Maccabi Hakoah Sydney City East FC, commonly known as Maccabi Hakoah, is an Australian semi-professional

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 based in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, New South Wales. The club was formed in 1939 as Sydney Hakoah by members of Sydney's Jewish community. They played between 1977 and 1986 in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

as Eastern Suburbs (1977–1979) and Sydney City (1979–1987). One of the most successful sides in New South Wales and interstate competitions in the 1960s and early 1970s coached by the now retired Bob Szatmari, Hakoah were also one of the main instigators for the establishment of a national league. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW, with games played from Hensley Athletic Field. A foundation member of the NSL, Sydney City were also its most dominant side in the competition's first decade, winning four titles, including three in a row from 1980 to 1982, and finishing below third only once. However, despite this level of success, crowds were perennially low, and even though they were one of the sides retained for 1987, after the NSL scrapped the split conference system at the end of 1986, Sydney City withdrew from the NSL one round into the 1987 season.Lowy names task force to set ball rolling on premier league – www.smh.com.au
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History

In January of 1939 a group of Jewish immigrants, who had been playing soccer in Rushcutters Bay each Sunday met to discuss the formation of a soccer club. That meeting resulted in the birth of Sydney Hakoah Football Club. However, it was not until 1954 that Hakoah was admitted to the Southern League, a semi-professional regional league in New South Wales. The team played in distinctive blue and white striped shirts featuring the Magen David badge. The club was admitted to the newly created first division of the New South Wales Soccer Federation following the breakaway of a number of clubs from the

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

associated Soccer Association in 1956/57. In

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

, the club's name was changed to Eastern Suburbs Hakoah. They were the winner of the first National League, known as the

. The club's name was again changed to Sydney City in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

, and the home ground was moved from Wentworth Park to ES Marks Field in a successful year for the club.

Eddie Thomson Eddie Thomson (25 February 1947 – 21 February 2003) was a Scottish association football player and coach, who played as a defender. He played for Heart of Midlothian and Aberdeen in Scotland, San Antonio Thunder in the United States and ...

became coach in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

, and together with manager Andrew Lederer led the club through its final years as Australia's most successful club. The team included future International

Jimmy Cant Jim Cant (born 24 September 1953) is an Australian former soccer player. Playing career Club career Cant signed for Hearts Of Midlothian in 1970, from United Crossroads Boys Club, he was farmed out by Hearts of Midlothian to play one season o ...

Jim Patikas Dimitris "Jimmy" Patikas (Greek language, Greek: Δημήτρης "Τζίμης" Πατίκας) is a former Australian football (soccer), football player. Renowned for his exceptional speed and for being the first established Australian playe ...

, striker

Ken Boden Ken Boden (born 5 July 1950) is a former footballer, who played at both professional and international levels as a midfielder. Born in England, he represented Australia. Career Club career Boden spent his early career with Hull City, Scunthor ...

and Australia's most successful goal scorer John Kosmina for the

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

season. They went on to win the

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

NSL seasons with Australian International striker David Mitchell joining the star-studded club. In

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

Sydney City withdrew mid-season as the most successful club in League history.

NSW State League return

Since 1988 to the present, Sydney City have competed in the NSW State League North Conference in the NSW State Leagues. Recently, they have moved up through the New South Wales football ranks and have been promoted rapidly. In 2014 Hakoah were in NSW's 3rd division (State League 1) and won the Premiership and Grand Final Championship trophies which culminated in winning the Club Championship crown and gaining promotion to the (national premier leagues NSW2), eventually almost replicating that season in 2015, once again winning promotion, this time into the top tier in NSW. In 2012 they also won the double as State League Division Two Premiers and Grand Final Champions under the Hakoah FC banner playing out of Hensley Athletic Field. They have been in the National Premier Leagues NSW since the 2016 season.

Current squad

First team squad

Seasons

:Notes

Honours

International

* OFC Cup Winners Cup 1987

National

* NSL Champions 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982 * NSL Runner Up 1978, 1983, 1985 * NSL Minor Premiers 1984 (Northern Division), 1985 (Northern Division) *

Australia Cup The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Austra ...

/ NSL/ FFA Cup Winners 1965, 1968, 1986 * Australian Club of the Decade (2) 1970s, 1980s

State

* New South Wales/NPL Minor Premiers 1968, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974 * New South Wales/NPL Champions 1961, 1962, 1966, 1968 * New South Wales/NPL Runner Up 1973, 1974 * New South Wales Federation Cup & Waratah Cup Winners 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965, 1971, 1976, 2017 *

Ampol Ampol Limited is an Australian petroleum company headquartered in Sydney, New South Wales. Ampol is the largest transport energy distributor and retailer in Australia, with more than 1,900 Ampol-branded stations across the country . It also ope ...

Cup Winners 1957, 1968, 1973, *NSW State League/NSW League Two Premiers & Champions 2014 *NSW Club Championship winners 2014, 2015 *NSW State League Division Two/NSW League Three Champions 2012 *NSW State League Division Two/NSW League Three Premiers 2012

References

External links

* {{AUS fb NSL Jews and Judaism in New South Wales Hakoah sport clubs Jewish football clubs Jews and Judaism in Sydney National Soccer League (Australia) teams

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

Association football clubs established in 1939 1939 establishments in Australia Diaspora sports clubs Diaspora sports clubs in Australia