Soccer in New South Wales

Soccer in New South Wales
Country New South Wales
Governing body Football NSW
Northern New South Wales Football
Representative teams New South Wales Metropolitan, New South Wales Country, Northern New South Wales
First played 1880, Parramatta
Registered players ? (total)
? (adult)
National competitions
Club competitions

Soccer in New South Wales describes the sport of soccer being played and watched by people in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Soccer in New South Wales is organised and managed on a state level by two separate governing bodies; Football NSW and Northern New South Wales Football which are affiliated at a national level to Football Federation Australia.

It is a popular participation and spectator sport in New South Wales and the state historically has had a large influence on soccer in Australia. It has the most registered football players in the country, with over 200,000 registered FNSW players and nearly 50,000 Northern NSW players, compared with around 150,000 in other states combined.[1] It also has the most teams in the A-League.

National Representation

A-League

Four of the ten teams in the A-League are based in New South Wales: Western Sydney Wanderers, Sydney FC, Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners.

W-League

NSW is represented in the national women's W-League by Newcastle Jets, Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers associated women's teams. Central Coast Mariners also had a team in the W-League between 2008-2010.

State teams

New South Wales sends teams to the annual national youth competitions in the form of New South Wales Metropolitan and New South Wales Country (run by Football NSW) and Northern New South Wales (run by Northern NSW Football).

Defunct National Soccer League

New South Wales had many different teams in the NSL over the years. NSW usually had at least the first or second most clubs in the league and also got many premierships over the years. There is a list below of clubs from NSW that participated in the NSL and are still running today in NSW competitions.

Football NSW Competitions

Main article: Football NSW

In the main the Youth and Senior competitions are divided into two sections: Club or Amateur

Football which is run by each association, and Representative or Semi-Pro Football which is run by Football NSW.

Football NSW logo

In 2008 there was a major restructuring of the New South Wales Men's, Women's and Youth competitions. The youth teams were restructured to be aligned with their Senior Clubs. The Men's Senior competitions was restructured to add new teams to the NSW Premier League and a new Promotion/Relegation system was introduced.

Youth/Senior - Amateur

These are the branches and associations that make up all of Football NSW's youth and senior, women and men Amateur competitions around the state. Each of the associations run their own competitions for various age groups.

16 of the associations also have teams in the Metropolitan League (11's & 12's boys). Some also act as feeder associations or give their backing to certain semi-pro or Representative clubs.

Associations

Branches

Football Riverina

Southern NSW Football

Controlling Body - Football NSW Southern Branch [2]

Western NSW Football

Youth - Representative

The Youth Men's Representative system which is run by Football NSW caters for the ages between 11's and 18's. It is divided into to 2 main stages, the Metropolitan League and the Youth Leagues. After that they are catered by the Senior Men's competitions. Here is a description of the system:

In order for a SYL club to be promoted to PYL, that club's 1st grade team has to win the NSW Super League. Relegation from PYL to SYL depends on a combination of the club championship between 1st grade, U/20, and U/18. Promotion and relegation between SYL and YL1 is based purely on the Club Championship where the bottom placed club is relegated and the top placed club is promoted. After the 18's players usually progress into senior men's football, with their clubs 20's or First Grade team.

The Youth Women competitions caters for the ages of 12's to 16's. Here is a description of the system:

Football NSW Senior Leagues

These are the Senior Men's and Women's competitions. Many of the Senior Men's competitions below are semi-professional.

Senior Men's

All Senior Men's teams are linked with their counterparts of Under 20's, Under 18's and all Open Age competitors.

Top New South Wales competitions:

Senior Women's

Both Women's leagues cater for the Under 21's age groups and Open Age Groups. Football NSW Senior Women's Competitions (in descending order in terms of significance)

Northern NSW Competitions

National Premier Leagues Northern NSW

The National Premier Leagues Northern NSW which is made of 8 teams from the Newcastle and Hunter Valley areas is the premier Northern NSW League.

North Coast Football

North Coast Football is a league extending from Iluka to Macksville with over 5000 registered players. It contains the two largest clubs on the north coast of NSW, Woolgoolga F.C. and Northern Storm F.C. (each with over 400 registered players).

Northern Inland Football

Northern Inland Football is a football association based in the Northern Inland region of New South Wales extending from Quirindi in the South to Tenterfield in the North

Other Leagues

Other leagues which are supervised by Northern New South Wales Football include Hunter Valley Football, Macquarie Football, Newcastle Football, Football Mid North Coast and Football Far North Coast.

Cup Competitions

Following is an incomplete list of Cup competitions in New South Wales.

The Waratah Cup

The Waratah Cup is a statewide knockout competition open to men's teams from the NSW Premier, Super, Division 1 and Conference Leagues as well as local Association men's teams. Since 2014 preliminary rounds have been used to determine the NSW entrants to the national FFA Cup knockout competition.[3]

Johnny Warren Cup

The Johnny Warren Cup is the pre-season tournament for the NSW Premier League. The teams are divided into two pools with the winner of each pool contesting the final

The State Robertson & Cullinan Cups

The SRC Cups competition is open to Association club teams. The following age categories have cup competitions:

Baulkham Hills Kookaburra's are defending champions after taking the title in a close affair in 2007. An extra time winner sealing the victory. Although Baulkham Hills were lucky to finish the match with 11 men after their right back was lucky to escape a second yellow.

Harry Williams Cup

Named after Harry Williams, the former Socceroo and only indigenous man to represent Australia at the World Cup, The Harry Williams Cup aims to unearth Australia’s next crop of indigenous football stars with a four-day tournament open to Boys in the Under 12, 14 and 16 age categories. The Indigenous teams play against school and association based club sides with all indigenous sides accommodated during the tournament on-site.

Frank Broughton Cup

The Frank Broughton Cup is open to Grade 11 Association Representative teams and Invitees

Centenary Cup

The Centenary Cup is open to Grade 12 Association Representative teams and Invitees

Champion of Champions

The Champion of Champions tournament is an annual tournament run throughout late September and October. The champion side from each association's division 1 in each age group is entered in a cup competition to determine an overall amateur champion for the year within the state.

NSWIS

The NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS), located at Sydney Olympic Park, operates men's and women's soccer programs. The men's program is aimed at identifying and nurturing talented 15- and 16-year-olds across the state, while the women's program is an individual skills based program for identified U20 and Senior athletes.

See also

History of association football in Newcastle, New South Wales

References

  1. ↑ annual reports
  2. ↑ http://www.southernnswfootball.com.au/
  3. ↑ "NSW WARATAH CUP". Football NSW. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
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