Bonnyrigg White Eagles Football Club

Football club infobox
clubname = Bonnyrigg White Eagles Football Club


fullname = Bonnyrigg White Eagles Football Club
nickname = "Avala", "The Reds",
"The Pride of South West Sydney"
founded = 1968
ground = Bonnyrigg Sports Club
capacity = 10,000| chairman = flagicon|Serbia Jovo Prlić
coach = flagicon|Serbia Blagoja Kulevski
manager = flagicon|Serbia Dejan Gajić
league = New South Wales Winter Super League
season = 2008
position = Premiers | pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=FF0000|body1=FF0000|rightarm1=FF0000|shorts1=0000C0|socks1=FFFFFF
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=0000C0|socks2=FFFFFF

Bonnyrigg White Eagles F.C. is a football club in Sydney currently playing in the New South Wales Winter Super League.

History

Established by Serbian migrants Fact|date=July 2008 from the Cabramatta area of south-west Sydney, their primary supporter base has been the local Serbian community. Its most famous products are former socceroo Milan Blagojević and current Central Coast and young socceroo goalkeeper Danny Vuković.

Established in 1968, the club was originally known as the Avala Sports Club. Fact|date=July 2008 In 1977 Avala was promoted to the New South Wales Premier League and competed in the top level of New South Wales football until 1986.

After a two year absence from the New South Wales Premier League (and a New South Wales Winter Super League title later) Avala returned to top flight action in 1989, undergoing a name change to Bonnyrigg White Eagles after the 1992 season, and remained in the Top Division until 2006.

Colours and Badge

Bonnyrigg White Eagles home colours have been the traditional Red Shirt, Blue Shorts and White Socks since the club's inception. The away kit has seen changes from year to year and is currently White Shirt, Blue Shorts and White Socks.

Bonnyrigg's Club Badge consists and a crowned double-headed White Eagle with a football over a boomerang in its centre. The Badge is similar in design to certain elements of the Coat of arms of Serbia. This is overlaid over a Red-Blue-White background which mirrors the Club's main kit.

Stadium

Bonnyrigg White Eagles play their home matches at Bonnyrigg Sports Club in Bonnyrigg, New South Wales, Australia.

The ground dates back to May 1966 when convert|7|acre|m2 of land was purchased for the building of a social club and footballing grounds. Over the years the grounds were improved when in 1986 it became the permanent home ground for Bonnyrigg.

In 2001, an additional convert|3|acre|m2 of land was purchased as part of a plan to renovate the club and expand the training grounds. This was completed in October 2005.

Supporters

Bonnyrigg White Eagles fans generally hail from the Serbian diaspora in Australia especially in south-western suburbs of Sydney such as Bonnyrigg, Liverpool and Cabramatta.

Current squad

"As of June 12, 2008"

Notable Players: Bonnyrigg White Eagles and the Socceroos

A number of Socceroos have donned the jersey of Bonnyrigg White Eagles, these include;

*Milan Blagojević
*Rod Brown
*Bobby Despotovski
*Gary van Egmond
*Craig Foster
*Michael Gibson
*Anthony Henderson
*Marshall Soper
*Warren Spink
*Robert Wheatley
*Greg Woodhouse

Other Notable Players

*Michael Baird
*Gus Cerro
*Radovan Filipović - Former Futsalroos captain
*Aleksandar "Sasha" Janković - Former Red Star Belgrade manager
*Glen Moss - Current New Zealand international
*Ivan Nečevski
*Vuko Tomašević
*Norman Tome
*Danny Vuković - Current Australian international squad member

Achievements

Bonnyrigg's most notable achievements include;

* League:
** NSW Premier League Club Championship (x1): 2005
** NSW Premier League Champions (x3): 1992, 1998, 2001
** NSW Premier League Minor Premiers (x3): 1992, 1998, 1999
** NSW Premier League Grand Final Runners Up (x2): 1997, 2005
** NSW Premier League Premiership Runners Up (x3): 2000, 2001, 2002
** NSW Super League Club Championship (x1): 2008
** NSW Super League Champions (x3) :1976, 1988, 2007
** NSW Super League Minor Premiers (x3): 1976, 1988, 2008
** NSW Super League Premiership Runners Up (x1): 2007
** NSW Division One Champions (x1) : 1973

* Cup
** Ampol Cup Winners (x1): 1977
** NSW Waratah Cup Winners (x1): 1992
** Johnny Warren Cup Winners (x2): 2003, 2004
** NSW Continental Tyres Cup Runners Up (x1): 2004
** Karadjordje Cup Winners (x4): 1992, 1993, 1995, 2000
** Karadjordje Cup Runners-Up (x5): 1988, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1996

All-Time League Table

Below is a table listing the combined Regular Season and Finals matches season records.Cup matches are not included.

Current as of the end of the 2008 season.

* Note: From 1991 to 1995 league matches used penalty shootouts to decide drawn games at the conclusion of regualtion time. As a result, the first number in the 'Drawn' column for these seasons denotes a penalty win and the second number denotes a penalty loss. Two points were awarded for a penalty victory, and one point for a penalty loss.

The Treble

Bonnyrigg's most successful year in their history came about in the 1992 season, a year their fans will never forget. A squad mixed with youth and experience, and ably led by coach Mike Johnson, won the Minor Premiership, the NSW Premier League Grand Final as well as the NSW Waratah Cup.

To top that off, Bonnyrigg also completed a "Quadruple" of sorts by claiming the Karadjordje Cup for that season as well.

Many have labelled this team one of the greatest to have ever played in New South Wales and one that would certainly rival Bonnyrigg's talented 2005 squad. So much so that there was a concerted push from the management of the National Soccer League for Bonnyrigg to join and enter the highest level. However this offer was declined due to the poorly administered state of the National Soccer League and the heavy financial burden that this would place on Bonnyrigg.

2004-05 Season Controversy

The 2004-05 Season was marred by controversy when Serbian fans of Bonnyrigg and Croatian fans of neighbouring club Sydney United engaged in riots. At the height of tensions gunshots were fired at the Bonnyrigg Sports ClubFact|date=April 2007 and a car was fire bombed at Sydney United's King Tomislav Croatian Club at Edensor Park.Fact|date=April 2007 The result was that the Soccer NSW has directed that all future games between the clubs must be held at a neutral venue.

Bonnyrigg lost 3-1 to Bankstown City Lions in the 2004/05 NSW Premier League Grand Final.

Despite finishing Grand Finalists in 2004/2005 and claiming the Club Championship, Bonnyrigg were not offered a position in the 2005/06 NSW Premier League season. The club's appeal of this decision failed and they now compete in the Winter Super League.

External links

* [http://www.whiteeaglesfc.com/ Club Website]
* [http://www.footballnsw.com.au/index.php?id=109 Current Football NSW Competition Table]
* [http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/States/NSW.html NSW State League Results]
* [http://www.bonnyriggsportsclub.com/ Bonnyrigg Sports Club Official Website]