About Us

History

The Australian National Sports Club (ANSC) was originally established in Bankstown in New South Wales. It shifted to Canterbury in 1975 to participate in the Canterbury District soccer amateur competition.

In 1978 the Club moved south to the St George district and played under the St George banner. So popular was its fabulous Grand Final victory that year that the President of the district personally bestowed on them permanent membership of the St George district. However, ANSC players have always been Canterbury men so over to Canterbury district they returned the following season, replacing their traditional white shirts with the now famous maroon/white colours that are still worn today.

As it could not perform as a separate entity, it participated under the umbrella of Punchbowl Club for approximately 12 months until it established its own identity with the CDSFA. The Club, in order to gain recognition in its own right, complied with the rules of the CDSFA by having five junior teams and one senior team. The home ground at that time was Rudd Park in Belmore. The new home ground is Parry Park Punchbowl.

Over time, the Club not only expanded the number of teams it ran, it also grew in relation to the skills of members of those teams, the grading of those teams and participation in firstly, the Premier League and later the Super League.

The Club has enjoyed great success in competitions and, in fact, ANSC won the Super League for a number of consecutive years until that competition was axed. The Club has approximately 200 players ranging in ages from 6 to adult. Membership is open to all members of the community and is located in an area which has a predominant Arab and Muslim population. Very recently, the Club fielded its first women's team. Currently, all members of that team are Muslim sisters. The Club recognised a need within the local area for increased and better sporting and recreational facilities and public space for young people. In light of the problems faced by young people within our region, that need has intensified recently.

The Club has been playing a pivotal role in creating a positive environment for various cultures to come together, particularly the Arabic speaking community, by promoting family values and encouraging youth participation in activities that assist in building confidence and self-esteem. The Club is dedicated to working among Australian youth to provide, as a great motivational strategy, facilities for sports, recreation and physical health with a view to creating an environment that is conducive to promoting good sportsmanship, improving sporting skills, and evolving a balanced and healthy citizenry in Australia's Multicultural society. Despite the fact that the Club has been operating for over 30 years from shared facilities and with limited resources, the dedicated and caring volunteers and officials at its helm have led it into making a remarkable contribution towards the development of the youth of the Canterbury and Bankstown region.

After a great deal of effort, and the unstinting support of Mr Tony Stewart MP throughout the whole period, and more recently, Mr Morris Iemma MP, the Club's vision started to become a reality. With the support of the Canterbury City Council and the New South Wales Government, the Club secured the site at Parry Park for a nominal rental approximately 10 years ago for the construction of an Indoor Sporting and Recreation complex. . The site is over 2000 sq m and is situated at 571-577 Punchbowl Road, Punchbowl.

The facility comprises of an indoor Gymnasium - configured as 2 three-quarter size basketball courts running east-west and a full-size court running north-south. The full size court (approximately 900 sq m.) is large enough to cater for any indoor sporting activity from indoor soccer to volleyball. Additionally, there are meeting rooms for use in tutorials, seminars and use by other community organisations. The facility holds programs that are culturally sensitive to young people (such as Moral Ethics workshops, drug and substance abuse awareness and prevention workshops and so on). The facility also has the usual amenities and a canteen. It is situated immediately west of two full sized playing fields which the Club rents from Canterbury Council.

The building area consists of three (3) levels: