New Zealand National Soccer League

The National Soccer League is a name given to competitions in which New Zealand's top soccer clubs play each other, at least two times, on a home and away basis (and occasional in so called championship play-offs). At the completion of the competition, the best-performed team is declared as the New Zealand champion. Specifically, the name is usually used for the nationwide league competitions which ran intermittently from 1970 to 2004.

This definition, however, is open to debate. For example, in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was launched. Some do not consider this competition to be a true successor to the National Soccer League as it does not involve traditional club teams but special franchise teams especially created to compete in this competition. It also lacks a relegation and promotion system allowing clubs to "work their way up" and earn a place in this league (thus making the New Zealand championship a closed shop, eight team affair).

1970–1992

When the National Soccer League was launched in 1970, it became the first national league for any sport in New Zealand. It was also a league in the purest meaning of this word, as it involved clubs playing each other two times, on a home and away basis. Two points were awarded for a win, and one point was awarded for a draw. The club with the greatest number of points was declared the champion. The league was also open and clubs could be relegated from it and promoted to it. This is the most common method of deciding a national champion and prominent examples include the English Premier League, the Spanish La Liga and the Italian Serie A.

The league in 1970 involved eight teams. Three clubs came from the Northern League, three clubs came from the Central League while the four clubs from The Southern League (Christchurch City, Rangers, Shamrock and Technical) decided to back a new club called Christchurch United in the league. The last place went to the winner of a play-off of the fourth placed Northern League team, North Shore United, and the fourth placed Central League team, Hungaria. Hungaria succeeded by beating their opponents 1-0 in North Shore, and by drawing the return leg 1-1 at home.

The eight teams thus taking part in the inaugural National Soccer League were: Blockhouse Bay, Eastern Suburbs, Mt Wellington (promoted from the Northern League), Stop Out, Gisborne City, Hungaria, Western Suburbs (promoted from the Central League) and Christchurch United (representing the Southern League).

The northern clubs enjoyed an excellent start to the league, all finishing in the top four places. Central clubs, however, took all the bottom four places.

The final standings in 1970 were:

Position	Team	Matches played	Wins	Draws	Losses	Goals	Points
1.	Blockhouse Bay	14	10	2	2	40-16	22
2.	Eastern Suburbs	14	10	2	2	33-17	22
3.	Christchurch United	14	9	2	3	40-26	20
4.	Mt Wellington	14	7	3	4	35-33	17
5.	Stop Out	14	4	2	8	25-38	10
6.	Gisborne City	14	3	3	8	22-31	9
7.	Hungaria	14	3	3	8	24-36	9
8.	Western Suburbs	14	1	1	12	18-40	3

Blockhouse Bay thus became the first winner and the New Zealand Champions.

The bottom club, Western Suburbs didn't suffer relegation, as it was decided to expand the league to 10 teams. Mt Albert-Ponsonby and Caversham won places in the league following promotion play-offs.

Eastern Suburbs won the second edition of the league, while Western Suburbs again finished bottom and this time were relegated, with their place going to New Brighton.

The National Soccer League continued in this fashion, as summarised below:

Year	League size	Matches per team	Winner	Relegated	Promoted	Notes
1970	8	14	Blockhouse Bay	-	Mt Albert-Ponsonby, Caversham
1971	10	18	Eastern Suburbs	Western Suburbs	New Brighton	Hungaria replaced with composite Hungaria-Miramar Rangers side, known as Wellington City.
1972	10	18	Mt Wellington	Auckland City	Wellington Diamond United	Mt Albert-Ponsonby changed name to Auckland City.
1973	10	18	Christchurch United	Caversham	North Shore United
1974	10	18	Mt Wellington	Wellington Diamond United	Caversham
1975	10	18	Christchurch United	Wellington City	Wellington Diamond United
1976	10	18	Wellington Diamond United	Gisborne City	Hamilton, Nelson United, Dunedin City
1977	12	22	North Shore United	New Brighton, Dunedin City, Caversham	Courier Rangers, Waterside, Woolston WMC
1978	12	22	Christchurch United	Hamilton, Waterside, Woolston WMC	Manurewa, Manawatu United, Dunedin City
1979	12	22	Mt Wellington	Manawatu United, Courier Rangers, Eastern Suburbs	Hamilton, Gisborne City, Rangers
1980	12	22	Mt Wellington	Stop Out, Blockhouse Bay, Nelson United	Takapuna AFC, Miramar Rangers, Woolston WMC
1981	12	22	Wellington Diamond United	Takapuna AFC, Woolston WMC, Rangers	East Coast Bays, Napier City Rovers, Invercargill Thistle
1982	12	22	Mt Wellington	Hamilton, East Coast Bays, Invercargill Thistle	Papatoetoe, Nelson United, Dunedin Technical
1983	12	22	Manurewa	Dunedin Technical	Auckland University	Number of points for a win changed from 2 to 3
1984	12	22	Gisborne City	-	-	Auckland University finished 12th but retained their place in the league following play-off wins versus promotion candidates.
1985	12	22	Wellington Diamond United	Napier City Rovers	Manawatu United	Wellington Diamond United merged with Wellington City and became Wellington City Diamond United - then shortened the name to Wellington United
1986	12	22	Mt Wellington	Auckland University*	Mount Maunganui, Napier City Rovers, Hutt Valley United	Despite finishing 9th, Auckland University were relegated because their ground did not meet the required standard. Manurewa finished 12th but were not relegated.
1987	14	26	Christchurch United	Dunedin City*	Waikato United	Dunedin City finished 12th but withdrew due to financial reasons. Miramar Rangers finished 14th.
1988	14	26	Christchurch United	Nelson United, Manawatu United	Waitakere City, Waterside Karori	Nelson United, who finished 13th, relegated because their ground didn’t meet the required standards.
1989	14	26	Napier City Rovers	Papatoetoe	New Plymouth Old Boys
1990	14	26	Waitakere City	Waterside Karori	Nelson United
1991	14	26	Christchurch United	Gisborne City	Papatoetoe
1992	14	26	Waitakere City	-	-

In 1992 the National League was disbanded due to financial reasons.

1993–1995

For more details on this topic, see Superclub competition.

Following the dissolution of the league a new competition (called Superclub) was launched to decide the championship. To keep costs down, the teams participating were divided into three regional groups (Northern, Central, Southern). This was followed by an eight-team national stage (involving only seven matches) and a short championship stage.

The winners in those years were as follows:

Year	Regional League sizes (N, C, S)	Regional matches per team (N, C, S)	National League size	Matches per team	Winners	Runners-up
1993	10, 10, 10	18, 18, 18	8	7	Napier City Rovers	Waitakere City
1994	10, 10, 10	18, 18, 18	8	7	North Shore United	Napier City Rovers
1995	10, 11, 10	18, 20, 18	8	7	Waitakere City	Waikato United

The increase in the number of teams participating for the championship, as well as lack of a true national league system, caused a strong drop in playing standards. It was clear that New Zealand not only needed a national league, but also one which was financially stable.

1996–1998

For more details on this topic, see National Summer Soccer League.

In 1996 a National League was launched for the second time in the history of New Zealand soccer. This time however, the league was (mostly) played during the summer months and did not feature relegation and promotion. Teams were invited to participate and the selection criteria involved the financial strength of the club and its location. The league also featured a championship play-off session at the end of the seasons, involving teams finishing high in the table.

To further upset the traditionalists, penalties followed matches which ended in a draw. The winners of the penalty shoot-out were awarded two points, the losers one point while winners in the regular 90 minutes were awarded four points (although this system as dropped in the last year of the National Summer Soccer League). The winners in those years were:

Year	League size	Matches per team	Winners	Runners-up
1996	10	18	Waitakere City	Miramar Rangers
1997	10	18	Waitakere City	Napier City Rovers
1998	11	20	Napier City Rovers	Central United

1999

For more details on this topic, see 1999 New Zealand island soccer leagues.

In 1999, the National Soccer League again took a break. The competition for determining the New Zealand champion was moved back to (mostly) winter months. Two leagues were created, the North Island Soccer League (NISL) and the South Island Soccer League (SISL). The winner of the NISL, Central United, defeated the winner of the SISL, Dunedin Technical, 3-1, in extra time, in the championship final.

2000–2003

The National Soccer League was launched for the third time in 2000 as the National Club Championship. Like the original in 1970, it was played during (mostly) winter months and a promotion and relegation system was used. In the first season, a bonus point was awarded for scoring four or more goals in one match but that system was dropped in subsequent seasons. The championship play-offs system at the end of the league was the major difference when compared with the competition launched in 1970.

Seven teams, participating in the first edition, came from the NISL (Central United, Waitakere City, Napier City Rovers, Mt Wellington, Miramar Rangers, Metro and Manawatu AFC) and three came from the SISL (Dunedin Technical, Nelson Suburbs, Woolston WMC).

Year	League size	Matches per team	Winner	Relegated	Promoted	Notes
2000	10	18	Napier City Rovers	Nelson Suburbs	Tauranga City United	Nelson Suburbs, who finished 7th, withdrew due to financial reasons. Metro, who finished 10th, retained their place following play-offs. Controversially, Tauranga City United, who finished third in the play-offs, were awarded Nelson's spot in the league, ahead of Caversham, who finished second.
2001	10	18	Central United	Metro	North Shore United
2002	10	18	Miramar Rangers	Waitakere City	Caversham
2003	10	18	Miramar Rangers	-	-

2004

2004 was the transition year between the National Soccer League and the New Zealand Football championship. Regional competitions were played but no New Zealand champion was determined.

2004–present

For more details on this topic, see New Zealand Football Championship.

On October 15, 2004 the New Zealand Football Championship was launched (NZFC). It marked a turning point in the history of the game in New Zealand, as for the first time traditional clubs were not eligible to participate in the top league. They were replaced by eight franchise style entities.

Champions

• 6 - University-Mount Wellington
• 6 - Christchurch United
• 5 - Waitakere City
• 4 - Napier City Rovers
• 3 - Wellington United
• 2 - North Shore United
• 2 - Miramar Rangers
• 2 - Central United
• 1 - Blockhouse Bay
• 1 - Eastern Suburbs
• 1 - Manurewa AFC
• 1 - Gisborne City