Adelaide Croatia Football Club

FFSA PREMIER LEAGUE ROUND 1 CROATIAN SPORTS CENTRE Photo: Adam Butler

Presidents Welcome
Welcome back to the Croatian Sports Centre for another season of Premier League football. We finished last season in 5th position, bowing out of the finals in a cut throat game against the eventual champions Campbelltown City. That loss was a tough one to take, and one that will inspire the club to go better again this year. Our player stocks have changed over the off season with some experienced players moving on. The losses of Shane Tobias and Alemayo Kebede have left gaps that Im pleased to say have been filled by solid replacements. We welcome back to Raiders Sean Brennan and Michael DeBono, as well as new recruits Nathan Fleetwood, Elvis Kamsoba and Anthony Stam. These boys will add depth to the club as we continue to look to promoting our youth coming through the ranks. Also a big welcome back Jordon Branko Suica ODoherty one of our youngest stars at the club who at age 15 made his debut for the Raiders in 2013 and has returned back to continue playing with his club from Adelaide United Youth team, watch out for this youngster in 2014. We also would like to say goodbye to Michael Cartwright, who has retired. Michael had a fantastic season in 2013 as he took out the club player of the year award. He also had some fantastic years with Raiders earlier in his career. We wish him all the best and thank him for his effort at Raiders. I would also like to welcome back our committee for 2014 as well as all the new committee members that have come on board to work for the community and take the club in a positive direction. Finally a big welcome for the most important members of the clubOur supporters! The committee and players are keen to get off to a great start and give our loyal and vocal supporters something to cheer about. On behalf of the committee, I would like to welcome South Adelaide both to the Premier League and the Croatian Sports Centre. The Panthers have been promoted, along with West Adelaide, from the State League and will be looking to stamp their mark on the league early. Ive no doubt that today will be a tough contest, our boys will have to be 100% to earn their points. We hope that the South Adelaide committee, players and supporters have a great day today. Thank You also to our new Major sponsor: Ozujsko Pivo, the number 1 beer in Croatia. Also our returning sponsors, Croatian Sports Centre, Cedavita GO!, Davalan Group, ThermalClad, Grange Dental, Kilic Engineering, Apex Steel, Regency Building Supplies, PalletCo as well as all of our other loyal sponsors. We Thank You all! On behalf of the committee, welcome to The Croatian Sports Centre and we hope you enjoy the day. Branko Suica President.

Federation Cup Results

Noarlunga United 1 (C. Bradley 1, J. Lavery 1) Cove FC 1 (K. Findlay 1, J. Hayes 1) (HT: 1-1) (2-2 AET; 3-5 PEN) Campbelltown City 2 (M. Matricciani 2) Adelaide Hills 1 (J. Daly 1)(HT: 1-1) West Adelaide 1 (N.Andijanto) Adelaide Cobras 0 (HT: 0-0) (1-0 AET) South Adelaide 1 (M. Canny 1) Pirates 0 (HT: 0-0) Playford City 3 (R. Mc Millan 1, S. Voigt 1, S. Bice 1) Adelaide Blue Eagles 3 (D. Crettenden 1, K. Harris 1, A. Harris 1, J. Boyokino 1)(HT: 2-1) (3-4 AET) Salisbury United 0 Adelaide Comets 4 (S. Tesfagabr 2, M. Bouraee 2)(HT: 0-1) Cumberland United 6 (B. Eustance-Smith 2, J. Easton 2, K. Osborne 1, B. Grayson 1) Gawler 0(HT: 2-0) Eastern United 2 (L. Colalancia 2) WT Birkalla 3 (J. Bralic 1, A. Miyayama 1, J. Fusco 1)(HT: 0-2) Seaford Rangers 3 (K. Maclean 2, D. Anderson 1) Modbury Jets 7 (A. Westervelt 3, C. Bowman 3, J. Negus 1)(HT: 2-2) Adelaide Olympic 3 (B. Gebremindi 1, P. Deng 1, P. Alexandropoulos 1) Northern Demons 1 (D. Cox 1)(HT: 1-1) Western Strikers 4 (C. Flanagan 2, A. Lastella 1, O. Takuya 1) Sturt Lions 1 (N. Atkinson 1)(HT: 2-0) White City 1 (J. Crescitelli 1) Para Hills Knights 2 (S. Ward 1, D. Parhas 1)(HT: 0-0)

Captains Corner
Firstly I would like to welcome back all Adelaide Croatia Raiders Committee, volunteers, players, sponsors and of course supporters to the upcoming 2014 Premier League Season. Today we welcome the newly promoted South Adelaide Panthers to the Croatian Sports Centre and congratulated them on their promotion into the Premier League and wish them the best of luck for 2014. This year we come back re-vitalized and better than ever ready for the season ahead. We have maintained the core group from last year and bring in new signings in the form of Anthony Stam, Elvis Kamsoba and Nathan Fleetwood to the senior team, and also welcome back Sean Brennan and Michael DeBono to the club. With these latest additions the squad has grown stronger and more versatile. We also have the return of Jordan ODoherty after a very successful experience with Adelaide Uniteds Youth team and also the promotion of Jordan Elliott from the reserves to the first team set up. On behalf of all the players and staff we thank you for your support this coming season and expect big things to come in the near future!

Michael Doyle.

2014 Sponsors
MAJOR Sponsor

Gold Sponsors

2014 Sponsors
Silver Sponsors

Player Sponsors
Darrell Avery

Nathan Fleetwood

Jordan ODoherty

Reserve Standings RESERVES

Daniel Bakewell (GK) Cameron Sayner Tom Sosa Paul Covino Alex Townsley Matthew Stokes (Capt) Christian Fleetwood Billy Allotey James Dimasi Mario Marcinko Zack Doyle Tony Manocchio Matthew Neville Darius Panozzo Coach: Mick Doyle Manager: Paul Sayner A Rodgers C Fagen M Sumnell J Canny R Ruch J Ruch R Curran C Stavrakis S Kumar V Kaye A Jenkinson T Wood A Skipper R McGuinness Coach: Tom Monsigneur

U18
Branden Johns (GK) Troy Damiral Jarod Ebert Jack Fisher Maks Jurkovic Joshua Lamb Lachlan Le Jake McCabe Liam Mulligan Marcus Sosa Ahmad Mushtaq Dylan Storti Thomas Tryfopoulos Josef Lata-Tsentidis Joshua Angeles Coach: Nenad Sosa Assistant Coach: Roger Ebert R Hansen N McCourt J Coulter M Roach J Royale T Watson S Draper J Beck J Dowsett C Murrell O Jackson T Watson C Saleh B Kitchen J Ross Coaches: Steve Kitchen & Howard Cuthbert

Senior Squads

GK Anthony Stam 2 Jordan ODoherty 3 Michael Doyle (Capt) 4 Daniel Pritchard 5 Jordan Elliott 6 Adrian Macolino 7 Dylan Pickert 9 Brandon Reeves 10 Sean Brennan 11 Michael DeBono 15 Jackson Stephens BENCH 8 Matthew Stokes 18 Michael Marchi 23 Nathan Fleetwood RGK Daniel Bakewell Coach: Carl Maynard Assistant: Nick Mowl Trainer: Katelyn Henry

GK C Zacharopoulos H Robins C Reed R Parker M Canny M Goode A Bartlett H Gepp D Stavrakis M Malouros J De Souza D Torr A Mezzino A Horner R McNab RGK A Rodgers Coach: D Graystone

Finals an expectation for Raiders in 2014

A loss in penalties saw Raiders exit the Finals Series in 2013 earlier than hoped, a situation in which the strong side is looking to avoid in 2014. Raiders Captain Michael Doyle told that finishing 5th overall on the season ladder was not where his team expected to end up. As a club we believed we had a strong enough team to go further and push for the title, unfortunately on the day some decisions didnt go our way which didnt help, but that is how it goes sometimes. Looking ahead at the upcoming season, Doyle says that competing in the Finals Series is a must. Every year our main goal is to make Finals at a minimum. This has quickly become the benchmark for the club as we have a huge community following and the club deserves nothing less than competing for the title. In addition to the new season kicking-off, the Centre Back is eagerly anticipating the Coca-Cola Federation Cup and the chance to compete in the FFA Cup. This is a great initiative for all clubs brought in by the FFA and I expect every team to take it seriously. The advantages of going far in the Federation Cup and then the FFA Cup are huge and something we would love to be a part of. Participating in the Inaugural Regional Round in 2013 that saw both Raiders and Adelaide Blue Eagles travel to Whyalla for a regular season match was a highlight for Doyle who looks forward to the rematch. The Regional Round in Whyalla was a great idea. It allowed both us and Adelaide Blue Eagles to travel and play some where we wouldnt usually go and allowed the local community to watch a Premier League game. Whyalla Croatia were great hosts and we are really looking forward to battling it out again with Blue Eagles, minus the heavy rain! Doyle tells that he isnt able to name any one team to watch out for in the new season as he feels the league has become so tight, instead he feels that it will come down to who can manage their squad of 20 the best that will succeed. Raiders Head Coach Carl Maynard tells that there is an absolute bare minimum expectation that his side competes in the Finals Series in 2014.

Doyle tells that he isnt able to name any one team to watch out for in the new season as he feels the league has become so tight, instead he feels that it will come down to who can manage their squad of 20 the best that will succeed. Raiders Head Coach Carl Maynard tells that there is an absolute bare minimum expectation that his side competes in the Finals Series in 2014. We were aiming to go higher last season and I spoke to the boys half way through the year and told them that we can go as far as we want to go. We knew that certain things were going to hinder us, such as our squad size and that is what it came down to against Campbelltown. We wanted to go further and expected to go further but we knew we needed all of the little things to fall in place, things like no injuries and a bit of luck for it to happen, but in the end those things went against us. Maynard tells that he will be working on the predictability of his side in their pre-season training. We need to vary the way we are capable of defeating teams, that is really our main focus. We were a bit expected, there was only one or two ways we were going to do it. The new players we are bringing in to the club, Elvis Kamsoba and Nathan Fleetwood, as well as bringing back Shaun Brennan and Ryan Marveggio, definitely set us up for what we want to do. Maynard feels that the usual teams who have appeared in the Finals the past few years will do well again in 2014. Adelaide Blue Eagles, MetroStars and Adelaide City always do well. Campbelltown proved that if you are organised you will be successful and they have added 1 or 2 good players to their organisation so they will be up there again. I would throw us in there too. A tough one will be West Adelaide. They have a lot of good players but that doesnt always mean they will be successful, it will depend on how those players gel. They have all of the ingredients to do very well this year, it just depends how quickly they hit their straps.

Jordan ODoherty

Fixtures and Results

DATE

OPPONENTS

RES

Sun 23 Feb Fri 28 Feb Sat 8 Mar Mon 10 Mar Sun 16 Mar Sat 22 Mar Sun 30 Mar Sat 12 Apr Sat 19 Apr Sat 26 Apr Sat 3 May Sat 10 May Sat 17 May Sat 24 May Sat 7 Jun Mon 9 Jun Sat 14 Jun Sat 21 Jun Sat 28 Jun Sat 5 Jul Sat 12 Jul Sat 19 Jul Sat 26 Jul Sat 2 Aug Sat 9 Aug Sat 16 Aug

South Adelaide White City Cumberland WT Birkalla Croydon Adelaide Comets Para Hills Westrn Strikers MetroStars Adelaide City Campbelltown West Adelaide Blue Eagles South Adelaide White City Cumberland WT Birkalla Croydon Adelaide Comets Para Hills Western Strikers MetroStars Adelaide City Campbelltown West Adelaide Blue Eagles

H A H A H A H A H H A H A A H A H A H A H A A H A H

Mario Marcinko Michael Doyle

Mimi Saric Damien Stam

2014

Darrell Avery Adrian Macolino

Evan Metanomski

Sean Brennan

Jackson Stephens

Nathan Fleetwood

Dylan Pickert Jordan Elliott Paul Covino Brandon Reeves Matthew Stokes

Michael Marchi Daniel Pritchard Michael DeBono Daniel Bakewell

Elvis Kamsoba

Match Officials
REFEREE: Gary Mooney ASSISTANT REFEREE: Daniel Faulkner ASSISTANT REFEREE: Lee Lockett
Other Games This Round
Friday 21st February 19:45 W. Adelaide v Adel City Saturday 22nd February 15:00 Campbelltown v Blue Eagles 15:00 Para Hills v Birkalla 19:00 Strikers v Cumberland 19:00 MetroStars v White City Monday 24th February 19:45 Comets v Croydon

Next Round
Friday 28th February 19:30 Adelaide City v Comets 20:00 White City v Raiders Saturday 1st March 15:00 Cumberland v MetroStars 15:00 Birkalla v Strikers 19:00 W Adelaide v Blue Eagles 19:00 Croydon v Para Hills Sunday 2nd March

KEY:

Game Played Substituted Unused Sub

Goal Scored Used Sub Substituted Sub

15:00 Sth Adelaide v Campbelltown

The Adelaide Croatia Soccer Club was founded in the early 1950s by a small group of young Croats to promote the Croatian name locally, nationally and internationally. The group was headed by the late Fahrudin Ceric, the then President; Cvjetko Milanovic; Drago Pispek; and many others. They registered the club in 1952 and played their first game against a team from the Phillips Factory at Hendon. The club affiliated itself with the SA Soccer Federation and played for 5 years in the metropolitan division. Its first home ground was at the South parklands on Greenhill Rd. In 1954, Mr Branko Filipi, who was a significant leader in the club's early history, became the club president and remained so for the next 14 years. This was a record which still stands today. Along with his enthusiastic committee, Mr Filipi began securing the services of a number of promising recruits. In 1958 Adelaide Croatia entered into the second division and narrowly missed being promoted into the first division. That same year, the late Charles Perkins, now remembered as a leading Aboriginal activist, joined the team and later represented Australia. Charles Perkins was one of the most well known individuals to come out of Adelaide Croatia Soccer Club. In his autobiography he reflected with fondness on his friendships with Adelaide Croats and other immigrants he met through the club. Soccer was a truly multicultural sport and Adelaide Croatia reflected this. In 1959 the club convincingly won the second division championship and secured a place in the first division for the first time. Once in the first division, Adelaide Croatia's fixtures and results were listed in the international soccer pools. This was historically significant as Adelaide Croatia was the only Croatian team from Australia in the pools and its progress was thus followed by Croats all Hanson Reserve. There it remained until the year 2000. over the world. The following year, that is in 1960, the club also made a move to its new headquarters at

The club's first major milestone was in 1961 when Croatia downed Cumberland 4-nil to win the Ampol Cup. The Advertiser, in its report on the match, wrote that no team in the state could have beaten Croatia on that performance. The club then moved from strength to strength and its successes have been numerous.

But it wasn't until 1980 that Croatia won the coveted first place in the first division. This, of course, was considered the ultimate achievement for a State League side. Since then Croatia has won the league on another three occasions: in 1984 1988 1997 and 2002. The club was so successful in the 1980s that a decision was made by the committee that, should Adelaide Croatia win the 1990 premiership, it would attempt to enter the National Competition. This was not to be as Croatia, falling short by just one point on the premiership table, missed the "play-offs". Hellas won the competition that year and later joined the National League as West Adelaide. But Croatia continued to forge ahead as witnessed by some of its honours. These include: Federation Cup winner - 9 times Wills Cup winner - 3 times Ampol Cup winner- 3 times Bailetti Cup winner in 1968 Coca Cola Cup winner in 1984 And its championship honours include: Second division Champions in 1959 1972 and 1975 First division Champions in 1980 1984 1988 1997 and 2002 Around 1990 some members of the Croatian Community were putting the wheels in motion to build a sporting complex to accommodate its successful team. The vision has become a reality some 12 years later. And the result is what you see about you today. Many great players have walked through the doors of this club and many still remain great friends of Adelaide Croatia Soccer Club. Some of those players have represented South Australia and some have represented Australia. This is a true indication of a successful and well respected club. It is also an indication that the hundreds of players, officials and volunteers who have been affiliated with Adelaide Croatia over the past 60 years have kept alive the hopes of the club's founders and ensured that the Croatian name and sporting reputation has been vigorously promoted in South Australia.