Origin Competition between club sides from different states existed in various forms prior to the formation of the NSL. The petroleum company
Ampol sponsored cup competitions in the various states, starting with
New South Wales in 1957, with other states following later. Later a national Ampol Cup was conducted which continued throughout the 1960s. From 1962 until 1968 an
Australia Cup was held, but its ambition of becoming an
FA Cup style knockout competition went unfulfilled. In the 1970s the top sides from Melbourne and Sydney played off in an end of season series, but the tournament did not seem to quite capture the legitimacy and popularity that was hoped for. Plans for a national home and away league went back as far as 1965 for a 1967 start, and were followed up by variations on the theme throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, but faced opposition variously from clubs, who deemed the notion uneconomical, and state federations who feared losing their power. Australia's qualification for the
1974 World Cup led to various discussions in 1975 and 1976, with eventually 14 teams being chosen to participate in the inaugural season of the national league. The transition from state-based leagues to a national competition was not all smooth. The
Victorian Soccer Federation was reluctant for its big clubs to be involved and it appeared the dream of Alex Pongrass of
St George and
Frank Lowy of
Hakoah Sydney for a nationwide club competition would not evolve. Little-known
Mooroolbark from Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs broke the deadlock by joining the competition, bringing three other
Victorian sides with it, making the national league a reality.
Sydney dominance (1977–1983) The first seven seasons of the league would be dominated by Sydney clubs, with
Sydney City winning four titles, and only
West Adelaide being able to wrest the title from
New South Wales. West secured the 1978 championship after scoring a late equaliser in an
Adelaide derby against
Adelaide City in the final round of the season. The competition at this stage was a simple first past the post. A post season finals series was played during this era but was considered more of an exhibition series rather than a legitimate game to decide the national champion, although some confusion still exists on this matter particularly amongst some
Heidelberg supporters who consider the 1980 'final' as a legitimate decider.
Conference system (1984–1986) Shrinking crowds led to the radical move of introducing more teams (mainly from Victoria and
New South Wales) and splitting the league into two conferences, with the winner of each division to play-off in an end of year two legged final. For season 1984 the 'Australian' Conference had competing teams from New South Wales and the
ACT, whilst the 'National' Conference consisted of Victorian,
South Australian and Queensland clubs. For 1985 and 1986 this reverted to 'Northern' and 'Southern' Conferences. Strangely, the competition's most geographically northern sides,
Brisbane Lions and
Brisbane City were in the latter grouping. This period saw
South Melbourne become the first
Victorian team to win the league, followed by
Brunswick Juventus, and
Adelaide City, all Southern conference sides. At the end of the 1986 season, the system was scrapped, and about half the teams were dumped back to their respective state leagues. The criteria used to decide who stayed and who went was based 50% on the 1986 playing record, 40% on past playing record, and 10% on crowd support. The result was that only one team from outside Sydney and Melbourne, reigning champions Adelaide City, was retained.
Return to single division and last years of winter football (1987–1989) The revamped league suffered a major setback early on when Sydney City pulled out of the competition after just one round into the new season. Finals were re-introduced from 1988, and were to remain until the league's demise. The 1989 season would be the last to be played in winter. This period saw a re-emergence of New South Wales dominance with all titles, minor premierships and runners-up being from that state.
Birth of summer football (1989–1996) Efforts to transition the league to a summer season date back to the early 1980s but were only implemented in the 1989/90 season. The reasoning behind this shift was straightforward: moving to summer would help the league avoid being overshadowed by the
Australian Football League and
Australian Rugby League seasons while also ensuring better playing surfaces and improved spectator comfort due to favorable weather conditions. Despite the boost from this change, some clubs struggled to stay in the league, leading to relegations to the state leagues. Among them were former champions
Brunswick Juventus,
St George, and
APIA Leichhardt, as well as once-strong contenders like
Heidelberg and
Preston. At the same time, soccer authorities pushed clubs to market themselves to a broader Australian audience rather than catering primarily to their
migrant fan bases. This initiative led to club name and logo changes, a ban on ethnic flags, and other modifications. While clubs reluctantly complied, fans in the stands largely continued to use the traditional names. During this era, clubs such as
Marconi,
South Melbourne,
Adelaide City, and
Melbourne Knights dominated the league, winning multiple titles and making frequent grand final appearances. The decade also saw the emergence of future Australian stars, including
Mark Viduka,
Mark Bresciano,
Vince Grella,
Tony Popovic, and
Mark Schwarzer, who would later form the core of Australia's "Golden Generation." In an effort to streamline the competition, the
Australian Soccer Federation proposed reducing the number of NSL teams from 14 to 12. In 1995, it announced plans for a new parallel competition called the A-League. Following legal challenges, the A-League eventually replaced the NSL but largely retained the same teams, making the transition more of a rebranding than a completely new competition. Before 1995–96 season, the league secured a sponsorship deal with
Ericsson, leading to a rebranding as the "Ericsson Cup." The sponsorship was initially set to last until 2000 but was terminated a year early in 1999. Despite the new name, the A-League and NSL names continued to be used interchangeably.
New clubs and attempts to enter the mainstream (1996–2001) From 1996 onwards the league attempted to revitalise the competition and attempt to hook into the mainstream support by finally introducing a team from Western Australia, in the form of
Perth Glory, as well as other new entities which promised to deliver mainstream support, as well as being fully professional outfits as opposed to the majority of clubs and players who were only semi-professional. Among the new clubs at this time were the
Collingwood Warriors,
Carlton,
Northern Spirit (GHFA Spirit as of 2004) and
Parramatta Power, as well as New Zealand's first professional team, the
Football Kingz. These clubs would have varying degrees of success on and off the field. Collingwood Warriors barely managed to last a season, while Carlton reached the grand final in its debut year, but was unable to attract a substantial fan base. Northern Spirit started off with record crowds, and a good debut season reaching the finals, but gradually crowds declined, and financial difficulties along with a controversial takeover by
Rangers, did not help matters. They would survive until the end of the NSL, but fold thereafter. Parramatta Power failed to gather much support, placed as it was in the midst of the already crowded western Sydney
soccer market, and it too would not last beyond the end of the NSL. Perth Glory became the most successful of the new mainstream entrants. High crowds and good performances throughout the NSL's last decade made Perth Glory for many observers the benchmark and role model for all future entrants to the Australian top-flight. A then record grand final crowd of 40,000 people saw the
Brisbane Strikers become the first Queensland side to win the title in season 1996/97, but it never resulted in
Brisbane gaining much bigger crowds in the following seasons than they were accustomed to. South Melbourne FC under
Ange Postecoglou won back-to-back titles in the late 1990s, and by also winning the
1999 Oceania Club Championship, earning the right to play in the
2000 FIFA Club World Championship, where it put in some respectable performances against sides such as Manchester United and a tidy sum in prize money.
Wollongong Wolves became the only side from regional Australia to win the league, with their back-to-back titles in 1999–2000 and 2000–01. The 1999–2000 Grand Final against
Perth Glory at
Subiaco Oval in
Perth saw a record attendance of 43,242, overtaking the 1997 figure in Brisbane and a record that would remain until the
2007 A-League Grand Final in
Melbourne. The cancellation of the
2001 FIFA Club World Championship however was a major blow to the league as clubs which had seen a way of making a substantial amount of much needed money.
Decline and demise (2001–2004) After the
2001 FIFA Club World Championship was cancelled, the NSL was in great turmoil. High-profile Australian players began to leave the NSL due to more enticing offers from overseas leagues. In 1998,
Soccer Australia sold the television rights for the NSL and Socceroos matches to the
Seven Network in a 10-year contract that was worth $2.5 million a year. Seven bought the rights to be one of the flagships of its pay TV sport channel,
C7 Sport. It also broadcast a small amount of coverage on its free-to-air network. At one point in 2000, the amount of free-to-air coverage on the NSL was only a one-hour highlights package of the NSL after midnight on Wednesdays. Many believe Channel 7 deliberately refused to air games to kill off interest in the league that was flourishing in the 90s. In 2002,
C7 Sport closed after the Seven Network lost the
Australian Football League (AFL) rights and pay TV networks stopped carrying the channel. The next year, Seven severed its contract in the last week of Soccer Australia's existence. This left the NSL with no TV coverage at all until
SBS picked up the rights soon after. The consequent lack of sponsorship meant the league fell into even further decline which led to its eventual demise at the end of the 2003–04 season. Highlights were few and far between, but
Sydney Olympic re-emerged as a genuine leading club for the first time in a decade, winning its second title, and
Perth Glory went on to win the last two titles of the NSL, after previously having lost two grand finals. The birth of
Adelaide United, as a quickly formed replacement of Adelaide City who withdrew just before the start of the final NSL season, was perhaps the sole major highlight of this era, as they put in good performances, but most importantly, registered crowds which had not been seen in
Adelaide since the heyday of Adelaide City and West Adelaide. The league in 2003–04 was won by Perth Glory after a 1–0 win against
Parramatta Power on 4 April 2004, almost 27 years to the day that the national competition began.
Nik Mrdja had the honour of scoring the last goal in the NSL, a 98th minute
golden goal to seal the championship for Perth. After this, national competition went into recess for a year and a half. In November 2004, 8 teams, including 5 from the now defunct NSL, formed the
A-League, the revamped national competition whilst many were denied the opportunity due to the bidding process and 1 team for 1 city rule. The first competition began on 26 August 2005, ending the long recess and killing off the NSL and its 24-year history. ==Competition format==