Dingley Stars Football Club is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

club from the South-Eastern suburbs of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Victoria. Formed in 1974, the club was formerly known as Dingley City Soccer Club which was changed in 2004 to Southern Stars FC, and then to Dingley Stars at the end of the 2014 season. Currently competing in the Victorian State League Division 1, their senior home ground is Kingston Heath, and their juniors base at Chadwick Reserve, Howard Road,

Dingle Dingle (Irish: ''An Daingean'' or ''Daingean Uí Chúis'', meaning "fort of Ó Cúis") is a town in County Kerry, Ireland. The only town on the Dingle Peninsula, it sits on the Atlantic coast, about southwest of Tralee and northwest of Killa ...

. Club colours are red and white (full red kit home, full white kit away). After an unsuccessful year in 2009, Southern Stars FC were relegated to the Victorian State League Division 2, it is the club's first time getting relegated in its 36-year history. The following year in 2010 finished 1st getting promoted back to State 1. Then in 2011 the club finished 2nd only by goal difference to be promoted to the Victorian Premier League.

History

Cheltenham Soccer Club, also known as Cheltenham Spor, was established in 1974 by members of Melbourne's Turkish Australian community. Fifteen years later, in 1989, it changed its name to Mentone ATA Soccer Club (ATA Spor), however, in 1990 Mentone ATA Soccer Club ceased officially as a soccer club. In 1991 two friends Okan Yildar and Aykut Sakranlioglu re-established a Turkish-based Soccer Club and named it Parkdale Soccer Club (Genclik Gucu (Youth Power)), which in 1995 moved to Dingley and changed its name once again, but this time to Dingley City Soccer Club, while retaining its Turkish name of Genclik Gucu. The club was known was Southern Stars (Genclik Gucu) Football Club, the club had outgrown the ground Chadwick Reserve in Dingley. The club's senior and reserve teams moved to Ross Reserve and then Kingston Heath Soccer Complex, while Chadwick Reserve remained the home of the club's junior teams. Today Dingley Stars FC has players from all cultural backgrounds and recently moved back to their traditional home ground Chadwick Reserve for all matches.

Club performance history

2003: Victorian State League Division 3 – 9th
2004: Victorian State League Division 3 – 2nd romoted
2005: Victorian State League Division 2 – 8th
2006: Victorian State League Division 2 – 2nd romoted
2007: Victorian State League Division 1 – 3rd
2008: Victorian State League Division 1 – 4th
2009: Victorian State League Division 1 – 12th elegated
2010: Victorian State League Division 2 – 1st romoted
2011: Victorian State League Division 1 – 2nd romoted
2012: Victorian Premier League – 10th
2013: Victorian Premier League – 12th elegated
2014: Victorian State League Division 1 – 12th elegated
2015: Victorian State League Division 2 – 12th elegated
2016: Victorian State League Division 3 – 6th
2017: Victorian State League Division 3 – 10th
2018: Victorian State League Division 3 – 12th elegated
2019: Victorian State League Division 4 – 7th

Match fixing scandal

On 15 September 2013 Victoria Police arrested up to ten people, including Southern Stars players David Obaze, Nick McKoy and Joe Woolley and coach, Zaya Younan. Later in September criminal charges were laid via the Victoria Police and the

FFA FFA may refer to: Aviation and military * First Flight Airport, near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, United States * Free-fire area in U.S. military parlance * Flug- und Fahrzeugwerke Altenrhein, a Swiss aircraft and railway vehicle manufacturer * ...

handed Noel, Woolley, David Obaze, Nicholas McKoy and coach Zia Younan initial suspensions which prevented them from being involved in any football-related activity in Australia while the investigation was ongoing. Those bans were also extended worldwide by FIFA. Two British footballers, Reiss Noel and Joe Woolley received life-time bans from FIFA due to the incident. Gerry Subramaniam, a Malaysian national and the Australian ring-leader of the betting syndicate behind the match fixing, was sentenced to three years jail in Australia, to be followed by deportation to Malaysia.

References

External links

Official website
Victorian Football Club Archive {{AUS fb state Vic Association football clubs established in 1974 Soccer clubs in Melbourne Victorian State League teams 1974 establishments in Australia Diaspora sports clubs in Australia Turkish diaspora Sport in the City of Kingston (Victoria)