North Coast Football


North Coast Football is an association football competition on the north coast of New South Wales extending from Iluka in the north to Macksville in the south. The association was established in its current form in 2005, having previously been known as the separate entities of Holiday Coast Soccer and Clarence Soccer. Its offices are located in Coffs Harbour, the largest city in the region.
For the past 27 years the North Coast region has had a men's competition colloquially called "The Premier League". This concept was launched in 1980 when Lloyd Nolan, Gregg Hall, Aart Hooykaas and a handful of other keen supporters of the game broke away from their local competitions to form a representative competition across the Mid North Coast. The competition is conducted by Northern New South Wales Football, the governing body in the region.
The current North Coast Football president is Phil Holt, who took over in 2011. The previous president was Peter Rowe.

Clubs

There are 22 clubs in the region:

Structure

A requirement to enter a team into the 'North Coast Premier League' in 1980 was that each club provided a First Grade and a Reserve Grade team. Given that most clubs in those days were district 'feeder' clubs, and the competition encompassed a truly representative area - including Taree, Wauchope, two Port Macquarie teams, Kempsey, Urunga, Sawtell, Nambucca, Coffs Harbour, Woolgoolga and some seasons as far afield as Armidale and Grafton - the rule that clubs must provide two teams was seen as a logical requirement in those days. Since then, the structure has been changed so that the highest placed club in the 2nd Division competition is promoted. Requirements such as the standard of the club facilities, the ability to travel to all away games, accommodate traveling supporters and be able to field consistent numbers on a weekly basis, must be met before promotion is granted. The lowest placed team in the 1st Division competition is relegated to the 2nd Division competition, and if they already have a team in the 2nd Division competition, they in turn go to the 3rd Division competition. Clubs can enter unlimited teams in the 2nd and 3rd Division competitions. The 2011 season saw the introduction of a play-off between the bottom placed team in 1st Division and the top team in 2nd Division in order to determine promotion/relegation.
In recent years, a promoted club into 1st Division must also be able to field a Youth League side in order to fulfill the requirements as stipulated by the governing body. The Youth League competition is hence only open to clubs competing in Men's 1st Division. If a club is relegated from Men's 1st Division, their Youth League side will not be able to compete in the next season, regardless of where they place.
The other main competitions that come under the bracket of North Coast Football are the Men's 2nd Division, Youth League/Reserve Grade, Men's 3rd Division Women's 1st Division and Women's 2nd Division. In the 2009 season, Youth League was an Under 19s competition, with a maximum of 4 over-age players per team. This was changed to Under 19s with a maximum of 3 over-age players per team for the 2010 season, and then to the current form of Under 21s with a maximum of 4 over-age players per team in the 2011 season.
Minor divisions in the zone range from Under 6 to Under 11s, Under 12s to Under 16s and Over 35s.
A recent issue arising in the competition is the standard of floodlights required in order to hold night matches in senior competitions. The 2009 season saw the introduction of floodlight testing, and many clubs in the area have failed the lighting tests or failed to gain approval for lighting installation. Sawtell was the most notable club to install lighting which met the regulations, and clubs such as Coffs Coast Tigers and Coffs United Lions met the regulations with their pre-existing lighting. These regulations resulted in most clubs having to hold day matches for safety reasons.

History

North Coast Football was originally formed in 1980 under the name of the North Coast Premier League, and later Holiday Coast Soccer, but the name was changed in 2005, a period which also marked the evolution of a number of clubs into their current forms.
The league currently contains over 5000 players, and is also home to the two largest clubs in Northern New South Wales, Coffs City United FC and Northern Storm FC. Defunct clubs in the region include Scotts Head, Toormina, Repton, Macleay Valley and Valley United.
The Coffs Coast Tigers club are based in west Coffs, and Majos SC is situated in Grafton. Northern Storm are based in Korora and east Coffs. South Services Gunners are an amalgamation of South Services and Grafton Gunners, and they share their home ground with Grafton City. Tucabia Bears represents the outlying northern regions of Tucabia, Ulmarra, Pillar Valley, Wooli, Minnie Water and Diggers Camp. Westlawn Tigers are based in Junction Hill.
On September 25, 2009, a North Coast Football select Under 21s squad consisting of Josh Wiseman, Matt Hughes, Todd Barden, Dominic Kelly-Ramirez, Frank La Spada, Tom Willett, David Adjassou, Scott Goddard, Edwardo Oliveira, Sinai Shaul, Kodjo Adjassou, Navrin Deane, Todd Milne and Mark Parkins took on the Central Coast Mariners youth team at the BCU International Stadium. With some questionable tactical decisions from coaches Richard Evans and Gordon Barton playing a significant role in the final outcome of the match, Mariners were victorious 9-0.
On September 27, 2009, a North Coast Football select All Age squad consisting of Josh Harrigan, Richard Yarnton, Hayden Kelly, Jaxen Heward, Brent Turner, Ryan Turner, Nathan Silvy, Travis Armstrong, Wade Parker, Nick Lambert, Luke France, Fraser Robinson, Ben Mackay and former Sydney Olympic striker Brady Parker took on the same team at , with the final score being 5-0 to the Mariners.

Recent Seasons

10 clubs competed in the 2009 Men's 1st Division competition: Boambee FC, Coffs City United FC, Coffs Coast Tigers FC, Maclean FC, Northern Storm FC, Orara Valley FC, Sawtell FC, Urunga FC, Westlawn Tigers FC and Woolgoolga FC. Grafton City were initially promoted to the top tier in 2009 but were not able to field a Youth League squad. Westlawn Tigers took their place, infamously winning the Youth League competition and Club of the Year award while being relegated from 1st Division. Yamba Breakers were promoted from 2nd Division for the 2010 competition, winning both the Minor Premiership and Grand Final. They were relegated at the conclusion of the 2010 season, being replaced by Westlawn Tigers who were promoted once again.
The 2010 season saw Yamba Breakers relegated after their first season of top flight football, with Coffs Coast Tigers taking out the Minor Premiership. Coffs United Lions took out the grand final win with a 6-1 humiliation of Coffs Coast Tigers that saw them return to dominance in the Men's 1st Division competition. 2010 also saw the inception of the NNSWF State Cup, which saw 3 North Coast Football teams represented in the quarter-finals, none of which progressed to the semi-finals. The 2011 competition saw 5 out of 7 North Coast Football teams progress to the 2nd round.
The 2012 season saw a turn in the top teams with Northern Storm rising to the top and winning their first Minor Premiership, a wonderful achievement in the club's history. The first two semi finals saw Northern Storm hosting the defending champions Coffs City United Lions at ' The Cove '. The result finished with Coffs Lions winning 2-1. The other semi finial saw Urunga Raiders host Mclean Bobcats with Urunga winning 2-1. Northern Storm had a second chance against a tough Urunga outfit in the Preliminary final but Northern Storm had played well to win 2-1 to make their first ever Grand Final. Coffs City United Lions and Northern Storm sure made the Grand Final a close nail biting game. After 90 minutes the game was locked at 1-1 but at the end of extra time Coffs City United Lions had won 3-2.

Honours

SeasonChampionsPremiersFFA Cup Best Performance
2005Coffs City United Lions-
2006Urunga Raiders-
2007Coffs City United Lions-
2008Coffs City United Lions-
2009Maclean BobcatsCoffs City United Lions-
2010Coffs City United LionsCoffs Coast Tigers-
2011Coffs City United LionsCoffs City United Lions-
2012Coffs City United LionsNorthern Storm FC-
2013Coffs City United LionsCoffs City United Lions-
2014Urunga RaidersCoffs City United LionsBoambee Bombers
2015Coffs City United LionsCoffs City United LionsCoffs City United Lions

Men's 1st Division Golden Boot

2010