The club was established by the local Canberra Italian community in 1963 under the name Juventus Soccer Club, inspired by the Italian club of the same name. Juventus competed in the ACT Division One and the Federation Cup in their inaugural season. The following year the club won the league, receiving qualification to the Australia Cup. They competed in the 1965 and 1967 Australia Cup, where they failed to progress past the first round.[1][2]
In 1973, Juventus SC toured New Zealand between 30 September and 7 October. Juventus was one of the first sporting teams from the ACT to tour New Zealand. The club started the tour in Auckland at Newmarket Park with matches against Auckland and Auckland U23s. Juventus lost both matches 1–3 and 0–3 respectively. Juventus' second tour destination took the club to Muir Park in Hamilton to take on Hamilton AFC on 4 October. Juventus and Hamilton drew 1–1 with a goal from M Valeri securing the visitors a draw. 6 October, Juventus continued its tour in the New Zealand capital of Wellington when they faced off against Wellington City at Rongotai College. Juventus repeated its feats in Hamilton and secured a second 1–1 draw of the tour with J Campbell scoring for Juve. Juventus finished its tour on 7 October at English Oval in the city of Christchurch. Juve succumbed to a 2–0 loss at the hands of Christchurch United.[3]
In 1997, Juventus Soccer Club established the Gungahlin Juventus Soccer Club to cater for the growing number of players in the Gungahlin region.[4]
27 September 2002, Gungahlin Juventus expanded junior operations for boys and girls by incorporating a new separate association under the name Gungahlin Junior Soccer Club (ACT). The new association retained the traditional colours and style of the senior Juventus club.[4]
25 January 2005, Juventus acted to align itself with the national naming scheme to attract a broader base of players for both seniors and juniors and changed its name to Gungahlin United Football Club.[4]
In 2006, following the conclusion of the 2006 ACT Premier League season, Capital Football restructured the Premier League and Gungahlin was removed from the top-tier competition.[4]
In 2011, United entered into a partnership agreement with Premier League club, Canberra City SC, to provide a pathway for Gungahlin players to the ACT Premier League for the first time since 2006. Youth teams at Premier League level competed under the name Gungahlin United, while the senior Premier League team competed under the banner of Canberra City. The partnership was ended in 2012.[4]
In 2015, Gungahlin United was granted a National Premier Leagues (NPL) licence by Capital Football to field a team in the now named National Premier League Capital Football (formally ACT Premier League). This included junior and senior teams for both men and women.[4] In the same year, the team won the Federation Cup, thereby qualifying for the round of 32 of the FFA Cup in 2015.[5]
3 May 2015, Gungahlin United won its first ever NPL match with a 3–1 victory over Woden-Weston at Gungahlin Enclosed. Gungahlin overturned a one-goal deficit at half time to secure the win thanks to goals from Stephen Domenici, Shane Murray and Michael John.[6]
20 June 2015, Gungahlin United won its first trophy in its first year of entering the NPL by clinching the 2015 Federation Cup with a 1–0 victory in extra time over Belconnen. Gungahlin was down to 10 men, thanks to a second half red card to Regan Walsh, but Daniel Barac scored the winning goal in extra time to secure the Cup.[7] By winning the Cup, Gungahlin qualified for the 2015 FFA Cup as Capital Football's representative.[8]
5 July 2015, Gunners drew a home match against former NSL winners Sydney Olympic in the round of 32 in the 2015 FFA Cup.[9] Gungahlin were subsequently beaten by Sydney Olympic at Gungahlin Enclosed 0–1 on 4 August 2015. A crowd of 1,603 turned out on the Tuesday night and saw Olympic substitute Michael Gaitatzis score the winning goal in the 82nd minute of the match.[10]
In 2017, GUFC finished fourth in the ACT NPL and qualified for their inaugural finals series since re-introduction to top flight football in the ACT.[11] Gunners defeated Canberra FC 3–0 in the minor semi-final before succumbing to a 0–2 loss to Canberra Olympic in the preliminary final.[12][13]
Gungahlin United has gone through a handful of club names during the course of its history since 1968.[4] These naming incarnations are listed below:
#
Name
From
To
1
Juventus Soccer Club
1963
1996
2
Gungahlin Juventus Soccer Club
1997
2005
3
Gungahlin United Football Club
2006
Current
Additionally, between 2002 and 2005 the club set up an affiliate junior club to provide youngsters in the Gungahlin district of Canberra a junior pathway to participate in. The club was known as Gungahlin Junior Soccer Club and in 2006 this club was merged with the senior club to create Gungahlin United FC.
The choice to change the name of the club to United from Juventus in 2006 was a decision made to align with a national naming scheme and to incorporate the introduction of a broader playing base.
Gungahlin Juventus crest, first used in 1997 and last used in 2005
Club colours and crest
Gungahlin United still uses its traditional colours of white, black and yellow. The club has gone through a number of crest changes since its inception in 1963. In 2006 the club dropped its traditional black and white stripes from its crest but retained the central football with the yellow wings.
In 2016, a logo design competition was set up by GUFC to commemorate 20 Years of Gungahlin United Football Club. The crest could be any shape, could include the club's nickname 'The Gunners' and must use the club colours of black, white and yellow and the words Gungahlin United FC. The competition was open to the public between 5 June 2016 till 30 September 2016 and involved a small prize for the winning design. The top ten designs were made public for comment and the top three designs were put to the executive committee for a vote on 7 January 2017.[18]
Home venue
Gungahlin United's NPL first team home venue is Gungahlin Enclosed Oval. The ground was constructed in 2013/14 with the official opening on 7 March 2014. The stadium has a seating capacity of 1,150 (550 under cover) and an overall capacity of 5,000. Gungahlin United is one of four tenants of the venue with the multi-purpose field being used for association football, Australian rules football, rugby union and rugby league.[19] Canberra based Stewart Architecture was the architect of the stadium which cost stadium owner, the ACT Government, $12.5million to build. The ground has a natural water-efficient grass surface, team and officials' changing rooms, public toilets, canteen and storage for both users and maintenance staff. Rooms are provided for coaches, the ground announcer and the operator of the electronic scoreboard. There is also a club room which can be used for after/pre-match functions.[20] The venue has played host to Gungahlin United's round of 32 FFA Cup match against former NSL NSW club Sydney Olympic FC[21] and pre-season friendly matches involving A-League club Central Coast Mariners[22][23] as well as being selected as a reserve training venue for the 2015 Asian Cup tournament in case McKellar Park became unavailable.[24]
The below table is updated with the statistics and final results for Gungahlin United FC following the conclusion of each National Premier League Capital Football season.
Belconnen United Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in the northern Canberra region of Belconnen, ACT. The women's First Grade team currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capital Football.
Capital Football is the trading name for the ACT Football Federation Incorporated, the state governing body for soccer in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), but also has affiliated clubs based in surrounding areas of New South Wales. It is affiliated with Football Australia, the national governing body.
Soccer in the Australian Capital Territory is predominantly amateur with a local, interstate, national and international history. Soccer in the ACT is organised and administered by Capital Football and involves teams from within the ACT and surrounding NSW regions, Monaro, Southern Tablelands and Riverina.
Canberra Croatia Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Deakin in the south of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, founded in 1958. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capital Football.
The National Premier Leagues Capital Football 1 is a soccer competition contested by clubs affiliated to Capital Football. The league is the highest level competition in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) region. It is a subdivision of the National Premier Leagues and sits in Level 2 in the overall Australian league system.
West Canberra Wanderers Football Club, previously known as Woden-Weston FC is a semi-professional soccer club based in Canberra, Australia. The club currently competes in the Capital Premier League.
Canberra Olympic FC is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of O'Connor in the north of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The club was founded in 1956, and currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capital Football.
Tuggeranong United FC are a soccer club based in the southern Canberra region of Tuggeranong, ACT, Australia. The club competes in the highest level of football in the ACT, NPL Capital Football.
Monaro Panthers FC is an Australian soccer club based in the city of Queanbeyan, New South Wales. The club was founded in 1967, and currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capital Football in the Australian Capital Territory.
Cooma Tigers Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in Cooma, New South Wales. The club is affiliated with Capital Football and currently competes in the Community State Leagues Capital Football in the ACT. Cooma's home venue is Nijong Oval.
The 2014 Capital Football season was the second season under the new competition format in the Australian Capital Territory. The competition consisted of two divisions across the ACT. The overall premier for the new structure qualified for the National Premier Leagues finals series, competing with the other state federation champions in a final knockout tournament to decide the National Premier Leagues Champion for 2014.
The 2015 Capital Football season was the third season under the new competition format in the Australian Capital Territory. The overall premier for the new structure qualified for the National Premier Leagues finals series, competing with the other state federation champions in a final knockout tournament to decide the National Premier Leagues Champion for 2015.
HNK O’Connor Knights FC is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the northern Canberra suburb of O'Connor, Australian Capital Territory. Founded in 1997 by North Canberra's Croatian community, the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capital Football ACT. The Knights have won one Federation Cup and secured two ACT second division titles.
Gungahlin Enclosed Oval is a multi-use stadium located in the north Canberra region of Gungahlin, Australian Capital Territory. It is the home ground for Gungahlin United, Gungahlin Jets, Gungahlin Bulls and Gungahlin Eagles. The venue has a seating capacity of 1,150 people and an overall capacity of 5,000.
The 2016 Capital Football season was the fourth season under the new competition format in the Australian Capital Territory. The overall premier for the new structure qualified for the National Premier Leagues finals series, competing with the other state federation champions in a final knockout tournament to decide the National Premier Leagues Champion for 2016.
Deakin Stadium is an association football ground located in the south-central Canberra suburb of Deakin, ACT. It is the home ground of Canberra Croatia FC in the NPL ACT.
The 2019 National Premier Leagues was the seventh season of the Australian National Premier Leagues football competition. The league competition was played by eight separate state and territory member federations. The divisions are ACT, NSW, Northern NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The winners of each respective divisional league competed in a finals series tournament at season end, culminating in a Grand Final.
The 2018 Capital Football season was the sixth season under the new competition format in the Australian Capital Territory. The league premier for the new structure qualifies for the National Premier Leagues finals series, competing with the other state federation premiers in a final knockout tournament to decide the National Premier Leagues Champion for 2018.
The Football NSW 2019 season was the seventh season of football in New South Wales under the banner of the National Premier Leagues. The competition consists of four divisions across the state of New South Wales.
The 2019 Capital Football season saw a new competition format for the top two men’s divisions in the Australian Capital Territory. The Capital League became linked to the National Premier League with the introduction of a two-step plan to establish promotion and relegation between the two divisions, as well as a re-branding of both divisions to National Premier League 1 (NPL1) and National Premier League 2 (NPL2). The NPL1 Premier qualified for the 2019 National Premier Leagues final series and the Federation Cup winner qualified for the 2019 FFA Cup.
References
↑ "1966 South Australian Soccer Yearbook" (Document). South Australian Soccer Federation. p.52.
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