FV Latrobe Valley History
Football in the Latrobe Valley first established roots in 1925 with the formation of the North Gippsland Soccer League, comprising teams from Glenmaggie Weir, Yallourn, Maffra and Sale. Yallourn were crowned inaugural League Champions, a feat they repeated the following year. By 1933, Yallourn were fielding multiple teams in what became the Central Gippsland Soccer Association, sporting teams from Morwell and the Brown Coal Mine. While the impending war would end the Association’s short spell, Yallourn thrived as a club and would ultimately become the first regional team to win the Metropolitan First Division in 1951, the same year that the Latrobe Valley Soccer League (LVSL) was formed.
The LVSL expanded quickly, with teams from Moe, Traralgon and Sale representing the migrant communities that were booming in the region and with a home established in Morwell, there was even an unsuccessful attempt to host Olympic soccer matches in Gippsland during the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. By the time a second team in Traralgon (Olympians in 1979) and Tyers (1982) were formed, the LVSL had grown to become the biggest regional football association in Victoria, with a certain club from taking all before them.
Established in 1961, Morwell Falcons joined Victorian Soccer Federation competition in 1974, winning the Provisional League in its first two seasons before being admitted into the lowest rung of the Metropolitan League in 1977. Three promotions in four seasons and a successful application to join the top-flight followed in 1982. By 1984, Morwell Falcons were Victorian State League champions and again in 1989. By 1992, they became the first and only regional Victorian club to compete in Australia's National Soccer League, reaching the finals in 1996 under the tutelage of Bobby McLachlan.
As the LVSL expanded to incorporate clubs from South Gippsland, it had rebranded as the Gippsland Soccer League, but come 2016, a breakaway of ten clubs departed to reform the Latrobe Valley Soccer League.
A new era beckons in 2026 as FV Latrobe Valley transforms a region now sporting thirteen clubs and teams ranging from Senior Mens and Womens down to MiniRoos.
Competition Honour Roll
At present, Football Victoria is researching the history of football in regional Victoria, with particular emphasis on identifying the origins of each competition, with a view to composing an exhaustive list of League and Cup winners, to be shared early in 2026.