The Boroondara-Carey Eagles Football Club is an Australian semi-professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

suburb of

Bulleen Bulleen ( ) is an eastern suburb in Melbourne, Australia, 13 km north-east of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Bulleen recorded a population of 11,219 at the 2021 census. ...

. The club was established in 1982 as 'Epping Eagles' by the

Italian community of Melbourne The Italian community of Melbourne is the second largest ethnic group in Greater Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), second to the Anglo-Celtic Australians ethnic group. The 2011 Census counted that of the 185,402 residents that were born in Italy ...

, and amalgamated with another three other clubs with the most recent being in February 2015. The club fields both senior and reserves teams for men & women, and operates a junior academy under license from

Football Federation Victoria Football Victoria is the state governing body for soccer in Victoria, Australia. It is affiliated with Football Australia, the sport's national governing body. History Football Victoria began operation in 1884 under the name Anglo Australia ...

. Although based primarily in Bulleen, the club trains at hosts home matches at various venues in

Balwyn North Balwyn North, also known as North Balwyn, is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 10 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Boroondara and Whitehorse local government areas. Balwyn North recor ...

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

Kew East Kew East is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 8 km east from Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Boroondara Local government areas of Victori ...

, and

Wantirna Wantirna is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Knox local government area. Wantirna recorded a population of 14,237 at the 2021 census. Its name i ...

to accommodate for the youth academy.

History

The football club's history dates back to 1982 with the founding of Italian backed club, Epping Eagles SC, later renamed as 'Eagles United' and finally 'Kew Eagles', the oldest of the four original clubs that would make up the present club. The second club, Doncaster Inter SC, also an Italian backed club was founded in 1986 as 'Intercity'. Eagles and Inter would never play against each other competitively as they were in different respective leagues, and would eventually merge in early 1994 to create the Templestowe Eagles SC, this being the first of three mergers. The stronger club would see immediate success in finishing second on the ladder in the eight-tier league in 1994 and 1995, eventually finishing first and being promoted in 1996 to tier seven. 1997 would see the Eagles narrowly finish second and be promoted to tier six, one point behind Riversdale and one point ahead of Sydenham Park. The seasons of 1998-2004 would see the senior men's team hover mid-table in the sixth and fifth tiers before a recruitment drive saw the team be promoted back-to-back in 2005 and 2006 all the way to third tier, but were relegated back to fourth tier in 2007, which would be the last season before the second merger. The third original club of the present club was Boroondara Lions SC, founded in 2003. Its five years of existence as a standalone club in seasons 2003–2007 saw the senior men's team finish mid-table in the seventh tier league every season. The lions would never competitively face its future merger clubs, and eventually merged with Templestowe Eagles for the 2008 season to become the Boroondara Eagles. Despite optimism and established off-field stability, seasons 2008–2010 proved difficult for the revamped Eagles in seeing relegation twice down to tier six for the 2011 season which would later prove significant in the club's history. The last of the original clubs was to be Old Carey SC, founded in 2005 by alumni and parents of the

based

independent school An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...

Carey Baptist Grammar School Carey Baptist Grammar School, commonly known as Carey, is an Independent school, independent and co-educational, Baptists, Baptist day school in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The institution consists of five campuses: Kew, Victoria, ...

, that would play out of their sports complex in

. After mixed results in 2005–2010, the senior men's team would find itself in tier six for 2011, the same league as its future merger partner. Old Carey and Boroondara Eagles first clashed on 21 May 2011 at the Carey sports complex in what would be a 4–3 thriller with the winning fourth goal by Carey being scored at the 89th minute. In 2012, Old Carey would see default promotion to tier five, where the club would stay before its merger with the eagles in early 2015, whilst eagles would remain in tier six. The two clubs last faced each other in round fifteen of the 2012 season on 28 July, with Old Carey again prevailing at the Carey complex, winning 3–1. The two clubs would officially merge in late 2014, coming into effect in February 2015. The Boroondara-Carey Eagles would compete in Old Carey's tier five league spot for 2015, but would be relegated into the

Victorian State League Division 4 Victorian State League Division 4 is the seventh level of soccer in Victoria, Australia, and the eighth nationally. The league is split into four geographic conferences – North, West, South and East. The league replaced Provisional Leagues 1 ...

northern conference. Whilst finishing mid-table in 2016, the resurgent Eagles would finish first three times in a row for 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Historical Honours

The following list of honours was achieved by each of the four original stand-alone clubs and the two merged clubs, all of which were founded no earlier than 1982. No honours were achieved by 'Boroondara Eagles' or 'Boroondara Lions' prior to their respective merges, before the final merger at the conclusion of the 2014 season.

Epping Eagles/Eagles United/Kew Eagles (1982–1993)

*Victorian State Eleventh Tier :Third Place (promoted) (1): 1984

Intercity/Doncaster Inter (1986–1993)

*Victorian State Twelfth Tier :Third Place (promoted) (1): 1986

Templestowe Eagles (1994–2007)

* Victorian State Fourth Tier :Third Place (promoted) (1): 2006 (South-East) * Victorian State Fifth Tier :Runner's Up (1): 2005 (South-East) * Victorian State Seventh Tier :Runner's Up (1): 1997 * Victorian State Eighth Tier :Premiers (1): 1996 (Metropolitan) :Runner's Up (2): 1994 (Central), 1995 (Metropolitan) * Victorian State Eighth Reserve Tier :Runner's Up (1): 1996 (Metropolitan)

Old Carey (2005–2014)

* Victorian State Sixth Tier :Runner's Up (1): 2017 (South–East)

Recent Honours

Victorian State League 1 State League 1 is a semi-professional association football league in Victoria, Australia. Sitting at level 4 of the Victorian league system, below the three NPL Victoria divisions, it forms part of the fifth tier of the overall Australian league ...

:Runner's Up (promotion) (1): 2022 (South–East) *

Victorian State League Division 2 State League 2 is a semi-professional association football league in Victoria, Australia. Sitting at level 5 of the Victorian league system, below the three NPL Victoria divisions, it forms part of the fifth tier of the overall Australian pyrami ...

:Premiers (1): 2019 (South–East) *

Victorian State League Division 3 The Victorian State League Division 3 is the sixth tier soccer competition (behind the National Premier Leagues) in Victoria, Australia, and the seventh nationally, including the A-League. It is conducted by the Football Federation Victoria ...

:Premiers (1): 2018 (South–East) *

:Premiers (1): 2017 (North)

References

{{Football Federation Victoria Soccer clubs in Melbourne Italian-Australian culture in Melbourne Italian-Australian backed sports clubs of Victoria (state) Victorian State League teams 2015 establishments in Australia Association football clubs established in 2015 1982 establishments in Australia Association football clubs established in 1982 1986 establishments in Australia Association football clubs established in 1986 1994 establishments in Australia Association football clubs established in 1994 2003 establishments in Australia Association football clubs established in 2003 2008 establishments in Australia Association football clubs established in 2008 Sport in the City of Manningham Sport in the City of Boroondara Women's soccer clubs in Australia