The football team JUST was founded through the initiative of Ivan Kuketz (Serbo-Croatian: Kukec), a Melbourne hotelier and vice president of Brighton Soccer Club.

Kuketz, himself an immigrant of Croatian descent had migrated to Australia in the 1930s envisioned a team composed solely of players from the respective nations of the new club members.

With the assistance of Jovan "John" Ivanovic, Kuketz took the new arrivals from Brighton and began scouting players from migrant camps throughout Victoria and New South Wales, with a great many gathered from the Bonegilla facility.

[7][8][9][10] The following year JUST struggled to maintain their successful run in the newly renamed Victorian State League, slumping to 10th spot, the club's worst finish since formation.

[12] The arrival of club legend Zvonimir "Rale" Rasic and Aleksandar Jagodić as new coach in 1962 made a swift impact as the team won the Victorian State League in 1963 and Dockerty Cup that same year, winning 4–2 against Marabyinong Polonia.

[24] In 1977 JUST became a foundation member of the National Soccer League, where they largely struggled, with the exception of 1986, where they lost to Adelaide City in the Southern Conference grand final.

[25] In that year Footscray recruited legendary Red Star Belgrade player and trainer Dragoslav Šekularac who also brought with him Vlada Stošić which immediately lifted the club from the bottom to the top of the league.

JUST maintained warm relations with Sydney affiliates SSC Yugal, whilst the club was perceived by its rivals as having close ties to the Yugoslav communist authorities.

[38] Throughout its history JUST maintained a fierce rivalry with fellow Melbourne club Croatia, which was founded in 1953 by Croatian migrants to the exclusion of other Yugoslav ethnic groups.