Eastern Suburbs Leagues Club, or 'easts' as it is now known, is a licensed club that was established in 1961 with the purpose of raising revenue to support and promote the Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club and

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

within the Eastern Suburbs of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia. The club describes itself as "the home of the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

". Since its establishment it has progressed on to become one of the larger leagues clubs in comparison to others supporting teams in the

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

competition. The primary clubhouse of the Easts Group, is located at

Bondi Junction Bondi Junction is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 6 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Local government in Australia, local governm ...

in Sydney's east, operating on the same site continuously since 1967. The Easts Group also owns licensed premises at Waverley and Kingswood in Sydney, and

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

in the

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal Regions of New South Wales, region in the southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region. It encompas ...

Establishment and history

By the late 1950s, most Sydney Rugby League (now

) clubs had established licensed premises to provide revenues to support the operations of their parent Rugby League team. The one remaining exception to this was the foundation Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, now known as the

. In around 1960, Millers Breweries, then one of the largest brewers in Australia, approached the Easts club with a plan to underwrite the operations of a licensed premises in Sydney's east. The football club acquiesced to this suggestion and in 1961, Eastern Suburbs Leagues Club Limited was established, first operating out of a building on the

Bondi Beach Bondi Beach () is a popular beach and the name of the surrounding suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Beach is located east of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of ...

promenade. Due to the success of the new Easts Leagues Club, the organisation quickly outgrew its beachside location, and with Millers, looked to acquire a site in the booming commercial district of

in the adjacent suburb. The Junction, as it is known, was conveniently located on the then Sydney tramlines (and later the Eastern Suburbs Railway) and was halfway between the team's beachside and inner-eastern suburbs heartlands. Millers Breweries believed the Bondi Junction location would be perfect for a Rugby League and hospitality venue, and the football club believed the location would be convenient for post-match functions after home games at the old

Sydney Sports Ground The Sydney Sports Ground No. 1 was a stadium and dirt track racing venue in Sydney, New South Wales. The ground was located where the car park of the Sydney Football Stadium (SFS) currently sits. The ground had two main grandstands and was sur ...

. Easts and Millers originally purchased a building located between Spring Street and Oxford Street in Bondi Junction. Notwithstanding this purchase, the club had grander plans for a larger clubhouse. As such, while operating from its successful new premises, Easts purchased the site of the old Bondi Junction ice-skating rink on the opposite side of Spring Street, as well as adjoining premises on Bronte Road in the Junction. The plan, which came to fruition in 1967, was for Easts to move to the larger side fronting two of the Junction's main streets. Easts have operated from the new site since then, as a hospitality and clubhouse venue, and subsequently built a large commercial tower above the Leagues Club premises. Since the late 1990s, the expanded 'Easts Group' has acquired additional clubhouses by amalgamating with former lawn bowls and other Rugby League clubs, with Easts retaining control of the merged entities.

Facilities

The Easts Group of clubs provide facilities including hospitality, such as bars, bistros and restaurants, gymnasiums, lawn bowls fields, gaming and racing areas, corporate and personal function rooms, a swimming pool at the Bondi Junction club, and areas reserved for

football team post-match supporter functions. Team merchandise is also available at some of the clubs. Not only does the Easts Group continue to support the

and provide a house facility for members and their guests, Easts has expanded into other areas of interest including: * Kingswood Sports Club, Western Sydney * Berkeley Sports Club, Illawarra region * Waverley Bowling Club, Eastern Suburbs(under development)

References

External links

* {{Pubs in Sydney Sydney Roosters Drinking establishments in Australia Restaurants in Sydney 1961 establishments in Australia Licensed clubs in New South Wales

Establishment and history

Facilities

See also

References

External links