Adamstown, who play in the Northern NSW division of the Premier Leagues, are one of Australia's oldest surviving clubs.
At the weekend they celebrated their 130th anniversary with a gala night at the Wests New Lambton leagues club in Newcastle, about half an hour's walk from their traditional home ground Adamstown Oval.
It was at that modest venue which was then surrounded by bushland that the Adamstown club was formed on a cold Friday night on 12 July 1889, a whole decade before Italian giants AC Milan were formed.
A month later 'Rosebud' beat such options as Wanderers, Rangers, Thistle and Pirates as the preferred additional name and the team's colours of blue and white were established.
Rosebud would later change their colours to the current red and green.
Adamstown Rosebud are to Newcastle football what South Coast United were to Wollongong.
They are synonymous with football in the Hunter even though their only major trophy came in 1984 when as a reincarnation of National Soccer League club Newcastle KB United that had gone bankrupt, they won the NSL Cup by beating Melbourne Croatia 1-0 in the final at Olympic Park.
They also won the regional premiership 11 times and the grand final on five occasions in the club's golden period from 1961 to 1991.
Adamstown's greatest contribution to the game in Australia however was providing a platform from which three Newcastle-born players made a name for themselves as fully fledged and much loved Socceroos.
Defender Col Curran played in Australia's three matches at the 1974 FIFA World Cup and striker Ray Baartz would have joined him had he not suffered a brutal foul in a pre-tournament friendly with Uruguay that ended his career prematurely.
Both played first grade for Adamstown in the 1960s before moving on to greener pastures.
Fullback Graham Jennings was another Socceroos star who came through the club ranks.
He played his junior football for Rosebud before being snapped up by Sydney Olympic in 1979.
Midfielder Joe Senkalski, who would achieve great success in the National Soccer League with Sydney Olympic and Newcastle, was also a Rosebud product.
Baartz said he was privileged to have played a part in Rosebud's colourful history.
"As a kid I was down at the oval all the time and all I wanted to do was play for my local team," he told a 250-strong gathering in Newcastle comprising a who's who of the Hunter's football community.
"You always played outside the oval and you dreamed of getting inside the oval and play.
"There was a wooden fence surrounding the pitch those days and since we did not have money to pay to get in we used to climb the fence to watch the games so when I donned the red and green jersey for the first time it meant everything to me.
"In the 1950s and early 1960s Adamstown were the team, not just in Newcastle but in Australia."
Rosebud president John Connors said the club that is steeped in history and tradition has survived for all these years amid considerable drawbacks due to the sterling work of volunteers but he revealed he hoped that the club would become more competitive on the field.
"The club always finds ways to fight back end it's mainly the spirit of our volunteers that sees us through all the time," Connors said.
"Having said that, we would love to become a regular mid-table team instead of one that is often floundering near the bottom of the league.
"It would also be nice to get to the round of 32 of the FFA Cup and join our big brothers the Jets."
The atmosphere at the anniversary function was one of celebration of the club's longevity and pride in its contribution to the game in Australia.
The prevailing mood also provided a poignant reminder that although the professional game in Australia is beset with problems and unsure of its long-term future, a little club like Adamstown Rosebud that is held together by volunteers who have their club and the game at heart has shown that nothing is impossible when there is a strong and united will to survive.
