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Sunday, April 2, 2017, marked 40 years since the National Soccer League kicked off, in Canberra.
At Manuka Oval in the ACT, Canberra City lost 1-3 to West Adelaide.
Johnny Warren was the coach of Canberra City, and the only Australian-born coach in the competition, and John Kosmina scored the first goal.
Originally comprised of 14 teams from five cities, the NSL was a breakthrough sporting competition for Australia, as our first truly national league in any sport.
The original teams were:
Brisbane Lions
Brisbane City
Mooroolbark United
South Melbourne
Fitzroy Alexander United
Footscray JUST
Sydney Olympic
Marconi
Western Suburbs
Hakoah
St George
Adelaide City
West Adelaide
Canberra City
Only one club was created specifically to compete in the new competition – Canberra City. The other clubs were already featured in state competitions.
Canberra finished their run in the NSL after the 1986 season, then re-entered in 1996 as Canberra Cosmos, who competed until 2001.
The NSL was a big learning curve for Australian football, however by 2004 it was clear the format needed major changes. Still, a lot of people forget that of the eight clubs that started the A-league, five had been in the NSL.
Still, the A-league is missing a team from the city that featured the first game in the national competition: Canberra.
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