Bendigo City FC is a juniors-only football club based in
Bendigo
Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital.
As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. Bendigo City plays out of the Epsom Huntly Recreation Reserve soccer complex.
History
The Club was established as FC Bendigo in 2014 as part of the newly formed
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 ...
(NPL) competition, and then reformed as Bendigo City FC the following year. FC Bendigo's licence was held by Bendigo Amateur Soccer League (BASL) while the current entity is backed by the Bendigo City Council.
On the pitch, Bendigo had a solid first season in the
National Premier Leagues Victoria 1
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 Vi ...
. The Club finished 11th in the 14 team competition with 9 wins, 4 draws and 13 losses. Bendigo grabbed a memorable win against the eventually promoted
North Geelong Warriors FC
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, Au ...
on 3 May 2014, when the Towners beat the Lara-based outfit by three goals to two 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 Vict ...
.
In July 2015, Bendigo City FC's committee resigned after disagreements with parents and members regarding a re-structure of the Club's finances, including the sacking of Technical Director Fab Soncin and the restructure of the Technical Director role from full-time to part-time. The committee was then reinstated 48 hours later at an Extraordinary General Meeting. The role of Technical Director was not filled for the remainder of the 2015 season.
The reformed Bendigo City FC based a large number of their senior squad on local players rather than bringing in established players from Melbourne and overseas. Unfortunately for Bendigo, this resulted in a largely difficult campaign in the 2015
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 ...
2 West season, managing only six wins and seven draws from 28 games to finish second bottom of the league.
One round into the 2016 NPL2 season, City head coach Esteban Quintas quit his post to return to his native home of Spain. Bendigo's season slumped, earning just one win in the opening eight rounds and enduring heavy 2–7 and 1–7 defeats to
North Geelong Warriors FC
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, Au ...
and
Moreland Zebras FC
Brunswick Juventus FC is an Australian soccer club based in the Melbourne municipality of Merri-bek. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 2 and is based at CB Smith Reserve in the suburb of Fawkner. The earliest ...
respectively in Rounds 7 and 8 of the season, the latter their greatest ever defeat in their short life as a club. After another heavy loss, this time a 5–1 drubbing at the hands of
Ballarat Red Devils, Bendigo City announced that Jose Montana Santamarta had been appointed as the club's new senior head coach, assisted by conditioning coach Alenjandro Montano Garcia. Bendigo City finished the season in bottom place on the NPL2 West table, with 4 wins and 3 draws in 28 games.
Bendigo appointed Srecko Baresic-Nikic as its new head coach for 2017, replacing the outgoing Jose Santamarta. Round 1 ended with a 5-0 home defeat to
Northcote City FC
Northcote City Football Club (Iraklis) is a soccer club based on the border of Thornbury and Northcote, Victoria (Australia). Formed in 1960 by local Greek Australians, the club currently competes in the NPL Victoria 2.
In 2011, Northcote w ...
followed by a 7-0 Round 2 home defeat to
Moreland Zebras FC
Brunswick Juventus FC is an Australian soccer club based in the Melbourne municipality of Merri-bek. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 2 and is based at CB Smith Reserve in the suburb of Fawkner. The earliest ...
, a new record loss for the fledgling club. The appointment of Baresic-Nikic didn't last long, resigning in March after five games, with the side sitting bottom with just single point and 1 goal scored.
Bendigo endured two more humiliating 7-0 defeats, to
Ballarat City FC
Ballarat City FC is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in Ballarat, Victoria. For most of its history, the club's home ground was Trekardo Park, before making the move to the Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility in 2014 ...
in Round 10 and to
Box Hill United SC
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.
...
in Round 13. The season ended with a new record loss, losing 9-2 to
Whittlesea Ranges FC
Whittlesea Ranges is a professional soccer club based in the suburbs of Epping and Lalor, Victoria, Australia. All home games are played at Epping Stadium.
Formed in 1971, the club currently competes in the Victorian State League 1 North-West ...
. Bendigo finished the season in 10th place in NPL2 West, with a record of 0 wins, 2 draws and 26 losses. The team finished with a -105 goal difference. Promotion-relegation between the NPL and the State Leagues below was set to be introduced in 2017 and confirmed in October 2017, when
Football Federation Victoria
Football Victoria is the state governing body for soccer in Victoria, Australia. It is affiliated with Football Australia, the sport's national governing body.
History
Football Victoria began operation in 1884 under the name Anglo Australian ...
confirmed that Bendigo, along with
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 ...
, who finished bottom of NPL2 East, would be relegated to
Victorian State League Division 1
State League 1 is a semi-professional association football league in Victoria, Australia. Sitting at level 4 of the Victorian league system, below the three NPL Victoria divisions, it forms part of the fifth tier of the overall Australian league ...
for 2018. The statement also confirmed that Bendigo's juniors would remain in the NPL juniors competition, due to "geographical difficulties".
In January 2018, Bendigo City FC confirmed that it would not be fielding a senior or U20s team in State League 1 for 2018 and would continue as a junior-only NPL club for that season.
References
External links
FC Bendigo Official Site
{{AUS fb state Vic
Association football clubs established in 2014
Soccer clubs in Victoria (Australia)
2014 establishments in Australia
Sport in Bendigo