The 1977 New Zealand National Soccer League was the eighth season of a nationwide round-robin club competition in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

football. An expansion by two teams meant that it was the first year in which twelve teams took part. Prize money was significantly increased for the top three clubs, and the number of teams relegated increased from one to three, these being automatically replaced by the winners of the three regional leagues.

Promotion and relegation

With an expanded league, there was no promotion and relegation play-off series for 1977 league places.

Gisborne City Gisborne City AFC was an association football club in Gisborne, New Zealand. Founded in 1939 as Eastern Union, the club changed its name to Gisborne City after winning the Central Districts League at the first attempt in 1967. As Eastern Union, ...

, relegated in 1976, returned to the regional league, and three new teams took their place. These were the winners of the northern, central, and southern leagues (

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

Nelson United Nelson United was a New Zealand soccer club, based in the South Island city of Nelson. Their home ground was Guppy Park. The team was founded in 1968 through the amalgamation of Nelson Thistle (founded 1924) and Nelson Rangers (founded 1950 ...

, and Dunedin City respectively).

Team performance

No one team dominated the 1977 league, which was won narrowly by

North Shore United North Shore United Association Football Club is an amateur football club based in the North Shore, Auckland. They compete in the Northern League, where they last won the competition in 2019. Their home ground is Allen Hill Stadium, which is l ...

over Stop Out. Shore ran hot and cold, with a string of six wins early in the season followed by a string of lacklustre performances which saw them slide down the table. Hutt Valley's Stop Out showed a marked improvement from the previous season, when they only narrowly avoided relegation. Trans Tours

Christchurch United Christchurch United is an amateur association football club in Christchurch, New Zealand. They compete in various Mainland Football competitions at Junior and Senior level. The club has won six National League titles and six Chatham Cup trophi ...

also rebounded from the previous year's poor showing. Newcomers

Hamilton (soccer) Melville United AFC is an amateur football club in Melville, Hamilton, New Zealand. It competes in the Northern League. History The club was formed in 1996 from the merger of Melville AFC (founded 1972) and Waikato United (founded 1988). Th ...

completed the top four. Two-thirds of the way through the season they were leading, but one win in their last seven games ended their title challenge.Hilton (1991), p. 94

Wellington Diamond United Wellington United AFC is an association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand, that competes in the Central League. History Wellington Diamond United Wellington Diamond United was the result of the merger of Diamond and Zealandia/Well ...

and Mount Wellington completed the top half of the table. WDU's season was highlighted by a 7-3 win over New Brighton, a goal aggregate record for the league up until that point. The Mount's season was badly affected by the loss of players to qualifying matches for the 1978 FIFA World Cup, and a goal drought late in the season cost them dearly.

started and ended the season brightly, but the middle of the season saw a disastrous run of ten matches without a win, leaving them seventh at the season's end. They were followed by Blockhouse Bay, who recorded their lowest league position yet, largely due to the loss of key players to other sides, notably

Ian Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

and

Duncan Ormond Thomas Duncan Ormond (born 10 October 1950) is a former association football player who represented New Zealand at international level. Biography Ormond was born in Harthill, Scotland, on 10 October 1950, and migrated with his family to New Z ...

, who had moved to North Shore and Stop out respectively.

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

finished just above New Brighton, avoiding relegation only by way of a better goal ratio. This was largely the result of two big wins by Suburbs over the Seasiders in which they had scored eleven goals in total and only had three scored against them. It was a bad year for South Island sides other than Christchurch United — New Brighton were accompanied into the regional leagues by the two Dunedin sides, Dunedin City and Caversham. City were doomed by their terrible start to the season. Nine straight losses meant they were always going to have a struggle to catch up, and despite a very strong finish to the season they failed to make up the ground. Neighbours Caversham had as forgettable an end to the season as city's start to it, failing to find the net in their last eight games.Hilton (1991), pp. 94-95

League table

References

Sources

*Hilton, T. (1991) ''An association with soccer.'' Auckland: The New Zealand Football Association. . {{NZNSL New Zealand National Soccer League seasons 1