Five name changes throughout the existence of the Alloway Football Club, formally East Corinthians Soccer Club (2000-2005), has not prevented the club from building up a proud history of achievement in the Bundaberg Soccer/ Football Competition. With a strong commitment to the enhancement of our junior players within the club, a bright future is on the horizon.

 

Let's go back in time to where Alloway first started. The foundations of our Club were laid in the late 1940′s and early 1950′s, when a Methodist Church youth club formed a soccer club. However, financial difficulties and a dispute led to the club being abandoned soon after. But in 1956 another group of young people decided there was room for a soccer club in Bundaberg, and decided to form one. After a recruitment campaign the club nominated two senior teams and a junior side for Bundaberg fixtures. The club continued to grow, with the formation of the Bundaberg Junior Soccer Association in 1956 spurring the interest of young players in the sport. The club won its first trophy in 1963, under the name of the Methodist Crusaders, when it beat Diggers in the News-Mail Charity Cup Final. This was to be the first success for a club which has since gone on to win many titles.

 

The club’s name was changed to Corinthians at a meeting on November 25, 1965, and strong interest from juniors in the district ensured its steady growth. Under its new name, the club continued on its winning way, taking out many trophies in the years that followed. In 1968 Corinthians fought off strong competition in the Referees Trophy in Rockhampton to take the title undefeated. The increase in membership numbers meant the club had to look at expanding, and a clubhouse and permanent grounds became a necessity. With help from the Alloway Progress Association, the club found the premises it needed, and to mark the new stage in its development, in 1979, it changed its name to the Alloway Soccer Club. Under this name the club has won two first division premierships, two Wide Bay championships and four second divison premierships (the last in 1996).

 

At the end of 2000, the club changed its name to the East Corinthians Soccer Club, following the move from the Alloway Country Club to the East Sports Club. Throughout its history the club has kept to the same colours, blue and white, and it’s teams have earned the nickname “the mighty blues” In 2005, East Corinthians won their first senior division one News-Mail Cup competition for 19 years. This was also the first silverware for the East Corinthians/Alloway first division team since the early nineties. Club stalwart, Livio Marin was a part of this team as well as other long standing members Craig Brown, Matt Brown (moved in 2009 to Mirani to teach) and Brenton Walk (moved to Moore Park FC in 2010).

East Corinthians had some great juniors coming through the ranks and the junior women players have excelled for this club by winning the under 14 grand final in 2002 and 2003 as well as being undefeated in 2004 during the domestic season. In 2005 saw a new under 17 competition and East Corinthians were the proud inaugarial winners of the league and grand final playing undefeated all season.

 

In 2006 the club changed its name back to Alloway Football Club and in the process moved back to the Alloway Country Club. The under 17 girls again went through the season undefeated beating Moore Park FC in extra time. The club also saw the Premier Woman's team win the ladies knockout competition since 1998 and by the end of the year they had won the Minor Premiership. The team 2006 has included Sarah Bretag, Hayley Myers, Hayley Waters, Melissa Uccisella, Brooke Facchiano, Kate Baldry, Emma Watson, Alyse Ortt, Nicky Gillard (all Under 17 Girls Undefeated Premiers 2005 and 2006). Other women players included Christine Elkin, Alice Venable, Nella Banks, Lynette Brown, Stacey Embrey, Kali Rogers and Deanna Gatti. Most players have either moved on or stopped playing, however this was the crop of young players to take the club further. In 2007 the 2nd Division Men's team won their SeaFM Cup final to Bingera, the first silverware for 2nds since 1996. The ladies again fought strongly throughout the year and were unlucky at the final hurdle.

 

2008 was a successful year for the club. The Premier Men's won the Newsmail Cup and reached the Men's Grand Final for the first time since the start of the 90's. The club also were successful winning the Under 17's Grand Final and the ladies minor premiership.

 

In 2010 the club went through a transition period with a large bunch of players leaving to other clubs. The Alloway Football Club has continued to rebuild after this and is in the next cycle of it long standing existence. In 2013 saw the Alloway FC juniors moving to Olsen Park, East Bundaberg, away from the Alloway Country Club and our ladies 2nd div team were very strong winning the 2nd div cup and to help improve 1st division ladies were given special permission to move up to 1st div. The 1st div men were very unlucky to miss out on the inaugural 4 Cities League.

 

In 2014 the Alloway juniors started training at St Luke's Anglican School. Also in 2014 saw the upgrading of facilities at the Alloway Country Club with new lights and a new fence installed. Teams in 2014 were on the rise, especially with the Under 19’s winning the U/19 Cup final.

 

The Alloway Football Club Inc. was the first in Bundaberg and Wide Bay to complete both the FFA NCAS Level 1 & NCAS Level 2 Accreditations. For our Level 2 we became the 4th in QLD to complete. The Alloway FC have also worked hard to be a Level 3 Good Sports Club, to stamp our any alcohol related incidents (eg binge drinking),  as well as Level 2 Healthy Eating to help us run healthy canteens. The club has some great juniors coming through the ranks and were excited to see our new juniors in the under 12 win the under 12 grand final in 2015, under life member Craig Brown. The Alloway FC through our Disability coach, Chris Pye, started up a weekly disability session to help people with a disability in Bundaberg experience the game of football.

 

2016 has seen some challenges already early on with the closure of the Alloway Country Club, however with the new sponsorship of the Melbourne Hotel and a young and vibrant committee, the future looks bright. There are many great kids coming through our junior ranks and the senior members are very enthusiastic to help them be the future senior players of the club. With a new grant won through the QLD Government, the club is going to work hard to continue the improvement of the committee to ensure that the club is the best run club in the area.

 

The club focuses on being a family based club with the ethos “family, friendly, fun” and welcome anyone that would like to join us, to enjoy the game of football, whether winning or losing to feel free to contact us on our website www.corinthians.com.au