The Athena Club was founded in 1952 and represented a meeting place for the existing Greek community of Perth and for new immigrants coming from Greece to settle in Australia. As with most ethnic groups of European origin, the sporting interest was soccer and it was soon after in 1953 that the club entered a team into the third division.In 1960 the Soccer Federation of Western Australia (SFWA) took over from the Western Australian Soccer Football Association (WASFA) which had previously existed from 1896. The league consisted of just eight strong clubs.
Premiership Titles
Coincidentally, it was in 1960 that Athena were promoted and played their first season in the State League, finishing sixth and maintaining its status in the top flight.The club was able to reach third place on four occasions before finally taking its first premiership title in 1977.The 1977 season was especially controversial as coach Bill Dumbell was dismissed due to some internal disputes with the committee. In 1980 the club was relegated but bounced back to the top flight the following year.The club reached third place four more times before winning its second premiership title in 1988 under coach Ken Worden. A strong impression was left in the late eighties finishing second in 1989, 1991 and 1993 and third in 1990 and 1994. In 1997 Floreat Athena won its third and most recent premiership under coach Jim Pyraglios, and finished a creditable third in 2001 and second in 2002.It is important to note that in 1989 a decision was made by the federation to change from the common practice around the world by making the top-four winner the league champion. In the subsequent three years of 1989, 1990 and 1991,Athena topped the table after each season, but stumbled at the final hurdle losing the top-four cup to major rival of the late 1980's / early 1990's Perth Italia on all three occasions. After three years in succession of being the bridesmaid's, the league thought it be best to return to normal policy and adopted the first past the post system from 1992 onwards. In real terms this would give Floreat Athena six premierships rather than the reported three.In addition to the premierships won, Floreat has managed to hold the winners trophy aloft on four occasions for the Night Series and on another four occasions for the Cup Competition.The late eighties and early nineties has been the ‘golden era’ for Floreat but in truth the club has never really been too far off the pace even to the present day. The treble in 1997 obviously showed the club still to be a force to be reckoned with and an excellent result in 2001 proved that yet again. The new era of football in Western Australia is currently taking shape under the guidance of the newly formed FootballWest and all things being equal, Floreat Athena will continue to have a major presence in soccer in this state in the foreseeable future.
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