1984 National Soccer League

The National Soccer League 1984 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 NSW and ACT, and a Southern Conference consisted of 12 Victorian, South Australian, and ironically, Queensland clubs.

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

Northern Conference

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	Pts
1	Sydney City	28	17	8	3	42
2	Sydney Olympic	28	16	8	4	40
3	Marconi Fairfield	28	12	8	8	32
4	A.P.I.A. Leichhardt Tigers	28	12	8	8	32
5	Blacktown City	28	12	6	10	30
6	Sydney Croatia	28	8	11	9	27
7	Penrith City	28	8	10	10	26
8	Newcastle KB United	28	11	4	13	26
9	Canberra City	28	12	1	15	25
10	St George Saints	28	8	9	11	25
11	Melita	28	8	8	12	24
12	Wollongong City	28	5	5	18	15

Finals

Elimination Semi-final: APIA Leichhardt 3 d. Blacktown City 1

Preliminary Semi-final: Sydney Olympic 2 d. Marconi Fairfield 1

Minor Semi-final: APIA Leichhardt 3 d. Marconi 3 (4-3 on penalties)

Major Semi-final: Sydney City 1 d. Sydney Olympic 1 (4-2 on penalties)

Preliminary Final: Sydney Olympic 3 d. APIA Leichhardt 0

Final: Sydney Olympic 2 d. Sydney City 1

Northern Conference winners: Sydney Olympic

Southern Conference

Pos	Club	P	W	D	L	Pts
1	South Melbourne	28	18	4	6	40
2	Heidelberg United	28	14	7	7	35
3	Melbourne Croatia	28	13	7	8	33
4	Brisbane Lions	28	12	6	10	30
5	Brunswick Juventus	28	13	4	11	30
6	Preston	28	11	6	11	28
7	Adelaide City	28	10	5	13	25
8	Green Gully	28	9	6	13	24
9	Footscray JUST	28	10	5	13	25
10	West Adelaide	28	8	5	15	21
11	Brisbane City	28	8	5	15	21
12	Sunshine George Cross	28	5	6	17	16

Finals

Elimination Semi-final: Brisbane Lions 4 d. Brunswick Juventus 2

Preliminary Semi-final: Melbourne CSC 2 d. Heidelberg United 1

Minor Semi-final: Heidelberg United 0 d. Brisbane Lions 0 (3-2 on penalties)

Major Semi-final: South Melbourne 3 d. Melbourne CSC 2

Preliminary Final: Heidelberg United 3 d. Melbourne CSC 1

Final: South Melbourne 4 d. Heidelberg United 2

Southern Conference winners: South Melbourne

Grand final

First Leg 24 October, 1984	South Melbourne	2 – 1	Sydney Olympic	Melbourne
	Egan  43',  64'		Koussas  5'

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Second Leg 28 October, 1984	Sydney Olympic	1 – 2	South Melbourne	Sydney
	Theodorakopoulos  34'		Crino  10' Yzendoorn  18'

• South Melbourne win 4-2 on aggregate

Individual awards

• Player of the Year: Sergio Melta (Adelaide City)
• U-21 Player of the Year: Tony Franken (Canberra City)
• Top Scorer(s): Doug Brown (South Melbourne – 22 goals)
• Coach of the Year: Eddie Thomson (Sydney City)

References

• OzFootball Archives - 1984 NSL Season