Launceston United SC

Club history

Launceston United Soccer Club, is a semi-professional soccer club which represents the city of Launceston in the Northern Championship (Tasmania). It should not be mistaken with the fellow Launceston team, Launceston City. The club fields teams in all junior NTJSA (Northern Tasmanian Junior Soccer Association) divisions. The senior club consists of the Senior Men's Northern Championship team (first team), Men's Northern Championship League 1 reserve team, Men's Northern Championship Under 18's team, Northern Championship League 2 team (social League) as well as women's teams.

The club has over 500 registered players in senior and junior competitions.

Launceston United play their home games at Birch Avenue, in Launceston, Tasmania. The clubs home ground is named after the street name where the ground is located in suburb of Newstead. The Birch Avenue grounds feature two full size FIFA playing fields and floodlights for night matches and training sessions.

Launceston United Soccer Club was formed in 1958 and merged with "Launceston Matric" under the name of "Launceston Soccer & Sports Club" in 1989. Matric was promoted to the Tasmanian State League from the Northern Premier League for the 1988 season, and Merged with Launceston United the following season. However, they only lasted two seasons in the top flight before withdrawing in 1990 back to the Northern Premier League. Launceston United reverted to their original name in 2008.

The home playing kit of Launceston United is Royal Blue and White, and the away kit is either green or red. The home kit is very distinctive and features a Royal Blue jersey with a large White stripe running down the left hand side of the kit and White stripes on the sleeves. The home kit also features all White shorts and Royal Blue socks. The away kits are either alternatively Green or Red.

For sponsorship reasons the Senior Men's home and away kits are sponsored by Bridges Personal Investment services and are manufactured and designed by Gorilla Sports Australia.

The club theme song is 'Boys of Launnie' and is sung by the clubs senior team's in the dressing rooms after a victory.

The club motto is Esse Quam Videri it is a Latin phrase meaning "To be, rather than to seem".

New clubrooms

On Saturday, 1 August 2015, Club President Tony Pearce and Michael Ferguson MHA officially opened the new Launceston United clubrooms. The opening was the culmination of a seven-year journey of development applications with the Launceston City Council, grants applications with the Tasmanian Government's Sports and Recreation Department, Football Federation Australia (FFA) and many club fundraising events. The club needed to replace the older, out of date existing clubroom building that had been in service since 1965, to more modern facility's. The new clubrooms feature four changing rooms catering for home and away teams, two separate player shower and toilet block facility's adjacent to the change rooms, referee room, club house facilities for functions, and a fully serviced bar and canteen facility.

Michael and Tony jointly officially opened the state of the art building for the present and future generations of the Launceston United Soccer Club and the community of Launceston. The new clubrooms are among the best soccer facilities in Tasmania.

Current Senior Men's Squad

2016 Northern Championship Senior men's first team pictured above

Steve Hudson Cup

This Cup is named for Stephen Geoffrey Hudson, who died on 26 November 1979 as a result of injury suffered whilst playing for the Launceston United Soccer Club. The cup is held in mid February or early March as a pre-season competition run by the Launceston United Soccer Club held annually in memory of Steve. The matches in the competition are played at the clubs Birch Avenue grounds in Launceston, Tasmania in the suburb of Newsted. Senior men's first teams from the Northern Championship, Southern Championship and National Premier Leagues Tasmania State League play for the Steve Hudson Cup. Reserves and U18's divisions are also held in conjunction with the Senior men's cup competition.

The club is however open to entries from clubs in other states or internationally participating in the same level. (To receive more information on how to enter visit http://www.launcestonunited.com/ )

The competition format is run using a points system (3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw, and 0 points for a loss) with the two finalists amassing the most amount of points throughout the cup. The matches in the cup are randomly drawn by the hosting club before every match, with participating clubs notified a week in advance. Every club who competes in the competition receives a finishing place. The winner of the Cup receives an undisclosed monetary winners fee and the Steve Hudson cup itself. The duration of the cup lasts from 3 to 7 weeks (depending on entries) with matches being held on either the Saturday or Sunday at the end of each week.

The club holds the competition each year independently and without the financial assistance of Football Federation Tasmania and is the only major independently run senior men's cup competition in the state. In past years entries were received from both North and North West soccer Clubs; however in latter years entries have mainly been only from Launceston-based clubs, with the occasional Southern team participating.

The current champions of the Steve Hudson cup are Launceston United SC

Past Players and Coaches

Brad Green (footballer)

Ken Morton

Seasons

Honours

• State Championships: Once (1967)
• State Championships Runners-up: Once (1964)
• Northern Premierships: 2 Times (1964, 1993)
• Steve Hudson Cup 2 times (1995, 2015)

References

Official website