Valentine

Cahill Oval sits in Valentine, on the western shore of Lake Macquarie. It is a modest ground.

The club started in 1994 as Valentine Eleebana FC, took the Belmont name in 2005, and in 2008 merged with Phoenix Rangers, a club that had been going since 1938. That merger is the reason for the nickname the side still carries; the Phoenix name sat in the club's title for five years before it was trimmed back to Valentine FC in 2013.

The trophy that best explains the merger predates it. Phoenix Rangers took the Northern NSW Division One premiership and championship double in 2004 and again in 2005 — back-to-back seasons in which they were the best side in the division across the long haul and then again over the knockout weeks that followed. Valentine inherited that standing along with the players.

Under its own name the club won the Northern NSW State Cup in 2010 and took the Division One premiership in 2015, which is what carried it up towards the state's top flight.

Valentine itself is a small lakeside suburb south of Newcastle, a few streets deep, and the club draws from that stretch of the Hunter coast — Eleebana and Belmont are within a short drive, and both names have been on the shirt at some point. The ground is where the three of them meet.