Football NSW explained

Football New South Wales
Size:	140px
Abbreviation:	FNSW
Formation:	^[1] (as New South Wales Federation of Soccer Clubs)
Type:	State Sporting Association
Status:	Active
Headquarters:	Valentine Sports Park
Location:	Sydney
Region Served:	New South Wales, Australia
Parent Organisation:	Football Australia
Leader Title:	President
Website:	http://www.footballnsw.com.au

Football NSW is the governing body for soccer in the Australian state of New South Wales, with the exception of the northern regions of NSW (the governing body for which is Northern New South Wales Football). Football NSW is a member of the national governing body, Football Australia. Football NSW's premier football competition is the National Premier Leagues NSW. The premier futsal competition is the Futsal Premier League. Prior to 1 April 2007, Football NSW was known as Soccer NSW.^[2]

History

The first soccer association was founded in New South Wales in 1882 as the "South British Football Soccer Association". It was succeeded in 1898 by the "New South Wales British Football Association" and eventually in 1921 by the "Australian Soccer Football Association".The first state league in New South Wales was formed in 1928 and by 1943 a new association was formed to oversee the game in New South Wales specifically, called "New South Wales Soccer Football Association". This was formed into a company in 1945.^{[3] [4]}

By 1957 many clubs in New South Wales were left disgruntled by the way the game was run by the NSW Soccer Football Association due to numerous factors. Some migrant communities had created their own clubs when they were faced with closed doors by already established suburban clubs.^[5] After a meeting led by Hakoah president, Walter Sternberg in his Bellevue Hill home, a new association was born, called the "NSW Federation of Soccer Clubs". This federation effectively took control over the game from the former NSW Soccer Football Association.

The events of 1957 also led to a change in management nationally. With the Australian Soccer Football Association (ASFA) suspended by FIFA over player poaching disputes and the creation of Federations in other states, the Australian Soccer Federation (ASF) was created in 1961 to replace the old association. However, the ASF only gained control of operations from the ASFA after they sent a £5000 bond to FIFA in 1963.

In 1995, "Soccer Australia" replaced the "Australian Soccer Federation" and so the governing body of New South Wales became "Soccer NSW".

Soccer NSW remained in control of the game for a decade until another national change took place in 2005 when Soccer Australia changed its name to "Football Federation Australia".^[4] Soccer NSW however, did not officially change its name to "Football NSW" until 1 April 2007.

Headquarters

The headquarters of Football NSW are located at Valentine Sports Park, Glenwood. Valentine Sports Park is a multipurpose sporting complex which caters for various groups, as well as individuals. The complex consists of twin, triple and quad rooms accommodating up to 180 people, 5 playing fields, lecture rooms, indoor sports hall, 20 metre outdoor pool, sports medicine centre and a dining room open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It also contains the offices of the Football NSW staff.

Football

The majority of Football NSW's time goes into the football competitions they oversee and run. Football NSW oversees the running of numerous representative youth, Men's & Women's association football leagues and cups, a number of which are non-amateur. They also oversee the countless club and amateur competitions run by the affiliated associations around the state. For a detailed rundown of the various leagues and systems run in New South Wales see Football (soccer) in New South Wales.

Futsal

Football NSW is also the governing body for Futsal is New South Wales. There are two representative leagues named the "Futsal Premier League" (Known as the SELECT Futsal Premier League for sponsorship reasons) and the "Futsal Premier League 2" (Known as the SELECT FPL2). Originally there was only one representative league with 16 teams. In the 06/07 season the competition was cut into 2 separate divisions of 8 teams each. In the 07/08 season the top 8 clubs in the club championship (aggregate points of all teams) from that season were put in the First Division while the last 8 were put in the second division. Now in 18/19 there is 8 premier league teams and 8 premier league 2 teams.

Football NSW Leagues clubs

Below are listed the Men's all member clubs of Football NSW for the National Premier Leagues competitions and Football NSW League One and Two for 2023.

			NSW League One			NSW League Two
Club	Founded	In current league since	Club	Founded	In current league since	Club	Founded	In current league since
	1954	1993	Bankstown City Lions	1960	2023	Bankstown United	2016	2019
Blacktown City	1953	1990		2002	2017	Camden Tigers	1961	2023
Central Coast Mariners Academy	2008	2023	Bonnyrigg White Eagles	1968	2019		2017	2024
Hills United	1989	2024		1952	2024	Fraser Park FC	1961	2023
Manly United	1992	2004	Canterbury Bankstown	1886	2023		1953	2010
Marconi Stallions	1956	2018		1968	2023		1975	2023
NWS Spirit	2004	2023		1991	2023		1970	2023
	1969	2010		1939	2020		1978	2014
St George City	1924	2023		1983	2023	Mounties Wanderers	1978	2024
St George FC	1961	2024	Macarthur Rams	1984	2023		2008	2023
	1930	2006	Mt Druitt Town Rangers	1970	2024	Parramatta FC	1956	2023
	2008	2017		2011	2024		1970	2023
	1957	2004	Northern Tigers	2002	2004	South Coast Flame	2017	2023
	1957	2004	Rydalmere Lions	1979	2023		1946	2016
	2012	2023	SD Raiders	2012	2020		1990	2023
	1980	2004		1948	2024

League system

The men's soccer pyramid in New South Wales comprises 4 levels below the A-League Men, with promotion and relegation between the top 3 levels. It also includes the Sydney Amateur League, which is not officially a part of the league system. In total, there are 259 clubs/teams across 28 divisions in South Australia.

The women's soccer pyramid in New South Wales comprises 3 levels below the A-League Men, with promotion and relegation between the top 2 levels.

Men's pyramid

State

Level		Leagues
width=5%	National	width=5%	State
2	1	National Premier Leagues NSW 16 clubs no promotion, ↓ relegate 1.5
3	2	NSW League One 16 clubs ↑ promote 1.5, ↓ relegate 1.5
4	3	NSW League Two 16 clubs ↑ promote 1.5, no relegation
5	4	New South Wales Regional Leagues 543 teams from 2 divisions no promotion
		Metropolitan Districts 388 clubs from 6 districts	Regional Branches 155 clubs from 3 Branches

Metropolitan

Level			Metropolitan Districts
width=1%	National	width=1%	State	width=1%	Metro
5	4	1
			Far North 54 clubs from 2 districts		North 50 teams from 2 districts		East 67 teams from 3 districts			West 81 teams from 3 districts			South 85 teams from 3 districts			Far South 51 teams from 2 districts
			Central Coast Premier League 10 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 2	Northern Suburbs Premier League 10 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1	Gladesville Hornsby Premier League 10 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1	Manly Warringah Premier League 11 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1	Bill Brackenbury Cup (Canterbury) 7 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1	Eastern Suburbs Premier League 8 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1	St George Premier League 10 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1	Blacktown Premier League 10 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1	Granville X-League 9 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1	Nepean Waratah League 9 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1	Bankstown Premier League 9 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1	Macarthur M-League 8 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1	Southern Districts Premier League 10 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1	Illawarra Premier League 12 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1	Sutherland Premier League 10 teams no promotion, ↓ relegate 1
6	5	2	Central Coast Division One 10 teams ↑ promote 2, no relegation	Northern Suburbs All-Age Division 2 7 teams ↑ promote 1, no relegation	Gladesville Hornsby Super League 9 teams ↑ promote 1, no relegation	Manly Warringah Amateur League 1 10 teams ↑ promote 1, no relegation	Canterbury 22 teams	Eastern Suburbs 22 teams	St George 23 teams	Blacktown 23 teams	Granville 26 teams	Nepean 32 teams	Bankstown 21 teams	Macarthur 26 teams	Southern Districts 38 teams	South Coast 24 teams	Sutherland 27 teams
7	6	3	All-Age 1 7 teams	All-Age Division 3 10 teams	All-Age 1 7 teams	Manly Warringah 18 teams	Canterbury 22 teams	Eastern Suburbs 22 teams	St George 23 teams	Blacktown 23 teams	Granville 26 teams	Nepean 32 teams	Bankstown 21 teams	Macarthur 26 teams	Southern Districts 38 teams	South Coast 24 teams	Sutherland 27 teams
9	7	4	All-Age 2 8 teams	All-Age Division 4 9 teams	All-Age 2 8 teams
10	8	5	All-Age 3 10 teams	All-Age Division 5 9 teams
11	9	6	All-Age 4 8 teams	All-Age Division 6 10 teams
12	10	7	All-Age 5 10 teams	All-Age Division 7 10 teams
13	11	8	All-Age 6 9 teams	All-Age Division 8 9 teams
14	12	9	All-Age 7 10 teams	All-Age Division 9 8 teams
15	13	10	All-Age 8 12 teams														--->

Regional

Level			Regional Branches
width=1%	National	width=1%	State	width=1%	Reg
5	4	1
			Riverina 54 clubs from 4 associations				Southern 50 teams from 5 associations					Western 72 clubs from 6 associations
			Albury-Wodonga Division One 12 teams no promotion, no relegation	Griffith District First Grade 6 teams no promotion, no relegation	South West Slopes 5 teams no promotion, no relegation	Pascoe Cup (Wagga Wagga) 10 teams no promotion, no relegation	Eurobodalla 6 teams no promotion, no relegation	Shoalhaven District 12 teams no promotion, no relegation	Highlands All-Age 5 teams no promotion, no relegation	Southern Tablelands All-Age 5 clubs no promotion, no relegation	Far South Coast 8 teams no promotion, no relegation	Western Premier League 8 teams no promotion, no relegation
6	5	2
												Bathurst District 19 clubs no promotion, no relegation	Dubbo & District 16 clubs no promotion, no relegation	Lachlan 13 clubs no promotion, no relegation	Lithgow 5 clubs no promotion, no relegation	Orange 13 clubs no promotion, no relegation	Western Plains 7 clubs no promotion, no relegation

Women's pyramid

State

Level		Leagues
width=5%	National	width=5%	State
2	1	National Premier Leagues NSW Women's 14 clubs no promotion, ↓ relegate 1
3	2	NSW League One Women's 14 clubs ↑ promote 1, no relegation
4	3	New South Wales Regional Leagues no promotion
		Metropolitan Districts	Regional Branches

Metropolitan

Level			Metropolitan Districts
width=1%	National	width=1%	State	width=1%	Metro
4	3	1
			Far North 2 districts		North 2 districts		East 3 districts			West 3 districts			South 3 districts			Far South 2 districts
			Central Coast Premier League	Northern Suburbs Division One	Gladesville Hornsby Premier League	Manly Warringah Premier League	Grace Martin Trophy (Canterbury)	Eastern Suburbs Championship	St George Premier Women's League	Blacktown All-Age One	Granville Ladies Premier League	Nepean All-Age One	Bankstown All-Age One	Macarthur All-Age One	Southern Districts All-Age One	South Coast All-Age One	Sutherland All-Age A

Associations and Branches

As one of two state governing body for football in New South Wales, Football NSW oversees all aspects of the sport within the southern part of the state. At a local level, Football NSW works with 15 regional-based constituent association members which oversee in all aspects of the sport within their respected region. Three Football NSW branches also exist in a similar capacity.^[6]

Metro Associations (Representative teams)^[7]

• Bankstown District Amateur Football Association (Bankstown United)
• Blacktown & District Soccer Football Association (Blacktown Spartans)
• Canterbury District Soccer Football Association
• Central Coast Football (Central Coast United)
• Eastern Suburbs Football Association
• Football South Coast (South Coast Flame FC)
• Granville & District Soccer Football Association (Parramatta FC)
• Hills Football
• Macarthur District Soccer Football Association (Macarthur Rams)
• Manly Warringah Football Association (Manly United)
• Nepean Football Association (Nepean FC)
• North West Sydney Football Ltd. (GHFA Spirit)
• Northern Suburbs Football Association (Northern Tigers)
• Southern Districts Soccer Football Association (SD Raiders)
• St. George Football Association
• Sutherland Shire Football Association
• Sydney Amateur Football League

Regional Associations^[8]

• Albury Wodonga Football Association
• Bathurst District Football Association
• Dubbo District Football Association
• Eurobodalla Football Association
• Far South Coast Football Association
• Football Wagga Wagga
• Griffith & District Football Association
• Highlands Soccer Association
• Lachlan Amateur Soccer Association Inc.
• Lithgow District Football Association
• Orange District Football Association
• Shoalhaven District Football Association
• South West Slopes Football Association
• Southern Tablelands Football Association
• Western Plains Amateur Soccer Association

Branches^[9]

• Southern NSW Football
• Football Riverina
• Western NSW Football

Past League Winners

The sections below list previous league winners. League winners are listed as first place in the standings at the end of the regular section, not winners of the finals series (when held).

1957–1958

The first season of the newly formed Soccer NSW began with two divisions. Canterbury-Marrickville were the inaugural premiers of Division One.

Season	Division One	Division Two
style=text-align:center			Villawood
style=text-align:center	1958	Corrimal United	Budapest (East), Pan-Hellenic (West)

1959–1962

After two seasons, a third division was added.

Season	Division One	Division Two	Division Three
style=text-align:center	1959		Neerlandia	Toongabbie
style=text-align:center	1960		Pan-Hellenic	Sydney Croatia
style=text-align:center	1961			Melita Eagles
style=text-align:center	1962	Budapest		Cabramatta

1963–1970

Division Three disbanded to form lower grade Amateur Leagues.

Season	Division One	Division Two
style=text-align:center	1963
style=text-align:center	1964		Polonia-North Side
style=text-align:center	1965	South Coast United	Corinthian BESC
style=text-align:center	1966
style=text-align:center	1967		Manly Warringah
style=text-align:center	1968		Auburn
style=text-align:center	1969	South Coast United	Marconi Fairfield
style=text-align:center	1970		Western Suburbs

1971–1976

Amateur Leagues/Inter suburban leagues reformed to create another Division Three.

Season	Division One	Division Two	Division Three
style=text-align:center	1971
style=text-align:center	1972			Rosebery Rhodes
style=text-align:center	1973			Riverside Rapid
style=text-align:center	1974			Northern Districts
style=text-align:center	1975		Manly Warringah	Toongabbie
style=text-align:center	1976			Ku-Ring-Gai

1977–1978

Another division was then added in 1977, creating four divisions.

Season	Division One	Division Two	Division Three	Division Four
style=text-align:center	1977			Blacktown United	Lane Cove United
style=text-align:center	1978		Ku-Ring-Gai	Nepean Corinthian	Baulkham Hills

1979–1982

The top four divisions were renamed for a few seasons.

Season	State League	Division One	Division Two	Division Three
style=text-align:center	1979			Bathurst '75	North Bankstown
style=text-align:center	1980			Guildford County	Liverpool Albion
style=text-align:center	1981			Dee Why Swans	Kingsford Hellenic
style=text-align:center	1982		Ku-Ring-Gai	Artarmon	Bondi Marine

1983–1988

State League reverted to Division One naming, while Division Three disbanded back to lower Inter Urban leagues, leaving three premier divisions.

Season	Division One	Division Two	Division Three
style=text-align:center	1983			Bathurst '75
style=text-align:center	1984			Campbelltown City
style=text-align:center	1985			Kingsford Hellenic
style=text-align:center	1986			Granville Chile
style=text-align:center	1987			Granville Chile
style=text-align:center	1988			Dulwich Hill

1989–1991

Division Four was re-introduced.

Season	Division One	Division Two	Division Three	Division Four
style=text-align:center	1989			Roseberry Portugal	Petersham Luisitanos
style=text-align:center	1990			Port Hacking-Greenisland	Arncliffe
style=text-align:center	1991			Lemnos Allstars	Western District

1992–2000

Again the premier division was renamed, this time to the "Super League". Lower divisions were renamed accordingly from Division One.

Season	Super League	Division 1	Division 2	Division 3
style=text-align:center	1992		Cyprus United		Spanish Club
style=text-align:center	1993			North Ryde	St Johns Parks
style=text-align:center	1994				University of NSW
style=text-align:center	1995				Greystanes
style=text-align:center	1996	Adamstown Rosebud (Stage 1), Parramatta Eagles (Stage 2)		Greystanes	Gladesville United
style=text-align:center	1997			AC United	Glebe Wanderers
style=text-align:center	1998				Sydney University
style=text-align:center	1999				White City
style=text-align:center	2000			Greystanes	Prairiewood United

2000–2012

2000 saw another shake-up of the league structures. The Super League was brought forward to become a summer competition and be aligned with the National Soccer League (NSL). It was called the "Premier League". Division One was then changed to the "Winter Super League", starting and finishing in 2001. Divisions Two and Three were renamed States League 1 and 2 respectively, and were also conducted over the winter of 2001. During the demise of the NSL and rise of the A-League, the Premier League reverted to playing over winter for the 2006 season. This meant there was approximately nine months break between competitions.

Season	Premier League	Super League	State League 1	State League 2
style=text-align:center	2000–01				Western Sydney Lions
style=text-align:center	2001–02			Wanderers Cedars	FC Bossy Liverpool
style=text-align:center	2002–03				Camden Tigers
style=text-align:center	2003–04			Nepean Association	Inter Lions
style=text-align:center	2004–05				Springwood SSC
style=text-align:center	2006				University of NSW
style=text-align:center	2007				Greenisland (North), Hurstville City Minotaurs (South)
style=text-align:center	2008				Balmain Tigers (North), Camden Tigers (South)
style=text-align:center					Camden Tigers
style=text-align:center					Fairfield Bulls
style=text-align:center					Northbridge FC
style=text-align:center					Hakoah Sydney City East FC

2013–2015

Another overhaul of the league structure occurred with the introduction of the nationwide National Premier Leagues. State Federations were required to name their premier leagues as such. For Football NSW, the meant the "Premier League" was to be called "National Premier Leagues NSW" instead. The "Super League" also had to follow suit, becoming the "National Premier Leagues NSW 2". State Leagues remained the same.

Season	NPL NSW	NPL NSW 2	State League 1	State League 2
style=text-align:center					Stanmore Hawks
style=text-align:center					Hurstville FC
style=text-align:center					Dunbar Rovers

2016–2019

Another minor change occurred for the 2016 season, with State League 1 adopting the "NPL NSW 3 moniker", thus State League 2 was reverted to simply State League.

Season	NPL NSW	NPL NSW 2	NPL NSW 3	State League
style=text-align:center					St George FA
style=text-align:center					Bankstown United
style=text-align:center					Central Coast United
style=text-align:center					Fraser Park

2020–2021

After a further review, there was another restructure which came into effect in the 2020 season, with the branding of an NPL4 competition.^[10]

Season	NPL NSW	NPL NSW 2	NPL NSW 3	NPL NSW 4
style=text-align:center					Fraser Park
style=text-align:center	2021	style=text-align:center colspan=5	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.^[11]

2022

The 2022 season saw more changes as the NPL 2, NPL 3 and NPL 4 competitions were renamed to League One, League Two and League Three respectively.^[12]

2023–present

The 2023 season saw another change as the NSW League Three competition was disbanded in favour of three larger leagues.

External links

• Football NSW - Official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: About. footballnsw.com.au. 23 October 2018.
2. http://www.soccernsw.com.au/home/hgahome.cl
3. Web site: 1958 NSW Yearbook. ozfootball.net. 24 October 2018.
4. Web site: Timeline of Australian Football. https://web.archive.org/web/20141217101940/http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibitions/worldcup/timeline.shtml. dead. 17 December 2014. migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au. 24 October 2018.
5. Web site: The Revolution of 1957 and What the FFA Can Learn Today. theworldame.sbs.com.au. Les Murray. Les Murray (broadcaster). 9 July 2017. 24 October 2018.
6. Web site: Associations. footballnsw.com.au. 29 August 2016.
7. Web site: Football NSW Metro Associations. footballnsw.com.au. 15 July 2020.
8. Web site: Football NSW Regional Associations. footballnsw.com.au. 15 July 2020.
9. Web site: Football NSW Branches. footballnsw.com.au. 15 July 2020.
10. Web site: COMPETITION STRUCTURES FOR NPL MEN'S, YOUTH AND SAP FOR THE 2020 SEASON. Football NSW. 27 February 2019. 28 February 2019.
11. Web site: Football NSW Cancel 2021 National Premier Leagues Season. Football NSW. 12 August 2021. 12 August 2021.
12. Web site: Changes of names to Football NSW competitions. Football NSW. 24 August 2021. 13 August 2022.