About

In 1968 a small group of Croatian immigrants, in the state of Western Australia, established the Metropolitan soccer club. Two years later, in 1970, under their new name of North Perth Croatia they were promoted from the Third Division to the Second Division and throughout the following years North Perth Croatia saw numerous relegations and promotions from the Second Division to the First Division. With the moving from division to division also came the moving from different home grounds over the years. Wellington Square in East Perth, Velodrome in Mount Hawthorn and Perry Lakes Stadium were all homes to North Perth Croatia over those years.

In 1994 North Perth Croatia was forced by the then sport governing bodies to remove all ethnic references from their name, and ultimately the club changed their name from North Perth Croatia to Western Knights and in 1995, the club returned to the state’s premier league and have been their ever since.

1998 proved to be the most successful year in the club’s history. In that year the Knights took home the Premier League Minor Premiership, the Championship Final Series Grand Final for the first time in their history and the West Ham Cup.

Paul Cooke became the first ever player in the history of the club to capture the Premier League’s major player award, the Gold Medal in 2006.

 

2007 saw the club’s Under 18′s side were rewarded after a fantastic season by taking out the League championship, this being the first time in the club’s history that the Under 18′s had won a major trophy. In the same year the club hosted the 33rd Annual Australian-Croatian Soccer Tournament held in Western Australia after North Perth Croatia last hosted the weekend long tournament back in 1979.

2008 marked the 40th anniversary since the clubs establishment and was celebrated with the League and Reserves taking out the Soccer Pools Cup. The club claimed back to back minor premierships in 2009 and 2010 after finishing the home and away seasons on top of the league table while David Micevski became the second Western Knights player to claim the Premier League major player award, the Gold Medal in 2009.

Johny Mirco became the third Western Knights player to claim the Premier League’s Gold Medal in 2011.

Arguably the most successful player to have ever played for North Perth Croatia/Western Knights is Robbie Dunn. Upon leaving North Perth Croatia he went onto establish a fine career in the National Soccer League with West Adelaide, Preston Makedonia and Melbourne Croatia and earn himself 38 international caps for the Australian Socceroos.

Other players from the Western Knights that have come through the ranks of the club and made their mark in the National Soccer League or A-League include Vladimir Beretovac, Tommi Tomich, Craig Deans, Andrija Jukic, Anthony Skorich and David Micevski.

The Knights again celebrated success in the 2017 season, where head coach Trim Morgan lead his side being crowned the Football West State League Division 1 champions. The team also went on an outstanding FFA Cup run, beating 3 NPL teams during their campaign, ultimately taking our the whole state competition and taking the cup home to Nash Field. The team represented WA in the national Round of 32 – the first ever non-NPL team from WA to do so.

In the year 2018 we celebrated our 50th anniversary as one of the most successful and respected clubs competing in the Football West State League. We are extremely proud of everything we have achieved on and off the pitch, and look forward to much more success in the future.

Club Honours

First Team Honours

  • Premier League (First Division) Champions: 1998, 2004, 2017
  • Premier League (First Division) Minor Premiers: 1998, 2004, 2009, 2010
  • First Division (Second Division) Winners: 1971, 1975, 1995
  • Third Division Winners: 1969 Night Series Winners: 2003
  • Boral Cup Winners: 2000
  • Soccer Pools Cup Winners: 2008
  • Charity Shield Winners: 2009
  • West Ham Cup Winners: 1998
  • Australian-Croatian Champions: 1980
  • FFA Cup State Champions: 2017
  • FFA Cup Round of 32 Qualifiers: 2017
  • 2020 State League Night Series Winners

Reserves Honours

  • First Division (Second Division) Winners: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1986
  • Dorsogna Cup Winners: 1976
  • Boral Cup Winners: 1999, 2004
  • Soccer Pools Cup Winners: 2008

Under 18′s Honours

  • Premier League (First Division) Winners: 2007
  • Soccer Pools Cup Winners: 2007

Life Members

  • Blazenka Mustach
  • John Beesley
  • Ivan Brajdic
  • Mate Balic
  • Vjekoslava Simic
  • Petar Zuvela
  • Vlado Piscetek
  • George Grasa
  • Miso Bunic
  • Vlado Knezovic
  • Ivo Simic – Inducted August 2013
  • Dusko Lacman – Inducted August 2013
  • Mate Sumic – Inducted August 2013
  • Sime Sevelj – Inducted August 2013
  • Dave Annall – Inducted August 2013
  • Ronnie Campbell – Inducted October 2014
  • Willie Kelly – Inducted October 2014
  • Joe Dujmovic – Inducted October 2014
  • Tomislav Markovic – Inducted October 2014
  • Dinko Burmas – Inducted June 2018
  • Ivica Kostrencic – Inducted June 2018
  • Neda Lacman – Inducted June 2018
  • Joe Negulic – Inducted June 2018
  • Rafael Tomic – Inducted June 2018
  • Goran Vlasic – Inducted June 2018