Newcastle KB United are a defunct Australian

association football 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. They participated in 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 ...

from 1978 until early in the 1984 season.

History

The first Newcastle based team to play in a national league, Newcastle KB United was formed in 1977, but did not play until 1978 one year after the inception of the Philips Soccer League (NSL). Newcastle KB United was sponsored by Tooths Breweries (hence the KB tag) and took the NSL by storm by setting new crowd attendance records on a regular basis. They drew some famous names to play guest matches with them with Bobby Charlton playing a game for the club in 1978,

Paul Reaney Paul Reaney (born 22 October 1944) is an English former international footballer. He played primarily as a right-sided full-back. He made 745 first-team appearances at Leeds United from 1962 to 1978, winning six major trophies under Don Revi ...

joining in 1980 and Craig Johnston played once in 1978 and again in 1982. While they often struggled to compete at the very top of the league Newcastle were regular mid table finishers and their only honour was in 1984 when they travelled to Melbourne Knights and won the national league cup 1–0, playing as the newly formed

Newcastle Rosebud United Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England * Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastl ...

. The goal was scored by Derek Todd. KB United's NSL licence was taken over by Northern New South Wales State League club

Adamstown Rosebuds Adamstown Rosebud Football Club (founded July 12, 1889) is a semi-professional soccer club based in Adamstown a suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Locatio ...

in 1984 after the collapse of Newcastle KB United. Rosebuds renamed themselves

while they played in the NSL. They were excluded from the NSL at the end of the 1986 season when it was re-organised and returned to the NNSW League. It would be another 5 years before Newcastle had another representative in the

, this time via the newly formed

Newcastle Breakers FC Newcastle Breakers FC are a defunct Australian football (soccer) club. Formed out of elements of the Newcastle Austral club, they participated in the National Soccer League from season 1991/1992, until their dissolution in 1999/2000. The club fare ...

Colours and badge

Newcastle KB United played in traditional Newcastle colours of emerald, white and cinnamon but later changed to match the KB brand to their strip and played in predominantly yellow with a red and black trim.

Stadium

Newcastle International Sports Centre Newcastle International Sports Centre, known as McDonald Jones Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose sports stadium located in Newcastle, Australia. The ground is home to the Newcastle Knights (National Rugby League) and Newcast ...

now known as Energy Austria Stadium was the home ground of Newcastle KB United. It had a western stand and a circular playing area surrounded by a hill.

Supporters

Newcastle KB United set many crowd records during their time in the NSL holding the record for the largest crowd to a domestic game in this country until the formation of the A-league. This record was 18,367 against Sydney Olympic in April 1979, a year when their average home crowd exceeded 10,000. The local vocal support was known as "The Rowdies" and they created a great atmosphere from deep in the heart of the Western grandstand in what was known affectionately as 'The Red Section'. ~ NSL divided into 2 conferences with Newcastle Adamstown Rosebud in the Northern Conference.

Honours

* Winner National Knockout Cup: 1984 (as Newcastle Rosebuds) 1982 Winner of Prime Minister's Cup in Canberra against Canberra City NSL team

References

External links

Highlights on youtube
from 1979
Youtube with Craig Johnston
from 1980 {{National Soccer League Association football clubs disestablished in 1984 Defunct soccer clubs in Australia National Soccer League (Australia) teams Soccer clubs in Newcastle, New South Wales Association football clubs established in 1977 1977 establishments in Australia 1984 disestablishments in Australia