Leichhardt Saints Football Club
Established – 1960s (joined CDSFA 1994)
Home grounds – King George Oval, Balmain Rd & Leichhardt Secondary College
Previous names – Leichhardt Police and Citizens Youth Club (LPCYC), Glebe-Leichhardt Police Citizens Youth Club, Leichhardt Police Boys Club
Current members – 1040
Notable Members – Jim Patikas (Australian Representative)
Leichhardt Saints FC had its beginnings in the mid-1960s with junior football teams playing under the banner of the Leichhardt Police and Citizens Youth Club (LPCYC), run by Reg Dowton who was the police sergeant at the time.
The club was situated in Norton Street, Leichhardt and the early teams were made up from the Western Suburbs Soccer Club and the LPCYC.
The name Saints came from an amalgamation with junior clubs from St Fiacres, Leichhardt, who joined under the LPCYC banner.
In the 1970s Jim Sherratt and Ivan Petrie coached junior sides at the club and from there, started the first All Age team, mainly from 17-year-olds, playing in the Sydney Amateur League.
Over the next two decades the number of LPCYC junior sides declined but a group of parents and players revived the junior section in the early 1990s and started using King George Oval in Rozelle, which remains the club’s spiritual home ground.
In early 1994, the football club had been growing steadily, and was able to form a standalone entity which was the start of the club known as the Leichhardt Soccer Football Club.
In 2004, the club won its first major title when the under-12 girls team, coached by Leichhardt Saints Life Member Barry Shuttleworth, was crowned NSW State Cup Champion.
At the end of the 2006 season the club decided to change its name to both reflect the new profile of football in Australia and formally adopt the “Saints” name, becoming the Leichhardt Saints Football Club.
The Club has also won the Canterbury District Fair Play Award three times - in 2010, 2012 and 2018 - reflecting the Saints’ approach to good sportsmanship of: “Compete fiercely, win modestly, lose graciously”.
Leichhardt Saints FC has grown steadily from 150 players in 1993, to over 1000 in 2021 and now boasts teams in every age group playing in the Canterbury District.
Its All Age Women’s 1 team recently claimed its 7th straight CDSFA premiership
