The 1977 National Soccer League season was the first season of 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 ...

of Australia. The league was not only the first national

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 ...

league in Australia but the first of any of the forms of

football in Australia Football in Australia refers to numerous codes which each have major shares of the mainstream sports market, media, broadcasting, professional athletes, financial performance and grassroots participation: Australian rules football, rugby league ...

. Clubs predominantly joined from the top leagues in each state, with the exception of Tasmanian and Western Australia, and Canberra City forming in 1977 to join the league. The inaugural champions were

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 ...

Background

Attempts had been made to start a national league several times during the 1960s and 1970s, however it wasn't until 1975 that the talk became serious. In April 1975, nine clubs from

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 ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

agreed to form a national league in either 1976 or 1977. Frank Lowy, president of Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs and Alex Pongrass,

St George-Budapest St George FC, commonly called Saints or Budapest, is a semi-professional Australian soccer club based in the St George district in the south of Sydney. The club was founded by Hungarian immigrants in 1957 as Budapest Club and by 1965 was rename ...

president led a concerted effort to bring in teams from Victoria over objections from the state association. Eventually, four Victorian clubs joined with the addition of a team from the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

Teams

Stadiums and locations

''Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.''

League table

Results

Season statistics

Top scorers

Hat-tricks

Clean sheets

Awards

Source:

References

Footnotes

General references

OzFootball Archives - 1977 NSL Table
{{1977 in Australian soccer

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

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