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Essendon Royals

Full name	Essendon Royals Soccer Club
Nickname(s)	Royals
Founded	1958; 66 years ago (1958) (earliest form) 1959; 65 years ago (1959) as Unione Sportiva Triestina 1995; 29 years ago (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/
Current season

Essendon Royals Soccer Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the North-Western Melbourne local government area of Moonee Valley. 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.

History

The 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.

The club had two stints in the Victorian Premier League (VPL), the second highest level in Australian soccer, in 2001 and from 2003–07.

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.

Vitale Ferrante was appointed as the club's senior men's coach for the 2020 season. 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. 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)

Anstey Roma (1968–1969)

• Victorian Sixth Tier

Premiers (1): 1968 (Central)

Central Brunswick/Dallas City/Ivanhoe City (1973–1987)

• Victorian Eighth Tier

Premiers (1): 1984

• Victorian Eleventh Tier

Premiers (1): 1977

East Brunswick (1970–1986)

• Victorian Sixth Tier

Third Place (promotion) (1): 1983

• Victorian Seventh Tier

Premiers (2): 1972 (East), 1975 (East)

East Brunswick–Ivanhoe (1988–1994)

• Victorian Fourth Tier

Runners–up (1): 1991

• Victorian Fifth Tier

Premiers (1): 1990

Fiorentina (1958–1963)

• Victorian Second Tier

Runners–up (2): 1961, 1963

• Victorian Third Tier

Runners–up (1): 1959

Moonee Ponds (1973–1982)

• Victorian Tenth Tier

Third Place (promotion) (1): 1977

Unione Sportiva Triestina/Maribyrnong Triestina/Essendon City Jets (1958–1994)

• Victorian Second Tier

Premiers (1): 1963

Runners–up (1): 1986

• Victorian Third Tier

Premiers (1): 1962

• Victorian Fourth Tier

Runners–up (1): 1985

• Victorian Fifth Tier

Premiers (1): 1973

Runners–up (1): 1976

Third Place (promotion) (1): 1983

Recent honours (1995–present)

• Victorian Second Tier

Runners–up (2): 2000, 2002

• Victorian Third Tier

Runners–up (1): 1999

• Victorian Fourth Tier

Runners–up (2): 2016 (North–West), 2022 (North–West)

• Victorian Fifth Tier

Premiers (1): 2014 (North–West)

• Victorian Seventh Tier

Runners–up (1): 2011

See also

• List of sports clubs inspired by others

References

1. "Essendon Royals Soccer Club". Essendon Royals Soccer Club.
2. "Essendon Royals SC". GameDay.
3. Gorman, Joe (7 September 2015). "The forgotten story of … Brunswick Juventus' 1985 NSL championship". Retrieved 2 February 2018.
4. "Victorian Football Club Archive – East Bentleigh to Essendon United". Ozfootball.net. Retrieved 28 May 2022.
5. "Essenden Royal – By the Decade". essendenroyals.com. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
6. "Essendon Royals – Divisional History". OzFootball. Retrieved 2 February 2018.
7. "Announcement | Essendon Royals granted 2020 Football Victoria Junior Boys National Premier League license". Essendon Royals Soccer Club. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
8. "Season 2020 | Essendon Royals announce Vitale Ferrante as Senior Men's Coach". Essendon Royals Soccer Club. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
9. "NJL Match Report: Royals seal memorable wins at Keilor Park – Essendon Royals Soccer Club". essendonroyals.com.au. Retrieved 17 August 2022.

External links

• Essendon Royals SC (official website)
• Football Federation Victoria (official website)
• Essendon Royals Ozfootball Page

• Soccer clubs in Melbourne
• Victorian State League teams
• Victoria Premier League clubs
• Italian-Australian culture in Melbourne
• Italian-Australian backed sports clubs of Victoria (state)
• Association football clubs established in 1959
• 1959 establishments in Australia
• Essendon, Victoria
• Sport in the City of Moonee Valley