Gippsland Falcons

Gippsland Falcons

Full name	Gippsland Falcons Soccer Club
Nickname(s)	Falcons
Founded	1963
Dissolved	2001
Ground	Mobil Park, Morwell (Capacity: 12,000)
Chairman	Peter Quirk
Manager	Jeff Hopkins
League	National Soccer League
NSL 2000–01	15th
Home colours Away colours

Gippsland Falcons SC were an Australian association football (soccer) team based in Morwell, Australia. It was the sole rural Victorian entrant in the forerunner to the A-League, the National Soccer League. Gippsland were formerly known as Morwell Falcons and latterly known for a short time as Eastern Pride.

History

The club was formed in 1963 by Italian migrants, and initially played in the La Trobe soccer league. Morwell joined the wider ranks of the Victorian leagues in 1974, and quickly rose up the divisions reaching the Victorian State League in 1982, and winning the title in 1984. This allowed them to apply for the NSL's Southern Conference, but the club declined the offer.^[1] In 1989 Morwell won its second Victorian championship, but this time failed to progress to the top flight after losing 5–2 on aggregate in a two legged tie against South Australian champion West Adelaide.^[1]

The club eventually joined the NSL's ranks in season 1992/93 as a replacement for Preston,^[1] but their stay was quite unsuccessful, making the finals only once in season 1994/95 after finishing fourth. The club thereafter always found itself near the bottom of the table, and late in season 2000/01 the club folded.

Eastern Pride emblem

While the club officially disbanded in 2001, Falcons 2000 were created as an offshoot club, and currently compete in the Gippsland Soccer League.

Honours

• Victorian Champions 1984, 1989
• Victorian League Cup Winners 1984, 1989
• Dockerty Cup winners 1994

Former players

• Mike Conroy
• Mehmet Durakovic
• Eugene Galekovic
• Willie Herd (??-1992) [1]
• John Hutchinson
• Tony Sekulic (1996–98) 42 apps 8 goals
• Eddie Krncevic
• John Markovski
• Sandy Robertson
• Naum Sekulovski
• Archie Thompson
• Gerry Clarke
• Scott McDonald
• Jeff Hopkins (1998–99) 23 apps 0 goals
• Sean Byrne
• Jim McLean
• Shaun Conkie
• Adam Conkie
• Noel Mitten
• Juan Nilo (1999-01) 36 apps 1 goal
• Aleksander Duric
• Dave Reynolds
• Manny Gotis

Former coaches

• Frank Arok
• Jimmy Dunne

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} History of Gippsland Falcons

External links

• OzFootball Gippsland Falcons page