North West Sydney Spirit FC is an Australian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club. It was the successor of the defunct Northern Spirit FC, a professional soccer club based in North Sydney,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. Northern Spirit entered the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

in the 1998–99 season. Its founding was inspired in part by the success

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

was enjoying as a mainstream club (as opposed to the league's mainstay European migrant founded clubs), as well as an opportunity to tap into the previously unrepresented northern suburbs of Sydney.

History

Northern Spirit

On the field, the club had early success in the

, reaching the finals in its first attempt, but the next two seasons were not nearly as successful, the club finishing 13th in both of them. The club recovered somewhat to finish mid-table in its last 3 seasons, but only managed to make the finals once more, in 2002/03. During Northern Spirit's first season, then

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

owner Mark Goldberg bought a 31 per cent stake in the club and secured an option for a further 35 per cent. Beset by Palace's financial problems, he relinquished his option to a group of players and coaches including

Graham Arnold Graham James Arnold (born 3 August 1963) is an Australian soccer manager and former player. Arnold was appointed to work as an assistant coach of the Australian national soccer team in 2000. After head coach Frank Farina was sacked in 2005, Ar ...

Robbie Slater Robert David Slater (born 22 November 1964) is an Australian former professional soccer player and sports commentator. He played as a midfielder from 1982 until 2001 notably in the Premier League for Blackburn Rovers where he was amongst the ...

and

Ian Crook Ian Stuart Crook (born 18 January 1963) is an English football manager and former professional player. As a player, he was a midfielder who began his career with Tottenham Hotspur. before making 418 appearances for Norwich City where he notably ...

. The club was later owned by

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

for a small period of time. Rangers temporarily changed the club's home colours to their own royal blue. Northern Spirit's home games were played at

North Sydney Oval North Sydney Oval is a multi-use sporting facility in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, owned and operated by North Sydney Council. First used as a cricket ground in 1867, it is also used for Australian rules football, rugby league, rug ...

and their first league home game (against

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football, soccer club, based in Belmore, New South Wales, Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales, that plays in the National Premier Leagues NSW. The Club was founded as Pan- ...

) attracted a then Australian club soccer record crowd (for a non finals match) of 18,985 a record which stood until 2005 when it was broken by

Queensland Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional association football, soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record ...

crowd of 20,725 (a record subsequently broken by other games). In the club's final season, Chairman Antonio Gelonesi decided to move the club to

Pittwater Park Pittwater Park is a rugby stadium in Warriewood, New South Wales, Australia. It is located 500 metres from North Narrabeen beach within the reserve of the area. The park is more colloquially known as Rat Park being named after the Warringah Rugb ...

, on Sydney's

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the entra ...

. The decision was motivated mainly by money, with

not drawing enough people to make a profit. The 23,000 capacity

Brookvale Oval Brookvale Oval (also known by the commercial sponsorship name 4 Pines Park) is a sporting ground located within Brookvale Park at Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Northern Beaches Council and is primarily used by th ...

, a rectangular rugby league venue (home of the

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

club) which is located roughly halfway between North Sydney Oval and Pittwater Park, was considered as a possibility for the new home but was eventually overlooked by the Spirit. After enduring financial problems for much of its existence, the club folded after the 2003/2004 NSL season.

Formation of North West Sydney Football Ltd (Gladesville Hornsby Football Association)

The former youth teams of Northern Spirit were assembled into the new Gladesville-Hornsby Football Association, nicknamed Spirit FC, in 2004. In 2019 GHFA merged with North West Sydney Women's Football Association to form North West Sydney Football Ltd. NWSF has its homeground at Christie Park in

Macquarie Park, New South Wales Macquarie Park () is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Macquarie Park is located 13 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local government a ...

. In 2007, won the

NSW State League Division 1 The NSW League Two Men is an Australian semi-professional association football league comprising teams from New South Wales. The league sits at Level 3 on the New South Wales league system (Level 4 of the overall Australian soccer league system, ...

premiership, but were not selected to be promoted. In 2008, they again won the State League Division 1 and this time were promoted to the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

for 2009. In 2013,

Football NSW Football NSW is the governing body for soccer in the Australian state of New South Wales, with the exception of the northern regions of NSW (the governing body for which is Northern New South Wales Football). Football NSW is a member of the nat ...

incorporated the

National Premier Leagues The National Premier Leagues (NPL) is a national association football competition in Australia which acts as the second tier of the sport in the country below the A-League. The NPL consists of the highest level state league in each state-based ...

structure to their competition. GHFA Spirit FC were selected along with 11 other teams to join the new second division of soccer in NSW. The 2015 season saw Spirit FC crowned premiers of the NPL NSW 2, however due to NSW's promotion criteria, were not eligible.

Honours

National Premier Leagues NSW 2 The NSW League One Men is an Australian semi-professional association football league comprising teams from New South Wales. The league sits at Level 2 on the New South Wales league system, behind the National Premier Leagues NSW, (Level 3 of th ...

**Premiership (1): 2015 *

Waratah Cup The Waratah Cup is a knockout cup competition in New South Wales, run by the governing body of football in NSW, Football NSW. Teams competing in the Waratah Cup come from the National Premier Leagues NSW, National Premier Leagues NSW 2, Natio ...

**Winners (1):

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

**Runners-up (1): 2010

Former managers

Lawrie McKinna Lawrie McKinna (born 8 July 1961) is a Scottish-Australian former football player, coach, and former Mayor of Gosford City Council. In 2012, McKinna stood for election as an independent for City of Gosford. Lawrie was successful in gaining a sea ...

References

External links

OZ Football club profile

NWS Spirit website
{{AUS fb NSL Defunct soccer clubs in Australia Association football clubs established in 1997 Association football clubs disestablished in 2004 National Soccer League (Australia) teams Soccer clubs in Sydney National Premier Leagues clubs 1997 establishments in Australia 2004 disestablishments in Australia