Falcons 2000 Soccer 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 regional

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

city of Morwell. Founded in 1961 by the local Italian community, the club has participated in the Victorian state league system at multiple levels, and in the defunct

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

. After being re-established in 2000, the club currently participates in the Latrobe Valley Soccer League. The club is one of the most successful in the Gippsland region, being the only club to have been crowned Victorian state premiers, on two occasions, and to have been the only rural club in Victoria to have participated at a national level. Since its inception, the club has played under multiple names, consisting of ''Gippsland Falcons SC'', ''Eastern Pride'', and being latterly known as the ''Morwell Falcons''. The club bears its present name after its financial re-establishment in 2000.

History

File:EasternPridelogo.png, Eastern Pride Logo File:Gippsland falcons.jpg, Gippsland Falcons Logo The club was formed in 1961 by Italian migrants as the Italian Australian Social Club of Gippsland (IASCO), and initially played in the La Trobe soccer league. In 1964, the club changed its name to Morwell Falcons as a result of a sponsorship arrangement with the

Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...

. 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. It was that same year that Jim McLean was the named as the Victorian Premier League Player of the Year (known as the Rothmans Medal at the time). 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. The club eventually joined the NSL's ranks in season 1992/93 as a replacement for

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

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

Honours

* Victorian State First Tier :Premiers: 1984, 1989 :Runner's Up: 1985 * Victorian State First Tier Reserves :Premiers: 1991 * Victorian State Third Tier :Runner's Up: 1980 * Victorian State Fourth Tier :Runner's Up: 1979 * Victorian State Fifth Tier :Runner's Up: 1977 * Victorian State Sixth Tier :Premiers: 1974, 1975 :Runner's Up: 1976 *Victorian League Cup :Winners: 1984, 1989 :Runner's Up: 1982 1985 * Dockerty Cup :Winners: 1994

Notable former players

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* Archie Thompson * Billy Wright *

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* Aleksandar Đorđević * Mark Foy *

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* John Markovski *

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* Sean Douglas *

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* Scott Miller *

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* Bobby Despotovski *

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References

{{AUS fb NSL Association football clubs established in 1961 National Soccer League (Australia) teams 1961 establishments in Australia Italian-Australian backed sports clubs of Victoria Morwell, Victoria