Northbridge FC

Northbridge FC is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in the Sydney suburb of Northbridge, New South Wales. Founded in 1952, the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW, with matches played at Northbridge Oval. Northbridge is Australia's largest community club with over 2,500 register players.[1]

Northbridge FC
Full nameNorthbridge Football Club
Founded1952
GroundNorthbridge Oval
ChairmanRory Grace
ManagerJoe Haywood
LeagueNPL NSW
20209th
WebsiteClub website

History

Northbridge FC was established in 1952 by local postman Ron Hall who had previously relocated from his work in the coalfields in the Cessnock area of the Hunter Valley. The club originally competed in the Northern Suburbs Soccer Association (NSSA). The original playing strip was a red and white shirt, white shorts and red and white hooped socks. In 1973, Northbridge joined the Ku-Ring-Gai and District Soccer Association (now the Northern Suburbs Football Association).[2]

Association with Central Coast Mariners

In 2014, Northbridge established an agreement with A-League club Central Coast Mariners to form a youth development academy in Sydney's North Shore.[3] As part of the partnership the North Shore Mariners Academy was based at Northbridge FC.[4] The move led to accusations from Sydney FC that the Mariners were encroaching on their territory.[5] On forming the partnership the Mariners stated that they believe Northbridge to be the biggest club (in terms of player numbers) in the Southern Hemisphere.[6]

In 2015, as a result of the Central Coast Mariners affiliation, the club's senior teams changed their name and colours to reflect the Mariners and in doing so, became the North Shore Mariners.

Return to Northbridge name

On October 27, 2020, the club announced it was returning to the Northbridge FC name, as the partnership with Central Coast Mariners was being discontinued.[7]

Men's Team

NSW State League 1 / NSW NPL 3

In 2011, after spending their entire existence in the local league, Northbridge FC successfully entered Football NSW's state league competition, the 3rd tier of NSW football and fourth tier overall.[8] They won the NSW State League Division One Premiership in 2013,[9] but went on to lose the Grand Final to Balmain in extra time.[10]

The 2014 season once again saw Northbridge fall short of the title – losing to Hakoah Sydney City East FC 3–2, with Hakoah going on to get promoted to the NSW NPL2.[11]

Throughout 2014 and the years leading up, Northbridge, experienced significant growth, with over 2,300 registered players in early 2014.[8] This made Northbridge the largest club in Australia by participation numbers.[12]

In 2015 Northbridge had a successful season losing only one game late in the season (won 18, drew 3, lost 1) to take out the State League 1 premiership.[13] Northbridge went on to win their first State League 1 grand final in 3 attempts beating Hills Brumbies in a 3–2 win, despite playing the last 15 minutes with 10 men.[14]

NSW NPL 2

The successful 2015 season saw Northbridge promoted to the National Premier Leagues NSW 2 competition for the first time in their history where they started the 2016 season alongside National Premier League debutants Sydney FC Youth, Western Sydney Wanderers FC Youth & Central Coast Mariners FC NPL.[15]

Despite being competitive for the majority of games, the seniors only managed to win 3 matches. In the last round of the season, North Shore needed all three senior divisions (U18's, U20's and 1st's) to win and had to rely on other results to avoid relegation. All three divisions won and at the end of 2016 had finished 13th out of 14 on the Club Championship, thus avoiding relegation with Fraser Park FC dropping to the 3rd tier of NSW football instead.

2017 was a much more successful year for the North Shore outfit, with the Mariners finishing the year in 5th position.

Another year of improvement in the NPL NSW 2 saw the senior team finish 3rd in the 2018 season. Though North Shore were eliminated in the first round of the finals, season 2018 was the highest league position finish for the club to date.

In 2019, North Shore experienced their most successful season in history, finishing first in both the NPL NSW 2 and the club championship, which resulted in promotion to NPL NSW 1. The club sealed promotion on the final round of the season.

NSW NPL 1

As a result of winning the 2019 NPL2 Club Championship North Shore have been promoted to NPL1 for the first time in their history and will play their games out of Lambert Park, Leichhardt.[16]

Women's Team

The Women's team currently competes in Football NSW Women's NPL Division One however finished the 2019 season in last place.

Home ground

The club played its home games at Northbridge Oval. The Oval had a million-dollar upgrade, including resurfacing with synthetic turf and new floodlights in early 2011.[17] However, as the ground did not meet the NPL NSW 1 criteria, the men's team had to move to Lambert Park located in Leichhardt for the 2020 season.[18]

Current squad

As of 1 January 2019

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  AUS Ryan Wood
2 DF  AUS Brian Jamba
3 DF  ENG Chris Lindsay
4 DF  AUS Harrison Quirk
6 MF  AUS Ricky Woodward
7 DF  IRL Tadhg Purcell
8 DF  ENG James Scott
10 DF  AUS Rainer Smahel
11 FW  MAS Braden Cheng
12 FW  AUS Mitchell Smith
13 MF  ENG Marquin Smith
14 FW  NZL Daniel Saric
15 FW  AUS Joshua Mbakwe
16 FW  AUS Nathan Separovic
No. Pos. Nation Player
17 MF  AUS Sean Eve
18 MF  AUS Jesse Piriz
19 DF  AUS Hugo Forlico
20 FW  AUS Claudio Rosano
21 DF  AUS Charlie Knight
36 GK  AUS Josh Wilde
38 MF  AUS Jake Chidiac
37 FW  AUS Nelson Pyl
36 DF  AUS Jasper Devitt Duckworth
41 DF  AUS Jack Mcloughlin
33 FW  AUS Zach Forsyth
42 FW  AUS Shaunta Okada

Club officials
  • President: Rory Grace
  • Technical Director: Ryan Doidge
  • First Team Manager: Joe Haywood
  • First Team Assistant Manager: Brian Baker
  • First Grade Coach: Will Piriz
  • U20 Manager: Brian Baker
  • U20 Assistant Coach: Tadhg Purcell
  • Goalkeeping Coach: Elvis De-Marchi
  • Club Physio: Matthew Grant-Smith

Honours

References
  1. "Northbridge FC welcomes a facilities upgrade to Northbridge Oval". footballnsw.com.au. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  2. "Club history". northbridgefc.com.au. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  3. "Central Coast Mariners fix for fight with Sydney FC over junior talent". The Australian. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  4. "Central Coast Mariners announce Northbridge FC partnership". ccmariners.com.au. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  5. Ray Gatt (4 November 2014). "Central Coast Mariners fix for fight with Sydney FC over junior talent". The Australian.
  6. Tom Smithies (3 November 2014). "Central Coast Mariners plot raid on Sky Blues territory by opening academy on Sydney's north shore". The Daily Telegraph.
  7. "North Shore Mariners. Back to our roots as Northbridge FC". Northbridge FC. 27 October 2020.
  8. Caryn Metcalfe (7 May 2014). "Northbridge FC smashing player participation records". The Daily Telegraph.
  9. "Men's State League 1". Football NSW. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  10. Frank Speranza (29 September 2013). "State League One Grand Final Review". Football NSW.
  11. "2014 State League 1 Men's grand final". foxsportspulse.com. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  12. "Artificial Grass for Northbridge Oval". footballnsw.com.au. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  13. "Men's State league 1 grand final preview". footballnsw.com.au. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  14. "North Shore Mariners crowned champions". footballnsw.com.au. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  15. "2016 declaration of leagues" (PDF). footballnsw.com.au. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
  16. "North Shore Mariners". National Premier Leagues NSW. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  17. Anne Davies, Kelsey Munro (2 May 2011). "Lights go out as strippers get to work". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  18. http://websites.sportstg.com/team_info.cgi?c=1-10179-150725-553558-26640204&a=SFIX
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