Melbourne Tornado
The Melbourne Tornado Soccer Club, aka HNK Zadar Melbourne Tornado, is an Australian football (soccer) club from Melbourne, Victoria.
It is a Croatian backed club founded by members of the Croatian community of Melbourne, many of whom hail from the Croatian city of Zadar, and other historical cities and regions of Croatia.
Formation
The club was born out of the ashes of HNK Tottenham Zagreb, a Croatian backed soccer club that was disbanded in the late 1990s. Several former members and players of HNK Tottenham Zagreb founded Melbourne Tornado in 2000.
The club takes its name 'Tornado' from the supporter group of the Croatian soccer club NK Zadar and basketball club KK Zadar.
Melbourne Tornado also established a women's team in 2006, who subsequently finished fourth in their first season under coaches Mario Tarle and Stipe Dragovic, and are now competing in the VPL Women's State League Division 3 under coaches Denny Pincic and Sime Lisica.
The clubrooms at Newmarket Reserve have been renovated recently, with the introduction of an electronic dartboard (pikado) and a plethora of club memorabilia.
Club Stats
The club found early success, finishing fourth in the annual Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament in 2000. Despite this promising start, the official founding of the club did not take place until the following year.The date of 2001 is recognised because that was the year when the club had their first annual meeting, officers were elected and the club officially registered as an association. The name “Tornado” was adopted from the Zadar Basketball Club famous supporter’s group “Tornado”, yet another example and link to the club’s Croatian heritage.
The club was promoted to FFV Provisional League Division 3 North West in 2002, where it found limited success until the 2005 season, when it finished first on 49 points and gained promotion to Provisional League Division 2 where it finds itself today.
Club captain Luciano Stolica was awarded the League’s highest honour in 2005 being named FFV Player of the Year, as well as the club’s equal Best and Fairest alongside Stanko Zilic.
The club again gained promotion in 2007, finishing second and moving into Provisional League Division One N/W in season 2008, the highest level in the club's short history.
Honours
the Victorian Provisional League Division 3 Nth-West Champions 2005
Team Photos
Home Strip - 2007
With Mascot Mr Banana - 2007
Notable Players
Leo Stolica Former Captain & All Time Great Leading Club Scorer, Melbourne Knights, Sunshine George Cross, Richmond SC
Stanko Zilic - Melbourne Knights, Adelaide Raiders, Altona Magic, Sunshine Georgies
Luka Miocic - Melbourne Knights
Carl Vella - Melbourne Knights
Mario Jurjevic - Melbourne Knights, Whittlesea Stallions
Anthony Smolic - NK Debeljak, NK "Zlatna Luka" Sukosan, MNK Auto Skola "Donat"
Notable names with origins from Zadar and it's hinterland that have played for Melbourne Tornado:
Baric (Policnik) Simicevic (Islam Latinski) Mikulic (Gorica) Smolic (Debeljak) Mustac (Grbe) Pincic (Zemunik) Miocic (Rtina) Babic (Dobra Voda) Ukalovic (Suhovare) Lukic (Medvida) Spaleta (Diklo) Kolceg (Islam Latinski) Batur (Gorica) Bucic (Gorica) Jusup (Seline) Saric (Glavica) Bilaver (Skabrnja) Jurjevic (Tinj) Raznjevic (Polaca) Cimera (Mrljane) Krslovic (Privlaka) Juric (Skabrnja) Smokrovic (Gorica)
Gallery
Links
- List of Croatian football clubs in Australia
- Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament
- Croatian Australian
- List of Croatian-Australian Socceroos