Essendon Lions was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

(soccer) club from the

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

suburb of

Essendon, Victoria Essendon () is an Inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, central business district, located within the City of Moonee Valley Local government areas o ...

. At the club's peak in the 1960s and 1970s it played in the

Victorian State League The Victorian State League, known as VETO Sports State League for sponsorship purposes is an Australian soccer league based in Victoria that was founded in 1958 and administered by Football Victoria. It consists of five divisions (separated by ...

, the top league in Victoria at the time.

Honours

* Victorian Division 1 Champions – 1961 (North) * Victorian Division 2 Champions – 1960 * Victorian Metropolitan League South Runners-Up: 1956, 1957

League record

League positions since 1956

Club history

Essendon Lions was formed as the Lions Soccer Club () in 1953Federation of Ukrainians in Australia, 'Ukrainians in Australia Volume 1', Melbourne, 1966. by migrants from Ukraine in Australia. The club was named after the capital of Western Ukraine,

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

( Coat of arms of Lviv). In 1960, the club came first in the Second Division and were promoted to the First Division. In 1961, the club came first in the First Division and were promoted to the Victorian State League. In 1971, a ten-year lease in Victorian State League the club was relegated to Victorian Metropolitan League Division 1. In 1974 club members of SC Croatia took over the financially struggling Essendon Lions. The first step occurred with the appointment of the influential SC Croatia figure Tony Vrzina as coach of the Essendon Lions late in the 1974 season, rescuing the club from relegation. With the completion of the season a total take-over of the club took place, with Croatia paying $25,000 to the Lions to take control of the club and the facilities at Montgomery Park in Essendon.

References

External links

Statistics from OzFootball

Українська футбольна діаспора
{{VPL Clubs Defunct soccer clubs in Australia Soccer clubs in Melbourne Association football clubs established in 1953 Ukrainian association football clubs outside Ukraine 1953 establishments in Australia Essendon, Victoria European-Australian culture Diaspora sports clubs in Australia