Brunswick Zebras Football Club
Full name | Brunswick Zebras Football Club VSL 4 North Women: VWSL 1 North-West | ||
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2022 | Men: 10th Women: 3rd | ||
Website | Club website | ||
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Brunswick Zebras Football Club is an Australian semi-professional
and winners of various lower state competitions throughout its existence.The club was founded in 1948 as 'Juventus' by the Italian community of Melbourne[11] and operates from the original clubrooms at Sumner Park. Under the name 'Brunswick Juventus', the club participated in the National Soccer League from 1984 to 1988, where they would be national champions in 1985 and southern conference premiers in 1986. The club again participated in the national competition for the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons under the names 'Brunswick Pumas' and 'Melbourne Zebras' respectively.[12]
History
Name history
Name | Period |
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Juventus | 1948–1979 |
Brunswick United Juventus | 1980–1993 |
Brunswick Pumas | 1993–1994 |
Melbourne Zebras | 1994–1995 |
Brunswick Zebras | 1996–2021 |
Brunswick Juventus Junior | 2021 |
Brunswick Zebras | 2022-present |
Establishment and early success (1949–1969)
The club was established by
Brunswick Juventus became the dominant side in Victoria in the 1950s, winning six titles, including five consecutive titles from 1952 to 1956, and were arguably the club which ushered in the European migrant dominance of Victorian soccer which remains to the present. In the 1960s, while the club remained more than competitive, the rise of other migrant clubs, principally the
, saw this dominance ended and the club waited until 1970 to add to its trophies.Financial difficulties and mixed results (1970–1981)
The club largely struggled in the league during the 1970s due to financial difficulty after their 1970 championship and Dockerty Cup victory.[16][17] With the exception of finishing third in 1977, the team would finish no higher than mid-table and narrowly avoided relegation multiple times.[12] though there were would be another four Dockerty Cup wins during this time. As a result, the club decided not to pursue membership of the newly established National Soccer League in 1977, and would later change the club name from 'Juventus' to 'Brunswick United Juventus' in 1980.[17] However, they generally continued to be called Brunswick Juventus.
Improved results and first national league stint (1982–1988)
With financial stability being regained in the early 1980s, the team finished third in both 1982 and 1983. When the
Brunswick finished second on the southern ladder
Return to state league and second national league stint (1989–1996)
With two non-competitive seasons in the national league, the senior team commenced 1989 in the state league where they would finish second, and would repeat this feat in 1990. After its last first place finish at the highest state level in 1977, the club would break its twenty one year gap, finishing ahead of second-placed and fellow Italian backed club Bulleen by ten goals after being equal on thirty-eight points.[22] Another competitive season in 1993 saw Brunswick be re-admitted to the national league for the 1993–94 season, changing its name to 'Brunswick Pumas' in accordance with federation's ruling of removing ethnicism from club names.
The return to the national wouldn't be as successful as the clubs first stint, with the pumas finishing second last.[23] The season after, the club would change its name again for the fourth time in its history to 'Melbourne Zebras' in an attempt to gain a larger support base around Melbourne. On the field, the squad's performances slightly improved in finishing third last.[24] However, with a stronger fan base not developing fast enough for the federations liking, and in a greater attempt to remove ethnicism from the sport as a whole, the federation decided to remove the Zebras and Heidelberg United from the 1995–96 season at late notice. Outraged, both clubs obtained court injunctions to prevent the league season going ahead. Eventually, the injunction was lifted in the Federal Court of Australia to allow the league to start, albeit several weeks late.[25][26]
Club break off and re-establishment (1997–present)
Following dismissal from the national league, the club was allowed to return to the state league system's first tier league for a second time. It was at this time however that the club had developed dissension among its members, that resulted in the club being split into three groups. The 'Brunswick' group that contained the original Australian Business Number remained based at Sumner park, a tenancy that continues as of 2019. The 'Juventus' group would merge with fellow Italian backed clubs
In 2003, under then president John Lewis, the club formed its first ever senior women's team. Coached by Paul Connolly, the team entered the Victorian state league division 3 north-west conference. In 2006, the club won its first senior women's premiership, with Connolly's team winning the division 3 north-west title ahead of second-placed Whittlesea Stallions.[29] The team was promoted to division 2 north-west for the 2007 season.
In 2007, after a ten-year hiatus, the senior men's team were granted a license to compete in
The 2011 season saw the club and the senior men win its first premiership in twenty years, finishing first in the
In 2019, one of the club's women's senior teams finished first in the state tier four league northern conference. It was the club's second senior women's premiership. As of 2019, the club is headed by politician Carlo Carli.[33]
In 2021, the club announced that it was changing its name for a fifth time to 'Brunswick Juventus Junior Football Club'. Along with the name change, the club publicised a new logo which included the historic Zebra, in recognition of the name used from 1994 to 2020.[4] It has since been reverted to Brunswick Zebras.
Former managers
Honours
National
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State Men's
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State Women's
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Sources:[34][18][19][20][10][9][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48]
See also
References
- ^ "Search Business Names Register".
- ^ "ABN Lookup". November 2014.
- ^ "Victorian Football Club Archive - Ballarat City to Bunyip & District".
- ^ a b "Club Name Change - Brunswick Juventus Junior Football Club". 23 January 2021.
- ^ "Brunswick Zebras FC".
- ^ "Ladder for Brunswick Zebras FC". GameDay.
- ^ "Ladder for Brunswick Zebras FC". GameDay.
- ^ "The Australian National Soccer League".
- ^ a b "Victorian Premier League Champions".
- ^ a b "Dockerty Cup".
- ^ "People Like Me".
- ^ a b "Victorian Football Club Archive - Maidstone United to Murray United".
- ^ a b "Club History - Moreland ZebrasMoreland Youth".
- ^ "Victoria Division Three 1949 - Fixtures/Results".
- ^ "Victorian Division Two - 1950 Season Table".
- ^ Radecki, Patrick (2013). "The history of Italian soccer clubs in Victoria: The disappearance of Brunswick Juventus".
- ^ a b "History - Brunswick Zebras FC".
- ^ a b "Australian National Soccer League".
- ^ a b "1985 National Soccer League Playoff results".
- ^ a b "Australian Soccer".
- ^ "Australian Soccer".
- ^ "Victorian Premier League - 1991 Season Table".
- ^ "Australian Soccer".
- ^ "Australian Soccer".
- ^ Cockerill, Michael (20 September 1995). "Court clears deck for A-teams". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
- ^ Cockerill, Michael (1 October 1995). "A-League far from the big league". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 16 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
Following an exhaustive and acrimonious legal process in which the lawyers (as usual) were the only winners, a revamped national competition - to be known as the A-League - will kick-off next weekend.
- ^ "ICHIST.PDF".
- TheGuardian.com. 7 September 2015.
- ^ "2006 Victorian Women's State League Division Three North-West - Final Table".
- ^ "2007 Victorian Provisional League Division Three North-West - Final Table".
- ^ "2011 Victorian Provisional League Division Three North-West - Final Table".
- ^ "The 'singing wolf' at the heart of Brunswick's community soccer revival". 15 September 2016.
- ^ "Board - Brunswick Zebras FC".
- ^ "Victorian Ampol Night Soccer Cup Winners".
- ^ "1958 The Sun Cup - Results".
- ^ "1958 Victorian State League Cup - Results".
- ^ "Victorian Pre-Season Cup Winners".
- ^ "Ladder for Men's Provisional League Div 2 North-West Reserves".
- ^ "2013 Victorian Women's State League Division Four North - Final Table".
- ^ "Ladder for Men's State League 4 North Reserves".
- ^ "Ladder for Men's State League 4 North Reserves".
- ^ "Ladder for Men's State League 4 North Reserves".
- ^ "Ladder for Women's State League 3 North".
- ^ "Ladder for Metropolitan League 9 North-West".
- ^ "Ladder for Metropolitan League 5 North-West".
- ^ "Ladder for Summerland Metropolitan League 6 North-West".
- ^ "FFV - Metropolitan Match Centre".
- ^ "2010 Victorian Women's Metropolitan League North-West - Final Table".