
2006	NSW 2 Group B	5th
2007	NSW 2	4th
2008	NSW 2	6th
2009	NSW 2	6th
2010	NSW 2	3rd
2011	NSW 2	3rd
2012	NSW 2	7th
2013	NSW 2	1st
2014	NPL NSW 1	12th
2015	NPL NSW 2	10th
2016	NPL NSW 2	9th
2017	NPL NSW 2	2nd
2018	NPL NSW 2	2nd
2019	NPL NSW 2	10th
2020	NPL NSW 2	9th
2021	NPL NSW 2	Cancelled
2022	NSW League One	9th
2023	NPL	2nd

Notable players

• Osvaldo Ardiles joined St. George Saints FC for the Australian 1985 National Soccer League season on loan from Tottenham Hotspur. He was included in the List of NSL players, which was constructed exclusively to those players who had made at least one appearance in the competition between 1977 and 2004.
• Francis Adoboe participated in the Australian 1989 National Soccer League season and was included in the List of NSL players, which was constructed exclusively to those players who had made at least one appearance in the competition between 1977 and 2004.
• Isadore Acosta became the first Paraguayan to play soccer in Australia. ^[6] Acosta played as a forward and finished 7th with St George Saints FC in the Australian 1978 National Soccer League season, making one appearance as a substitute in a 1–0 home loss against West Adelaide SC on 4 June. Acosta entered the field as a substitute in the 40th minute for Carlos Mendez and was replaced in the 75th minute for Emery Holmik. ^[7] Acosta was included in the List of NSL players, which was constructed exclusively to those players who had made at least one appearance in the competition between 1977 and 2004.
• Fred Aitken participated in the Australian 1977 National Soccer League season and was included in the List of NSL players, which was constructed exclusively to those players who had made at least one appearance in the competition between 1977 and 2004.
• Roy Cotton participated in the 1979, 1980, 1981, 1985 and 1986 National Soccer League seasons, across two spells with the club.
• Chris Cahill brother of Australia's all-time top goal scorer Tim Cahill was born in Sydney but played for Samoa three times and scored in two of those appearances. Cahill played for St George from 2006 to 2012.

References

1. Andy Harper (2004). Mr and Mrs Soccer / Andy Harper. National Library of Australia. ISBN   9781740512671 . Retrieved 3 February 2010.
2. Men's Super League 2012 final table. Retrieved 30 January 2013
3. "Ladder for 1st - PS4 NPL 2 NSW Men's 2017". SportsTG. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
4. "St George FC Season Fixture in Football NSW - NPL". SportsTG. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
5. "Ladder for 1st - NPL 2 NSW Men's 2019". SportsTG. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
6. "Australian Player Database - AA".
7. "1978 National Soccer League results".

External links

• Club official website
• OZ Football club page
• Socceraust

Preceded by Sydney City	NSL Champions 1983	Succeeded by South Melbourne