Oakleigh Cannons

Oakleigh Cannons Football Club is a soccer club based in the south-east Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh, Victoria, Australia. The club, established by members of Oakleigh's Greek Australian community, currently competes in the NPL Victoria. The club is located at Jack Edwards Reserve, Edward Street, Oakleigh.

History

South Oakleigh Soccer Club was established on 12 December 1972. The club soon changed its name to Oakleigh Soccer Club.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the club steadily gained success by winning a number of Victorian Provisional, Metropolitan and State League divisional titles.

The club won championships in both of its first two years of competition, taking out the Victorian District League East in 1973 and 1974. Oakleigh won its next title in 1978, when it took out the Victorian District League Division 1, winning promotion to the Victorian Provisional League Division 2, which it won in its first year in 1979, achieving promotion to Provisional League Division 1.

The club achieved three successive promotions in 1981, 1982 and 1983, taking the club from the Victorian Provisional League Division 1 to Victorian Metropolitan League Division 4, 3 and subsequently 2. The club won back-to-back titles in 1985 and 1986, the latter title granting them Victorian State League (later rebranded to the Victorian Premier League and then National Premier Leagues Victoria) status for the first time. The club finished 12th in their first season in Victoria's top flight of football.

The club was re-branded Oakleigh Cannons S.C. in the 1990s to expand its appeal beyond its predominantly Greek Australian support base. The club changed its name again to Oakleigh Cannons Football Club and gained promotion to the Victorian Premier League in 2003. The club finished runners up in their first season back in the top flight in 2004, but lost to both Bulleen Zebras and Altona Magic in the finals series. In the 2005 season, the club finished in 5th place to again qualify for