History of the International Soccer Club
Soccer team 1970-1971
Back row: V Gentile, V Ferrazzola, G Vadori, G Vent, H Nieuwendyk.
Front row: V Versace, G Bertetic, A Della Giustina, S Mancuso, G Signorelli.
Since its formation in 1959 the International Soccer Club has had a proud history rich in tradition and success. Over this period the Club has become one of the most successful clubs in the region.
The International Soccer Club story began with the early arrival of Italian immigrants, who came to the South East to secure a better life for their families. In those early years, playing the game in a traditional Aussie country town drew much discrimination, but they persisted, drawing on their Italian spirit and work ethic to ensure their culture flourished and prospered and at the same time, established the game they loved.
In those early days, they played in a team named Juventus, which, after a couple of years, disbanded, with some players going on to play in other teams and others just giving the sport away.
In 1959 Rocco Di Rito, who was very passionate about the game and who enjoyed attending soccer games in the South East, wanted to form a team. He approached his good friend Italo (Tony) Moretti and together with Rocco Di Cesare, Vince Caiazza, Vic Gentile, Angelo Greco, Renato Sassi and Camilo Gatto, formed the first Committee, with Rocco Di Rito elected President and Italo (Tony) Moretti as Secretary.
The team needed a name, so a vote had to be taken, as Italo (Tony) Moretti wanted the team to be named Juventus, but the other members preferred a new beginning, and with this vote saw the formation of the International Soccer Club in Mount Gambier, named after the famous Internazionale in Milan, Italy. In this period of the late fifties and early sixties, Inter Milan was very powerful and successful.
Rocco Di Rito registered the International Soccer Team in 1960 with the Mount Gambier City Council and was advised that this was the first registered soccer team in Mount Gambier.
To get the team going he needed a uniform. Rocco wrote to Internazionale in Italy, advising them that he had formed a team named after them and asked if they could provide him with the black and blue uniform. A couple of months later, Internazionale sent Rocco a package containing seven tops. As they needed 11 for the first game, it was very fortunate that Rocco was a tailor by trade. He purchased some blue t-shirts and went to Adelaide for some black lining, which he sewed onto the shirts to make the extra uniforms needed. He also had to manufacture the shorts for the players.
Rocco and Tony then went about recruiting players. Some of these who played in the first team were Italo as goalkeeper, Peppe Bueti as full back, Vic Gentile, Roman Sassi, Gabrieli, Papageorge and the best player in those times, Friso.
Junior players 1972
Back row (left to right): V Gentile, N Greco, Q Whitehead, A Bueti, M Ferraro, O Bottos, J D'Agostino, V Versace, G Vadori.
Front row: K Mulraney, R Pace, O ?, C Zannoni, A Cella, E Mancuso.
In 1960, when International played their first season as a member of the South East Soccer Association, the lague consisted of Blue Lake, Croatia, Nangwarry United, Naracoorte, Portland and Aurora (Millicent).
Although they had enough players to field a team, they weren’t competitive enough to beat the strong Croatia team. Rocco had to take some action to get more players to Mount Gambier. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, when migrants started arriving in Australia, they were taken to a migrant camp in Bonegilla, NSW, where they lived until being placed in cities. This proved to be a perfect recruiting ground for players and Rocco and Tony made many successful trips in search of players recruiting the likes of Carlo Bertetic, Gabrieli, and Luigi Pasin. The most famous recruit was Gino Vadori, a legend who became one of the longest serving players for International. He later became a very successful coach of the Club. Italo (Tony) Moretti also travelled numerous times to Shepparton to find players for the weekend, only to then have to return them on the Sunday night.
International leased their first ground from the City Council on the corner of Newton Crescent and Pressey Street, off Pick Avenue, in 1960. Called Manhattan Reserve in those days, it is now known as Melaleuca Park, and this was their home until they moved to the showgrounds on the corner of Pick Avenue and then Corriedale Park on Wireless Road West, home until 1967. In the early days, Committee members such as Carmine Ferrazzola (father of Vince), needed to get to the ground hours earlier so they could remove the cow dung from the field before the game. There were no gate takings in those days, with any money raised obtained by donations in a hat being passed around during the game. International won their first premiership within two years of joining the league, and went on to win three or four more in this period.
In 1967, Cavalier Gino Zannoni, awarded a knighthood for his services assisting with the arrival of Italian migrants, had begun the formation of the International Soccer Club (IAC) Incorporated and was elected as the inaugural President. In December 1967 he wrote to the International Soccer Club President and his Committee, asking them to consider amalgamate and, together, they purchased land at Moorak with money raised by debentures from their members. This land was named Casadio Park. The debentures were later repaid, with most of the members electing to leave the money to the Italo-Australian Club. With this money and a lot of voluntary labour from their members, they began building the clubrooms and making the soccer pitch. In 1970, the first game was played on the pitch.
Original Inter emblem.
There was an increasing need for more grades to be introduced as more players wanted to play the game, especially juniors. The South East Soccer Association introduced three new grades – the U13’s, U15’s and B-Grade. International registered teams in all grades from the beginning.
From information received from past players, we believe that International has won approximately 5 A-Grade premierships between 1960 and 1970. To 207, a further 21 titles have been won, making it the most dominant and successful Club in the history of the league. The Club has enjoyed many rivalries over the years, with the Croatia and Sports Club Holland (now Centrals) teams providing many memorable and at times fiercely competitive spectacles for the many supporters who attended the matches in the early 70’s and 80’s. In 1986, following a regrettable incident, a new league was formed, named the Green Triangle Soccer League. All clubs participated with the exception of International, who remained in the South East Soccer Association on its own, but with the support of the South Australian Soccer Federation, travelled to Adelaide during this year to compete with teams in the Adelaide competitions.
In 1987 the Italo-Australian Club formed a second team named Moorak United, in recognition of the district the Club was located in. It also helped Vic Gentile establish Gambier City Soccer Club and with Gambier Central and Blue Lake returning to the South East Soccer Association, played a five-team competition. In this season International went on to win the premiership, with Moorak United runners-up. Croatia, Apollo, Millicent, Portland and Naracoorte remained in the Green Triangle Soccer League.
In 1988, the two leagues merged, forming the current Western Border Soccer Association consisting of the ten teams. The following year the Italo-Australian Club withdrew Moorak United from the competition due to the volunteer and committee resources being overstretched. A couple of years later, Gambier City disbanded.
Records indicate that International has been the most successful soccer club in the history of the South East and Western Border Soccer Associations. International is very proud, not only of the achievements of the A-Grade premierships, but of the many junior and B-Grade premierships, as well as numerous other Cup competition victories. Over the years, the Italo-Australian Club has participated in other sports including netball, 8-ball, table tennis, bowling and bocce, as well as a team that competed in the early days of the Mount Gambier Basketball League.
The members box.
The IAC Inter Soccer Club has enjoyed a glorious and wonderful history in the last 50 years, with fantastic memories of achievements and notable great players that have donned the black and blue strip. We would like to remember and recognise some of these past players in Gino Vadori, Derek Orr, Luigi Pasin, Vic Gentile, Italo, Vince Caiazza, Friso, Gabrieli, Graham Prior, Martino Rukonic, Romano Sassi, Vince Ferrazzola, Henny Nieuwendyk, George Vent, Carlo Bertetic, Angelo Della Giustina, Pierro Dekic, Michael Musci and Mick Fuller. The second generation of players came through such as Vince Versace, Remi and Peppe Pace, John Signorelli, Chris Damon, Seb Mancuso, Orazio Cultreri, Kim Mulraney, Eric “Spanish” Nieto, Carlo Zannoni and, with what be believe to be the record holder for playing the most games for Inter, Joe D’Agostino. This leads us to the more current crop of champions in Dante Bonner, Tony Bueti, Marcus Morony, Daniel Bronca, Rob Manfrin, Matthew Agostinelle, Christian Cella, Dave Galloway and Yannik Heller. There are too many more to name, so we would like to thank them all collectively for being part of our history.
The Club also recognises the significant contribution made by two of its meritorious award winners in the late Bert Dimuccio and the late Clem Michielan, former WBSA Board member and President of the IAC. Both of these members were considered icons of the Club who made significant and valuable contributions over many years. Many people who have been in the clubrooms at Casadio Park would have noticed “Bert’s Bar”, a legacy to the dedication and commitment of a member who gave much of his life to the Club. The Michielan Cup, played annually between Inter and Apollo, is also a dedication to the inspirational work of the late Michielan brothers.
The Club currently has a membership base of over 250 members and runs successful operations in its social, catering and sports club activities.
Some of the legendary names to have coached International include Gino Vadori, the late Sergio Pacor, Vince Ferrazzola, Henny Nieuwendyk, Tony Agostinelli, the late George Vent, Same Ferguson, Jeff Napier, and our current and one of our most successful coaches, Tony D’Agostino. We have had some distinguished captains during our existence including Vic Gentile, Graham Prior, Gino Vadori, Joe D’Agostino, Jim Cornolo, Mauro Rossi and our current senior team co-captians Tony Bueti and Dante Bonner. Al of these and many others assumed the role with pride and led the team by example.
Over the years we have also had players win personal recognition for their on-field performances – WBSA two-time Best and Fairest winner Remi Pace, WBSA Best and Fairest Camilo Gatto Medal winners Joe D’Agostino, Tony Discianni, Jim Cornolo and last year’s winner for the second time, Dante Bonner.