National Soccer League
Season1977
Dates2 April — 26 September 1977
ChampionsEastern Suburbs
1st title
Matches played182
Goals scored498 (2.74 per match)
Top goalscorerDixie Deans
(16 goals)[1]
Best goalkeeperAllan Maher
(12 clean sheets)
Biggest home winAdelaide City 10–3 Mooroolbark
(5 September 1977)
Biggest away winFitzroy United 1–8 Marconi Fairfield
(20 June 1977)
Highest scoringAdelaide City 10–3 Mooroolbark
(5 September 1977)
Longest winning run6 matches
Fitzroy United
Longest unbeaten run17 matches
Eastern Suburbs
Longest winless run12 matches
Mooroolbark
Longest losing run5 matches
Brisbane Lions
Highest attendance15,000
South Melbourne 2–3 St George-Budapest
(13 June 1977)
Lowest attendance300
Mooroolbark 1–3 Adelaide City
(5 June 1977)
Total attendance706,009
Average attendance3,901
1978 →

The 1977 National Soccer League season was the first season of the National Soccer League of Australia. The league was not only the first national soccer league in Australia but the first of any of the forms of football in Australia. Clubs predominantly joined from the top leagues in each state, with the exception of Tasmanian and Western Australia, and Canberra City forming in 1977 to join the league. The inaugural champions were Eastern Suburbs.

Background

Attempts had been made to start a national league several times during the 1960s and 1970s, however it wasn't until 1975 that the talk became serious. In April 1975, nine clubs from New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia agreed to form a national league in either 1976 or 1977. Frank Lowy, president of Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs and Alex Pongrass, St George-Budapest president led a concerted effort to bring in teams from Victoria over objections from the state association. Eventually, four Victorian clubs joined with the addition of a team from the Australian Capital Territory.[2][3]

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Table lists in alphabetical order.

Team Location Stadium Capacity
Adelaide City Adelaide Olympic Sports Field 5,000
Brisbane City Brisbane Perry Park 5,000
Brisbane Lions Brisbane Perry Park 5,000
Canberra City Canberra
Queanbeyan		 Manuka Oval
Seiffert Oval		 16,000
15,000
Fitzroy Melbourne Olympic Park Stadium 18,500
Footscray Melbourne Middle Park 18,000
Marconi Sydney Marconi Stadium 9,000
Mooroolbark Melbourne Middle Park
Esther Park
Wembley Park		 18,000
?
?
South Melbourne Melbourne Middle Park 18,000
St George Sydney Sydney Sports Ground
Marconi Stadium		 35,000
9,000
Eastern Suburbs Sydney Sydney Sports Ground 35,000
Sydney Olympic Sydney Sydney Sports Ground
Wentworth Park		 35,000
10,000
Western Suburbs Sydney Sydney Sports Ground
Englefield Stadium		 35,000
?
West Adelaide Adelaide Hindmarsh Stadium 16,500

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Relegation
1 Eastern Suburbs (C) 26 13 11 2 52 28 +24 37
2 Marconi Fairfield 26 15 7 4 42 21 +21 37
3 Fitzroy United 26 12 8 6 41 34 +7 32
4 Adelaide City 26 12 7 7 50 31 +19 31
5 Western Suburbs 26 11 7 8 38 29 +9 29
6 St George-Budapest 26 7 14 5 39 35 +4 28
7 West Adelaide 26 8 10 8 38 32 +6 26
8 Footscray JUST 26 9 6 11 36 39 −3 24
9 Brisbane Lions 26 9 5 12 27 41 −14 23
10 Brisbane City 26 8 6 12 30 35 −5 22
11 South Melbourne 26 7 8 11 27 35 −8 22
12 Sydney Olympic 26 7 7 12 25 38 −13 21
13 Canberra City 26 5 7 14 22 39 −17 17
14 Mooroolbark (R) 26 5 5 16 31 61 −30 15 Relegation to the 1978 Victoria Metropolitan League Three
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away ADE BRC BRL CAN FIT FOO MAR MOO SOU STG SYC SYO WSA WST
Adelaide City — 1–2 0–0 2–0 1–0 4–1 1–0 10–3 2–0 1–1 1–2 3–0 2–2 1–2
Brisbane City 1–0 — 3–1 0–1 1–1 1–3 0–1 3–1 2–0 1–1 0–0 3–0 1–0 0–1
Brisbane Lions 1–1 2–1 — 0–1 2–1 2–0 1–1 2–1 2–0 1–1 0–4 0–2 1–4 4–0
Canberra City 1–1 2–0 1–2 — 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–4 0–2 2–2 0–0 4–0 1–3 0–3
Fitzroy 1–0 3–2 4–1 2–0 — 2–0 1–8 2–0 5–2 1–2 1–3 2–0 0–0 2–2
Footscray 3–4 2–1 4–2 3–0 1–3 — 3–4 1–0 2–2 0–0 2–2 1–0 0–1 2–1
Marconi Fairfield 0–4 1–0 0–1 0–0 0–0 1–0 — 1–0 3–0 0–0 1–1 0–0 2–1 3–0
Mooroolbark 1–3 1–1 0–1 3–2 1–2 2–2 2–3 — 2–4 1–0 2–2 1–1 1–1 0–2
South Melbourne 0–0 0–1 1–0 1–1 1–1 0–2 1–2 2–0 — 2–3 0–0 1–1 1–2 2–0
St George-Budapest 0–2 3–2 0–0 2–0 1–2 2–2 1–3 5–1 1–1 — 1–1 3–3 1–0 1–1
Eastern Suburbs 6–1 3–1 2–0 2–1 1–1 4–3 2–4 3–0 0–1 2–2 — 2–0 1–1 2–1
Sydney Olympic 3–1 4–0 1–0 2–2 3–1 0–0 0–2 1–2 0–2 2–0 0–0 — 0–4 0–3
West Adelaide 1–3 3–3 5–1 0–0 1–1 1–0 0–1 1–2 0–2 2–0 1–3 0–4 — 0–3
Western Suburbs 0–0 0–0 3–0 3–1 0–1 0–0 1–1 5–0 2–0 3–2 3–4 0–2 1–1 —
Source: OzFootball
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank Player Club Goals[4]
1 Scotland Dixie Deans Adelaide City 16
2 England Terry Smith Eastern Suburbs 14
3 Australia Murray Barnes Eastern Suburbs 12
Australia John Kosmina West Adelaide
5 Australia Gary Cole Fitzroy United 11
6 England Geoff Morris Brisbane Lions 10
7 Australia Branko Buljevic Fitzroy United 9
South Africa Graham Norris Western Suburbs
Australia John Nyskohus Adelaide City
Australia Peter Sharne Marconi Fairfield

Hat-tricks

PlayerForAgainstResultDateRef
Australia Murray BarnesEastern SuburbsAdelaide City6–1 (H)7 May 1977[5]
England Terry SmithEastern SuburbsBrisbane Lions4–0 (A)5 June 1977[6]
Australia Ernie CampbellMarconiFitzroy8–1 (A)20 June 1977[7]
Australia Tom MurrayBrisbane LionsWestern Suburbs4–0 (H)25 July 1977[8]
Australia Peter OllertonSouth MelbourneMooroolbark4–2 (A)29 August 1977[9]
Scotland Dixie DeansAdelaide CityMooroolbark10–3 (H)5 September 1977[10]
Scotland Dixie DeansAdelaide CityFootscray4–3 (A)12 September 1977[11]

Clean sheets

Rank Player Club Clean sheets
1 Australia Alan Maher Marconi Fairfield 12
2 England Terry Eaton Western Suburbs 11
3 Australia Peter Blasby Fitzroy United 9
Australia Roger Romanowicz Adelaide City
5 Australia Gary Meier Sydney Olympic 8
6 Scotland Dennis Boland Footscray JUST 7
Argentina Osvaldo Borzi Brisbane City
Australia Jack Reilly South Melbourne
9 Australia Martyn Crook West Adelaide 6
New Zealand Phil Dando Brisbane Lions

Discipline

Player

  • Most yellow cards: 7
    • Australia Kevin Mullen (Eastern Suburbs)
  • Most red cards: 2
    • Australia Alan Niven (Brisbane Lions)
    • South Africa Graham Norris (Western Suburbs)
    • Scotland Graham Honeyman (West Adelaide)
    • Australia Dave Pillans (West Adelaide)

Club

  • Most yellow cards: 29
    • West Adelaide
  • Fewest yellow cards: 5
    • Fitzroy United
  • Most red cards: 5
    • West Adelaide
  • Fewest red cards: 0
    • Seven teams

Awards

AwardNameClub
Player of the Year Jimmy Rooney Marconi
Young Player of the Year John Kosmina West Adelaide
Coach of the Year Rale Rasic Marconi

Source:[12]

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Striker made his point". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 October 1977. Retrieved 21 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "National Soccer!". The Sun-Herald. 6 April 1975. Retrieved 27 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ Mossop, Brian (10 July 1976). "National Soccer of 14 clubs". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 27 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "1977 National Soccer League Top Goalscorers". OzFootball. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  5. ↑ Curran, Brian (8 May 1977). "Barnes hits form with three goals". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "'Supermac' spot on for new club". The Sydney Morning Herald. 6 June 1977. Retrieved 21 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ "City hit back for top spot". The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 June 1977. Retrieved 21 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "Footscray's star guests clinch it". The Sydney Morning Herald. 25 July 1977. Retrieved 21 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ "Marconi and East head Soccer table". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 August 1977. Retrieved 21 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "Thirteen-goal Soccer spree - Deans hits four". 5 September 1977. Retrieved 21 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Upset by 'basement' team". The Sydney Morning Herald. 12 September 1977. Retrieved 21 May 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "Rooney's award". The Sydney Morning Herald. 7 October 1977. p. 27. Retrieved 12 December 2022.

General references

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