Essendon Royals

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Essendon Royals

Full name

Essendon Royals Football Club

Nickname(s)

Royals

Founded

1959

Ground

Veneto Club Bulleen,
Essendon, Victoria

Chairman

Michael Catalano Snr

Head Coach

Gary Groenwald

League

Victorian Premier League

VPL 2007





Home colours





Away colours

Essendon Royals FC are an Australian football (soccer) club from Essendon, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

The team currently play in the Victorian Premier League.

1 History
2 Honours
3 Current squad
4 External links

[edit] History

The club was established in 1959 by the local Italian community as Unione Sportiva Triestina, Sporting Union Triestina, or Triestina, and competed in the provisional Victorian leagues in the early 1960s. Early successes allowed the club to gain promotion to the Victorian State League under Lino Tribuzio in 1963, but not even a merger with Fiorentina SC that same year could prevent a string of average performances and growing financial problems.

Dropping to the Fourth Division in the late 1960s, the club amalgamated with Roma Soccer Club in 1970. This move, however, did not improve Triestina's fortunes. Languishing in the lower divisions, another merger in 1983, this time with Moonee Ponds Soccer Club, saw a steady improvement in team performances and promotion to the First Division by the late 1980s.

Triestina continued its relegation battles in the 1990s much as it did throughout its history. In 1994, the club amalgamated with East Brunswick-Ivanhoe SC and became Essendon-Brunswick Royals SC. Concentrating on developing their youth, the club eventually gained promotion to the Victorian Premier League in 2000. Experiencing another drop to the First Division, the Essendon Royals FC gained promotion to the Victorian Premier League again in 2002. In 2004, the club recruited former South Melbourne FC player David Clarkson as player/coach, and strengthened the side with striker Michael Curcija, defender Steve Iosifidis, and goalkeeper Dean Anastasiadis. A mass exodus of players (including Curcija and Iosifidis) the in 2006 saw the club struggle in the relegation zone, but a series of wins late in the season guaranteed their survival in the Victorian top-flight. Following the clubs long term use of the Veneto Club as their home ground, 2008 saw the State League 1 club change their name to Bulleen Royals, to suit their home ground location.

[edit] Honours

Victorian State League Division 1 Champions 1963
Victorian State League Division 2 Champions 1962
Victorian Metropolitan League Division 4 Champions 1973

[edit] Current squad

As of May 12, 2007

Nationality given from place of birth

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Marko Sutalo
2	DF	Con Anthopoulos
4	DF	Victor Pititto
22	DF	Cameron Miles
8	DF	Nicholas Schwal
5	DF	Nathan Thomas
6	DF	Haris Vrbovac
13	MF	Francesco Catalano
10	MF	Leonardo Catalano
14	MF	Michael Catalano