Eastern Lions

In the 1987 Harry Armstrong Cup final, they and Box Hill traded goals until it stood 3-3 after extra time, and the shootout ran all the way to 6-5 before the cup went to Waverley City — the name the club carried then, still fourteen years from becoming Eastern Lions.

The club grew out of British emigrants who settled in Melbourne's eastern suburbs and formed Waverley City in 1963. It kept that name for over three decades, until a 1997 merger with Old Scotch FC, the team tied to Scotch College, produced Old Scotch Waverley. The Eastern Lions name followed in 2003.

Waverley City won the Fourth Division title in its second season, 1964, then took the Victorian Metropolitan League Division 2 crown in 1974 and went up to Division 1 the same year. The Federation Cup followed in 1977. Under the Eastern Lions banner, the club spent the 2010s climbing again: State League 2 South-East in 2012, State League 1 South-East in 2014, then NPL Victoria 2 East in 2019.

Norm Willcox is woven through much of that span. He first played for the club in 1985, then stayed on to serve 24 years as president, long after his playing days ended. On the pitch, Ted Quy carried the 1980s — the first Eastern Lions player to reach 300 first-team appearances, finishing with 317.

Home matches are played at Gardiners Reserve in Burwood, holding 1,500, and when Eastern Lions share a division with Bentleigh Greens, that fixture is the one supporters mark first, an unofficial local derby with no trophy attached to it. Melbourne Knights and South Melbourne carry their own history against the club, but neither comes around as often.

Paul Storey holds the club's appearance record: 450 games for the first team, 341 of them starts.