The Newcastle Croatia Football Club is an Australian

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 ...

from

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

. The club was formed by the city's

Croatian Australian Croatian Australians are Australian citizens of Croatian ancestry. Croatia has been a source of migrants to Australia, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s. In 2021, 200,000 persons resident in Australia (0.6%) identified themselves as having ...

community as Newcastle Croatia in 1984 and debuted that year in the 5th Division of the Newcastle League. the club is based in

Wickham, New South Wales Wickham is an inner suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, located from Newcastle's central business district. History The Aboriginal people, in this area, the Awabakal, were the first people of this land. Wickham which was a Missp ...

and would in following years change its name to ''Wickham Croatia''. The club eventually disbanded in 1994. In 2021, under the umbrella of the Croatian Wickham Sports Club, the club was re-established and is set to play its first season since re-establishment in 2022 in the Northern NSW Zone Football League Three (6th division of Northern NSW).

History

First Iteration (1984-1994)

• 1986, Minor Premiers of the 5th Division and were promoted to 4th Division • 1987, Grand Finalists and Minor Premiers of 4th Division • 1988, Grand Final Runners-Up and Minor Premiers of 3rd Division. Promoted to 2nd Division It was a remarkably quick rise from the club, by 1991 the club had made it all the way to the premier competition, the

NBN State Football League The National Premier Leagues Northern NSW is a regional Australian Professional association football league comprising teams from Northern New South Wales. As a subdivision of the National Premier Leagues, the league sits at Level 1 on the Nort ...

, only 7 years after its formation. The club immediately cemented itself as one of the top sides in the league, finishing an impressive 4th in its debut season. The club had a few stellar seasons in the

where it came 3rd in seasons 1992 and 1993. In 1992 the club had a great run in the finals, with the club making the Grand Final against

West Wallsend FC West Wallsend FC is an association football club based in West Wallsend, New South Wales, Australia. The club is a member of Northern NSW Football in Australia. The club was formed in 1891 by Scottish miners and is the third oldest surviving foo ...

. Unfortunately Newcastle Croatia went down 2–1 at Austral Park in front of a crowd of 2,500 spectators. The club would again make the Grand Final in 1994, losing 2–1 to Highfields Azzurri. However the club was disbanded following the 1994 season when it couldn't field a team in the

. The club had also been a regular participant in the

Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament The Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament is a tournament run by the Croatian Soccer Federation of Australia and New Zealand, an organisation founded in 1974. The inspiration for the tournament came from the successful Croatian-North American So ...

. The 1992 Newcastle Croatia Grand Final squad: *David Connor *Grant Brinkworth *John Tonkin *Craig A. Jones *Michael Boogaard *Reg Chilby (captain) *John Govan *Steve Bajzath *Karl Freeman *Steve Brown *Lorenzo Saetta Substitutes: *Craig L. Jones *Doug Elphick *Chris Breasley *Jason Coombes *Michael Kmet Richard Hartley (coach)

Second Iteration (2021-present)

In 2021, under the umbrella of the Croatian Wickham Sports Club, the club was re-established and is set to play its first season since re-establishment in 2022 in the Northern NSW Zone Football League Three.

References

{{Reflist Croatian sports clubs in Australia Defunct soccer clubs in Australia Soccer clubs in Newcastle, New South Wales 1984 establishments in Australia 1994 disestablishments in Australia Association football clubs established in 1984 Association football clubs disestablished in 1994

History

First Iteration (1984-1994)

Second Iteration (2021-present)

See also

References