Dandenong Thunder SC is a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club from

Dandenong Dandenong is a southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, about from the Melbourne CBD. It is the council seat of the City of Greater Dandenong local government area, with a recorded population of 30,127 at the . Situated mainly ...

, a suburb in the South-East region of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Victoria, Australia. They are an

Albanian Australian Albanian Australians ( sq, Shqiptarë Australian) are residents of Australia who have Albanian heritage or descent; many are from Albania and North Macedonia but some are from Kosovo, Montenegro, Greece, Turkey, Bosnia and Italy. Albanian Austr ...

-backed club. Thunder compete in the

National Premier Leagues Victoria The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer leagu ...

. In 2012, Dandenong claimed the famous treble of the

Victorian Premier League The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer leagu ...

Minor Premiership, the Football Federation Victoria State Knockout Cup and the VPL championship.

History

The club was founded by Albanian migrants in 1970 as South Dandenong. Some of the club's founders were Qamil Rexhepi, Amet Coca, Shaban Musa, Hamz Veseli and others. The club sometimes had the additional name Prishtina added to support the 1981 student protests campaigning for Kosovan independence in

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

. Fadil Muriqi, a prominent 1980s soccer midfielder from Kosovo played at the club. Club membership is mainly composed of Albanians with origins from

Kišava Kišava, (, ) is a village in the Municipalities of North Macedonia, municipality of Bitola Municipality, Bitola, North Macedonia. It used to be part of the former municipality of Bistrica, Bitola, Bistrica. Demographics and History Kišava is pop ...

(), a village in south-western

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...

. The committee of Dandenong Thunder, an influential organisation among Dandenong Albanians has it stipulated in the club constitution that only individuals with Albanian origins can be on its board. The grounds of Dandenong Thunder host the Qamil Rexhepi Cup, named after one of the club's founders Qamil Rexhepi and is played annually in January between local Albanian Melbourne based soccer clubs. Club grounds are also used by Albanians for community events and other functions, often organised by the local Albanian-Australian Community Association. The club logo is the Albanian double-headed eagle from the

Albanian flag The flag of Albania ( sq, Flamuri i Republikës së Shqipërisë) is a red flag with a silhouetted black double-headed eagle in the center. The red stands for bravery, strength, valour and bloodshed, while the Eagle represents the sovereign state ...

. Dandenong Thunder is primarily backed and supported by Albanian Australians living in Melbourne.

Early years

South Dandenong started competing in the Victorian District League East Division, which was the 6th tier of

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

in Victorian Football Pyramid. They played in the Provisional leagues until merging with Richmond United, and played under that name for the 1987 season in the 8th tier Provisional League Division 3. The following season, they were renamed back to South Dandenong and started the rise through the divisions. By 1992 they had reached State League Division 3, and from 1994 they continued their rise managing to get promotion to a higher level each year until they reached the

, the highest level in Victoria, in 1998.

2000–2013

South Dandenong returned to the

in 2001 but were relegated again as the season ended. At the end of the 2000 season, South Dandenong underwent a name change, becoming Dandenong Thunder for the 2001 season. They spent the next seven seasons in the Victorian State League Division 1. The Club began spending more on players in 2007, bringing in Veton Korcari from

Richmond SC Richmond Soccer Club is an Australian soccer club from Richmond, Victoria, an inner eastern suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Richmond compete in the Victorian State League Division 1 South-East competition, the third tier of football in Victor ...

and Louis Brain, a former

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

player for Adelaide United and were promoted from State League 1 in 2008. Thunder surprised everyone in their return to the top flight, clinching the 2009 Victorian Premier League Minor Premiership with a lead of 12 points. Thunder managed to go undefeated for the first 15 rounds of the season, taking their running total to 31 games undefeated, stretching back to Round 5 of the 2008 season. Individual player achievements included youngster

Jack Hingert Jack Hingert (born 26 September 1990) is an English-Australian-Sri Lankan football (soccer) player who plays as a defender for A-League club Brisbane Roar. In 2016, Hingert became an ambassador for the RSPCA Queensland a fitting role for t ...

being selected to play for A-League side

North Queensland Fury Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from t ...

and Joey Di Iorio winning the golden boot. Despite their season long domination, Thunder eventually lost the Grand Final to

Altona Magic SC Altona Magic Soccer Club (Commonly known as Altona Vardar SC) is a soccer team based in Altona North, a western suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Magic currently compete in the second tier of the Australian soccer league system. Fo ...

on penalties. In the 2012 season, Thunder managed a famous treble, the first in their history. They won the Victorian State Knockout Cup, beating

Port Melbourne Sharks Port Melbourne SC is an Australian soccer club based in Port Melbourne, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The club was formed in 1968 by local Greek Australians, and was promoted over the years to the Victorian Premier League in 1994. It spent th ...

in the Grand Final on penalties, the Minor Premiership and the Championship, beating Oakleigh Cannons 2–1 in the Grand Final at

AAMI Park The Melbourne Rectangular Stadium, known as AAMI Park for sponsorship reasons, is an outdoor sports stadium on the site of Edwin Flack Field in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct in the Melbourne central business district. When completed ...

. This was their first ever VPL Championship.

National Premier Leagues Victoria

In late 2013, the club had their bid for a place in the

accepted and competed in the top tier of the NPL Victoria in 2014. Thunder placed 9th in the 14 team league in 2014. Young winger Matthew Millar was the club's top goalscorer with seven goals, also winning the NPL Rising Star award. In 2015, Thunder slashed its budget in an attempt to reduce club debt, and replaced many higher earners with young and inexperienced but talented players. Then manager Dean Hennessey also departed, joining

Hume City The City of Hume is a local government area located within the metropolitan area of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It includes the outer north-western suburbs and a number of rural localities between 13 and 40 kilometres from the Melbourne c ...

, and the club brought in Stuart Munro as the new head coach. The season didn't go to plan, though, with the team struggling to put together good performances. Relegation was confirmed in Round 25, when the side lost 3–0 to

North Geelong Warriors North Geelong Warriors Football Club, formerly known as North Geelong Croatia, is an Australian semi-professional soccer club from the regional Victorian city of Geelong. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, Aust ...

. In the off-season, Thunder named Huss Skenderovic as the coach for the 2016 NPL1 season, and announced the signings of former

Melbourne Victory FC Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

player

Kristian Sarkies Kristian Ronald Sarkies (born 25 October 1986 in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian Football (soccer), footballer who plays for Beaumaris SC in the Victorian State League Division 1, Victorian State League 1. He grew up in Dingley Village, ...

, former Socceroo

Simon Colosimo Simon Colosimo (born 8 January 1979) is an Australian former soccer player who played as a centre back and defensive midfielder. He spent two years playing in Europe with spells in the Premier League with Manchester City and in the Belgian Fir ...

and English striker Brandon Barnes. Dandenong Thunder opened its NPL2 East campaign with 15 consecutive wins, before a 3–3 draw against NPL2 West leaders Whittlesea Ranges. On 14 April, Dandenong were deducted three league points after being found guilty by the Football Federation Victoria tribunal of fielding ineligible player Amir Osmančević in Round 1, where he should have sat out through a suspension accumulated the previous season while at his previous club. Thunder's first loss of the season came in Round 21, when it unexpectedly went down to

Box Hill United Box Hill United Soccer Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the Melbourne suburb of Box Hill. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 3. United is based at Wembley Park in Box Hill South. ...

2-1. Thunder lost three more games in the final seven games of the season, leading to

Kingston City Kingston City was a federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1925 to 1953. It was located in the province of Ontario. This riding was created in 1924 from parts of Kingston riding. It consisted of the cit ...

winning the league title on the final match day of the season. Dandy's second place finish meant it went to the NPL2 promotion playoff, facing

, whom they had beaten 2–0 at

Elcho Park Elcho Park is a soccer facility located on Gibbons Road in Lara, Victoria, a northern suburb of Geelong. It is owned privately by the Australian Croatian Soccer Association Geelong. The tenants of the facility are National Premier Leagues Victo ...

earlier in the season. Despite going into the clash as favourites, Thunder went down 4–1, North Geelong condemning the side to NPL2 football for the second season running. At the end of season awards night, Thunder marksman Barnes took out both the league Top Goalscorer, with an NPL2 record 41 goals, and league Best and Fairest awards. Dandenong Thunder lost senior head manager Huss Skenderović as he joined

Adelaide United FC Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to f ...

to become the

side's head W-League and National Youth League coach. Thunder began its preparations for 2017 by appointing Italian Giuseppe Anastasi as its new head coach for the 2017 NPL2 East season. Thunder had to change coaches just a few weeks later, as Anastasi was unable to travel to Australia due to family reasons. Dandenong reacted by appointing Gianfranco Impellizzeri to the helm. The race to promotion from NPL2 East was contested for most of the season between Thunder and neighbours

Dandenong City SC Dandenong City Soccer Club, formerly known as Chelsea Hajduk, is an Australian soccer club based in the South-East region of Melbourne, Victoria. The club's home is at Frank Holohan Soccer Complex in the suburb of Endeavour Hills. They compete ...

. Led by Barnes, who scored 35 goals in 28 games, winning the league golden boot again, Thunder achieved promotion by taking out the NPL2 East title. Despite promotion, Thunder and Impellizzeri parted ways in the off-season and the club appointed Andy Vargas as the new head manager. Thunder started the 2018 NPL season with four consecutive losses, including an embarrassing 9-0 loss to South Melbourne at home. Thunder won six of its next nine games and pulled itself well clear of the relegation zone. On 7 June 2018, Veton Korcari ceased playing with Thunder to take up the recently vacated coaching role. Korcari had been a long-serving and well regarded player at Thunder. Thunder finished the season in 8th place with Barnes taking out the league golden boot for the third season running, scoring 22 goals. In 2019, Thunder avoided automatic relegation on the final day of the home-and-away season with a 4-1 win over Melbourne Knights FC. The result sent Thunder to the promotion-relegation playoff, where they defeated FC Bulleen Lions at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium 1-0 through a Barnes goal. Barnes finished 3rd in the league Golden Boot race, scoring 19 goals. After the season, it was announced that Barnes would be leaving the club after scoring 119 goals in 116 games. A week later, it was announced that head coach Korcari would also be leaving the club by mutual consent.

Current squad

As of 31 July 2020https://www.dandenongthunder.com/the-team/ GOALKEEPERS *(1) SOALE, Francis *(22) CALAMATTA, Noah DEFENDERS *(2) Wilson, Paul *(4) ALI, Jamal *(12) PAPI, Alain *(18) STRATOMITROS, Kostas *(3) SHERIDAN, Keagan *(5) MEMETI, Mersim MIDFIELDERS *(8) NAZARY, Zelfy *(23) MEMETI, Ajdin *(11) SULEMANI, Ali *(6) ASCROFT, Harry *(20) ORR, Harley *(7) HATFIELD, Chris FORWARDS *(10) BARNES, Brandon *(9) KUOL, Paul *(21) MARAFIOTI, Giuseppe *(14) FEIZI, Mohammad

Previous players

See:

Dandenong Thunder SC players Dandenong is a southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, about from the Melbourne CBD. It is the council seat of the City of Greater Dandenong local government area, with a recorded population of 30,127 at the . Situated mainly ...

Honours

*2017-

National Premier Leagues Victoria 2 The National Premier Leagues Victoria 2, commonly referred to as NPL Victoria 2, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is the second-highest in the Victorian league system, behind the National Premier Leagues Vict ...

Champions *2012– Victorian Premier League Premiers *2012– Victorian Premier League Minor Premiers *2012– Dockerty Cup Winners (FFV State Knockout Cup) *2009– Victorian Premier League Minor Premiers *2008– Victorian State League Division 1 Runners-Up *2000– Victorian State League Division 1 Champion *1997– Victorian State League Division 1 Champion *1996– Victorian State League Division 2 Runners-Up *1995– Victorian State League Division 3 Runners-Up *1991– Victorian State League Division 4 Runners-Up *1990– Victorian Provisional League 1 Champion *1989– Victorian Provisional League 2 Runners-Up *1988– Victorian Provisional League 3 Champion

Individual honours

*2016– NPL2 Best and Fairest: Brandon Barnes *2016– NPL2 Players' Player of the Year: Brandon Barnes *2016– NPL2 Golden Boot: Brandon Barnes *2016– NPL2 Goalkeeper of the Year: Fraser Maclaren *2014– NPL Rising Star Winner: Matthew Millar *2012– Jimmy Rooney Medalist: Nate Foster *2012– Jimmy McKay Medalist: Shane Rexhepi *2012– Victorian Premier League Goalkeeper of the Year:

Stuart Webster Stuart Webster (born 25 October 1978) is a Scottish people, Scottish-Australian association football, footballer who plays for Geelong SC as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper Career Stuart Webster started his playing career as a ...

*2012– Victorian Premier League Coach of the Year: Chris Taylor *2012– Victorian Premier League Leading Goal Scorer: Luke Sherbon *2012– Bill Fleming Media Award Player of the Year: Luke Sherbon *2009– Victorian Premier League Coach of the Year: Stuart Munro *2009– Victorian Premier League Leading Goal Scorer: Joe Di Iorio

Top goal-scorers

*2017– Brandon Barnes 35 goals (Awarded League Golden Boot) *2016– Brandon Barnes 41 goals (Awarded League Golden Boot) *2015– Yusuf Ahmed 11 goals *2014– Matthew Millar 7 goals *2013– ''Unknown'' *2012– Luke Sherbon 21 goals (Awarded League Golden Boot) *2011– Luke Sherbon 14 goals *2010–

Jamie Reed Jamieson Ronald "Jamie" Reed (born 4 August 1973) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Copeland from 2005 to 2017. A member of the Labour Party, he was a Shadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Mini ...

6 Goals *2009– Joe Di Iorio 18 Goals (Awarded League Golden Boot) *2008– Ryan Davidson 11 Goals *2007– Veton Korcari 10 Goals (Runner up in the league) *2006– Ryan Davidson 9 Goals *2005– Leon Buhic 9 Goals *2004– Veton Korcari 9 Goals *2003– Miles Tidd, Joey Di Iorio 11 Goals *2002– Alfonso Opazo 10 Goals *2001– Boris Ovcin 4 Goals *2000– Victor Korkaric 17 Goals *1999– Nick Van Egmond, Billy Wright 7 Goals *1998– Pino Corallo, Reshat Mezensof 11 Goals *1997– Billy Wright 28 Goals (Top scorer in the league) *1996– Billy Wright 30 Goals (Top scorer in the league) *1995– Billy Wright 27 Goals (Joint Top scorer in the league) *1994– Billy Wright 22 Goals (Top scorer in the league)

Club Champion Award

*2012 –

Luke Sherbon People *Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...

*2011 – Shane Rexhepi *2010 –

Levent Osman Levent Osman (born 8 March 1977, in Melbourne) is an Australian former association football player of Turkish Cypriot descent. He played as a defender. He has previously played for Trabzonspor in Turkey, FCU Politehnica Timişoara in Romania, ...

*2009 –

*2008 –

References

External links

Official Website Club History (archived)
{{AUS fb state Vic Dandenong Thunder SC National Premier Leagues clubs Soccer clubs in Melbourne Victorian Premier League teams Association football clubs established in 1970 1970 establishments in Australia European-Australian culture Dandenong, Victoria Diaspora sports clubs in Australia Sport in the City of Greater Dandenong