Lilli Pilli Football Club operates from Lilli Pilli Oval at the southern end of Port Hacking Road Lilli Pilli adjacent to the suburbs of Dolans Bay, Caringbah, Burraneer Bay and of course the Port Hacking peninsular. Lilli Pilli FC operates from 3 primary home ground venues each weekend through the winter competing in Sutherland Shire Football Association competitions. These 3 venues : Lilli Pilli Oval (known to many as "Berrie Stadium" and "BerrieDome"), Glenn McGrath Oval (known to many by its former name Caringbah Oval) and Woolooware High School. At each venue, Lilli Pilli runs a staffed canteen each weekend and caters to a diverse membership of men, women, boys and girls.
Our grading policies are structured around applying fairness giving each child an opportunity to play competitive football in an age group and grade commensurate with their skills.
At Glenn McGrath Oval each Saturday morning through winter, Lilli Pilli FC runs a carnival of Small Sided Games for young children.
In 2009, Lilli Pilli's Under 14 girls side won the Football NSW Champion of Champions Title and the Under 16As and Under 18A1s won the Football NSW State Cup and the JW14As were Runners Up.
In the Sutherland Shire competitions in 2009 Lilli Pilli achieved unprecedented success and was crowned Junior Boys, Junior Girls and All Age Mens (PL1-AL4) champions. 14 Lilli Pilli FC sides ultimately won premierships in 2009.
Lilli Pilli runs a number of grass roots coaching programmes and is committed to developing the skills and enjoyment its membership obtain from playing football. In 2009, Lilli Pilli continued its successful programme to encourage young and older players to become accredited and referee football.
History
The formation of Lilli Pilli soccer club can be attributed mainly to the work of Cliff Horsley, whose untiring efforts during 1960 and early 1961 prepared the ground work for the formation of a soccer club in the Lilli Pilli area. At the first annual general meeting was held in the pavilion on Lilli Pilli oval on 3rd March 1961. The "Berries" was formed as an offshoot from Caringbah Rangers Soccer Club, and in its inaugural year the club managed to field just 5 teams.
In 1961 the oval was an unfenced, bumpy, sparsely grassed area. Concrete air raid shelters had been constructed there during the World War II and remained for some time. Later a transmitting tower for radio station 2UE was a prominent landmark in the area.
Registrations for 1961 totaled 63 players across the 5 teams. The early pioneering years were difficult as the club struggled to establish itself and it was not till 1963 that we achieved our first premiership win with our 9B team. In 1968 the first all age team represented the Club. In 1977, the first ladies soccer team represented the Club.
Since then the club has achieved many successes in the local competition, State Cups and Champion of Champions, but, more importantly, the club has given many thousands of children and adults the opportunity to play and enjoy soccer, which is reflected in the steady and consistent growth in the number of teams playing for the Berries.
In 2010 Lilli Pilli Football Club will celebrate its 50th season of operation.
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