| Full name | Footscray Jugoslav United Soccer Team | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | JUST Footscray Blues (Plavi) | ||
| Founded | 1950; 75 years ago (1950) asJugoslav United Soccer Team | ||
| Dissolved | 1990; 35 years ago (1990) (Under new ownership asFootscray City &Melbourne City Football Club) | ||
| Ground | Schintler Reserve,Footscray (1961–1990) Western Oval (1980)[1] | ||
Footscray Jugoslav United Soccer Team, commonly referred to asJ.U.S.T,Footscray or simplyJUST, was anassociation football club fromMelbourne,Australia. The club was established byYugoslav migrants in 1950, and was a founding member of theNational Soccer League.
The football team JUST was founded through the initiative of Ivan Kuketz (Serbo-Croatian:Kukec), a Melbourne hotelier and vice president ofBrighton Soccer Club.
Kuketz was impressed bypost-war migrant footballers fromYugoslavia andCzechoslovakia who had recently joined Brighton. Kuketz, himself an immigrant ofCroatian descent had migrated to Australia in the 1930s envisioned a team composed solely of players from the respective nations of the new club members. With the assistance of Jovan "John" Ivanovic, Kuketz took the new arrivals from Brighton and began scouting players from migrant camps throughoutVictoria andNew South Wales, with a great many gathered from theBonegilla facility. In March 1950 theJugoslav United Soccer Team was officially established with Kuketz as its first president, whilst the club quickly became known by its acronymJUST.[2][3]
JUST rapidly progressed in their debut season winning the Victorian Division Three South in 1950.[4] The team comfortably achieved promotion to theVictorian Division One after winning the second tire in 1951.[5] JUST also topped a successful year by being crownedDockerty Cup champions following a 1–0 triumph over Brighton.[6] JUST narrowly missed out on the league title in 1952 and 1953, finishing 3rd in both seasons, and in 5th place the following three years before securing their first title in 1957, and ended the five season league dominance ofJuventus.[7][8][9][10] The following year JUST struggled to maintain their successful run in the newly renamed Victorian State League, slumping to 10th spot, the club's worst finish since formation.[11]
JUST were the dominant entity in an amalgamation with theItalian backedFootscray Capri in 1961. The club was renamed toFootscray Jugoslav United Soccer Team and permanently relocated to Schintler Reserve.[12] The arrival of club legendZvonimir "Rale" Rasic and Aleksandar Jagodić as new coach in 1962 made a swift impact as the team won the Victorian State League in 1963 and Dockerty Cup that same year, winning 4–2 againstMarabyinong Polonia.[13][14] The following season JUST narrowly missed out on back-to-back league titles, losing out toSouth Melbourne Hellas by 1 point (equal withGeorge Cross), and finishing runners up after succumbing to a 1–0 defeat againstPort Melbourne Slavia in the 1964 Dockerty Cup final.[15][16]
The club fluctuated in mid table before ended the 1968 league season in 11th spot, the club's worst placing in a decade.[17] The crisis was averted under coach Rale Rasić who lead JUST to victory in the 1969 league championship before taking on theAustralian national team coaching role the following year.[18][19] JUST had also managed to reach the 1969 Victorian State League Cup final but were defeated. The end of the 1960s ushered in a golden era as JUST were crowned league champions for the fourth time in 1971.[20] The club also reach the 1971 Dockerty Cup final but lost 2–0 to Juventus.[21] League success was achieved for the fifth, and what would be the final time in the club's history in 1973.[22] ThePlavi were Victorian State League Cup champions for three consecutive seasons in 1974, 1975, 1976.[23] The team's last Dockerty Cup triumph came in 1976 as JUST won the final 2–0 against Marabyinong Polonia.[24]
In 1977 JUST became a foundation member of theNational Soccer League, where they largely struggled, with the exception of 1986, where they lost toAdelaide City in the Southern Conference grand final.[25] In that year Footscray recruited legendaryRed Star Belgrade player and trainerDragoslav Šekularac who also brought with himVlada Stošić which immediately lifted the club from the bottom to the top of the league.
However poor performances returned and in their final season as members of the NSL in 1989, after the club changed their name to Melbourne City JUST to broaden their appeal and with Schintler Reserve having undergone significant renovations, the club were demoted to the Victoria State League along with fellow Melbourne clubHeidelberg United FC after finishing second bottom, recording only five league wins.
Their last NSL home match took place on 10 July 1989, when 1,830 turned up to Schintler Reserve to witness a 1–1 draw with Sydney Olympic.[26] The following week they needed to win final game of the season to avoid relegation but lost to Melbourne Croatia at Middle Park.
The club performed dismally in the 1990Victorian State League season, and were relegated after finishing in 15th place.[27] The club was subsequently taken over by theArgentine community which signalled the end of their historic Yugoslav/Serbian connections and effectively the end of the original Footscray JUST.[28][29]
The club carried on as South Vietnamese club Footscray City andMelbourne City. As of 2025, Melbourne City competes in theVictorian State League Division 4 West competition.[30][31]
The kit of JUST mirrored that of theYugoslavia national team, which in turn was inspired by theYugoslav tricolour. From the early 1980s the team's shirt corporate sponsor wasJat Airways.
The club crest consisted of a red stylised football with white outline, on a blue background. The words "FOOTSCRAY SOCCER CLUB" were displayed above the football in bold, white lettering whilst the acronym "J.U.S.T" was featured on the bottom.[32][33]
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The club's main supporter base consisted ofethnic peoples from Yugoslavia who had immigrated to Melbourne. JUST received particularly strong support from ethnicSerbs, although sympathies amongstCroats andMacedonians were torn as both communities had established rival football clubs. JUST maintained warm relations withSydney affiliatesSSC Yugal, whilst the club was perceived by its rivals as having close ties to theYugoslav communist authorities.[34][35] The club's player ranks included members of the broad Australian community.[36]
Throughout its history JUST maintained a fierce rivalry with fellow Melbourne clubCroatia, which was founded in 1953 by Croatian migrants to the exclusion of other Yugoslav ethnic groups.[37][38] The rivalry had clear political undertones as Croatia's fan base espousedCroat nationalism andUstaša allegiance.[39][40][34]
A less heated rivalry also existed withPreston Makedonia, a club that further split members of the Yugoslav migrant community. It was founded in 1947 by ethnic Macedonian migrants who developed a political orientation towardsMacedonian nationalism.[41][42][43][44]
| Season | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts | Table Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 26 | 9 | 6 | 11 | 36 | 39 | 24 | 8th of 14 |
| 1978 | 26 | 7 | 8 | 11 | 29 | 37 | 22 | 12th of 14 |
| 1979 | 26 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 29 | 43 | 20 | 11th of 14 |
| 1980 | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 32 | 41 | 23 | 9th of 14 |
| 1981 | 30 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 32 | 48 | 25 | 13th of 16 |
| 1982 | 30 | 5 | 14 | 11 | 34 | 46 | 24 | 14th of 16 |
| 1983 | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 25 | 42 | 36 | 12th of 16 |
| 1984 | 28 | 10 | 5 | 13 | 29 | 33 | 25 | 8th of 12 (Sth) |
| 1985 | 22 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 25 | 41 | 12 | 12th of 12 (Sth) |
| 1986 | 22 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 29 | 27 | 28 | 2nd of 12 (Sth) |
| 1987 | 24 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 27 | 22 | 11th of 13 |
| 1988 | 26 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 34 | 32 | 23 | 10th of 14 |
| 1989 | 26 | 5 | 8 | 13 | 24 | 37 | 18 | 13th of 14 |
(Pld)=Games Played, (W)=Wins, (D)=Draws, (L)=Losses, (GF)=Goals For, (GA)=Goals Against, (Pts)=Points, (Sth)=Southern Conference
Bill Fleming Medal
Victorian Premier League Top Goalscorer Award
NSL U21 Player of the Year
NSL Coach of the Year
Jim Milisavljevic Angus Drennen
Minh Tri VoBilly RiceBranko BuljevicDoug UtjesenovicPeter OllertonJamie Paton
Vlada StosicOscar CrinoGary van EgmondWarren SpinkErnie TapaiFrank MicicJosip PicioaneMehmet DurakovićVlado Bozinovski
Brian O'DonnellIlija Dimoski (1989)
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)| National teams |
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