Altona City

Altona City has never played anywhere else.

Their names are the ones locals still bring up first.

Money nearly finished the club in 2013. Former players Joe Tanti and Sam Borg stepped in to save it, and the recovery that followed has shown up in results rather than statements: the Victorian State League Division 2 North-West title in 2017, then Division 1 North-West in 2023, each promotion pulling the men's side further from that low point. The women's team had already done something similar in 2009, winning Division 1 and going up to the Victorian Women's Premier League for the following season, though the top flight proved a harder level to hold.

Local derbies carry more weight here than in most suburbs, with Altona Magic and Altona East Phoenix both sharing the same patch of Melbourne's west and the same pool of supporters to argue with. On the back of consecutive promotions, the men's side now has to prove it belongs at the higher grade rather than simply having reached it.