Footscray JUST

Footscray Jugoslav United Soccer Team, commonly referred to as Footscray JUST or simply JUST, was an association football club from Melbourne, Australia. The club was established by Yugoslav migrants in 1950, and was a founding member of the National Soccer League.

History

Early years (1950–1961)

The football team JUST was founded through the initiative of Ivan Kuketz (Serbo-Croatian: ''Kukec''), a Melbourne hotelier and vice president of Brighton Soccer Club.

Kuketz was impressed by post-war migrant footballers from Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia who had recently joined Brighton. Kuketz, himself an immigrant of Croatian descent had migrated to Australia in the 1930s envisioned a team composed solely of players from the respective nation's of the new club members. With the assistance of Jovan "John" Ivanovic, Kuketz took the new arrivals from Brighton and began scouting players from migrant camps throughout Victoria and New South Wales, with a great many gathered from the Bonegilla facility. In March 1950 the ''Jugoslav United Soccer Team'' was officially established with Kuketz as its first president, whilst the club quickly became known by its acronym ''JUST''.

JUST rapidly progressed in their debut season winning the Victorian Division Three South in 1950. The team comfortably achieved promotion to the Victorian Division One after winning the second tire in 1951. JUST also topped a successful year by being crowned Dockerty Cup champions following a 1–0 triumph over Brighton. JUST narrowly missed out on the league title in 1952 and 1953, finishing 3rd in both seasons, and in 5th place the following three years before securing their first title in 1957, and ended the five season league dominance of Juventus. The following year JUST struggled to maintain their successful run in the newly renamed Victorian State League, slumping to 10th spot, the club's worst finish since formation.

1961–1977

JUST were the dominant entity in an amalgamation with the Italian backed Footscray Capri in 1961. The club was renamed to ''Footscray Jugoslav United Soccer Team'' and permanently relocated to Schintler Reserve. The arrival of club legend Zvonimir "Rale" Rasic and Aleksandar Jagodić as new coach in 1962 made a swift impact as the team won the Victorian State League in 1963 and Dockerty Cup that same year, winning 4–2 against Marabyinong Polonia. The following season JUST narrowly missed out on back-to-back league titles, losing out to South Melbourne Hellas by 1 point (equal with George Cross), and finishing runners up after succumbing to a 1–0 defeat against Port Melbourne Slavia in the 1964 Dockerty Cup final.

The club fluctuated in mid table before ended the 1968 league season in 11th spot, the club's worst placing in a decade. The crisis was averted under coach Rale Rasić who lead JUST to victory in the 1969 league championship before taking on the Australian national team coaching role the following year. JUST had also managed to reach the 1969 Victorian State League Cup final but were defeated. The end of the 1960s ushered in a golden era as JUST were crowned league champions for the fourth time in 1971. The club also reach the 1971 Dockerty Cup final but lost 2–0 to Juventus. League success was achieved for the fifth, and what would be the final time in the club's history in 1973. The ''Plavi'' were Victorian State League Cup champions for three consecutive seasons in 1974, 1975, 1976. The team's last Dockerty Cup triumph came in 1976 as JUST won the final 2–0 against Marabyinong Polonia.

National Soccer League & Dissolution (1977–1990)

In 1977 JUST became a foundation member of the National Soccer League, where they largely struggled, with the exception of 1986, where they lost to Adelaide City in the Southern Conference grand final. In that year Footscray recruited legendary Red Star Belgrade player and trainer Dragoslav Šekularac who also brought with him Vlada Stošić which immediately lifted the club from the bottom to the top of the league.

However poor performances returned and in their final season as members of the NSL in 1989, after the club changed their name to Melbourne City JUST to broaden their appeal and with Schintler Reserve having undergone significant renovations, the club were demoted to the Victoria State League along with fellow Melbourne club Heidelberg United FC after finishing second bottom, recording only five league wins.

Their last NSL match took place on 10 July 1989, when 1,830 turned up to Schintler Reserve to witness a 1–1 draw with Sydney Olympic.

The club performed dismally the following season, and were relegated in the 1990 Victorian State League Division 1 after finishing in 15 place. The club was subsequently taken over by the Argentine community which signalled the end of their historic Yugoslav/Serbian connections and effectively the end of the original Footscray JUST.

The club carried on as South Vietnamese club Footscray City and Melbourne City playing at Schintler Reserve, however, it was vacated in 1994 and is now a container storage facility, with the clubrooms converted into offices. Today the club compete in the Victorian State League 4 still as Melbourne City (no connection to the A League franchise of that name ) playing at Edwards Reserve in South Kingsville.

Crest and colours

The kit of JUST mirrored that of the Yugoslav national football team, which in turn was inspired by the Yugosav tricolour. From the early 1980s the team's shirt corporate sponsor was Jat Airways.

The club crest consisted of a red stylised football with white outline, on a blue background. The words "''FOOTSCRAY SOCCER CLUB''" were displayed above the football in bold, white lettering whilst the acronym "''J.U.S.T''" was featured on the bottom.

Stadium

Supporters and rivalries

The club's main supporter base consisted of communists who had immigrated to Melbourne. JUST received particularly strong support from ethnic Serbs, although sympathies amongst Croats and Macedonians were torn as both communities had established rival football clubs. JUST maintained warm relations with Sydney affiliates SSC Yugal, whilst the club was perceived by its rivals as having close ties to the Yugoslav communist authorities and the UDBA. The club's player ranks included members of the broad Australian community.

Throughout its history JUST maintained a fierce rivalry with fellow Melbourne club Croatia, which was founded in 1953 by Croatian migrants. The rivalry had clear political undertones as Croatia's fan base espoused Croat nationalism and freedom from communism.

A less heated rivalry also existed with Preston Makedonia, a club that further split members of the Yugoslav migrant community. It was founded in 1947 by ethnic Macedonian migrants who developed a political orientation towards Macedonian nationalism.

Statistics

NSL record

(Pld)=Games Played, (W)=Wins, (D)=Draws, (L)=Losses, (GF)=Goals For, (GA)=Goals Against, (Pts)=Points, (Sth)=Southern Conference

Honours

* Victorian Division 1/ Victorian State League (5): 1957, 1963, 1969, 1971, 1973
*Victorian Division 2 (1): 1951
*Victorian Division 3 (South) (1): 1950
*National Soccer League (Southern Conference): Finalists 1986
*Dockerty Cup (3): 1951, 1963, 1976
*Victorian State League Cup (3): 1974, 1975, 1976
*Victorian Ampol Night Soccer Cup (6): 1955, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1965, 1975

Individual honours

Bill Fleming Medal
*1956 – Pepe Cubero
*1964 – Frank Micic
*1967 – Frank Micic
*1973 – Frank Micic
Victorian Premier League Top Goalscorer Award
*1971 – Dan Zoraja
NSL U21 Player of the Year
*1986 – Ernie Tapai
NSL Coach of the Year
*1986 – Dragoslav Šekularac and Petar Šimleša (assistant coach)

International players

* Jim Milisavljevic
* Angus Drennen
* Minh Tri Vo
* Billy Rice
* Branko Buljevic
* Doug Utjesenovic
* Peter Ollerton

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