National Soccer League

This article describes the former top division in Australian professional football. For the top soccer division in Papua New Guinea, see National Soccer League (Papua New Guinea) .

National Soccer League
Association	Football Federation Australia
First edition	1977
Teams	42 teams (total)
Last title holder	Perth Glory
participating countries	Australia New Zealand
Cessation of game operations	2004
Record holder	Marconi Stallions South Melbourne FC Sydney City SC (4 titles each)

The National Soccer League ( NSL for short ) was the top division in Australian professional football from 1977 until it was replaced by the A-League in 2004 . In the history of the NSL, the league competition appeared under various sponsor names. These included the Philips Soccer League , Coca-Cola Soccer League , Ericsson Cup and, in the 1990s , the game was briefly known as the A-League .

history

Football competitions in front of the NSL

Football competitions were held even before the National League Soccer was founded. The petroleum company Ampol sponsored competitions in Australian football back in the 1950s. It started in 1957 in New South Wales until more and more states and territories followed. A national Ampol Cup was later launched, which lasted until the 1960s. From 1962 to 1968 an Australia Cup was held, which should resemble the style of the English FA Cup . But the expectations were too different and so the cup competition was canceled again in 1968. In the 1970s, another cup was launched, in which the top clubs from Melbourne and Sydney clashed at the end of the season. But even this type of cup competition was not popular with the audience.

The first plans to develop a national soccer league were made in 1965. Two years later, the game began. From the 1960s to the early 1970s, further variations in the structure of the league followed, which largely resulted in clubs viewing the system as inefficient and state federations losing power. The qualification of the Australian national team for the 1974 World Cup led to further discussions in 1975 and 1976 about forming a league with 14 participating football clubs.

The transition from a state league to a national competition also brought problems and difficulties with it. So came the objection from the Football Federation Victoria that only the big clubs could establish themselves in the league. That almost led to the fact that no league would have been founded. It was mainly thanks to the small and rather unknown Mooroolbark FC that the founding of a national league came about. Then three more clubs from Victoria could be included in the league association. The National Soccer League was thus founded.

1977–1983: Dominance from Sydney

A year later, in 1977, the first edition took place. In the first seven seasons, mostly clubs from Australia's largest city, Sydney, shone . The performance of Sydney City SC is noteworthy, as it was able to take the championship title four times (1977, 1980, 1981 and 1982) and was runner-up twice (1978 and 1983). Further champions in the years 1977 to 1983 were the West Adelaide SC (1978), the Marconi Stallions (1979) and the St. George Saints FC (1983).

1984–1986: League division and change of power

The falling audience numbers until the 1983 season led to the inclusion of several teams (mainly from New South Wales and Victoria) and the subsequent division of the league into two divisions. At the end of each year, the winners of the respective division played against each other in a final. From the 1984 season, competing teams from New South Wales and the Australian capital territory played in the Australian Conference . Teams from Queensland , South Australia , but also some teams from Victoria then played in the National Conference . The champions in the 1984 season were South Melbourne FC , followed by Brunswick Juventus (1985) from Brunswick, Victoria and Adelaide City (1986).

At the end of the 1986 season, the league system was abolished and around half of the teams were relocated to their respective leagues (sorted by state). 50% of the decisions as to who could and should not remain in the league were made from the football clubs' performance in the 1986 season. Another 40% consisted of the previous game play of the respective team and the remaining 10% were attributed to fan support. The reigning champion Adelaide City was retained.

1987–1989: League merger and end of "winter football"

The newly created league suffered a severe setback immediately after the first round of the championship when it was announced that the Sydney City SC had to be taken out of the game operations of the NSL. As a result, the league also renounced the final at the end of the season. Only a year later the Grand Final was played again and lasted until the league was dissolved. The 1989 season was the last to be played in a winter rhythm. From the 1989/90 season onwards, the facility was switched to summer operation. In the seasons 1987 to 1989 the following teams were Australian champions: APIA Leichhardt (1987) and Marconi Stallions (1988 and 1989).

1990–1996: beginnings of "summer football"

Attempts to switch Australian football to summer time began in the early 1980s. The actual change did not follow until the 1989/90 season. The reason for this change was simple. The league wanted to prevent football from being seen as a “fringe group” in the media. In addition to the popular Australian sports Australian Football and Australian Rugby League and their highlights, football should serve as a change of pace. In addition, it should increase the comfort and popularity with the audience due to the better weather in summer.

This impetus from the league did not benefit all football clubs to ensure that they remained in the NSL and so several clubs were "banned" from the league or relegated to the respective leagues in their state. Among them were clubs such as former Australian champions APIA Leichhardt, Brunswick Juventus and St. George Saints FC. Later on, clubs like Heidelberg United and the Preston Lions also fell victim to the changeover.

This sparked a renewed dispute with the football associations, who wanted to force the clubs to present themselves as “true Australians” and not only to consolidate themselves on the fan base, which consisted increasingly of migrants . The overall concept of the associations included changes to the names and logos of the respective associations as well as the ban on ethnic flags and banners that referred to people of another race, for example. Furthermore, great importance was attached to the fan song and there, too, battle songs against other races were deleted from the repertoire .

The best clubs at that time were the Marconi Stallions, South Melbourne FC, Adelaide City and the Melbourne Knights , all of which won numerous titles and appeared in the Grand Finals .

In the first season of "summer football", Sydney Olympic FC were Australian champions, followed by South Melbourne FC (1990/91) and Adelaide City (1991/92). For the fourth time in the club's history, the Marconi Stallions were able to call themselves Australian champions in the 1992/93 season. Only three clubs achieved this success in the entire history of the NSL. The other two besides the Marconi Stallions were Sydney City SC and Adelaide Ciy. Champion of the 1993/94 season was Adelaide Ciy, followed by the Melbourne Knights, who won the championship title in the 1994/95 and 1995/96 seasons.

1997–2001: New clubs joined

As early as the 1996/97 season, attempts were made to breathe a little more life into the competition. Therefore, it was decided to include a football team from Western Australia in the league. Perth Glory from the capital of Western Australia was founded. The concept was to give football more professionalism within the league and to turn most of the players who were previously only semi-professionals into decent professional football players. Other newly founded football clubs that were also involved in the NSL's game play from the mid to late 1990s include: Carlton SC , Collingwood Warriors SC , Northern Spirit FC and Parramatta Power .

These new clubs were able to celebrate successes of varying degrees. While the Collingwood Warriors only managed to stay in the league for one season, Carlton SC made it to the Grand Final in its debut year , where they lost 2-1 to South Melbourne FC. Despite this success, the club failed to build a constructive fan base. The Northern Spirit FC celebrated another success, which reached the finals in its debut season , but could not really establish itself in the following seasons. Financial problems crept in, as well as the decreasing number of spectators and their absence from important games. To secure the game operations of the club, the football club was taken over for a short time by the Scottish club Glasgow Rangers in the 2002/03 season . The club finally stopped playing at the time when the NSL was dissolved. The also new club Parramatta Power mostly did not get beyond the middle of the table. The greatest successes of the newly founded clubs was Perth Glory. Lots of spectators and consistently good performances helped make the club a benchmark for a number of other clubs.

In the grand finale of the 1996/97 season, the Brisbane Strikers won the first and only championship title of an NSL club from the state of Queensland with a 2-0 win over Sydney United in front of a crowd of over 40,000 visitors in Lang Park . In the two seasons 1997/98, the championship trophy went to South Melbourne FC, which also secured the title in the Oceania Club Championship in 1999 and thus qualified for the 2000 FIFA Club World Cup . There the club was eliminated as the last of the group after three defeats in three games from the competition. From 1999/2000 to 2000/01 the NSL master was Wollongong Wolves .

The cancellation of the 2001 FIFA Club World Cup was another setback for the National Soccer League at the start of the new millennium. The Australian clubs that saw this tournament as a good opportunity to get the money that was important for the whereabouts of some clubs. Because of the cancellation, they had to fall back on the tried and tested selling of players overseas.

2002–2004: decline and dissolution of the league

With the transfer of many important players overseas, the catastrophic deal for the league with the commercial broadcasting company Seven Network and the resulting withdrawal of some sponsors, the National Soccer League gradually fell. In the 2001/02 season, the champion was named after the Grand Final for the second time in the club's history Sydney Olympic. In the last two seasons before the final dissolution of the National Soccer League, the league title went to Perth Glory. It was worth mentioning in the last years of the league existence the establishment of Adelaide United as a replacement for Adelaide City, which had withdrawn from the game operations of the NSL.

After the total dissolution of the National Soccer League in 2004, the A-League was founded in the second half of 2005 , in which three former NSL clubs were also represented. Adelaide United , Newcastle United Jets and Perth Glory tried to "restart".

Competition format

The competitive structure of the National Soccer League has changed several times in its history. From the founding in 1977 to 1983 it was not certain whether the NSL would get through at all. Everything depended on the majority vote . At the end of the elections, a compromise was reached to keep a league that had both European elements and Australian structures (Grand Finals) .

Although the Grand Finals were held in 1978 and 1979 (both back and forth), as well as in 1980 and 1982 , in the end it was not possible to determine who won the title. In the 1982 to 1984 seasons, several teams were included in the game. The league was then divided into two conferences . In 1984 these were clubs from New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in the Australian Conference . In the National Conference , however, clubs from Queensland, South Australia and occasionally teams from Victoria played against each other. In the 1985 and 1986 seasons, the Conferences were renamed North and South Conference , whereupon the teams from the Australian Conference played in the North Conference , as well as the teams from the other states and territories continued their game operations in the South Conference . Each of the two divisions had a total of twelve teams, with the top five teams in each division qualifying for the playoffs . The winners of the parallel playoffs had the chance to win the championship in the following Grand Final . At the end of the 1986 season, the two divisions were abolished again, switched to a single league and more than half of the teams were "deported" to their respective leagues (sorted by state). The number of teams in the NSL was reduced to eleven participating teams. The change was also the reason why the Grand Final of the 1987 season was canceled.

From the 1988 season the final was reintroduced. The teams that were ranked 1 to 5 in the table had the chance to win the championship title in the final after completing the playoff. From the 1992/93 season, the number of finalists for the playoffs rose to six. This system continued until the National Soccer League was dissolved, with the exception of the 2002/03 season. In the 2002/03 season, the situation was such that the teams met in return matches and the first and second placed could compete in the Grand Final and play for the title.

In the history of the NSL there were also a number of systems for distributing points. From 1977 to the 1991/92 season, two points were awarded for a win and one point for a draw. Usually there was no point for defeat. The exceptions in the seasons up to 1991/92 were in 1979, when an extra point was awarded for games won with a goal difference of four or more goals. Another exception was in 1983 when three points were awarded to a win. From the 1992/93 season, the newly regulated point distribution was used. With the exception of the 1994/95 season, in which four points were awarded for a win. If it was tied after regular time, the game was decided by a penalty shootout, with the winner receiving two points and the loser one.

societies

→ Main article : The 42 clubs that were integrated in the league from the foundation of the NSL in 1977 until its dissolution after the 2003/04 season

Title holder

→ Main article : The teams that became champions from the NSL's founding in 1977 until its dissolution after the 2003/04 season. This list also includes the runners-up and the dates of the respective Grand Finals

Web links

• History and information about the NSL at OZfootball
• List of Grand Finals and tables from 1977

swell

1. ^ Bill Murray and Roy Hay: The World Game Downunder , Melbourne 2006 (p. 199)
2. ↑ Bill Murray and Roy Hay: The World Game Downunder , Melbourne 2006 (page 120)
3. ↑ Bill Murray and Roy Hay: The World Game Downunder , Melbourne 2006 (page 121/122)
4. ^ Trevor Thompson: One Fantastic Goal , Sydney 2006 (p. 263)
5. ↑ Lowy names task force to set ball rolling on premier league , (accessed March 19, 2009)
6. ^ Trevor Thompson: One Fantastic Goal , Sydney 2006 (p. 263)

See also

• Soccer in Australia