Adriatic
Freelance Football Writer
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I'm currently doing a bit of research on ethnic clubs (past and present) in New Zealand. One club I'm really struggling to find information on is Adriatic from Wellington. They played in the 1970's. Does anyone know anything about them? I'm assuming they were Yugoslavian? 
Freelance Football Writer
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Good Luck.
They were formed in approx. 1970 and you are correct - yugoslav (not sure whether Croat , serb , etc).
Had two very unsuccessful Central league seasosn in 1975 (bottom Cental League 3) and 1976(bottom CL 3 south). Given that they would have started life in Wellington 4 suggests that they had very successul rise through the grades but I think they disappeared after 1976.Think their home ground was somewhere like Martin Luckie.They didn't have any name players but think that joe Benczik (Hungaria) coached them at some stage.
Suggest you try some of the old Yugoslav fishing companies - Jurie ?
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Superb - many thanks for that information, Chubbs. I'll be sure to follow up the lead given as I'm trying to find out as much as possible.
Aside from those listed below, can anyone add clubs I may be missing?
* Adriatic
* Central United
* Hungaria
* Wellington Olympic
* Zeelandia
Aside from those listed below, can anyone add clubs I may be missing?
* Adriatic
* Central United
* Hungaria
* Wellington Olympic
* Zeelandia
Freelance Football Writer
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The Database section of Ultimate may prove useful to you, Paul.
Cheers,
JR
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i heard that the ivancic family may have had some part in adriatic. from memory mladen ivancic works at nz film so could search for him there.
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Superb - many thanks for that information, Chubbs. I'll be sure to follow up the lead given as I'm trying to find out as much as possible.
Aside from those listed below, can anyone add clubs I may be missing?
* Adriatic
* Central United
* Hungaria
* Wellington Olympic
* Zeelandia
Aside from those listed below, can anyone add clubs I may be missing?
* Adriatic
* Central United
* Hungaria
* Wellington Olympic
* Zeelandia
Northern were another ethnic club of sorts I believe (mostly Chinese at beginning)
Teza2009-04-01 08:18:39
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The spirit of Hungaria and Zeelandia lives on under the mothership of Wellington United. PM me for more details.
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[QUOTE=PaulSG]
I'm currently doing a bit of research on ethnic clubs (past and present) in New Zealand. One club I'm really struggling to find information on is Adriatic from Wellington. They played in the 1970's. Does anyone know anything about them? I'm assuming they were Yugoslavian?
The team was based in Wellington and was formed through the former Yugoslav Club.
If you want to know more info you can get in touch with me and I will get you my uncles contact for historical info.
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Central United's homepage part way down has a section titled "Central Reunion Dinner"...click on this to find some further information that might be of interest to you...
http://www.centralunited.co.nz/
In this section, another couple of ethnic clubs are mentioned...
"For 2 years in the late 1940s, the "Jadran Yugoslav Sports Club" played in the Auckland competition, but was unable to maintain this momentum. A new entity was needed, and arrived in 1962 with the formation of Central Soccer Club..."
"Adriatic" is the English translation for "Jadran," being the sea that separates the Italian peninsula from the Balkan peninsula.
In Central's first two seasons, 1962 & 1963, you will also notice the league standings mention a team called "Chinese" - who were another ethnic-based team of the time.
In the late 60's and 70's a team called "Sparta" also appears in league standings.
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Many thanks to you all for pointing me in the right directions. I will be sure to follow up all leads and hopefully get something together, possibly in written form, soon.
I used to watch Central when I lived in NZ for a year but they appear to have lost a lot of their "Croatian-ness" from when I was there in 1998. I found that a bit of a pity but it's still great to see guys like Paul Urlovic, who started there, turning out for them.
Thank you all!
PaulSG2009-04-01 20:54:37
I used to watch Central when I lived in NZ for a year but they appear to have lost a lot of their "Croatian-ness" from when I was there in 1998. I found that a bit of a pity but it's still great to see guys like Paul Urlovic, who started there, turning out for them.
Thank you all!
PaulSG2009-04-01 20:54:37Freelance Football Writer
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