Albion Park White Eagles

Albion Park White Eagles (2000-present)

At the turn of the millennium, in the year 2000, the White eagles amalgamated with Albion Park to form the Albion Park White Eagles. To the present day the same players who founded the club 20 years ago are now sitting on the sidelines cheering on their former club. The beginnings were tough with relegation to conference league after a heartbreaking 5-1 home defeat to Port Kembla in 2002. With 2 games left in the regular season, Albion Park White Eagles were 6 points from the drop zone. Consequently we lost both games whilst Shoalhaven City won both games and beat the drop due to a better goal difference.

Currently in the year 2008, the Albion Park White Eagles are playing at Terry Reserve in the regions finest competition, the Illawarra Premier League. This year we have built a solid squad and definitely will challenge for honours come the end of the season.

Wollongong Srbija/ Wollongong White Eagles (1983-1999)

Wollongong Srbija were first established in 1983 by a group of Serbian migrants who previously played football socially at Morely Park, Warilla. These gatherings between ‘mates’ began with the use of small goals 1.5m wide which was used in order to develop their short passing skills typical of Serbs of that era.

At the time, in footballing circles Serbia (then Yugoslavia) had been referred to as the “European Brazilians” due to their distinctive skill and passing attributes. Unfortunately, council regulations at the time didn’t allow non-registered clubs to play socially on council grounds. This forced these groups of friends to establish ‘Wollongong Srbija’. Competing in the Illawarra Church League, Wollongong Srbija cruised through the competition undefeated and most remarkably won their first competitive match 22-0.

Throughout the next 20 years, Wollongong Srbija battled through the various Illawarra division. Due to pressure from regulatory bodies, our name was changed several time to Serbia United, Wollongong Serbia and finally Wollongong White Eagles. In 1998, the White Eagles had a solid year, performing past all expectations to reach the grand final of the Illawarra Premier League. White Eagles on that day included the likes of Naumovski, Cuda, Radic, Guido and even a 16 year old centre midfielder called David Graovac whom to this day still applies his trade at the White Eagles. The scores were locked at 0-0 and the White Eagles triumphed in penalties thanks to the heroics of goalkeeper Dragan Radic.

Albion Park (1975-1999)

Albion Park Soccer Club was formed in 1975. Initially it was a junior(s) Club, however prior to this a senior team did exist as an amateur team and played under the name of Albion Park RSL.

Some very talented players emerged from the Albion Park Juniors. The Club has the distinction of having a number of junior players progress to playing in the National League, these being :- Jeff Allport and Steven Laybutt (Steven Laybutt also proceeded to play overseas, and play for Australia on a number of occasions).

The latest Albion Park junior to come good, is Luke Wilkshire. Luke has played in the English Premier League and is currently playing professionally in Holland. Luke is a member of the Socceroo Squad, and has reached the dizzy heights of playing in the 2006 World Cup under Gus Hiddink.

The Albion Park Senior Team commenced playing in the early eighties in the then ISA 2nd Division. It too benefited from the junior system, with a number of juniors progressing into the senior ranks, and moving on to play Premier Division with other Clubs. Albion Park reached the 1991 2nd Division Finals, and proceeded to win the 1991 2nd Div Grand Final, they also were promoted into the 1st Division the following year.

The Club suffered greatly from the lack of suitable finances to further develop their juniors, hence the regular exodus of young players to richer Clubs. This was somewhat changed in 1996, the 2nd Div was scrapped that year, and a Conference system introduced. This meant that the Club could field Three teams, i.e including Youth grade. This change at least, gave the club the opportunity to offer a progression from Junior to senior ranks to many young players.

Albion Park Seniors played at Albion Oval for many years, then moved to John O’Dwyer Oval at Croom Rd Sporting Complex. The major move to the present Terry reserve was made in 1996. The development of Terry Reserve was a major milestone for Albion Park, however the Club was still burdened with the lack of sufficient finances, and was slowly stagnating. The Amalgamation with Wollongong White Eagles in 2000 meant that Premier League Football could be played at Terry Reserve for the first time. The amalgamation was a win win situation for both the Clubs, the Eagles needed a ground and a more permanent home, Albion Park needed financial support, and participation in the higher division.The venture was not without it’s critics, a lot of barriers had to be cleared along the way, however, at the end Football is the winner. Some of the old Albion Park stalwarts sat on the initial Albion Park White Eagles Committee, these being, Phil Potter, Mark White, Jim Pickup, Michelle Arntz & Frank Zammit.