They have every right to be bitter. Ousted from the Northern NSW State League in the revamp for 2009, despite making the 2008 grand final, Azzurri are back, albeit as a joint venture.
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Cut in a restructure to take the competition from 10 to eight teams, they return, ironically, to a 10-team league in 2012.
Lake Macquarie, the other side dropped in 2009, were promoted this year and sit second on the table.
But Charlestown City Blues, a merging of Azzurri and Charlestown United, are not dwelling on the past.
They earned promotion to the state league by clinching the first-division premiership last weekend with a 6-0 win over Cessnock and are focused on the future.
The win left them 10 points clear of nearest rivals Maitland with three games to play. Coach Mark Wilson, who has re-signed for two years with an option for one more, was reserve-grade coach in 2008 and has been with the club throughout its fightback, taking over the top job in 2010.
‘‘It’s massively satisfying,’’ Wilson said. ‘‘I was there in 2008 when the team went down and stuck it out over the last couple of years.
‘‘We’ve had a lot of players come back this year, some of the 2008 grand final side – six or seven of those guys, so we got the right guys back for the right reasons and it’s paid off. ‘‘It’s been tremendous and we’ve definitely moved on from everything that happened in ’08.’’
Wilson said the return of 2008 grand final players Kyle Hodges, Matt Tull, Kane Goodchild, Scott Smith, Aaron Pritchard and Jay Richley over the past two years had been instrumental in the Blues’ success.
The state league’s return to 10 teams was a direct result of the Jets youth league side joining the 2012 competition, which came after a nationwide directive from Football Federation Australia.
NNSWF chief executive David Eland welcomed the Blues’ return and said state league clubs believed the competition could sustain the extra teams.
‘‘The revamp in 2008 obviously happened before my time,’’ he said. ‘‘But both clubs have responded extremely positively to being put back to first division and worked hard on and off the field.
‘‘One of their shortcomings was that they didn’t have a link with juniors. Their merger with Charlestown has rectified that.’’
Blues secretary Peter Gaddes, who was treasurer at Azzurri when they were relegated, said the merger was a key to their return.
‘‘One of the main reasons for it was to have a junior base and to have an identity within the Charlestown region, and it’s been a great success,’’ Gaddes said.
He admitted the past three years had been a struggle.
‘‘We lost a lot of sponsorship,’’ he said.
‘‘In 2009 we lost 38 senior players to other clubs.
‘‘We’ve gone through three years of pain and the players who played for us through that – some are still with us – have done a wonderful job.
‘‘A lot of the administration staff are still the same and we’ve got some loyal supporters and very loyal sponsors.
‘‘One of the main reasons we wanted to win the competition this year was to show faith with the sponsors who stuck with us over the hard times and to get back where we belong.’’
