The National Soccer League of Australia (NSL) was formed in 1977, soon after the euphoria of Australia qualifying for the first time ever for the World Cup finals held in West Germany in 1974.
Interest in the sport was growing and there was plenty of business interest in running a national football (soccer) competition. They took a big risk because this was the first national football competition in this country.
The NSL was administered by the sport’s new national body, Soccer Australia. Throughout the years the NSL competition was also known by various names including the Philips Soccer League, Coca-Cola Soccer League or the Ericsson Cup.
Coincidentally, the current A-League competition kicked off in 2006, also after the euphoria in 2005 of qualifying for the World Cup finals of 2006, held in Germany once again.
This was only the second time Australia had qualified for the World Cup Finals and it was thirty two years between drinks for Australian football fans and an appearance at the finals.
1977
This April 2 will be the 34th anniversary of the historic first ever NSL game; thirty four years since the NSL match between Canberra and West Adelaide at Manuka Oval witnessed by 1550 football fans. It created history for the sport in establishing a national football competition – the first of its kind in Australia.
Johnny Warren was the captain coach of the Canberra side and Mike Johnson managed West Adelaide. The first ever goal scored in NSL history came from John Kosmina in the seventh minute as Adelaide went on to win three goals to one.
I was just a kid when the league kicked off and remember the excitement of my day and big brother taking me to my first ever NSL game to see Western Suburbs beat Mooroolbark five-nil at the old Sydney Sports Ground. This was the first of many NSL games for Dad and I, and what fantastic memories we have of football and the NSL over that time.
The inaugural NSL champions were Eastern Suburbs (Sydney City as they became known), with runners up Marconi (Stallions).
From 1977 until 1983 the NSL was run as a first past the post championship and there were no finals series or grand final. Eastern Suburbs and Marconi finished the season on equal competition points, but Eastern Suburbs had the superior goal difference and were crowned the first ever NSL champions.
In fact, the first years of the NSL saw Sydney clubs dominate by winning six of the first seven NSL titles.
Average attendance for the first ever NSL season was about 3900 per game with a peak attendance of 14,500.
1978
Interest in the NSL grew in its second year and Newcastle entered a team in the national competition for the first time.
That year West Adelaide topped the table and Sydney City finished just one point behind them.
Average attendances for season two rose slightly to 4300 with a peak attendance of 17,200.
1979
1979 was Marconi’s year, coached by Rale Rasic, the Socceroos World Cup finals hero. This was the first of their four NSL championships. Winning four NSL titles is a record they share with South Melbourne and Sydney City. They managed to finish four points clear of Heidelberg United.
This season also saw the first NSL appearance of Marconi’s traditional Sydney derby rivals APIA Leichardt.
However, average attendances for season three fell slightly to 4250 with a peak attendance of 18,300, which remained an NSL regular season match attendance record that wasn’t broken till 1999.
1980
The 1980 season kicked off with a large Melbourne crowd of 8565 at Middle Park to see South Melbourne battle it out with Heidelberg.
Blacktown City also joined the NSL that year and kicked off their national league debut with a 4-2 win over Raul Blanco’s St George at Toongabbie Stadium in front of 3478 loyal fans.
Sydney City finished top that year by one point and Heidelberg and South Melbourne rounded out the top three.
1981
Preston and Wollongong joined the NSL in 1981 to take the NSL competition to 16 teams.
The 1981 NSL Champions were again Sydney City and they won their third NSL title in four years. They finished four points ahead of a gallant South Melbourne side coached by John Margaritis.
South Melbourne opened their season with a memorable 1-0 win over Marconi at Middle Park in front of 5500 supporters. They just lacked the consistency over the 30-round season in the end to push Sydney City for the title.
1982
The 1982 season opened with the APIA versus Marconi derby in front of 4300 fans at Lambert Park, APIA winning 2-0 on this occasion. But the biggest crowd of 5339 for the opening round of the season were on hand to see Sydney Olympic beat Newcastle KB United at the Newcastle International Sports Centre.
Sydney City went on to win the title yet again in 1982 with a massive nine-point margin over St George and Wollongong City. This was a Sydney City three-peat title win and their fourth NSL title in the first five years of the competition.
The Eddie Thompson coached Sydney City side celebrated their title win by beating West Adelaide 5-2 in their final round match at the Sydney Athletic field, but in front of only 650 fans.
1983
St George exacted their revenge on Sydney City in 1983 and finished one-point ahead of them in one of the most exciting seasons of the NSL to claim their first ever NSL title.
In the final round Sydney City looked like making it four titles in a row and five out of six after a 3-0 win over the Brisbane Lions, but Frank Arok’s St George came from behind playing away at Newcastle to win 2-1 with Robbie Slater scoring one of the goals for St George in their historic win.
It was a great year on the field, but the NSL attendances and finances were diminishing up to this point as average attendances for NSL games fell below 3000 for the first time.
In the next installment, we’ll see how Soccer Australia changed the structure of the NSL to help it continue into the next century.
West Adelaide
Guest
mate you clearly dont know your history, since when was west adelaide, WEST ADELAIDE ZEBRAS. west adelaide was called west adelaide Hellas and the zebras was part of Adelaide City, West Adelaide wore the blue and white stripped shirt as adelaide city wore the black and white so make sure when you write what you have written about west adelaide that you write the correct info. us west adelaide fans hate adelaide city and hate to see that you have put zebras in the west adelaide name
giuseppe
Guest
'That year West Adelaide Zebras topped the table and Sydney City finished just one point behind them. They were known as the Zebras because they had a team strip that was similar to Juventus, who play in the Italian Seria A competition and their colours are black and white vertical stripes.' west adelaide were known as hellas, and were greek backed. they wore blue and white. adelaide city wore a white and black striped strip, were italian backed, and were actually known as adelaide city juventus after the serie a team.
Bondy
Guest
Well Done I.C.F., I cant go that far back born in the 70's. I remember the 80's and 90's N.S.L. What a great read and post's probably the best ever on this website.
ItsCalledFootball
Roar Guru
I'm not calling anyone a liar - apaway said he heard it too and I believe he actually played in the NSL. I'm just saying that I have never experienced it myself - I've been to a lot of NSL games myself over the years and played junior football for an NSL club too. That is different to saying it isn't true.
dasilva
Guest
Sorry I meant the reference was not talking about the Melbourne Knights but Sydney Croatia
dasilva
Guest
I know it's called football I'm using a reference from a book where it's called soccer. It's hardly great providing reference by changing the title of the book isn't it?. The reference has an eyewitness account to the NSL. By the way the reference is talking about Melbourne Knight so that doesn't contradict your statement. Also this was an account of Sydney Croatia before it changed it's name to Sydney United. It may be possible that occurred before the name change If you want to call David Hill a liar than fine whom I know the ethnic clubs supporters have no love for. But I provided a source
ItsCalledFootball
Roar Guru
No I agree with you Melbourne Knights - I've never been to an NSL game where the announcements weren't in English.
MELBOURNE KNIGHTS
Guest
Da silva and Its callled Football Both you guys have missed the facts. I have supported the melbourne knights and sydney united and the annoucers from the the first day they were in the nsl . The annoucers spoke english at the matches Get your facts straight...
dasilva
Guest
Although not from melbourne I think it is still relevent From Shoot Out - The Passion adn the Politics of Soccer's Fight for Survival in Australia by Ross Solly Page 108 David hill "He was shocked when he attended a match at Edensor Park in Sydney's west to hear all the ground announcements made in Croatian. the entry race was covered in the red and white chequers of the Croatian Flag." "at west Adelaide the winning ticket number in the match day raffle was announced in Greek" Branko Culina when coaching Sydney olympic "We had beaten Marconi five-nil, but we were booed off the park. one reason was they expected us to win by more, but also the Greek media had made a big deal out of the fact there were no Greeks in the starting eleven!"
mds1970
Roar Guru
Fair enough. I'm too young to remember the 1974 World Cup, but the NSL didn't come into being until 3 years later; so whatever euphoria there was in 1974 would probably have died down by the time the NSL started up. There was definately euphoria in 2006.
ItsCalledFootball
Roar Guru
I remember going to a Sydney City game at ES Marks field when John Kosmina scored four goals against Brisbane - played brilliantly that day and after every goal he went around and personally shook the hand of every spectator. Didn't take long . . . boom boom It was really hard getting the Mexican wave going too . . .
apaway
Guest
LOL No, they could generally go and announce things to the supporters individually!
ItsCalledFootball
Roar Guru
Thanks apaway, wasn't aware of that and didn't recall it in any of the games I attended. Did Sydney City make their ground announcements in Jewish?
gawa
Guest
Just re read your post about feeling secure at a St Kilda, mmmmm. In my experience the A League is the safest environment in Australia to watch live sport, so I am not sure why that is a concern on your part, and yes I have travelled to a Melbourne Victory in Melbourne game with a crowd of over 50,000 aswell as most Brisbane Roar home and a few away games and never once did I see the slightest sign of any kind of trouble in any shape or form.
ItsCalledFootball
Roar Guru
sheek, nice post and you could write a whole series of articles about the history of the Socceroos, another rich and vibrant piece of Australian sporting tapestry. I'm a Sydney boy and I love my sports too. Apart from the NSL, I used to get along to a few rugby union and league games and loved watching the wallabies. I even used to go to a few Swans games and watched them with interest when they won the premiership, but never any more - just out of principle. In fact I'll never have anything to do with AFL any more. It is not a sport - it is a business that is trying to run everyone else out of town. I've attended the world cups in league and union and that memorable loss to England in the final of 2003. Setting up the NSL was a major financial risk at the time and as you say, was the first national professional domestic competition of any code.
apaway
Guest
ICF I'm not from Melbourne but I played there a few times - and yes, there were some clubs where ground announcements were made in the language of the home club's predominant supporter group - not just in melbourne but in Sydney as well.
ItsCalledFootball
Roar Guru
I've never been to an NSL game where the announcements weren't in English - can anyone else from Melbourne back up John's claims? John, how many A-League games have you attended? How can you pass judgement on something you have never seen? Doesn't give your comments much credibility does it? By the way, that's a wonderful advertisement for the St KIlda AFL club.
ItsCalledFootball
Roar Guru
Nice post futbanous and you raise one of the pertinent issues there. I agree that the FFA might not have properly recognised the contribution of the NSL. We are still a divided football community. Its the most played sport in the country, there are millions who follow the fortunes of football somewhere in the world and yet we can't put together a profitable domestic football competition that can challenge the other codes for supremacy. The A-League got off to a good start, but now it seems we are starting to argue amongst ourselves and pointing fingers at the FFA. The old soccer vs the new football. Luckily we are starting to talk about the quality of the football again, the Roar and others lifting their game and the young stars coming out of the juniour leagues. I think we are turning the corner back upwards again. Engaging with the state leagues (the old NSL teams) and getting their backing would be a tremedous boost and get a few thousand more to games. Sure, from the FFA's point of view they are trying to change the image of the game, not really because ethnic teams are that dangerous - but because of the perception of the racist and anti-football media's sick fascination with so called ethnic soccer violence. The media are often looking for chinks in football's armour to try and bring it down. If its not crowd behaviour it is the financial situation or the FFA. The NSL and everyone in it deserve to get recognition for what it achieved as the pioneer national football competition. I don't have any ethnic ties with old NSL clubs, but in all the years of watching football in this country I have never seen any ethnic violence. We used to go along and watch the games for their entertainment value and if it was going to be a great contest. There were plenty of football games in Sydney that you could get along to in the NSL and the tickets were a lot cheaper too.
Pffft
Guest
It is better than the old NSL, but the problem nowadays is internet, cable tv with live Euro games. You can watch pretty much every EPL game live in your lounge in Melbourne. Why bother following a 3rd division club back here? I hardly know anyone who follows local soccer. But know a lot of people who follow the English or Italian. Sort of the same in Aussie rules footy. Do you follow a country club, a district club, a team in the VFL or the AFL? There is so much on tele nowadays, who has time to follow the 3rd raters. It's the way of the modern world I am afraid.
apaway
Guest
Futbanous Agree with a lot of what you say. Johnny Warren was fond of pointing out that in later years, when over 100 of our so-called "best" players were plying their trade in Europe, that the NSL was in effect a feeder competition and as a result drew very decent crowds when compared to the "feeder" comps of other codes. However, as much as it was very painful, I don't think 1997 was the "low point" in the Socceroos WC qualification. I'd nominate 1981 when the totally mad Rudi Gutendorf had control of the Socceroos and they failed to make it out of the Oceania group stage.