Essendon Royals Soccer Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the North-Western Melbourne local government area of Moonee Valley.[1] The club's senior men's squad currently participates in the Victoria Premier League 2, following promotion from Victorian State League 1 in 2022. The senior women's squad compete in Victoria Women's State League Division 1 North-West.[2]
 | |
| Full name | Essendon Royals Soccer Club |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Royals |
| Founded | 1958 (earliest form) 1959 as Unione Sportiva Triestina 1995 as 'Essendon-Brunswick Royals' (present entity)' |
| Ground | Cross Keys Reserve (Juniors) and Ormond Park (Seniors) |
| Chairman | Richie Di Sauro |
| Manager | Vitale Ferrante |
| League | Victoria Premier League 2 |
| 2024 | 4th of 12 |
| Website | https://www.essendonroyals.com.au/ |
History
editThe club was originally founded as Unione Sportiva Triestina in 1959 by Italian immigrants from the seaport city of Trieste. Prior to the 1995 season, the club had completed its last merge of four merges, with six other original stand-alone clubs to form 'Essendon-Brunswick Royals', later renaming to its present name Essendon Royals for the 1999 season.[3][4][5]
The club had two stints in the Victorian Premier League (VPL), the second highest level in Australian soccer, in 2001 and from 2003–07.[6]
The club has a current membership over 700 and currently fields teams in junior boys and girls leagues from 8 years to seniors. In August 2019, the club was granted a National Premier Leagues Victoria junior licence for its u13 to u16 teams.[7]
Vitale Ferrante was appointed as the club's senior men's coach for the 2020 season.[8] After the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Essendon Royals achieved promotion from Men's State League 1 North-West to National Premier Leagues Victoria 3 in the 2022 season.[9] Earlier in the year, Vitale Ferrante stepped away from the head coach job, with his brother Michael Ferrante, an ex-professional footballer and until then player at the Royals since mid-2019, took over the manager role.
Historical honours (1958–1994)
editAnstey Roma (1968–1969)
edit- Premiers (1): 1968 (Central)
Central Brunswick/Dallas City/Ivanhoe City (1973–1987)
edit- Premiers (1): 1984
- Victorian Eleventh Tier
- Premiers (1): 1977
East Brunswick (1970–1986)
edit- Third Place (promotion) (1): 1983
- Premiers (2): 1972 (East), 1975 (East)
East Brunswick–Ivanhoe (1988–1994)
edit- Runners–up (1): 1991
- Premiers (1): 1990
Fiorentina (1958–1963)
edit- Runners–up (2): 1961, 1963
- Runners–up (1): 1959
Moonee Ponds (1973–1982)
edit- Victorian Tenth Tier
- Third Place (promotion) (1): 1977
Unione Sportiva Triestina/Maribyrnong Triestina/Essendon City Jets (1958–1994)
edit- Premiers (1): 1963
- Runners–up (1): 1986
- Premiers (1): 1962
- Runners–up (1): 1985
- Premiers (1): 1973
- Runners–up (1): 1976
- Third Place (promotion) (1): 1983
Recent honours (1995–present)
edit- Runners–up (2): 2000, 2002
- Runners–up (1): 1999
- Runners–up (2): 2016 (North–West), 2022 (North–West)
- Premiers (1): 2014 (North–West)
- Runners–up (1): 2011
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ "Essendon Royals Soccer Club". Essendon Royals Soccer Club.
- ^ "Essendon Royals SC". GameDay.
- ^ Gorman, Joe (7 September 2015). "The forgotten story of … Brunswick Juventus' 1985 NSL championship". Retrieved 2 February 2018.
- ^ "Victorian Football Club Archive – East Bentleigh to Essendon United". Ozfootball.net. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
- ^ "Essenden Royal – By the Decade". essendenroyals.com. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
- ^ "Essendon Royals – Divisional History". OzFootball. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
- ^ "Announcement | Essendon Royals granted 2020 Football Victoria Junior Boys National Premier League license". Essendon Royals Soccer Club. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ "Season 2020 | Essendon Royals announce Vitale Ferrante as Senior Men's Coach". Essendon Royals Soccer Club. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
- ^ "NJL Match Report: Royals seal memorable wins at Keilor Park – Essendon Royals Soccer Club". essendonroyals.com.au. Retrieved 17 August 2022.