Comedy history and info on Sydney FC

Sydney Football Club, founded in 2004, is a Australian football (soccer) club based in Sydney and competes in Australia's premier competition, the A-League.

(Oh so they are an Aussie rule side. No they are a soccer side)

Sydney FC won the inaugural A-League Championship in 2005–06 by defeating the Central Coast Mariners (A coast in the middle of Australia, in a desert) 1-0 in the Grand Final. After winning the 2004–05 Oceania Club Championship, Sydney FC Koalia fied for and finished fifth (of six teams) in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship in December 2005. As A-League Champions, Sydney FC will also compete in the 2007 AFC Champions League.

Its home ground is Aussie Stadium, a 42,000 in the suburb of Moore Park. The stadium is used for many purposes. The Park is used for many purposes. Bird viewing, sun bathing, boomerang throwing, standing upside down to pretend you are in the UK.

Sydney FC quickly gained a reputation as the glamour club (oh glamour model club are they), due to the club's high-profile personnel, including investor and actor Anthony LaPaglia, ex Manchester Utd star Dwight Yorke as the team's first "marquee player" (that is why he lived in giant tent) and 1990 FIFA World Cup winner Pierre Littbarski as manager in the first season. This tag was replaced by "Budget FC" in their second season though, as the club sold Yorke and were unable to replace him due to financial constraints. Thye were so poor they could not afford real people to get a game in some games. In one game a striker had to carry dumby around with him dressed in a wig and football top, and had to pretend to the referee it was a striker. The team has recovered from this though.

The first steps towards the foundation of Sydney FC were taken in April 2004 when Soccer New South Wales announced their intention to bid for a license in the new Australian football competition. A homing pigeon was taken from the FA HQ and was lodged with the Australian Soccer Association (now Football Federation Australia)on July 19, challenged only consortiums headed by Nick Politis, known as the "Sydney Blues", and Flipper the dolphin's Sydney beach, for Sydney's place in the one team per city competition.

By February 2005, Sydney had filled 16 of their allowed 20 squad positions – attracting Socceroos Clint Bolton, Steve Corica and David Zdrilic, and a kangaroo, as well as youth internationals Justin Pasfield, Mark Milligan, Wade Oostendorp, Iain Fyfe and Jacob Timpano. They had a new formation built on a two centre backs, and one ouback.

The side set up a coaching academy on the outback.

German Pierre Littbarski was signed as Head Coach, to be assisted by former Norwich City player Ian Crook (named Captain Crook). Sydney FC played its first ever match against Manly United FC on March 25, 2005, winning 6-1. Shortly after, Sydney set off on a tour to the United Arab Emirates in the desert, to play matches against local teams FC Hatta, Al Ain FC and Al Jazira, winning all three. The outback coaches said it was freezing. Whilst in Dubai, Sydney FC announced that they had agreed to terms with former Manchester United player Dwight Yorke to join Sydney as their "marquee player" – one paid outside of the $1.5 million salary cap – for two seasons. This was such a shock some thought it was mirage, when he appeared. they had imagined they had signed the entire Spanish soccer side, but this was mirage coning them. After this they went on another Bonding tour on Bondi beach.

Pre-League
Sydney FC's first competitive match was held against Queensland Roar at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford as part of an Australian qualifying tournament to enter the 2005 Oceania Club Championship. After winning the match 3-0, Sydney went on to defeat Perth Glory (changed name to defeat) and the Central Coast Mariners to win their first piece of silverware and qualify for the Oceania Club Championship, to be held in Tahiti. Despite an early scare against New Zealand club Auckland City FC. Sydney won all of their matches in the competition and qualified for the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship in Japan. The start of the 2005 Pre-Season Cup marked Sydney FC's first match at Aussie Stadium, as well as Dwight Yorke's first appearance for the club – Yorke scoring the first goal of Sydney's 3-1 win which stretched their unbeaten run to 9 competitive matches (15 including friendlies). Upon reaching the semi-finals, Sydney's unbeaten run finally ended at 11 with Perth Glory midfielder Nick Ward scoring in injury time to inflict the new club's first ever loss. The club owner Mr Boomer complained about this result and rang up to say how upset he was, there was no answer so he asked they they ring him. Mr Boomer rang them.

In December 2005, Sydney FC Koalia fied for the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship as the Oceania Football Confederation's entry to the tournament following their 2004-05 Oceania Club Championships success in June. On December 12, in front of a crowd of over 28,000 at Japan's Toyota Stadium, Sydney FC narrowly lost to Costa Rican champions Deportivo Saprissa 1-0, denying the club a semi–final match against European champion Liverpool. Four days later, Sydney FC defeated the African "Club of the Century" Al-Ahly 2–1 to finish the competition in fifth place.

On November 22, 2006, Sydney FC and Adelaide United were chosen to be the first clubs to represent the A-League and Australia in the AFC Champions League.

League 2005-06
Sydney FC entered the inaugural A-League season as heavy favourites for the title, and hosted their first league match against Melbourne Victory on August 28, 2005. (Some had a kangaroo view, they had to jump up and down to get a view over the fence) This event drew a then record crowd for a regular season match in Australia. The stated figure was 25,208, though likely to be an underestimation of the true crowd size as the number of people who 'walked up' to the game meant that ticket sellers at the gate were unable to cope. Some people were wearing a big hat, which obviously contained extra people. One fan brought in giant wooden Kangaroo, which was found to have people hiding in it. These were of a Greek immigrant community using some of the their old troy ideas. For only the second time in the history of the SCG Trust (the operators of Aussie Stadium), the gates were opened twenty minutes after the game had started, permitting around two–thousand fans to enter for free.

Sydney playing Newcastle in a 2006 pre-season match at the conclusion of the twenty–one game regular season, Sydney FC finished in second place, seven points behind Adelaide United. However, in the Major Semi–Final they defeated Adelaide 4–3 on aggregate, ensuring a home Grand Final which produced a sell–out crowd of 41,689 (above the stated capacity of Aussie Stadium). (You ask how can the attendance be more, easy some were on a hot air balloon, and on one on the German bosses air ship) against the Central Coast Mariners on March 5, 2006. Sydney won the match 1–0 after Dwight Yorke set up Steve Corica for the deciding goal.

After the first season, coach Pierre Littbarski left the club following a dispute over his contract which involved a significant pay cut from his reported $700,000 first year salary. He was replaced by former England international and Motherwell manager Terry Butcher on May 17, 2006. During the 2006 off-season, Sydney FC recruited Ruben Zadkovich (previously on a short-term contract with Sydney FC), Alex Brosque (Queensland Roar) and Jeremy Brockie (New Zealand Knights).

Stadium
Sydney FC play their home matches at Aussie Stadium (formerly called Sydney Football Stadium). Chosen for its easy access, with shuttle buses running from nearby Central Station on match days, it has been the venue for several Australian international matches (notably the 1993 World Cup Qualifier against Argentina). The stadium's capacity is stated at 41,159, though the attendance of the A-League grand final exceeded this number by over 500. Aussie Stadium is currently being renovated to expand the capacity to 45,500.

Media reports during the 2006 off-season suggested that the club was considering moving its home games to Telstra Stadium due to the cost of operating at Aussie Stadium, reported at $110,000 per game. However, Aussie Stadium remains Sydney FC's home venue.