A 3-0 win over Maribyrnong Polonia in round 13 at Olympic Park on Sunday the 12th of June in 1983 saw Peter Blasby bag his 100th state league appearance for Melbourne Croatia. Just a week prior Keith Adams achieved that same honour, however it would be a little while longer than a week until the next member would be ready to join the club. After a lengthy 32 years, it looks like we could be welcoming some new members to the club as brothers Anthony and Jacob Colosimo, as well as veteran Ben Surey are on track to hit the 100 mark this season.
Whilst 32 years sounds like a very long time, we must remember that for 20 of those years we competing in the National Soccer League. Still, 12 years is still a long time to go without anyone being able to notch up 5 or so seasons for the club. I guess there are a few reasons for that, the first one being that often a player is simply does not have what it takes to keep their place in the squad for such a period of time. Another reason is that some players are more than good enough, and whilst it is rare they take the next step to play at a higher level. But perhaps the most common reason is, are the players that are good enough but decide to leave because the next suburban club is offering a dollar more.
I think it is safe to say that the three players mentioned earlier don’t fall into any of those categories. Making his first appearance in round 19 of the 2009 Victorian Premier League, Jacob Colosimo equalised just four minutes after entering the field of play, helping his side to a 2-1 win over Hume City. Although his brother Anthony wasn’t awarded the same fortune in two rounds later, it was the beginning of history being made. Though I haven’t taken the time to look further into this, it is more than likely that the pair are the longest serving brothers in the club history, both notching up their 7th year playing in the first team. And provided they don’t have the same misfortunes as the past few seasons with regards to injuries, both Jacob (77 appearances) and Anthony (85 appearances) could well and truly be joining the 100 this season.
Apart from the duo, not much else of the 2009 squad was left in 2010 when veteran Ben Surey joined the club. The Crystal Palace apprentice joined the club in what some would call a new era, with practically a whole new playing group and committee joining the club. He would prove to dominate the middle of the park for the next few years and would have been a hot favourite for VPL player of the year in both 2011 and 2012 had he not missed half of each season through injury. Despite such a lengthy lay off in that two year period he leads the race (86 appearances) to become the newest member of the 100 club.
In this day and age, reaching the 100 club for any side in the state would be tough ask, let alone at the Knights. Many clubs find it difficult to keep players around for a longer period of time, especially with rival clubs offering big money deals which often double or even triple that of their previous club. However this is not the case with the Colosimo brothers and Ben Surey, their great deal of loyalty together with the way the club treats them with the respect they have earned over the years proves to be what it takes to join the history books with greats such as Peter Blasby, Keith Adams and co.
