Bang a Gong … we’re the champions again: [1 Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 04 June 2001: 3.
Abstract
Thousands of Wollongong Wolves fans decked in red and white descended on the club to celebrate their 2-1 victory over South Melbourne in the National Soccer League grand final yesterday.
Enzo Pelle said the crowd was annoyed the match had not been held in Wollongong. “This win means the sporting capital of Australia is Wollongong,” he said.
“The response will be double this year; it will do a lot for Wollongong. Wollongong has been depressed through what has happened to the steel and the coal and this gives the community a lift. It gives a sense of pride back to the place,” he said.
Full Text
“WOLLONGONG born and bred” was the proudest thing you could say at the city’s Fraternity Club last night.
Thousands of Wollongong Wolves fans decked in red and white descended on the club to celebrate their 2-1 victory over South Melbourne in the National Soccer League grand final yesterday.
The title win is the second in a row for the Wolves, and comes a little more than a month after the Wollongong Hawks were crowned champions of the National Basketball League — the first NSW team to win the competition.
In the packed bar at the Fraternity Club, a presenter egged on the wildly cheering crowd, saying “they said we wouldn’t make it to the top six, they said we couldn’t do it twice …”
Rob Kolevski, 25, a fitter and turner, said the victory was “the best thing that has ever happened to Wollongong. This place will rock all week”.
Enzo Pelle said the crowd was annoyed the match had not been held in Wollongong. “This win means the sporting capital of Australia is Wollongong,” he said.
The 36-year-old maintenance supervisor thought the win had been “very good for morale”.
“The response will be double this year; it will do a lot for Wollongong. Wollongong has been depressed through what has happened to the steel and the coal and this gives the community a lift. It gives a sense of pride back to the place,” he said.
Antonio Gonzales, 52, a local boilermaker, said: “We are just working people and this is the best thing that could happen. We are the city of champions.”
For Jimmy Jasrojas, 53, a restaurateur, the game was “the most fantastic soccer I have ever seen in Australia”.
The club was expecting more than 3500 people last night who were likely to work their way through more than 65 kegs of beer.
Sport — Page 32
Illustration
Caption: Euphoria:; Andy Baker; Photo: Photo