Soccer began in Gosnells when one man, Ted Gray, set about organising a new club and in 1969 the Gosnells Town Soccer Club was born (the area of Gosnells did not become a ‘city’ until 1975).

The Club had only one team with its home ground at Canning Vale Oval (near what is now Whaleback Golf Course). Its registered colours were blue shirt with white stripe, white shorts and pale blue socks.

The Club joined the Professional Soccer Federation (now Football West) in the 1970s. In 1974 the Club moved to Walter Padbury Reserve, Cassidy Road, Thornlie and the council-built clubroom was opened in 1975.

The Club merged with two other clubs: Ferndale in 1993 and changed its name to Gosnells Ferndale United. Kelmscott Roos joined in 1995 and reverted to its previous name of Gosnells City with its colours of royal blue with white trim. After the second amalgamation, the semi-professional teams became known as Southside United. At the start of 2004 season the Club changed the team name back to Gosnells City.

                                                                                  E F (Ted) Gray    1924 – 2014

Aside from being one of WA football’s most colourful characters, Ted also had a terrific impact on the game’s administration from grassroots to the state pinnacle.

After serving in the British Navy, where he started creating his famous, often corny, poems, he played for Cheshunt in what was then the London League and won a championship medal in 1949.

His involvement in WA football began soon after he arrived in Perth when he formed Gosnells Soccer Club in 1969. He became the first Club President in 1974.

After time as secretary of the Amateur Soccer Association, he commenced an extremely successful career as Executive Officer of the Soccer Federation of WA. He once proudly boasted that he was able to gain a major sponsor for every year he was in that role (1974-88). 

Ted and his wife Iris moved to New South Wales in 1997. He was inducted into the WA Football Hall of Fame (Hall of Recognition) in 2002.