National Soccer League
Season1984
Dates4 March – 28 October 1984
ChampionsSouth Melbourne
1st title
PremiersSydney City
South Melbourne
RelegatedMelita Eagles
Matches played350
Goals scored969 (2.77 per match)
Top goalscorerDuggie Brown (22)
Biggest home winWest Adelaide 7–0 Sunshine George Cross
(29 April 1984)
Sydney City 8–1 Newcastle Rosebud United
(9 May 1984)
South Melbourne 7–0 Newcastle Rosebud United
(22 July 1984)
Biggest away winPenrith City 1–7 Marconi Fairfield
(22 April 1984)
Highest scoringSydney City 8–1 Newcastle Rosebud United
(9 May 1984)
Highest attendance12,000
Brunswick Zebras 2–1 South Melbourne
(8 April 1984)
Lowest attendance250
Penrith City 2–0 Brisbane City
(15 April 1984)
Total attendance885,776
Average attendance2,788
← 1983
1985 →

The 1984 National Soccer League season was the eighth season of the National Soccer League in Australia. This season saw a restructure of the league, introducing a split into two geographical divisions, and an expansion from 16 to 24 teams. A Northern Conference comprised 12 clubs from New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, and a Southern Conference consisted of 12 Victorian, South Australian, and Queensland clubs.

This season also saw the introduction of the two well-supported Croatian clubs, Melbourne Croatia and Sydney Croatia, both of which had had recent success in the state-leagues.

For the first time in the competition, a finals system was introduced, whereby the five highest finishing teams in each conference had a playoff to determine a conference winner. The two conference winners then played each other in a two-legged Grand Final to be declared champions. The Grand Final was won by South Melbourne over Sydney Olympic.

Teams

Twenty-four teams competed in the league (twelve in the Northern Conference and twelve in the Southern Conference) – the sixteen teams from the previous season and eight teams accepted from their respective state leagues.

Stadiums and locations

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order by conference.
Team Location Stadium Capacity
Northern Conference
APIA Leichhardt Sydney (Leichhardt) Lambert Park 7,000
Blacktown City Sydney (Seven Hills) Gabbie Stadium 5,000
Canberra Arrows Canberra Canberra Stadium 25,011
Marconi Fairfield Sydney (Bossley Park) Marconi Stadium 9,000
Melita Eagles Sydney (Parramatta) Melita Stadium 10,000
Newcastle Rosebud United Newcastle Adamstown Oval 2,000
Penrith City Penrith Cook Park 1,000
St George-Budapest Sydney (Mortdale) St George Stadium 12,000
Sydney City Sydney (Bondi) ES Marks Athletics Field 8,000
Sydney Croatia Sydney (Edensor Park) King Tomislav Park 10,000
Sydney Olympic Sydney (Waterloo) Pratten Park 15,000
Wollongong City Wollongong Wollongong Showground 22,000
Southern Conference
Adelaide City Adelaide (Kensington) Olympic Sports Field 8,000
Brisbane City Brisbane (Newmarket) Spencer Park 5,000
Brisbane Lions Brisbane (Inala) Lions Stadium 5,000
Brunswick Juventus Melbourne (Footscray) Olympic Park 18,500
Footscray JUST Melbourne (Footscray) Schintler Reserve ?
Green Gully Melbourne (St Albans) Green Gully Reserve 10,000
Heidelberg United Melbourne (Brunswick) Olympic Village 12,000
Melbourne Croatia Melbourne (Elsternwick) Olympic Park 18,500
Preston Makedonia Melbourne (Fitzroy) B.T. Connor Reserve 5,000
South Melbourne Melbourne (Middle Park) Middle Park 18,000
Sunshine George Cross Melbourne (City of Melbourne) Chaplin Reserve 5,000
West Adelaide Adelaide (City of Adelaide) Hindmarsh Stadium 16,500

Managerial changes

The Australian Soccer Annual 1984 reported 11 managerial changes.[1]

Team Outgoing manager Date of vacancy Position in the table Incoming manager Date of appointment
Adelaide City Scotland Bobby Ferguson 1984 Pre-season Australia Edmund Kreft 1984
Brisbane City Scotland Jim Hermiston Scotland Joe Gilroy
Canberra Arrows Australia Attila Abonyi England Doug Collins
Heidelberg United Australia Jim Tansey England Brian Garvey
Marconi Fairfield Australia Tony Henderson (caretaker) Australia Les Scheinflug
West Adelaide Australia Peter Koulizos Australia Sam Salabasidis
Wollongong City Scotland Willie Wallace Australia Adrian Alston
Green Gully Wales David Smallman Australia Jimmy Rooney
Melbourne Croatia Australia Tommy Cumming Australia Terry Hennessy
Sydney Croatia Croatia Josip Kuže Australia Attila Abonyi
Penrith City Inaugural Scotland Willie Wallace

League tables

Northern Conference

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Sydney City 28 17 8 3 67 21 +46 42 Qualification to Finals series
2 Sydney Olympic 28 16 8 4 61 27 +34 40
3 Marconi Fairfield 28 12 8 8 58 39 +19 32
4 APIA Leichhardt 28 12 8 8 43 35 +8 32
5 Blacktown City 28 12 6 10 43 48 −5 30
6 Sydney Croatia 28 8 11 9 32 38 −6 27
7 Penrith City 28 8 10 10 29 41 −12 26
8 Newcastle Rosebud United 28 11 4 13 35 52 −17 26
9 Canberra Arrows 28 12 1 15 47 39 +8 25
10 St George-Budapest 28 8 9 11 38 41 −3 25
11 Melita Eagles (R) 28 8 8 12 23 38 −15 24 Relegation to the 1985 NSW State League
12 Wollongong City 28 5 5 18 22 59 −37 15
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(R) Relegated

Southern Conference

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 South Melbourne (C) 28 18 4 6 48 20 +28 40 Qualification to Finals series
2 Heidelberg United 28 14 7 7 37 27 +10 35
3 Melbourne Croatia 28 13 7 8 38 31 +7 33
4 Brisbane Lions 28 12 6 10 38 36 +2 30
5 Brunswick Juventus 28 13 4 11 36 42 −6 30
6 Preston Makedonia 28 11 6 11 42 33 +9 28
7 Adelaide City 28 10 5 13 33 34 −1 25
8 Green Gully 28 9 6 13 34 36 −2 24
9 Footscray JUST 28 10 5 13 29 33 −4 25
10 West Adelaide 28 8 5 15 40 52 −12 21
11 Brisbane City 28 8 5 15 21 39 −18 21
12 Sunshine George Cross 28 5 6 17 24 57 −33 16
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away ADE API BLA BRC BRL BRU CAN FOO GRE HEI MAR MCR MEA NRU PEN PRE SOU STG SGC SCI SCR SOL WES WOL ADE API BLA BRC BRL BRU CAN FOO GRE HEI MAR MCR MEA NRU PEN PRE SOU STG SGC SCI SCR SOL WES WOL
Adelaide City 1–2 2–0 1–2 2–0 3–1 1–1 2–3 0–0 2–3 0–1 1–1 1–0 2–1 3–2
APIA Leichhardt 2–1 0–1 2–0 1–0 1–2 1–0 3–2 2–1 0–1 0–2 4–1 1–1 3–3
Blacktown City 2–2 2–0 3–4 4–3 2–2 0–0 4–1 4–1 1–0 1–1 2–2 0–2 2–0 1–4
Brisbane City 0–0 0–1 0–1 0–2 2–2 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–1 1–1 0–2 2–1
Brisbane Lions 2–2 2–0 2–1 0–1 2–1 0–3 1–0 3–2 4–2 0–2 2–2 1–1 2–1 3–0
Brunswick Juventus 1–0 2–3 1–0 0–2 1–4 5–1 2–1 2–0 2–4 2–1 4–2 0–1 0–3 1–1
Canberra Arrows 0–1 1–2 0–1 1–0 0–2 3–0 1–2 2–1 3–1 0–1 1–2 5–2 4–0
Footscray JUST 0–0 0–0 3–1 0–1 0–3 0–0 4–0 1–2 1–0 0–1 1–0 0–3
Green Gully 2–1 2–0 2–3 3–0 2–3 1–1 0–1 0–0 0–2 2–3 2–1 1–1 2–0
Heidelberg United 1–0 1–0 3–1 2–3 2–1 1–0 0–0 5–2 2–1 2–1 0–2 1–1 1–1 3–0
Marconi Fairfield 1–3 1–2 1–0 0–1 1–1 2–1 2–1 4–1 6–1 1–1 2–0 0–1 4–0 4–1 1–1
Melbourne Croatia 2–0 2–2 0–1 3–1 1–0 0–0 1–1 1–0 0–2 2–0 2–1 1–1 0–2 3–1
Melita Eagles 1–2 1–0 2–0 2–1 2–2 1–3 1–1 1–0 0–2 1–2 0–0 0–1 0–2 0–2 0–1
Newcastle Rosebud United 2–0 1–1 2–1 0–4 1–0 3–0 1–0 1–0 3–1 3–0 1–5 2–1 1–2 1–2
Penrith City 0–3 2–0 2–0 2–1 1–7 1–1 0–2 1–1 0–0 0–1 3–2 0–0
Preston Makedonia 1–2 1–2 0–0 3–0 1–2 1–1 1–1 1–0 2–2 6–0 0–1 5–2 3–3 5–1 2–0 1–2 1–0
South Melbourne 1–0 1–0 2–2 2–1 2–0 1–0 7–0 1–2 0–1 0–0 4–0 0–0 3–0 0–0
St George-Budapest 2–2 1–2 1–2 2–1 2–0 1–1 3–0 1–4 1–1 0–0 3–2 4–0 2–2
Sunshine George Cross 0–1 0–1 3–0 1–4 0–2 0–0 1–1 0–0 0–2 1–2 2–0 1–1 1–0 1–2
Sydney City 1–2 4–0 3–1 3–1 2–0 8–1 1–1 0–1 1–1 4–3 5–0 2–1 6–0 1–1
Sydney Croatia 3–3 1–2 1–2 2–1 1–1 1–2 0–1 1–1 0–1 2–0 0–5 1–3 2–0 3–1
Sydney Olympic 1–1 4–2 6–1 4–0 2–2 1–3 2–0 2–0 1–2 2–0 3–0 4–2 3–0
West Adelaide 0–1 2–2 1–2 3–1 0–1 0–4 4–1 0–1 1–2 2–2 7–0 2–1 3–1 2–0
Wollongong City 0–3 1–2 3–2 0–1 1–3 1–1 1–0 0–2 1–2 1–2 1–3 2–1 0–3 0–1
Source: OzFootball
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Five matches occurred where the fixture was played a third time in the 1984 season.

Finals series

Northern Conference

Elimination and qualifying FinalsSemi-finalsPreliminary FinalNorthern Final
1Sydney City1 (4)1Sydney City1
2Sydney Olympic1 (2)2Sydney Olympic2
2Sydney Olympic22Sydney Olympic3
3Marconi Fairfield14APIA Leichhardt Tigers0
3Marconi Fairfield3 (3)
4APIA Leichhardt Tigers3 (4)
4APIA Leichhardt Tigers3
5Blacktown City1

Southern Conference

Elimination and qualifying FinalsSemi-finalsPreliminary FinalSouthern Final
1South Melbourne31South Melbourne4
3Melbourne Croatia22Heidelberg United2
2Heidelberg United12Heidelberg United3
3Melbourne Croatia23Melbourne Croatia1
2Heidelberg United0 (3)
4Brisbane Lions0 (2)
4Brisbane Lions4
5Brunswick Juventus2

Grand Final

South Melbourne2–1Sydney Olympic
Egan 43, 64' Koussas 5'
Olympic Park Stadium, Melbourne
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Doug Rennie
Sydney Olympic1–2South Melbourne
Theodorakopoulos 34' Crino 10'
Yzendoorn 18'
St George Stadium, Sydney
Attendance: 11,221
Referee: Chris Bambridge

Individual awards

Award Winner Club
National Soccer League Player of the Year Australia Sergio Melta Adelaide City
National Soccer League Under 21 Player of the Year Australia Tony Franken Canberra City
National Soccer League Coach of the Year Australia Eddie Thomson Sydney City

References

  1. ^ Australian Soccer Annual 1984: Eleven coaching changes for '84. Soccer Action. p. 11.
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