The Darwin Olympic Story

The rise to greatness...

Because of the passion of the Darwin residents for Football and the lack of Weekend entertainment Football matches was one of the most attended sports one fan of the club recalls

"I remember looking forward to Sunday soccer, especially the Hellenic and Olympic Darby! The atmosphere was electric and the games were played at dusk or night time and there was an opportunity to catch up with so and so. I remember the crowd roaring jumping up and down with excitement and revelry with each goal! Those were the golden days at the show grounds when the who's who, didn't matter anymore; you were either red or blue and nothing else mattered for the next 90 minutes!"

The great turn out in turn made for some great spectacles in NT football, it seemed the crowds drew the best out of the players they were ready to go that one level higher, sadly a spate of disappointing behaviours by various players and supporters of Football in general would slowly dim the great flame that was Olympic. Other clubs also suffered by the turn of events which included all aspects of Darwin Football at the time. Slowly but surely, the crowds went home and began to stay home appalled by players and supporters antics from all teams and some antics even made the nightly news.

Dim but not out! From the embers has been resurrected a new club. One with a focus and a clear directive: to improve Football in Darwin; and to provide more opportunities for our players and develop their potential.

Currently Olympic has turned over a new leaf with many improvements and professionalism with a team of supporters, and volunteers that are second to none. It is all these people who draw together to perpetuate and improve the club in many unseen ways. Our Canteen Duty Club is noted for our great service and great food. We are organised and on time. Volunteers make it happen from committee members, players, sponsors and supporters they all work together to make Olympic what it is today.

Our coaching practices have not gone unnoticed and have been positively recognised as being one of the best clubs for coaching in Darwin. Each of our coaches are or have been at one time or another players of the game, so they bring an understanding of the trials of Football to their coaching as well as their own tactics and ideas. These well thought out plans have resulted in many of our youths being selected to represent Darwin and the Northern Territory in many various tournaments.

The club has undergone a mass of changes over the years and the most notable of the 40 years has been the formation of an Olympic Youth and Junior program. As the clubs support was wavering and under the threat of being under managed due to a lack of volunteers and barely able to function and it was up to a few key individuals to keep the club going through this dark period. One of these individuals was to be the first female president of the club and serve a term of 8 years as president and remain on the committee consecutively for 10 years. Lidia Tsirogianis took on the task of heading up the club and was one of the pioneers with fundraising for the club along with family members Mick & Leo Athninasiou with the advent of the Greek Glenti and both Olympic and Hellenic are regular fixtures at this annual event.

With the Juniors on board Olympic have ensured the perpetuation of the club, attracting many old members to the club and many new members as well and has brought Olympic from being a predominantly Greek club into a multicultural welcoming demographic.