The history of Heidelberg United FC
The influx of Greek migrants arrived in Melbourne in the 1950s mainly from the northern part of Greece to form a community-based football club under the name of Alexander.
The team was established on September 13, 1958, also widely known by their fans as Bergers and Warriors.
The fans made a decision to set up a social club, the Clifton Hill Social Club, at a time when there was an influx of Greek families as well as migrants from other European countries.
Heidelberg United played its first game at Fairfield Park, for which they had ran out onto the pitch wearing the bold yellow and black jerseys of Florina, a small region in Greece where the immigrants had originally come from to establish the club. The Warriors won their milestone game in a 4-2 victory against Fairfield Park.
At that time there were no gate takings, so the devoted bunch of the very first supporters of the club along with the players and the Clifton Hill Social Club, decided to take matters into their own hands to pass the hat around to raise funds for the club.
They collected a grand total of $150, which is the equivalent of $10 today.
The first two years of Alexander Soccer Club of what was it was called back then, was successful in maintaining the club on the pitch and off the pitch, the club's secretary back then, Markos Economides, was confident they could compete for a place in the Victorian Amateur Soccer Football Association (VASFA).
Later on that year, having recruited players and other forms of club members, reapplied and was granted the opportunity to participate in the Provisional League.
In its first season, Alexander Soccer Club dominated the league by finishing the season with 34 points, scoring a remarkable 113 goals in the process.
The next three years from 1961-1963 was just as successful, winning the league and being promoted to the State League competition in the following year.
In the 1970s, Fitzroy United Alexander Soccer Club had an influential role to play in shaping and transforming the development of football in Victoria and nationally, being a founding member in 1977 of what was known as the National Soccer League (NSL).
The team of the yellow and black kits was effective in showing their consistency which led them to be the second-best rated club, with the way they would manage to get the victories in Australia. It had no less than 15 players in the squad for the Australian national team while playing for Heidelberg United.
After the inauguration of the NSL, the training venue for the Melbourne 1956 Olympics, Olympic Park, was going to be the new home ground for the Bergers, with negotiations beginning with the Heidelberg City Council to move its initial ground in Fitzroy to Heidelberg in 1977.
While the deal was being talked about relocating, an ex-player, James Mangopoulos, who was an industrious committee at the time, managed to complete one of the biggest contracts in the club's history five years later by securing the lease of the renowned Olympic Village in the northern suburbs of Melbourne for 30 years in 1982.
In what was regarded by many as the Golden Era, the late 1970s and early 1980s had success on all fronts, including coming out as winners in the Top 4 play-off series against Sydney City with a dominant 4-0 display. Throughout the 1990s, the club was champions twice in the National Soccer League Cup, winning the Victorian Premier League (VPL) four times in 1975, 1988, 1990 and 2001.
Under the new format of the National Premier League Victoria was established in 2014, Heidelberg United's faithful enjoyed some of the club's biggest successes, topping the league in three consecutive seasons in 2017, 2018 and 2019, including finishing as champions in the grand final in 2018 against Avondale.
Some of the standout players to have been a part of those three extraordinary years at Olympic Park have been the ageless Adrian Zahra, Reuben Way, Harry Noon and many others, along with the one man who has stood the test of time is the passionate and pioneering head coach, George Katsakis.
Steve Tsalikidis, the president of the club since 2014, gave a brief insight as to what sort of changes the fans can expect to see in the future.
“At the moment we are only in stage 1 and stage 2 of our grandmaster plan so we have been lobbying and hoping in the next couple of years we can finish the whole plan which will include three new pitches outside of the main facility, a new sporting facility with change rooms and social rooms, overall it will be bigger than just about football,” he said.
The ambitious president was positive looking ahead for the club going forward.
“We do know that we have got the vision to be in the B league one day. We want to have the best possible program for women’s and men’s program and girl’s and boy’s programs as well, so we are investing in those areas," he said.
Adrian Zahra having played professionally for Perth Glory and Melbourne Heart, has been in the historic yellow and black kit for five years says he joined the Bergers to be successful.
“To win, l knew they were there or there abouts in competing for the top spots, fortunately we were able to get the success in the last few years,” he said.
Adrian had many footballing idols growing up, including Alan Shearer, is the reason why he wears the NO.9 shirt, went on to say the club can offer a lot more in terms of success.
“I think we have got plenty to offer, we are a young team which is good, considering we are still several rounds in and the one game from top, there is going to be twists and turns all year round and l think we will be there,” he said.
