Northern NSW Football
Northern NSW Football’s rich history started with a meeting of footballers at the Criterion Hotel in Newcastle.
The Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate reported on Tuesday 28 June, 1887 that a meeting had taken place "a few days ago" at the Criterion, with an association formed called the Northern British Football Association.
The clubs which formed the association were Minmi Rangers (1886), Hamilton Athletic (1886), Greta Blue Bells (1887), Carrington Black Watch (1887), Wallsend Rovers (1887) and Glebe Black Watch, later renamed Burwood United (1887). Many clubs were formed by the first coal miners in the region.
It was part of the NSW Football Association before Sydney clubs broke away in 1958, leading to the creation of the Northern NSW Soccer Federation by Newcastle and Coalfields clubs in 1958. We became Northern NSW Football in 2006.
In 1959 the Northern First Division Competition was established with 12 teams: Adamstown, Awaba, Blacksmith Rangers, Cardiff, Cessnock, Charlestown United, Lake Macquarie, Mayfield United, Merewether Advance, Newcastle Austral, Wallsend and West Wallsend.
On the Queen’s Birthday in 1886, Newcastle hosted Sydney in the first representative match between the two regions. Newcastle won 2–1 in front of 2,000 spectators, with gate takings of £51.
In 1922, New Zealand defeated Australia in the first football international in the Oceania region. William “Podge” Maunder and Peter Doyle became the first Northern NSW players to represent Australia, with Maunder scoring Australia’s first international goal.
In June 1923, Australia hosted New Zealand in its first international on home soil. Cessnock’s Percy Lennard scored Australia’s first goal on Australian soil, with Maunder scoring the other goal in a 2-1 win for Australia at the ground now known as the 'GABBA'.
Today, Northern NSW Football has more than 120,000 registered participants across more than 200 clubs, making it Australia’s fourth-largest football state member federation.