Bankstown City Lions
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| Bankstown Lions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Full name | Bankstown City Lions Football Club |
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| Nickname(s) | Lions, Makedonija | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Founded | 1975 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Jensen Oval (Capacity 8000) |
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| Chairman | Alex Subeski | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Manager | Peter Tsekenis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| League | NSWPL | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NSWPL 2008 | 2nd | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Current season |
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Bankstown City Lions are a soccer team that plays in the New South Wales Premier League. The Bankstown City Lions are based in the Sydney suburb of Sefton and play their home games at Jensen Oval.
The Bankstown City Lions have a predominantly support group with an organised supporters group called "Lions Pride", which were established in 2004.
A rivalry exists between the fans of Bankstown City Lions and the Rockdale City Suns, who also have a heavy Macedonian fan base. Due to past ethnic tensions between , rivalries also exist between Bankstown City Lions and several Sydney based teams
History of Bankstown Lions
The summer of 1974, all soccer seasons were in their pre-season and the annualin Port Kembla, Wollongong.
13/14 Men aged from 17-30 with previous soccer experience in the tournament from sydney as spectators.
After hearing that the tournament had an odd number teams the organisors of the competition offered these blokes from Sydney a 'Wild Card' Entry to play.
The men all chipped in to meet the requirements for a $50 fee and at this point, the first recorded Yagoona Macedonia* squad was formed in history and played the tournament in borrowed/bought gear.
They progressed through the first day to the semi finals.
The next day bringing there own gear and being prepared won there semi final which lead them to the grand final to meet Canberrain the final.
When going back to Sydney they picked up a few more .
They won 3-1 and was the first recorded cup victory for Yagoona That night they celebrated the famous victory at a restaurant in Bankstown.
The following season (1975), Yagoona Macedonia competed in their first domestic season and their first recorded game by the Bankstown Soccer Federation was against Padstow. As the years passed, so did the players and new faces began to emerge in the ever-growing Macedonian Sydney-based club. Gradually the club began to be a power house of Soccer in Australia and changed its name to Sydney Macedonia SC not long after 1975.
In 1988, they were promoted to New South Wales Division 2 where they finished 3rd and the following year (1989), they were Champions of Division 2 - losing only 3 games all season and received promotion to New South Wales Division 1. They finished 6th in their first year in Division 1.
In 1992, Sydney Macedonia played its first game in the elite league of NSW. The following year, the finished second however went onto win the grand final scoring a goal in the final minute versing Blacktown City and were Premiers of 1993, which set the foundation for the ever-famous Sydney Macedonia '94 squad.
1994 was clearly the best year in the club's history at all levels with some of the best talent such as Ralevski, Baillee, Reveley, Sooper, Josevski, Todorovski and more. The squad went through the season just losing 1/22 games and winning 16. They scored 52 goals and only let 9 in all season. They went on to win the grand final. The silverware did not stop there - Sydney Macedonia went on to play Sydney Olympic in 1994 for the prestigious Waratah Cup at Marconi Stadium. A Sellout crowd witnessed Sydney Macedonia def. Sydney Olympic 2-1 at Marconi Stadium and were crowned Champions of all Clubs in NSW. The treble has been completed.
The next bit of silverware was in 2001 when the club played in Division 1 during this period as their home ground was getting improved lighting and new covering. That year when all renovations were complete, the club regained participation in the NSW Premier League.
In 2004, Bankstown Lions finished once again in the top 4 and made it into the grand final. Without the services of a known playmaker George Nohra in the side, Bankstown coach Andy Papoulias pinned his faith in a veteran and relative unknown in a bid to break down the tough Blue Devils defence.
Saso Boskovski in the twilight of his career and Dimitri Nicolaou, performed brilliantly in the centre of the park steering their side to an historic victory.
A veteran of the club's last two championship wins in 1993 and 1994, Boskovski was the difference between the two sides, turning back the clock in a cameo performance which earned him Man of the Match honours.
Maligned for much of the season as 'pretenders' the Lions dominated proceedings from start to finish, not allowing their more profile opponents to get into any real rhythm. With Matthew Borg and Sean Babic using the speed to full effect, the Blue Devils spent most of their afternoon camped inside their back third as they tried desperately to repel the Lions' onslaught and Bankstown came home with the victory 2-1.
2005 was the year of the Lion once again with Saso Petrovski joining the ranks shortly being grabed by A League Club Sydney FC, with Bankstown being dealt the bad hand losing mastermind coach Andy Papoulias leaving for Cyprus, Richard Luksic gone to Malaysia alongside Buddy Farrah and Chad Gibson going to Queensland Roar, Bankstown was left out in the rain until Peter Tsekenis took on the role of Player Coach. Bankstown has the Championship in sight and its journey was long and frustrating, but they continued there 100% record in Grand Finals with defeating Bonnyrigg White Eagles 3-1.
[edit] Current squad
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[edit] Squad Changes for 2008 season
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