| Full name | St George Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Saints,Budapest | ||
| Founded | 1957; 68 years ago (1957) | ||
| Ground | Barton Park Sports Complex (NSW League 2 Youth Team) (NPL Senior Team) (NSW League One Women Team) | ||
| Capacity | 5,000 | ||
| Head Coach | Fabian Miceli | ||
| League | NPL NSW | ||
| 2024 | 12th of 16 | ||
| Website | https://stgeorgefc.com.au/ | ||
St George FC, commonly calledSaints orBudapest, is a semi-professional Australiansoccer club based in theSt George district in the south of Sydney. The club was founded by Hungarian immigrants in 1957 asBudapest Club and by 1965 was renamed toSt. George-Budapest Club.
One of the top clubs of Australia from the 1960s to the 1980s, St George currently competes in theNational Premier Leagues NSW. After playing its youth and senior fixtures atIlinden Sports Centre between 2018 and 2024, in 2025 St George returned to their original location afterSt George Stadium was redeveloped into the Barton Park Sports Complex.[1]
St George FC Women compete inNSW League One Women's and after playing out of Fraser Park in 2022 andIlinden Sports Centre in 2023-2024, from 2025 their home ground is also atthe Barton Park Sports Complex.
The club was formed shortly after theHungarian Revolution of 1956 byHungarian Immigrants and was originally known asBudapest. In the 1960s, led by pioneering soccer administrator Alex Pongrass, it became one of the first ethnic clubs inNSW to search for a district to call home and it chose theSt George district. It later became known as St George-Budapest before shortening its name to St George some years later. They opened a licensed club, named Soccer House, in the suburb ofMortdale in 1968. In 1969Frank Arok, the first full-time coach in Australia was appointed, serving two stints as coach, the last ending in 1983 when he left to coach theSocceroos. In between Arok's two stints as coach,Rale Rasic was coach, coaching the club at the same time as he was coaching the Socceroos. In 1971 the club was invited to an international club tournament in Tokyo, Japan. It won and remained the highest ever international achievement by an Australian club side, untilSouth Melbourne FC won the 1999 Oceania Club Championship. However this was surpassed by Sydney FC (Oceania champions) when they finished 5th at the FIFA World Club Cup where, before them, South Melbourne had finished 8th and Western Sydney Wanderers (Asian champions) 6th.
Such was the dominance of St George in those days that up to 10 players on the national team would be St George players. Five of their players were in theAustralian side that started againstEast Germany in theWorld Cup that year inWest Germany, including the vice-captain of the side, theAustralian soccer legendJohnny Warren. Another notable player (albeit at a lower level), was football commentatorLes Murray. Together with Warren they would become known as "Mr and Mrs Soccer"[2] and would become the faces of soccer in Australia through their commentary work onSBS Television.
In 1975 at the urging of some former Hungarian soccer greats and youth coach Bob Szatmari, the meeting determined to establish the AustralianNational Soccer League took place at Soccer House with representatives from all founding clubs, includingHakoah Club (later known asEastern Suburbs andSydney City) president andWestfield Group founder and chairmanFrank Lowy and Leslie Szatmari. The competition started in 1977 and St. George-Budapest won the competition in 1983. They played in the league until the 1990/91 season. Since then they have played in state competitions. In 2005 the side was controversially axed from the new lookNew South Wales Premier League and took legal action against the decision along with theBonnyrigg White Eagles, but were unsuccessful.
In 2012 St George competed in the New South Wales Super League, the second tier of state soccer, finishing seventh out of twelve clubs and missing out on the finals.[3] In 2013, St George were promoted from the NPL NSW Men's 2 after taking out the league championship, finishing seven points ahead of the second placedMacarthur Rams FC. The club also won the Grand Final, beating the Rams in the semi-final 2–1 and then beatingMounties Wanderers FC 3–1 in the final. The joy was not to last long, though, as in 2014, the club was immediately relegated back to the second tier of soccer in NSW. Managing just four wins and four draws in 22 games, St George finished dead last in the top tier. The Saints endured another tough season in 2015, finishing third last in the NPL NSW Men's 2.
In 2017 the club played most senior home fixtures out ofSeymour Shaw Park, also playing one game atSt George Stadium, Fraser Park and Blacktown Football Park. This didn't seem to deter St George as the side finished in 2nd place, losing the semi-final toMt Druitt Town Rangers FC 4–2.[4][5]
Due to the dilapidated state ofSt George Stadium, the club played senior fixtures out ofRockdale Ilinden Sports Centre in 2018 and 2019. In 2018, St George finished in 2nd place in the league and won the NPL NSW 2 grand final, but were not promoted due to the 'Club Championship' ranking which takes into consideration the performance of the U20 and U18 sides. In 2019, St George finished 10th in the 14-team NPL NSW 2 season.[6]
During the 2019 season, St George reached the FFA Cup round of 32 after beating clubs such asSD Raiders,APIA Leichhardt Tigers andDulwich Hill, but lost to Sydney United 58 in a 5–3 thriller after two goals from Mushi Kokubo and a stoppage time equaliser.
In 2023, St George FC were promoted back into the NSW National Premier League 2024 by finishing 2nd place in League 1, then defeatingMt Druitt Town Rangers in a thrilling play-off series.[7]
| Season | League | Place | Cup |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | NSW 1 | 7th | |
| 1962 | NSW 1 | 1st | |
| 1963 | NSW 1 | 6th | |
| 1964 | NSW 1 | 2nd | |
| 1965 | NSW 1 | 2nd | |
| 1966 | NSW 1 | 3rd | |
| 1967 | NSW 1 | 2nd | |
| 1968 | NSW 1 | 11 | |
| 1969 | NSW 1 | 2nd | |
| 1970 | NSW 1 | 2nd | |
| 1971 | NSW 1 | 2nd | |
| 1972 | NSW 1 | 1st | |
| 1973 | NSW 1 | 3rd | |
| 1974 | NSW 1 | 3rd | |
| 1975 | NSW 1 | 2nd | |
| 1976 | NSW 1 | 1st | |
| 1977 | NSL | 6th | |
| 1978 | NSL | 7th | |
| 1979 | NSL | 11th | 2nd |
| 1980 | NSL | 14th | |
| 1981 | NSW 1 | 2nd | |
| 1982 | NSL | 2nd | |
| 1983 | NSL | 1st | |
| 1984 | NSL | 10th | |
| 1985 | NSL | 5th | |
| 1986 | NSL | 3rd | |
| 1987 | NSL | 3rd | |
| 1988 | NSL | 8th | |
| 1989 | NSL | 2nd | 3rd |
| 1989–90 | NSL | 10th | |
| 1990 | NSW 1 | 4th | |
| 1990–91 | NSL | 10th | |
| 1992 | NSW 1 | 11th | |
| 1993 | NSW 1 | 11th | |
| 1994 | NSW 2 | 10th | |
| 1995 | NSW 1 | 5th | |
| 1996 | NSW 1 | 10th | |
| 1996 | NSW 1 | 3rd | |
| 1997 | NSW 1 | 9th | |
| 1998 | NSW 1 | 12th | |
| 1999 | NSW 2 | 2nd | |
| 2000 | NSW 1 | 4th | |
| 2000–01 | NSW 1 | 6th | |
| 2001–02 | NSW 1 | 10th | |
| 2002–03 | NSW 1 | 9th | |
| 2003–04 | NSW 1 | 2nd | |
| 2004–05 | NSW 1 | 8th | |
| 2005 | NSW 1 Champions League | 7th | |
| 2006 | NSW 2 | 10th | |
| 2006 | NSW 2 Group B | 5th | |
| 2007 | NSW 2 | 4th | |
| 2008 | NSW 2 | 6th | |
| 2009 | NSW 2 | 6th | |
| 2010 | NSW 2 | 3rd | |
| 2011 | NSW 2 | 3rd | |
| 2012 | NSW 2 | 7th | |
| 2013 | NSW 2 | 1st | |
| 2014 | NPL NSW 1 | 12th | |
| 2015 | NPL NSW 2 | 10th | |
| 2016 | NPL NSW 2 | 9th | |
| 2017 | NPL NSW 2 | 2nd | |
| 2018 | NPL NSW 2 | 2nd | |
| 2019 | NPL NSW 2 | 10th | |
| 2020 | NPL NSW 2 | 9th | |
| 2021 | NPL NSW 2 | Cancelled | |
| 2022 | NSW League One | 9th | |
| 2023 | NSW League One | 2nd | |
| 2024 | NPL NSW | 12th |
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Manfred Schaefer,Johnny Warren andAttila Abonyi were original inductees into theFootball Australia Hall of Fame. Later followedAdrian Alston,Doug Utjesenovic,David Ratcliffe,Robbie Slater andGeorge Harris.
Adrian Alston (b. 1949), 1969 to 1972 with the club. Stalwart of the 1974 Australian World Cup side. Played 37 matches for Australia scoring 6 goals.
Osvaldo Ardiles (b. 1952), one match for St George in 1985,[8] loaned fromTottenham Hotspur to the club. World Cup winner of 1978.Attila Abonyi (1946-2023), 1969 to 1976 with the club. Stalwart of the 1974 Australian World Cup side. Played 61 matches for Australia scoring 25 goals.Harry Williams (b. 1951), 1970 to 1977 with the club. Firstaboriginal playing for Australia. Participant in the 1974 World Cup. Altogether six matches for Australia.
Chris Cahill (b. 1984), 2006 to 2012 with the club. Brother ofAustralia's all-time top goal scorerTim Cahill was born in Sydney but played forSamoa 15 times and scoring 7 goals.George Harris (b. 1949), 1968 to 1979 with the club. Played 28 matches for Australia.
Dez Marton (b. 1948), 1982 to 1985 with the club. Top-scorer of the club's golden 1980s era.David Ratcliffe (b. 1957), 1982 to 1986 and 1989 with the club. Played 21 matches for Australia scoring 1 goal.Manfred Schaefer (1943-2023), 1963 to 1975 with the club. Stalwart of the 1974 Australian World Cup side. The milkman played 49 matches for Australia scoring 1 goal.Robbie Slater (b. 1964), 1982 to 1986 with the club. Played 44 matches for Australia scoring 1 goal.Johnny WarrenMBEOAM (1943-2004), 1963 to 1974 with the club. Part of the 1974 Australian World Cup side. Played 42 matches for Australia scoring 7 goals.Doug Utjesenovic (b. 1946), 1971 to 1980 with the club. Stalwart of the 1974 Australian World Cup side. Played 61 matches for Australia scoring 2 goals.| Preceded by | NSL Champions 1983 | Succeeded by |
