Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

1966 NSW First Division season

NSW First Division
Season1966
ChampionsHakoah
PremiersAPIA Leichhardt
Matches played90 (regular season) + 7 (finals)
Best PlayerBrian Lincoln
Top goalscorerJohn Giacometti (20)
Highest attendance10,500
APIA v. Pan Hellenic (regular season)
← 1965
1967 →

The 1966 NSW First Division season was the tenth season of soccer in New South Wales under the administration of the NSW Federation of Soccer Clubs since its breakaway from the NSW Soccer Football Association in January 1957. The league once again played 18 rounds in the home and away regular season, beginning in March and ending in August. APIA Leichhardt finished first on the ladder to become regular season premiers for the second time after winning their first in 1964.

The finals series was primarily held throughout September with a four-team playoff series. For the first time a round robin was held between the top four clubs, culminating with a grand final between the top two placed teams. Hakoah defeated APIA Leichhardt in the decider.

The pre-season Ampol Cup was won for a first time by APIA Leichhardt.

Clubs

Changes from last season:

  • The division continued its ten-team league format.
  • Polonia-North Side were relegated to NSW Second Division after one season back in the top league.
  • Corinthian BESC were reinstated to the top division after one season in NSW Second Division.
Club Ground Year formed App Debut Last season
(Finals)
A.P.I.A. Lambert Park
Sydney Sports Ground		 1954 10th 1957 3rd (W)
Corinthian BESC No fixed ground 1957 2nd 1964 Div. II
Cumberland United Mona Park 1964[a] 3rd 1964 8th
Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs Wentworth Park 1939 10th 1957 6th
Pan Hellenic Wentworth Park 1957 6th 1961 9th
Prague Sydney Athletics Field 1950 10th 1957 5th
St George-Budapest Hurstville Oval 1957 8th 1959 2nd (RU)
South Coast United Woonona Oval 1958[b] 9th 1958 1st (PF)
South Sydney-Croatia Arlington Oval 1958 4th 1963 7th
Yugal Sydney Athletics Field 1961 5th 1962 4th (SF)

Notes

  1. ^ Auburn and Gladesville merged keeping separate histories
  2. ^ Amalgamated with IDSA club Woonona-Bulli in 1961. Continues Corrimal United history

Table and results

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 A.P.I.A. 18 13 4 1 55 16 +39 30 Qualification for Finals series
2 Hakoah (C) 18 12 3 3 43 19 +24 27
3 St. George-Budapest 18 9 3 6 49 27 +22 21
4 South Coast United 18 7 4 7 31 25 +6 18
5 Pan Hellenic 18 7 4 7 36 34 +2 18
6 Prague 18 7 3 8 30 49 −19 17
7 Croatia 18 5 5 8 19 41 −22 15
8 Yugal 18 5 4 9 24 38 −14 14
9 Cumberland United 18 4 3 11 30 41 −11 11
10 Corinthian BESC (R) 18 2 5 11 14 41 −27 9 Relegated to Second Division
Source: [1]
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away API COR CRO CUM HAK PAN PRA SCU SGB YUG
APIA 4–0 2–2 3–1 1–1 5–2 8–1 2–0 1–1 1–1
Corinthian BESC 0–5 1–1 0–4 0–5 0–4 0–0 1–1 0–2 1–2
South Sydney-Croatia 2–1 1–1 3–0 3–1 1–0 2–0 0–3 0–3 1–7
Cumberland United 3–6 1–2 1–1 0–5 2–3 2–3 2–1 2–2 0–1
Hakoah 1–3 3–1 3–0 3–0 4–2 1–3 1–1 3–1 2–1
Pan Hellenic 1–2 0–4 1–1 1–1 1–2 4–4 1–0 1–0 4–1
Prague 0–4 1–0 2–1 3–2 0–3 2–3 2–1 0–8 4–0
South Coast United 0–1 2–1 4–0 3–2 0–1 5–3 2–2 0–0 3–2
St George-Budapest 0–3 5–2 9–0 1–2 2–4 0–4 6–2 3–0 3–1
Yugal 0–6 0–0 2–0 0–6 0–0 1–1 2–1 1–5 2–3
Source: www.socceraust.co.uk[2]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Finals series

Round robin

Final table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 A.P.I.A. 3 3 0 0 11 3 +8 6 Qualification for Grand final
2 Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs (C) 3 2 0 1 8 4 +4 4
3 St. George-Budapest 3 1 0 2 5 8 −3 2
4 South Coast United 3 0 0 3 3 12 −9 0
Source: [3]
(C) Champions

Results

4 September 1966 St. George-Budapest 3–0 South Coast United Moore Park, Sydney
 Report[4][5] Stadium: Sydney Sports Ground
Attendance: 11,300[a]
Referee: N. Jones
4 September 1966 APIA Leichhardt 2–0 Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs Moore Park, Sydney
 Report[4] Stadium: Sydney Sports Ground
Attendance: 11,300[a]
Referee: H. Parsons
11 September 1966 APIA Leichhardt 3–2 St George-Budapest Moore Park, Sydney
 Report[6]
Stadium: Sydney Sports Ground
Attendance: 9,500[a]
Referee: Tony Boskovic
11 September 1966 Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs 3–2 South Coast United Moore Park, Sydney
 Report[6]
Stadium: Sydney Sports Ground
Attendance: 9,500[a]
Referee: H. Eilerts
18 September 1966 APIA Leichhardt 6–1 South Coast United Moore Park, Sydney
 Report[7]
Stadium: Sydney Sports Ground
Attendance: 6,520[a]
Referee: Tony Boskovic
18 September 1966 Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs 5–0 St George-Budapest Moore Park, Sydney
 Report[7] Stadium: Sydney Sports Ground
Attendance: 6,520[a]
Referee: N. Jones

Grand final

Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs2–1A.P.I.A.
 Report[7][5]
Attendance: 7,650
Referee: Tony Boskovic
NSWSF First Division
1966 Grand Final winners
Australia
Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs
Third Title

Promotion Play-off

With the league expanding to to twelve teams next competition, Second Division premiers Polonia-North Side were automatically promoted. It was decided that First Division wooden spooners, Corinthian BESC, would play-off against the second and third placed teams from the Second Division to earn the final two spots in the 1967 NSW First Division season.

The three-team play-off was contested over two matches with Canterbury receiving bye straight to the final match. Melita Eagles defeated Corinthians in the first match, gaining direct entry into First Division, leaving Corinthians with one last chance to remain in the top tier with the next match against the aforementioned Canterbury. However, Canterbury would win the match for final play-off spot, 1–0.

Match Team A Score Team B Scorers
Spot 1 Corinthian BESC 0–3 Melita Eagles McDonald 2, Jaros (Melita).
Spot 2 Corinthian BESC 0–1 Canterbury Rinos (C'bury).

Statistics and awards

Top Star Award

Soccer World reporters awarded stars out of six to players throughout the 18 rounds. The player with the highest stars was Brian Lincoln with 4.27. Only 10 players averaged four points or more. Below left is the list of all ten players and below right is the team of the year:[8]

Top scorers

John Giacometti was the season's top goalscorer for the second year consecutively, with 20 goals. Below is a list of the top ten goalscorers for the season:[8]

Player Team Goals
John Giacometti APIA 20
George Yardley St. George 19
Errol Freeme South Coast 13
John Keddie Cumberland
Johnny Watkiss APIA
Johnny Warren St. George 12
John Karyannis Pan Hellenic 11
Herbert Ninaus Hakoah
Jim Harding Hakoah 9
Joe Alagich Yugal 8
Bill Kerklaan APIA

Attendances

Below is a list of attendances by club:[8]

Rank Club Total
attendance		 Highest home
attendance
1 APIA Leichhardt 96,200 10,500
2 Pan Hellenic 82,200 8,100
3 St. George-Budapest 50,100 6,100
4 Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs 46,400 7,200
5 Prague 45,500 8,016
6 Yugal 40,000 4,700
7 South Sydney-Croatia 39,000 3,500
8 South Coast United 37,000 4,700
9 Cumberland United 30,600 5,025
10 Corinthian BESC 38,200 3,350

Other competitions

Ampol Cup

Main article: 1966 Ampol Cup (NSW)

The season began with the tenth edition of the floodlit pre-season night series (ninth as the Ampol Cup), culminating with the double-header third place playoff and Final on 20 March in front of 8,700 spectators.[9]

The event featured a group stage for the first time in its history, splitting the ten teams from First Division into two groups of five. The point scoring was also unique: 12 points for a win and 5 for draw with each goal scored also worth one point. APIA and Prague progressed from Group 1 as did Hakoah and Yugal from Group 2. The semi-finals, third place play-off and Final were all maintained from previous editions.

Finals series

Semi-finals Finals
    
Hakoah 2
Prague 0
Hakoah 0
APIA 1
APIA 3
Yugal 0 Third place playoff
Prague 4
Yugal 0

Final

Hakoah0–1APIA
Report[9]
Attendance: 8,700
Referee: Tony Boskovic

See also

References

  1. ^ "Australia 1966". rsssf.org. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  2. ^ "1966 NSW Div1 Matrix". www.socceraust.co.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  3. ^ "1966 Division 1 Fixtures". soccer.co.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Soccer World Newspaper Vol. 09, Issue No. 34". Soccer World. 9 September 1966. p. 2. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  5. ^ a b "1966 Division 1 Fixtures". soccer.co.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Soccer World Newspaper, Vol. 09, Issue No. 35". Soccer World. 16 September 1966. p. 2. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  7. ^ a b c "Soccer World Annual 1967". Soccer World. 1967. p. 20. Retrieved 4 March 2025.
  8. ^ a b c "Soccer World Annual". Soccer World. 1967. p. 6–8, 13, 17, 34. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  9. ^ a b "New-look Ampol Cup (Soccer World Annual)". Soccer World. 1966. p. 26. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  1. ^ a b c d e f Double-header
Quelle: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_NSW_First_Division_season