About Us
45 YEARS AND GOING STRONG
A RICH HISTORY IN SOCCER
THROUGH THE YEARS
THE EARLY DAYS tO TODAY
Established in 1975 by players and lovers of soccer, St Albans Dinamo was modelled on Dinamo Zagreb from which it name originates.
Despite its humble origins in the Fourth Industrial Division, the club quickly secured the championship to rise through the ranks in record time: from Fourth Industrial; to Third Industrial; to Fourth State; to Third State where it stayed for 2 years.
The club developed a reputation for its prowess on the field; securing maximum scores by winning all its games. Legend has it that the club even achieved a result of 20:0 in one game! It is little surprise that with such incredible results, the club was quickly promoted again, skipping Second State Division altogether, going straight through to First State Division.
After such a phenomenal start, the club quickly gained support from the local community and in 1982, it acquired the then defunct St Albans Saints Soccer Club, rescuing the local club from imminent failure. This manoeuvre gained the club three playing grounds at Churchill Reserve, where it still resides, also securing the future of the Dinamo name by incorporating it into the St Albans Saints Soccer Club.
Coming to Churchill Reserve and with help from the Croatian Community it builds Club Rooms and a Function Room for 400 people.
With the establishment, of the Victorian Premiere League St. Albans takes its part with fluctuating results.
In 1998 the Saints win the League, which is the biggest success so far for the Club.
St. Albans Saints at the moment have two senior teams 1st and Reserves with several junior teams and around 160 junior players, which gives the Saints great resources to draw from.
St. Albans Saints is a sister club to Melbourne Knights whose side have occupied many of the Saints players throughout the years.
Besides soccer St. Albans Saints is the home of folkloric group “Sokadija”. In the last few years Saints home becomes a home for our Senior Citizens which numbers 200 members, and is one of the largest Croatian Senior Citizens Clubs in Melbourne.
St Albans Saints Soccer Club is an Australian football (soccer) club from St Albans, Australia (a suburb of Melbourne) established by Croatian immigrants to the area. The club is a regular participant in the Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament. The club is well known for having produced many great players over the years, including many that have gone on to play for its sister club the Melbourne Knights. The club currently competes in the Victorian State League Division 1.
ORIGINS
FROM THE GRASSROOTS
The club was formed by Croatian migrants as Dinamo in 1975. In 1982 the club took over the German backed St A lbans Soccer Club which was near bankruptcy. The club became St Albans Dinamo and took residence at Churchill Reserve in St Albans. The club still remains there till this day. The club would go onto build a social club there which holds 400 patrons. It has become an important meeting place for the local Croatian community.
St Albans Dinamo won its first title in 1983, winning the Victorian State League Division 2 with Melbourne Knights legends Billy Vojtek (former Socceroo) and Branko Culina leading the way. Billy Vojtek was the leagues top goal scorer with 16 goals. The following year the club joined the Victorian Premier League, skipping Division 1, after several VPL clubs joined the expanded National Soccer League. The club had a poor first year in 1984, finishing 12th and narrowly surviving relegation. By the late 1980s the club had become one of the leading sides in the competition. From 1986 to 1989 the club finished in the top 5 each season. 1988 was the season the club came closest to winning the championship, they finished 4th only 3 points behind first place. In this time the club produced many great players like Ivan Duzel, Ivan Kelic, Velimir Kupersak and Oliver Pondeljak, all of whom went onto great success in the National Soccer League.
Over the next decade the club would struggle, with fluctuating results. The only joy came in 1993 with the club finishing 5th and making the finals. But the club was eliminated at the first phase, losing to Sunshine George Cross. But this period was marked by more young talent being produced by the club, in particular Ante Kovacevic and Tom Pondeljak. Both players went to win the National Soccer League championship with the Melbourne Knights.
In 1998 the club had its most successful season. The club finished first, winning the Minor Premiership. Striker Harry Karl had a great season scoring 23 goals, to finish 2nd on the goal scoring chart. The club made the Grand Final against the Bulleen Inter Kings. In a thrilling match Bulleen were up 2-0 by the 54th minute. But 10 minutes later St Albans had leveled in a remarkable comeback. The joy was short lived, with seven minutes remaining Bulleen scored what would be the winning goal.
After this stand out season the club would go back to struggling, being a mid table side. In 2005 the club was relegated from the Victorian Premier League after having played 23 seasons in the state’s top league. Needing only a draw to survive the drop, the club was relegated in the final round after losing to Heidelberg.
SUPPORTERS
THE HEART AND SOUL OF OUR CLUB
The clubs supporters are primarily from the local Croatian community in St Albans, as well as from surrounding suburbs such as Sunshine, Keilor, Taylors Lakes, Delahey, Hillside and Sydenham. Though their support also stretches out to the greater Croatian community in Melbourne. They are second most popular Croatian backed club in Victoria behind the Melbourne Knights.
HONOURS
OUR ACHIEVEMENTS
National Premier League 2 West Victoria Champions; 2019
National Premier League 2 West Victoria Minor Premiers: 2016, 2019
Victorian Premier league Minor Premiers 1998
Victorain Premier League Runner-Up 1998
Victorian State League Cup Winners 1989
Victorian State League Division 1 Champions 2009
Victorian State League Division 2 Champions 1983
Victorian Premier League finalists (playoffs) 1993, 1998
Australian Croatian Soccer Tournament Champions 1983, 1985, 1990, 1991, 1998, 2000, 2008, 2016, 2017
Individual Honours
Victorian Premier League Gold Medal – VPL Player of the Year
Victorian Premier league Minor Premiers 1998
Victorain Premier League Runner-Up 1998
Victorian State League Cup Winners 1989
Victorian State League Division 1 Champions 2009
Victorian State League Division 2 Champions 1983
Victorian Premier League finalists (playoffs) 1993, 1998
Australian Croatian Soccer Tournament Champions 1983, 1985, 1990, 1991, 1998, 2000, 2008
Individual Honours
Victorian Premier League Gold Medal – VPL Player of the Year
1985 – Branko Culina
1989 – Velimir Kupersak
1995 – Tom Pondeljak
2000 – Damian Vojtek
Bill Fleming Medal
Media voted VPL Player of the Year
1988 – Ivan Duzel
1989 – Velimir Kupersak
Victorian Premier league
Coach of the Year
1998 – Vlado Vanis
Victorian Premier league
Leading Goal Scorer
1987 – Denis Morovic 18 goals
1988 – Ivan Kelic 17 goals
Victorian Premier league
Jim Rooney Medal – Grand Final Man of the Match
1998 – Slavko Rados
OUR SHINING STARS
Notable former players
Lupce Acevski
Joe Bacak
Vinko Buljubasic
Michael Collina
Branko Culina
Jason Culina (junior player at the club)
Ante Deak
Ivan Duzel
Mate Dugandzic
Ivan Jolic
Frank Juric
Hrvoje Karl
Ivan Kelic
Ante Kovacevic
Paul Magdic
Antun Kovacic
Velimir Kupersak
Andrew Marth
Tom Milardovic
Denis Morovic
Oliver Pondeljak
Tom Pondeljak
Slavko Rados
Mark Silic
Paul Urlovic
Vlado Vanis
Mark Viduka (junior player at the club)
Damian Vojtek
Billy Vojtek
Jason Vukadin
Marijan Vundrel