Hellenic F.C.

History

Established in 1958 by Greek South Africans, Hellenic campaigned in the lower amateur leagues of Cape Town. But by the 1970s they were one of the leading teams in the country and regularly pulled in crowds of more than 20,000. They were champions in 1971 and runners-up in 1972 and 1975. Hellenic reached the final of the league cup competition then widely known as the Castle Cup in 1976, losing 2–0 to Cape Town City. In 1994 Hellenic lost the final of the NSL/PSL League Cup, then known as the Coca-Cola Cup, losing to QwaQwa Stars 2–3 after extra time.

In 1972 Hellenic attracted a number of German internationals who were barred from playing in clubs associated with FIFA due to their involvement in a match-fixing scandal.

In early 2004, the club's franchise was sold by its Greek owners to the Ndlovu family who renamed it Premier United and moved it to Benoni, Gauteng, which was renamed to Thanda Royal Zulu FC in 2007. In 2011, the Hellenic franchise took over the former Blaauwberg City FC, under the management of Mark Byrne. Byrne sought to revive the quality of the 1970s, to become one of the best youth developments in the country. In 2013, the club acquired a SAB League franchise (South African 4th Division). In August 2016, the club announced that they had sold their SAFA Second Division franchise to "achieving our aim to be the number one youth structure in Cape Town."

Formerly at home at the Green Point Stadium, Hellenic is currently based at the Tygerhof Milnerton.

Honours

• National Championship (NFL): 1971
  • Runners-up: 1972, 1975
• Cup (NFL)
  • Runners-up: 1976
• UTC Bowl: 1972
  • Runners-up: 1971
• NSL/PSL League Cup
  • Runners-up: 1994

Notable personnel

;Players

• RSA Wilf de Bruin (1970–1983/194 goals)
• RSA Dale Liesching (1975 – 1982/86 goals)
• RSA Sergio Dos Santos (1968–1976)
• ENG George Eastham (1971–1972/Player of the Year 1971)
• GER Volkmar Groß (1972)
• ENG Roger Hunt (1971)
• GER Arno Steffenhagen (1972)
• GER Bernd Patzke (1973)
• SCO Ian St John (1971)
• RSA Richard Anderson (Ziggy) (1969–1971) ;Coaches
• England Budgie Byrne (1970s–80s)
• Zimbabwe Bruce Grobbelaar (2001)
• England Ian Towers (1982–1985)
• Serbia Zoran Pešić (2002)

League record

South African Premier Division

• 1996–97 – 4th
• 1997–98 – 10th
• 1998–99 – 12th
• 1999–00 – 8th
• 2000–01 – 14th
• 2001–02 – 16th
• 2002–03 – 14th
• 2003–04 – 15th

National First Division

• 2004–05 – 3rd

SAFA Second Division

• 2015–16 – 4th

Link

• A collection of Hellenic Football Club photographs
• Ian King, Josef Bobrowsky: South Africa Cup Winners, Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation, 25 February 2001

References

References

1. "Hellenic Football Club".