Eastern Suburbs / Merton-Easts (1973 to present) The club's published history asserts the club was formed in 1922. With the various mergers stretching back into the club's early history it is possible to support an earlier foundation date. Irrespective, the club's statement on its official website that it is 'one of the oldest and most established clubs in
Queensland' holds true. During this period, the club's greatest success on the field occurred in 1989 when the club won the
Brisbane Premier League championship from fifth place, beating
Brisbane Lions 3–2 in the grand final. In their final season as Merton-Easts, the club also won the 1980 Division One championship with a 3–1 grand final win over
Mitchelton. In May 2017,
Football Queensland announced Eastern Suburbs FC were among the 14 clubs accepted to form the
Football Queensland Premier League for its initial season in 2018.
Merton Rovers (1915 to 1972) The earliest reference to
Merton Rovers was in 1915 when it competed as a junior club. Merton Rovers continued at a junior level, occasionally playing in Brisbane's Second Division until it won Division Two in 1934. Promoted to Division One and based at Yeronga Park, the club completed three season in Division One from 1935 to 1937. While the club achieved grand final success, it failed to win the premiership, finishing runners-up on the final league table five times, including three time consecutively from 1970 to 1972. Merton's Rovers achieved a 3–0 cup final victory over
Hellenic to win the
1972 Qantas Cup. At the end of the 1972 season, Merton Rovers merged with
Easts-Aston Villa to form
Merton-Easts.
Eastern Suburbs / Easts United / Easts-Aston Villa (1938 to 1972) The original
Eastern Suburbs Soccer Club was formed in November 1938 following the amalgamation of two First Division clubs,
Shafston United and
Pineapple Rovers Shafston United had formed itself only months earlier in March 1938 upon the merging of the
Shafston Rovers and
United Rangers clubs. Eastern Suburbs took over
Heath Park as their home ground from Pineapple Rovers and have played there ever since. Eastern Suburbs won the
Tristram Shield in 1945, winning the final 3–1 after two periods of extra time against the YMCA club. The club also won the Brisbane Division One Championship in 1951. Eastern Suburbs merged with
Corinthians in September 1959 to form
Easts United. After being relegated from Division One in 1963, Easts United struggled in Division Two for a couple of seasons, then merged with the strong local junior club Aston Villa. The club played as
Easts-Aston Villa for seven seasons in Division Two from 1966 to 1972, performing strongly but not quite managing promotion to Division One. In the years after World War I, Pineapple Rovers was among the most successful clubs in Brisbane, winning three premierships in 1919, 1924 and 1925. Two of these wins occurred in premiership play-off matches: • 1919 Won 3–1 vs
Merthyr Thistles (scorers: H. Acres 2, A. McMillan) • 1925 Won 5–2 vs
Thistle (scorers: G. Brown 2, C. Cattermole 2, L. Clark, )
after a 4–4 draw After winning consecutive premierships in 1924 and 1925, Pineapple Rovers came into dispute with the
Queensland Football Association in 1926 after its players refused to take the field in a Round 13 match with
Thistle at the
Brisbane Cricket Ground after one of their players had recently been suspended. The
QFA suspended the club from the final two rounds of the 1926 season and imposed a £25 fine. With the fine remaining unpaid in March 1927, the QFA expelled Pineapple Rovers from the 1927 season and the club came close to disbanding. Pineapple Rovers returned to Division One in 1928 but failed to reach its earlier heights and spent three seasons in Division Two after relegation in 1934. The club returned to Division One in 1938 for its final season before merging with
Shafston United to form
Eastern Suburbs. The clubs also had their headquarters in common, both playing their home matches at Raymond Park. Shafston Rovers played as a junior club until it joined Brisbane's senior competition in 1924, winning the Division Three premiership at its first attempt. The club was promoted straight to Division One and competed for three seasons finishing runners-up in 1925 and 1927. The club's success on the field was not matched by its finances, and the club withdrew from Division One in 1928. Shafston Rovers returned in 1928 to Brisbane's junior competition which they dominated, remaining unbeaten at their Raymond Park home for five years. After an unbeaten season in 1933 when Shafston Rovers won another junior premiership, the club returned to senior football. The club finished Division One runners-up in 1934 and 1935, before merging with the
United Rangers club in March 1938 to form
Shafston United. as a revival of the old club that merged with Pineapple Rangers to form Eastern Suburbs in early 1939. It played at Raymond Park and completed three seasons in Division 1 from 1945 to 1947. The club missed the 1948 season and returned to win Division 4 in 1949, Division 3 in 1950, and narrowly lost a Division 2 premiership play-off in 1951. The club remained in Division 2 until relegation in 1958, then went out of existence in the early 1960s.
United Rangers (1932 to 1937) United Rangers entered the fixtures of the Brisbane Junior Soccer Association in 1932, and won the Third Grade junior premiership in 1933. The club decided against entering the senior ranks in 1934 After finishing runners-up to Redfern in the junior First Grade competition, United Rangers joined senior competition for the 1935 season. The club won the Division Two title in their first season then played two season in Division One (1936 and 1937) before amalgamating with their neighbours
Shafston Rovers in March 1938 to form
Shafston United. ==Recent seasons==