1984 National Soccer League

The National Soccer League 1984 season was the eighth season of the National Soccer League in Australia. This season saw a restructure of the league, introducing a split into two geographical divisions, and an expansion from 16 to 24 teams. A Northern Conference comprised 12 clubs from New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory, and a Southern Conference consisted of 12 Victorian, South Australian, and Queensland clubs.

NSL 1984
LeagueNational Soccer League
SportAssociation football
Duration1984
Number of teams24
NSL season
ChampionsSouth Melbourne
Top scorerDoug Brown (22)

This season also saw the introduction of the two well-supported Croatian clubs, Melbourne Croatia and Sydney Croatia, both of which had had recent success in the state-leagues.

For the first time in the competition, a finals system was introduced, whereby the five highest finishing teams in each conference had a playoff to determine a conference winner. The two conference winners then played each other in a two-legged Grand Final to be declared champions. The Grand Final was won by South Melbourne over Sydney Olympic.

Northern Conference
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Sydney City 28 17 8 3 67 21 +46 42 Qualified for the 1984 National Soccer League Northern Conference Finals
2 Sydney Olympic 28 16 8 4 61 27 +34 40
3 Marconi Fairfield 28 12 8 8 58 39 +19 32
4 APIA Leichhardt Tigers 28 12 8 8 43 35 +8 32
5 Blacktown City 28 12 6 10 43 48 −5 30
6 Sydney Croatia 28 8 11 9 32 38 −6 27
7 Penrith City 28 8 10 10 29 41 −12 26
8 Newcastle KB United 28 11 4 13 35 52 −17 26
9 Canberra City 28 12 1 15 47 39 +8 25
10 St George-Budapest 28 8 9 11 38 41 −3 25
11 Melita Eagles (R) 28 8 8 12 23 38 −15 24 Relegated to the 1985 NSW Division One
12 Wollongong City 28 5 5 18 22 59 −37 15
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(R) Relegated.

Finals
 
  Elimination and Qualifying Finals Semi Finals Preliminary Final Northern Final
                                     
1 Sydney City 1 (4)  
    2 Sydney Olympic 1 (2)         1 Sydney City 1
2 Sydney Olympic 2     2 Sydney Olympic 3   2 Sydney Olympic 2
3 Marconi Fairfield 1       4 APIA Leichhardt Tigers 0  
3 Marconi Fairfield 3 (3)
4 APIA Leichhardt Tigers 3   4 APIA Leichhardt Tigers 3 (4)  
5 Blacktown City 1

Southern Conference
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 South Melbourne (C) 28 18 4 6 48 20 +28 40 1984 National Soccer League Champions
2 Heidelberg United 28 14 7 7 37 27 +10 35 Qualified for the 1984 National Soccer League Southern Conference Finals
3 Melbourne Croatia 28 13 7 8 38 31 +7 33
4 Brisbane Lions 28 12 6 10 38 36 +2 30
5 Brunswick Juventus 28 13 4 11 36 42 −6 30
6 Preston Makedonia 28 11 6 11 42 33 +9 28
7 Adelaide City 28 10 5 13 33 34 −1 25
8 Footscray JUST 28 10 5 13 29 33 −4 25
9 Green Gully 28 9 6 13 34 36 −2 24
10 West Adelaide 28 8 5 15 40 52 −12 21
11 Brisbane City 28 8 5 15 21 39 −18 21
12 Sunshine George Cross 28 5 6 17 24 57 −33 16
Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion.

Finals
 
  Elimination and Qualifying Finals Semi Finals Preliminary Final Southern Final
                                     
1 South Melbourne 3  
    3 Melbourne Croatia 2         1 South Melbourne 4
2 Heidelberg United 1     2 Heidelberg United 3   2 Heidelberg United 2
3 Melbourne Croatia 2       3 Melbourne Croatia 1  
2 Heidelberg United 0 (3)
4 Brisbane Lions 4   4 Brisbane Lions 0 (2)  
5 Brunswick Juventus 2

Grand final
South Melbourne2–1Sydney Olympic
Egan  43, 64' Koussas  5'
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Doug Rennie
Sydney Olympic1–2South Melbourne
Theodorakopoulos  34' Crino  10'
Yzendoorn  18'
Attendance: 11,221
Referee: Chris Bambridge
  • South Melbourne win 4–2 on aggregate

Individual awards

References
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