Association football in New South Wales

Association football in New South Wales is managed on a state level by two separate governing bodies; Football NSW and Northern New South Wales Football.

New South Wales has historically had a large influence on association football in Australia. It has the most registered football players in the country and the most teams in the A-League.

National Representation

New South Wales, being the strongest state for footballFact|date=March 2007, also has a strong showing in national competitions and teams.Fact|date=March 2007

A-League

Three of the eight teams in the A-League are based in New South Wales: ALeague SFC, ALeague NUJ and ALeague CCM. This is the most teams of any state.

tate teams

New South Wales sends teams to the annual national youth competitions in the form of New South Wales Metropolitan and New South Wales Country (run by Football NSW) and Northern New South Wales (run by Northern NSW Football).

Defunct National Soccer League

New South Wales had many different teams in the NSL over the years. NSW usually had at least the first or second most clubs in the league and also got many premierships over the years. There is a list below of clubs from NSW that participated in the NSL and are still running today in NSW competitions.
*A.P.I.A. Leichhardt Tigers
*Blacktown City Demons
*Canterbury-Marrickville
*Marconi Stallions
*Newcastle Rosebud United
*Parramatta Eagles
*St George Saints
*Sydney Olympic
*Sydney United
*Wollongong Wolves

Local Competition

In the main the Youth and Senior competitions are divided into two sections: Club or Amateur Football which is run by each association, and Representative or Semi-Pro Football which is run by Football NSW.

In 2008 there will be a shake-up of the whole New South Wales Men's, Women's and Youth competitions. There will be a restructuring of the youth teams so they're aligned with their Senior Clubs. There will be also a restructuring of the Men's Senior competitions including new teams added to the NSW Premier League and a new Promotion/Relegation system.

Youth/Senior - Amateur

These are the branches and associations that make up all of Football NSW's youth and senior, women and men Amateur competitions around the state. Each of the associations run their own competitions for various age groups.

16 of the associations also have teams in the Metropolitan League (11's & 12's boys). Some also act as Feeder associations or give their backing certain semi-pro or Representative clubs.

Branches

*Riverina Soccer
*Southern Soccer
*Soccer Sydney
*Western Soccer

Associations

* [http://www.saw.asn.au/ Albury Wodonga Football Association]
*Bankstown Dist Amateur Football INC
*Blacktown & District SFA Inc.
* [http://www.cdsfa.com.au Canterbury & Dist. Soccer Football Assoc.]
* [http://www.ccfootball.com.au Central Coast Football]
*Dubbo & District Soccer Association
* [http://www.esfa.com.au Eastern Suburbs Football Association]
* [http://myhome.ispdr.net.au/~ludkras/ Eurobodalla Football Association]
*Far South Coast Soccer Association
* [http://www.ghfa.com.au Gladesville-Hornsby Football Association]
*Granville & Districts Soccer Football Association
*Griffith & District Amateur Soccer Assoc.
* [http://hsa.org.au Highlands Soccer Association Inc.]
* [http://www.footballillawarra.asn.au Illawarra Football Association]
* [http://www.ijsa.com.au Illawarra Junior Football Association]
* [http://www.kdsa.asn.au Ku-Ring-Gai & District Soccer Association]
*Lachlan Amateur Soccer Association
*Macarthur Districts SFa
* [http://www.mwfa.com.au Manly Warringah Football Association]
*Mitchell District Soccer Association
*Nepean Districts Soccer Football Assoc.
*North West Sydney Women's Soccer
*Orange & District Soccer Association
*Shoalhaven District Soccer Association
*South West Slopes Soccer Association
*Southern Districts Soccer Football Assoc.
* [http://www.stfa.org.au Southern Tablelands Football Association]
*St George Soccer Football Association Inc
* [http://www.ssjsfa.org.au Sutherland Shire Junior SFA Inc]
*Sydney Amateur Football League Inc.
*Wagga Wagga & District Soccer Association
*Western Plains Soccer Association

Youth - Representative

Youth Men's

The Youth Men's Representative system which is run by Football NSW caters for the ages between 11's and 18's. It is divided into to 2 main stages, the Metropolitan League and the Youth Leagues. After that they are catered by the Senior Men's competitions. Here is a description of the system:
*Metropolitan League - 11's and 12's. The Metropolitan League is an Association-based competition for 11's & 12's boys. The 16 Associations in the competition are divided equally into 2 conferences based on location.
**Northern Conference
**Southern Conference

*Youth Leagues - 13's, 14's, 15's, 16's and 18's.The Youth leagues which cater for the ages 13-18 are seen as the best football a youth player can get in New South Wales. The PYL (Premier Youth League) is the most prestigious, then the SYL (Super Youth League) and finally the DYL (Development Youth League). There is a relegation system between the leagues for the clubs based on the Club Championship. That is, the aggregate points for all the teams in that club combined. Each year the bottom two clubs in the PYL and the top two clubs in the SYL switch places while the bottom club in the SYL and top club in the DYL switch also. In the PYL and SYl there are 5 team semi's while in the DYL there is 4 team semi's. After the 18's players usually progress into senior men's football, with their clubs 20's or First Grade team.
**Premier Youth League [http://www.soccernsw.com.au/nswypyl/htstart.cl]
**Super Youth League [http://www.soccernsw.com.au/nswysyl/htstart.cl]
**Development Youth League [http://www.soccernsw.com.au/nswyidl/htstart.cl]

Youth Women's

The Youth Women competitions caters for the ages of 12's to 16's. Here is a description of the system:

* "Arrive Alive" Girls Youth League - 12's, 14's, 16's
**Premier Girls Youth League
**Super Girls Youth League.

enior - Semi-Pro & Representative

These are the Senior Men's and Women's competitions. The NSW Premier League is widely believed to be second in Australia only to the A-League while the Women's Premier League is also widely thought of as the best women's competition in Australia since the demise of the women's national league.Fact|date=April 2007 Many of the Senior Men's competitions below are semi-professional.

enior Men's

All the Senior Men's competitions cater for the Under 20's and Open age groups. Football NSW Senior Men's Competitions (in descending order in terms of significance)
*NSW Premier League [http://www.soccernsw.com.au/nswpl/htstart.cl] 12 Teams
*Winter Super League [http://www.wintersuperleague.com/] 12 Teams
*State League Division 1 [http://www.soccernsw.com.au/nswsdiv1/htstart.cl] 14 Teams
*Conference Leagues
**NSW Conference League North [http://www.soccernsw.com.au/nswsdiv2/htstart.cl] - 8 Teams
**NSW Conference League South [http://www.soccernsw.com.au/nswsdiv3/htstart.cl] - 9 Teams

enior Women's

Both Women's leagues cater for the Under 21's age groups and Open Age Groups. SoccerNSW Senior Women's Competitions (in descending order in terms of significance)
* "Arrive Alive" Women's Premier League
**8 Teams
* "Arrive Alive" Women's Super League
**11 Teams

Cup Competitions

Following is an incomplete list of Cup competitions in New South Wales.

The Waratah Cup

The Waratah Cup (known as "Tiger Turf" cup due to sponsorship reasons) is a state wide "FA Cup" style knockout competition open to men's teams from the NSW Premier, Super, Division 1 and Conference Leagues as well as local Association men's teams.

Johnny Warren Cup

The Johnny Warren Cup is the pre-season tournament for the NSW Premier League. The teams are divided into two pools with the winner of each pool contesting the final

The State Robertson & Cullinan Cups

The SRC Cups competition is open to Association club teams. The following age catergories have cup competitions:
*Male 12-14-16-18-21-All Age & O35
*Female 12-14-16-18 & All Age.

Baulkham Hills Kookaburra's are defending champions after taking the title in a close affair in 2007. An extra time winner sealing the victory. Although Baulkham Hills were lucky to finish the match with 11 men after their right back (huge shoulders and a wears a wig) was lucky to escape a second yellow.

Harry Williams Cup

Named after Harry Williams, the former Socceroo and only indigenous man to represent Australia at the World Cup, The Harry Williams Cup aims to unearth Australia’s next crop of indigenous football stars with a four day tournament open to Boys in the Under 12, 14 and 16 age categories. The Indigenous teams play against school and association based club sides with all indigenous sides accommodated during the tournament on-site.

Frank Broughton Cup

The Frank Broughton Cup is open to Grade 11 Association Representative teams and Invitees

Centenary Cup

The Centenary Cup is open to Grade 12 Association Representative teams and Invitees

Champion of Champions

The Champion of Champions tournament is an annual tournament run throughout late September and October. The champion side from each association's division 1 in each age group is entered in a cup competition to determine an overall amateur champion for the year within the state.

=NSWIS=The NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS), located at Sydney Olympic Park, operates men's and women's soccer programs. The men's program is aimed at identifying and nurturing talented 15 and 16 year olds across the state, while the women's program is an individual skills based program for identified U20 and Senior athletes.

=External links=
* [http://www.footballnsw.com.au Football NSW]
* [http://www.nswis.com.au/Default.aspx?ArticleID=668|NSWIS Soccer Program]
* [http://www.asrfnsw.com.au/ Australian Soccer Referees Federation NSW]