Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was such a wonderful privilege to recently attend the 60th anniversary celebration of the Eastern Lions Soccer Club held at the Mulgrave Country Club in my electorate of Chisholm. It's always a good day to talk about soccer in Australia, but today, of course, is a particularly exciting one. Go Matildas! Eastern Lions have always prided themselves on bringing people together. Sixty years is a truly remarkable achievement for a club anywhere but particularly for a soccer club that has been the product of a number of mergers over the years. This is a club with a really rich and remarkable history that has made many contributions to our community.

Formerly known as Waverley City, the club has gone through a number of changes over the years: a merger took place in the late nineties with Old Scotch to form Old Scotch Waverley, and then, in 2003, the club took an exciting new direction and the Eastern Lions brand was implemented. Despite some challenges along the way, success has never been too far away for the Eastern Lions, including three championships between 2010 and 2020. Norm Willcocks, the vice president, summed it up best when addressing the faithful, saying: 'Egos are left at the door, and we're all servants of the Eastern Lions Soccer Club.' Congratulations on 60 wonderful years.