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From Unione Sportiva Triestina in 1959 to the Essendon Royals today. One of the great, storied community football clubs in Victoria.
From the days of Unione Sportiva Triestina to the Essendon Royals we know today, our club has a long, storied tradition in the game. We have compiled, and continue to build, this section of our website with the help of dedicated Royals families and friends.
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Essendon Royals began life in 1959 as Unione Sportiva Triestina. The name reflected the Italian roots, specifically the city of Trieste, of its founders. Since those early days the club has experienced its fair share of promotions and relegations, and has played in virtually every division, including the Victorian Premier League.
Four mergers over that period also saw the club’s name change fairly frequently. The last merger, with East Brunswick-Ivanhoe SC in 1994, added Royals to the club’s name. Despite all these changes, the club continues to follow the tradition of its founders: providing the local football community an opportunity to indulge their passion for the world game.
In 2019 the club celebrated its 60th anniversary, a great opportunity to chat with some of the most influential figures from the club’s history. In this video we chronicle the club’s origins right through to the modern day.
From stints in the highest state competitions for men and women, to building from the bottom, the Essendon Royals story has something for everyone.
Whilst the Unione Sportiva Triestina club which would become the Essendon Royals registered its constitution in 1959, an umbrella organisation, also called the Unione Sportiva Triestina was founded in 1954.
It was affiliated to the Olympic Association but had no legal address.
It incorporated under its umbrella the successful Triestina Basketball as well as swimming and water polo teams.
“1954, Addio Trieste…. The Trestine Community of Melbourne” by Adriana Nelli, there is very little recollection of the early years of the club which, as she writes “faded into insignificance almost immediately after its inception, lying dormant because the network of Triestine’s in Melbourne had not yet sufficiently expanded, the association was nonetheless resurrected in 1959 once the numerical strength and the network linkages of the Triestine community had grown and expanded.”
The Unione Sportiva Triestina which would be come the Royals registered its constitution with the Victorian Soccer Amateur Football Association in 1959, which is recognised as the soccer club’s official founding year.
Its first official “home” was a café owned by original president Vittorio Marinaro in Sunshine and had 100 members to start with.
Attilio Dereani had a huge impact on the direction the club would take. Having established Unione Sportive, a lack of money was a problem and setting up a soccer team was a dream, until Dereani, while based in the reception centre in Bonegilla, suggested a friendly game against friends based in Melbourne.
The game was played in Bonegilla reception centre, Wodonga in October 1959. Players from teams around Melbourne were given on loan to US Triestina
Attilio Dereani had a huge impact on the direction the club would take. Having established Unione Sportive, a lack of money was a problem and setting up a soccer team was a dream, until Dereani, while based in the reception centre in Bonegilla suggested a friendly game against friends based in Melbourne.
The game was played in Bonegilla reception centre, Wodonga in October 1959. Players from teams around Melbourne were given on loan to US Triestina
While not the first official game played by the club, this was the beginning of the Triestina soccer team.
At this time, the club had no junior teams and just fielded a senior men’s and reserves team.
Off the field, the club was led for the majority of this decade by Bruno Tessari, who would become one of the club’s most influential figures.
His first year as President came in 1964 and he would hold the role on and off until 1983.
Other presidents during this decade included Vittorio Marinaro, Vittorio Crulli, Vincenzo Pitterino and Donato Manduca.
1960-1961
Whilst some records suggest the team competed in the Provisional League 4 in 1960, the first proper season record for the club is from 1961, when the club competed in the Victoria Provisional League.
The club played its home games at Princes Park in Carlton, and had a mixed bag season in terms of results, finishing seventh out of 11 teams with a record of eight wins and 10 losses from 18 games.
The clubs first coaches were Paddy Sloan, Giuseppe Magnavacca and Gino Panichi
1962
It didn’t take long for Triestina to find winning form, however, and in 1962, the club enjoyed its first taste of silverware, winning the Metropolitan League 2 South division.
1963
The club’s rise to the top tier of Victorian football continued with a second-straight championship, this time in the 1963 Metropolitan League 1 South division, earning promotion to the State League for the 1964 season.
1963 was also the club’s first season at Ormond Park, the traditional home of the Essendon Royals.
Player-coach Lino Tribuzio – a name which would to this day remains synonymous with the club – spearheaded the charge up the ranks of Victorian football as player-coach.
Other names on the team sheet during these years included Alberto Del Fabbro, Aldo Trentini, Pepe Cubero, Steve Salabassides and Tony Cerni.
Cerni and Salabassides in particular troubled the scorers and were regulars amongst the goalscorerers, as Triestina stormed to the title with a six-point margin over second-placed Austria.
1964-1965 – The State League Years
The gap between the Metropolitan Leagues and the State League was a big one.
Still, Triestina survived the drop, finishing the season in 11th place out of 12 team.
The campaign got off to a great start with a 1-0 win over Alexander.
For the club’s first game in Victoria’s top flight, Lino Tribuzio’s side lined up as follows:
Erno Grosz, Peppino Sonsini, Germano Strohhecker, George Gerdan, Tony Giardinazzo, Sergio Zamola, Peter Balassone, Ian Gow, Carlo Cerni, Sam Cappelletti, John Bressan.
By the end of the gruelling 22-game campaign, Triestina amassed 15 points – just enough to survive the drop.
Due to State League requirements, Triestina spend much of 1964 on the road, playing home games at Campbell Reserve in Coburg, Olympic Park and the Showgrounds whilst taking on the likes of soon-to-be National Soccer League clubs South Melbourne, Juventus, Footscray JUST.
Towards the end of 1964, the club completed the first of many mergers to come, linking up with Fiorentina.
Fiorentina, a Metropolitan League club, had previously merged with Footscray an off-shoot of the Footscray JUST club playing in the State League.
Whilst Triestina avoided the drop in 1964, there was no such luck in 1965.
The club played home games at Middle Park, Showgrounds, Olympic Park and others as Triestina was consigned to bottom place picking up just six points.
1966-1967
The back-half of the decade was a mixed one for the club.
Whilst the club retained the name of Unione Sportiva Triestina following the merger with Fiorentina, by 1967, the club was known as Maribyrnong Triestina.
1966 and 1967 saw the club establish itself as a mid-table outfit in familiar surrounds in the Metropolitan State League 1 division.
Despite its relegation from the State League, the club was still homeless as a return to Ormond Park was not on the cards.
President Bruno Tessari fought a fierce campaign to have the club relocate to Fitzroy Cricket Ground (read more in the Soccer News extract on the right).
Triestina was unsuccessful in its attempts to play out of the ground and instead spent the 1966 and 1967 season groundhopping.
1967 home games were played at Selwyn Park in Sunshine, where the club shared the ground with State League outfit Sunshine George Cross.
Tony Boggi was the coach for these two seasons, overseeing a league record of 44 games played for 16 wins, 11 draws and 17 losses.
1968-1969
The 60s ended on a sour note for Triestina.
Home games were moved to Campbell Reserve, somewhat familiar surrounds for the club at the time, but this had little effect on on-field performances.
The intervention of Rale Rasic, who would eventually become a very well-known figure in Australian football, helped Maribyrnong Triestina avoid relegation in 1968.
Rasic was one of three coaches listed for the 1968 season alongside Tony Boggi and Bill Curran, in which the club finished third last in the Victorian Metropolitan League Division One.
Former State League squad member John Bressan had a crack at the coaching role in 1969, alongside Frank Stradiot, but Triestina was consigned to relegation, finishing in last place in the 1969 Victorian Metropolitan League Division One competition.
Triestina’s rise to the state leagues following its inception in 1959 was as spectacular as it was rapid.
The gap between the State League, Victoria’s – and arguably Australia’s – top competition was sizeable, so when Triestina won promotion from the Metropolitan League in 1963, most contemporary commentators expected Triestina to go straight back down in 1964.
Triestina would prove its doubters wrong.
By the skin of its teeth, Triestina avoided relegation as coach Lino Tribuzio bravely led his team against some of Australia’s biggest and best clubs.
Despite surviving relegation in 1964, it was going to be another tough campaign in 1965 and at the second time of asking, survival was just a tough out of reach for Tribuzio’s men.
Whilst on paper, Triestina’s state-league record might not look like much to look at, this was a team that had risen so spectacularly through the ranks of Victorian football and in 1964 did something so few promoted clubs had managed to do by surviving the drop.
More chapters are being written. Check back soon for the full decade-by-decade story.
ESSENDON