Falcons 2000 Soccer Club is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

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 city of

Morwell Morwell is a town in the Latrobe Valley area of Gippsland, in South-Eastern Victoria, Australia approximately 152 km (94 mi) east of Melbourne. Morwell has a population of 14,389 people at the . It is both the seat of local governme ...

. 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 Latrobe Valley Soccer League (LVSL) is a soccer league encompassing much of Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley. The association's headquarters are based in the Morwell, Victoria ( Victoria), and are affiliated under the auspices of Football Victo ...

. The club is one of the most successful in the

Gippsland Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers ...

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 The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer leagu ...

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, 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

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 The Dockerty Cup is an annual association football knock-out competition open to all Victorian clubs across the Victorian football league system. The tournament is named after the former president of Football Federation Victoria Harry Dockerty. ...

:Winners: 1994

Notable former players

Adam Griffiths Adam Griffiths (born 21 August 1979 in Sydney) is an Australian professional football manager who currently serves as the Assistant Coach of Western Sydney Wanderers. He is a former professional football (soccer) player and Socceroo. Since 202 ...

Archie Thompson Archie Gerald Thompson (born 23 October 1978) is an Australian former professional association football, footballer. He also is serving as a club ambassador for Melbourne Victory FC. Born in New Zealand, Thompson played youth football at the N ...

* Billy Wright * Brian Bothwell *

Ernie Tapai Ernie Tapai (born 14 February 1967) is an Australian former professional soccer player who spent the majority of his career in the Australian National Soccer League (NSL). He also had stints in England, Portugal and Singapore. Tapai played 52 ...

Eugene Galekovic Eugen Josip Galekovic ( ; hr, Eugen Josip Galeković, ; born 12 June 1981) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the current goalkeeper coach for Adelaide United. Biography Club career Galekovic's j ...

Levent Osman Levent Osman (born 8 March 1977, in Melbourne) is an Australian former association football player of Turkish Cypriot descent. He played as a defender. He has previously played for Trabzonspor in Turkey, FCU Politehnica Timişoara in Romani ...

Jeff Hopkins Jeffrey Hopkins (born 14 April 1964) is a former Welsh international football defender and current Melbourne Victory Women head coach, who most notably played club football for Fulham and Reading in the Football League. Club career Hopkin ...

Alun Evans Alun William Evans (born 30 April 1949) is an English former footballer who made his name as a centre forward in the Liverpool side rebuilt by Bill Shankly at the start of the 1970s. He was born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire. Career Evans ...

Aleksandar Đorđević Aleksandar "Saša" Đorđević or Sale Đorđević (Anglicized: Sasha Djordjevic; sr-Cyrl, Александар Саша Ђорђевић, ; born 26 August 1967) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player. He currently serve ...

* Mark Foy *

Eddie Krncevic Eduvard "Eddie" Krncevic ( ; hr, Edi Krnčević; born 14 August 1960) is a retired Australian footballer who played as a striker, and a current manager. Football career Club career After playing his first four years of professional footbal ...

John Hutchinson (footballer) John Hutchinson may refer to: Arts *John Hutchinson (writer) (1674–1737), English theologian and natural philosopher *John Hutchinson, board operator for American radio program '' The David Lee Roth Show'' *John Hutchinson, member of American ...

John Markovski John Markovski (born 15 April 1970) is an Australian soccer coach and former player, former head coach of Fitzroy City SC. Markovski played in the National Soccer League (NSL) for Sunshine George Cross, Preston Lions (former Preston Makedonia) ...

Steve Mautone Stefano Mautone (born 10 August 1970) is an Australian association football coach with Melbourne Victory in the A-League. Mautone was initially recruited by Melbourne Victory to assume responsibility for training their goalkeepers Michael Theok ...

* Mehmet Duraković *

Naum Sekulovski Naum Sekulovski (born 14 May 1982 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) is an Australian football (soccer) player who plays for Preston Lions Preston Lions Football Club (formerly Preston Makedonia Soccer Club) is a soccer club from Presto ...

* Sean Douglas *

Scott McDonald Scott Douglas McDonald (born 21 August 1983) is an Australian former professional footballer and is the current head coach for National Premier Leagues club Gold Coast Knights. Originally a striker, McDonald could also play as an attacking mid ...

* Scott Miller *

Warren Spink Warren Spink (born 4 October 1966) is a former soccer player from Australia. He made 38 appearances for the Socceroos scoring 9 goals, and also represented Australia at under-20 and under-23 levels. He played for several Australian club side ...

Bobby Despotovski Slobodan "Bobby" Despotovski (born 14 July 1971) is an Australian soccer player who played 12 seasons in the top tier of Australian soccer. He played in National Soccer League (NSL) for Heidelberg United and Morwell Falcons before moving to Pe ...

* Marcus Stergiopoulos *

Dominic D’Agostino Dominic is a name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans as a male given name. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". Variations include: Domini ...

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