National Soccer League

Organising body	Australian Soccer Association
Founded	1977; 48 years ago (1977)
First season	1977
Folded	2004
Country	Australia
Other club from	New Zealand
Confederation	OFC (Oceania)
Number of clubs	42 (total)
Level on pyramid	1
Last champions	Perth Glory (2nd title)
Most championships	Marconi Stallions South Melbourne Sydney City (4 titles each)
Most premierships	Melbourne Knights (4 titles)
Broadcaster(s)	Network Ten (1977–1979) Seven Network (1998–2000) ABC (2001) SBS (2002–2004)

TheNational Soccer League (NSL) was the top-levelsoccer league in Australia, run bySoccer Australia and later theAustralian Soccer Association. The NSL, theA-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its demise in 2004, when it was succeeded by theA-League competition run byFootball Federation Australia, the successor to the Australian Soccer Association.^[1][2]

During the history of the NSL the league was contested by a total of 42 teams; 41 based inAustralia and one based inNew Zealand. Seasons initially ran during the winter seasons, until 1989 when this was changed to the summer season. In 1984, the league was split into two conferences (Northern and Southern) to introduce more teams into the competition; the league returned to a single division in 1987. The competition was known by various names through sponsorships; these names included thePhilips Soccer League, theQuit National Soccer League,Olympic Airways Soccer League,Coca-Cola Soccer League, theEricsson Cup and theA-League.^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]}

From the league'sinaugural season to its demise in 2004, a total of 13 clubs were crowned champions through either a system of first past the post or a finals series that culminated in agrand final. The NSL was Australia's first national sporting league predating the likes of the AFL and NRL.

Competition between club sides from different states existed in various forms prior to the formation of the NSL. The petroleum companyAmpol sponsored cup competitions in the various states, starting withNew South Wales in 1957, with other states following later.^[8] Later a national Ampol Cup was conducted which continued throughout the 1960s. From 1962 until 1968 anAustralia Cup was held,^[9] but its ambition of becoming anFA Cup style knockout competition went unfulfilled. In the 1970s the top sides from Melbourne and Sydney played off in an end of season series,^[10] but the tournament did not seem to quite capture the legitimacy and popularity that was hoped for.

Plans for a national home and away league went back as far as 1965 for a 1967 start,^[11] and were followed up by variations on the theme throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, but faced opposition variously from clubs, who deemed the notion uneconomical, and state federations who feared losing their power. Australia's qualification for the1974 World Cup led to various discussions in 1975 and 1976, with eventually 14 teams being chosen to participate in the inaugural season of the national league.^[12]

The transition from state-based leagues to a national competition was not all smooth. TheVictorian Soccer Federation was reluctant for its big clubs to be involved and it appeared the dream of Alex Pongrass ofSt George andFrank Lowy ofHakoah Sydney for a nationwide club competition would not evolve. Little-knownMooroolbark from Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs broke the deadlock by joining the competition, bringing three otherVictorian sides with it, making the national league a reality.^[13]

The first seven seasons of the league would be dominated by Sydney clubs, withSydney City winning four titles, and onlyWest Adelaide being able to wrest the title fromNew South Wales. West secured the 1978 championship after scoring a late equaliser in anAdelaide derby againstAdelaide City in the final round of the season. The competition at this stage was a simple first past the post. A post season finals series was played during this era but was considered more of an exhibition series rather than a legitimate game to decide the national champion,^[14] although some confusion still exists on this matter particularly amongst someHeidelberg supporters who consider the 1980 'final' as a legitimate decider.^[15]

Shrinking crowds led to the radical move of introducing more teams (mainly from Victoria andNew South Wales) and splitting the league into two conferences, with the winner of each division to play-off in an end of year two legged final. For season 1984 the 'Australian' Conference had competing teams from New South Wales and theACT, whilst the 'National' Conference consisted of Victorian,South Australian and Queensland clubs. For 1985 and 1986 this reverted to 'Northern' and 'Southern' Conferences. Strangely, the competition's most geographically northern sides,Brisbane Lions andBrisbane City were in the latter grouping.

This period sawSouth Melbourne become the firstVictorian team to win the league, followed byBrunswick Juventus, andAdelaide City, all Southern conference sides. At the end of the 1986 season, the system was scrapped, and about half the teams were dumped back to their respective state leagues. The criteria used to decide who stayed and who went was based 50% on the 1986 playing record, 40% on past playing record, and 10% on crowd support.^[16] The result was that only one team from outside Sydney and Melbourne, reigning champions Adelaide City, was retained.

The revamped league suffered a major setback early on when Sydney City pulled out of the competition after just one round into the new season.^[16] Apart from returning to a single division, the league also dispensed with finals for the 1987 season, reverting to first past the post. Many considered this an ill-considered move, as it robbed the league of its most high-profile games.^[17] Finals were re-introduced from 1988, and were to remain until the league's demise. The 1989 season would be the last to be played in winter. This period saw a re-emergence of New South Wales dominance with all titles, minor premierships and runners-up being from that state.

Efforts to transition the league to a summer season date back to the early 1980s but were only implemented in the 1989/90 season. The reasoning behind this shift was straightforward: moving to summer would help the league avoid being overshadowed by theAustralian Football League andAustralian Rugby League seasons while also ensuring better playing surfaces and improved spectator comfort due to favorable weather conditions.

Despite the boost from this change, some clubs struggled to stay in the league, leading to relegations to the state leagues. Among them were former championsBrunswick Juventus,St George, andAPIA Leichhardt, as well as once-strong contenders likeHeidelberg andPreston.

At the same time, soccer authorities pushed clubs to market themselves to a broader Australian audience rather than catering primarily to theirmigrant fan bases. This initiative led to club name and logo changes, a ban on ethnic flags, and other modifications. While clubs reluctantly complied, fans in the stands largely continued to use the traditional names.

During this era, clubs such asMarconi,South Melbourne,Adelaide City, andMelbourne Knights dominated the league, winning multiple titles and making frequent grand final appearances.

The decade also saw the emergence of future Australian stars, includingMark Viduka,Mark Bresciano,Vince Grella,Tony Popovic, andMark Schwarzer, who would later form the core of Australia’s "Golden Generation."

In an effort to streamline the competition, theAustralian Soccer Federation proposed reducing the number of NSL teams from 14 to 12. In 1995, it announced plans for a new parallel competition called the A-League.^[18] Following legal challenges, the A-League eventually replaced the NSL but largely retained the same teams, making the transition more of a rebranding than a completely new competition. Before 1995–96 season, the league secured a sponsorship deal withEricsson, leading to a rebranding as the "Ericsson Cup." The sponsorship was initially set to last until 2000 but was terminated a year early in 1999. Despite the new name, the A-League and NSL names continued to be used interchangeably.^[19][20][21]

From 1996 onwards the league attempted to revitalise the competition and attempt to hook into the mainstream support by finally introducing a team from Western Australia, in the form ofPerth Glory, as well as other new entities which promised to deliver mainstream support, as well as being fully professional outfits as opposed to the majority of clubs and players who were only semi-professional. Among the new clubs at this time were theCollingwood Warriors,Carlton,Northern Spirit (GHFA Spirit as of 2004) andParramatta Power, as well as New Zealand's first professional team, theFootball Kingz.

These clubs would have varying degrees of success on and off the field. Collingwood Warriors barely managed to last a season, while Carlton reached the grand final in its debut year, but was unable to attract a substantial fan base. Northern Spirit started off with record crowds, and a good debut season reaching the finals, but gradually crowds declined, and financial difficulties along with a controversial takeover byRangers,^[22] did not help matters. They would survive until the end of the NSL, but fold thereafter. Parramatta Power failed to gather much support, placed as it was in the midst of the already crowded western Sydneysoccer market, and it too would not last beyond the end of the NSL. Perth Glory became the most successful of the new mainstream entrants. High crowds and good performances throughout the NSL's last decade made Perth Glory for many observers the benchmark and role model for all future entrants to the Australian top-flight.

A then record grand final crowd of 40,000 people saw theBrisbane Strikers become the first Queensland side to win the title in season 1996/97, but it never resulted inBrisbane gaining much bigger crowds in the following seasons than they were accustomed to. South Melbourne FC underAnge Postecoglou won back-to-back titles in the late 1990s, and by also winning the1999 Oceania Club Championship, earning the right to play in the2000 FIFA Club World Championship, where it put in some respectable performances against sides such as Manchester United and a tidy sum in prize money.Wollongong Wolves became the only side from regional Australia to win the league, with their back-to-back titles in 1999–2000 and 2000–01. The 1999–2000 Grand Final againstPerth Glory atSubiaco Oval inPerth saw a record attendance of 43,242, overtaking the 1997 figure in Brisbane and a record that would remain until the2007 A-League Grand Final inMelbourne. The cancellation of the2001 FIFA Club World Championship however was a major blow to the league as clubs which had seen a way of making a substantial amount of much needed money.

After the2001 FIFA Club World Championship was cancelled, the NSL was in great turmoil. High-profile Australian players began to leave the NSL due to more enticing offers from overseas leagues.

In 1998,Soccer Australia sold the television rights for the NSL and Socceroos matches to theSeven Network in a 10-year contract that was worth $2.5 million a year. Seven bought the rights to be one of the flagships of its pay TV sport channel,C7 Sport.^[23]

It also broadcast a small amount of coverage on its free-to-air network. At one point in 2000, the amount of free-to-air coverage on the NSL was only a one-hour highlights package of the NSL after midnight on Wednesdays. Many believe Channel 7 deliberately refused to air games to kill off interest in the league that was flourishing in the 90s.

In 2002,C7 Sport closed after the Seven Network lost theAustralian Football League (AFL) rights and pay TV networks stopped carrying the channel. The next year, Seven severed its contract in the last week of Soccer Australia's existence. This left the NSL with no TV coverage at all untilSBS picked up the rights soon after.

The consequent lack of sponsorship meant the league fell into even further decline which led to its eventual demise at the end of the 2003–04 season. Highlights were few and far between, butSydney Olympic re-emerged as a genuine leading club for the first time in a decade, winning its second title, andPerth Glory went on to win the last two titles of the NSL, after previously having lost two grand finals.

The birth ofAdelaide United, as a quickly formed replacement of Adelaide City who withdrew just before the start of the final NSL season, was perhaps the sole major highlight of this era, as they put in good performances, but most importantly, registered crowds which had not been seen inAdelaide since the heyday of Adelaide City and West Adelaide.

The league in 2003–04 was won by Perth Glory after a 1–0 win againstParramatta Power on 4 April 2004, almost 27 years to the day that the national competition began.Nik Mrdja had the honour of scoring the last goal in the NSL, a 98th minutegolden goal to seal the championship for Perth. After this, national competition went into recess for a year and a half. In November 2004, 8 teams, including 5 from the now defunct NSL, formed theA-League, the revamped national competition whilst many were denied the opportunity due to the bidding process and 1 team for 1 city rule. The first competition began on 26 August 2005, ending the long recess and killing off the NSL and its 24-year history.

The competition structure changed many times throughout the NSL's history. From its inception in 1977 until 1983, it was simply a matter of first past the post. However a compromise format was devised between the traditional first past the post and the Australian system of finals. In 1978, 1979 (two-legged Grand Final), 1980 and 1982 a finals series was conducted but the winner of the Grand Final did not determine who won the title. From 1984 until 1986, the league introduced more teams split into two conferences (1984 – Australian Conference,New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory clubs and National Conference,Victoria,South Australia, Queensland; 1985 and 1986 – Northern Conference,New South Wales/Australian Capital Territory clubs and Southern Conference for the rest) with 12 teams in each. The top five in each division would qualify for the playoffs, with the winner of each of the divisional playoffs playing off in a two-legged Grand Final. In 1987, the league dumped 11 teams, scrapped the split divisions, and the championship system reverted to first past the post.

In 1988 the league re-introduced a finals system, with the top five sides qualifying for the playoffs. In season 1992/93, the league increased the finalists to six. This system was used for the rest of the league's duration, except for season 2002/03 when the top six sides played a further series of home and away games against each other, with the top two playing off in the Grand Final.

The NSL also used a variety of point systems throughout its history. From 1977 until season 1991/92, teams were awarded two points for a win, one point for draw, and none for a loss. The exceptions to this were 1979, in which wins by four goals or more were awarded a bonus point, and 1983, in which three points were awarded for a win. From season 1992/93 onwards three points were awarded for a win, except for season 1994/95. In that season, four points were awarded for a win, with games ending in draws, being decided by penalty shootouts at the end of the game. The winner of the shootout received two points, the loser one point.

Successful NSL clubs gained qualification into the continental competition, theOceania Club Championship, although the competition only occurred in1987,1999 and2001. In addition to the main league competition, the NSL also held a knock-out cup competition between 1977 and the 1997 season known as theNSL Cup. The NSL Cup was initially held during the regular season, before gradually becoming a pre-season warm-up tournament. Between 1984 and 2004National Youth League ran in conjunction with the NSL as a national youth developmental and reserve league.

Source:^[25]

• Johnny Warren Medal
• Joe Marston Medal

• OzFootball NSL section
• RSSSF List of Australian Final Tables

• National Soccer League (Australia)
• Defunct soccer leagues in Australia
• Men's soccer leagues in Australia
• Recurring sporting events established in 1977
• 1977 establishments in Australia
• Sports leagues established in 1977
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