About Us

Hobart City Azzurri was founded in 1977 by Giovanni Marino (George) and originally named Azzurri, with the following people: Vittorio Cavarretta, Franco Longo, Barry Ward, Bruno Chinchella, Vince Antonelli and Tony Sanita.

This Club was set up in order to provide to the Italian Community an alternative and egalitarian Football Club grounded in youth participation, community involvement, cultural respect and football prowess. This Club, from its onset, would relate to the needs of the community and focus heavily on youth participation, with initiatives such as subsidising player’s fees who would otherwise not be able to play.

In 1981, the Club formally changed its name to Hobart City, due to a directive from Soccer Australia stating that all ethnic based names club titles were to be removed.

Hobart City achieved many results during its lifetime with highlights being the 1986 season where the club become the Southern Tasmanian Seniors Division 1 Premiers and Knock Out Cup Winners. Furthermore, in 1988 they became runners up in both the Southern Tasmanian Division 1 and Knock Out Cup competitions.

In late 1991, Hobart City ceased to exist, with its committee, volunteers and players either being absorbed into other clubs or choosing retirement. In 2021, family members of the original founders, Maria Marino, Robbie Marino and Peter Cavarretta began a rebirth of Hobart City Azzurri.

The Howrah Junior Soccer Club was founded by Jurgen Webb in 1975. The club was initially based at Howrah Primary School fielding teams from under 9’s through to under 12’s.

As the club grew, the word “Junior” was dropped from the club’s name as the club fielded its first senior men’s team in 1981. The club trained at the Howrah Primary School ground and played their home matches at Wentworth Park in Bellerive, and at Darcy Street in South Hobart.

During the 2000/2001 season, the club became aware that Sandown Park in Sandy Bay was no longer being used for hockey; the club approached the Hobart City Council with the intention of using Sandown Park as a training and home gameday venue. The council agreed to this proposition on the condition that the club change their Eastern Shore name of the Howrah Soccer Club. Thus, Beachside Football Club was born…

From the humble beginnings of the Howrah Soccer Club over 40 years ago, Beachside moved on to field youth teams from under 13’s through to 18’s age groups and a women’s and a men’s team in the Southern Championship 1 rosters, as well as a team in both the Challenge League and Southern Championship competitions.