The 1964 NSW First Division season was the eighth season of soccer in New South Wales under the administration of the NSW Federation of Soccer Clubs since its breakaway from the NSW Soccer Football Association in January 1957. The home and away regular season began March and ended in August after 22 rounds. APIA Leichhardt FC finished first on the ladder to become regular season premiers for the first time in its history with the federation.
The finals series was primarily held throughout September with a four-team playoff series. After two previous defeats in grand finals, regular season premiers APIA Leichhardt recorded their first championship with a 7–2 victory over Budapest in the grand final.
The pre-season Ampol Cup was won for a fourth time by Sydney FC Prague.
Clubs Changes from last season: Auburn and Gladesville-Ryde merged to form Cumberland United (therefore no team was relegated to Second Division). Corinthian BESC were promoted from Second Division.
Club Ground Year formed A.P.I.A. Lambert Park Sydney Sports Ground 1954 8th 1957 2nd (RU) Bankstown Bankstown Oval 1944 8th 1957 10th Budapest Hurstville Oval 1957 6th 1959 6th Canterbury-Marrickville Arlington Oval 1896 8th 1957 7th Corinthian BESC No fixed ground 1957 1st 1964 Div. II Croatia Arlington Oval 1958 2nd 1963 11th Cumberland United Mona Park 1964 1st 1964 Hakoah Wentworth Park 1939 8th 1957 9th Pan Hellenic Wentworth Park 1957 4th 1961 4th (SF) Prague Sydney Athletics Field 1950 8th 1957 1st (PF) South Coast United Woonona Oval 1958 7th 1958 3rd (W) Yugal Sydney Athletics Field 1961 3rd 1962 8th Notes
Table and results
Results
Finals series
Semi-finals
Preliminary final
Grand Final
GK 1 Mel Clarke RB 2 Herbert Stegbauer LB 3 Tibor Zuckermann RH 4 Manfred Schaefer CH 5 Peter Banicevic LH 6 Hugo Rodriguez OR 7 Alfie Stokes IR 8 Johnny Warren CF 9 Joe Galambos IL 10 Vic Fernandez OL 11 L. HerediaCoach: Laurie Hegyes |style="vertical-align:top;width:50%"| GK 1 Adauto Iglesias RB 2 Cliff van Blerk LB 3 Stan Ackerley RH 4 Pat Hughes CH 5 R. Murua LH 6 Phil Bottalico OR 7 Duncan Falconer IR 8 John Giacometti CF 9 Johnny Watkiss IL 10 Johnny Wong OL 11 Karl JarosCoach: Gyula Polgár
NSWSF First Division1964 PremiersA.P.I.A.First Title
Statistics and awards Stars of 1964 Soccer World reporters awarded stars out of six to players throughout the 22 rounds. The player with the highest stars was Trevor Edwards with 4.23 (from 17 matches). Only 11 players average four points or more. South Coast United and Sydney Croatia both had three players, Prague had three players, whilst Hakoah, APIA, Pan Hellenic, Canterbury and Prague all had one player that averaged four points or more. Below left is the list of all eleven players and below right is the team of the year:
Player Team Rating Trevor Edwards Hakoah 4.23 Pat Woods South Coast United 4.21 Alan Hetherington Croatia 4.09 Pat Hughes A.P.I.A. 4.09 Noberto Bischoff Croatia 4.05 Omar Collazo Croatia 4.05 Brian Smith Pan Hellenic 4.05 Ron Corry Canterbury-Marrickville 4.00 Fred Falzon Prague 4.00 Jim Harris South Coast United 4.00 Brian Rhodes South Coast United 4.00
Top scorers Johnny Watkiss was the season's top goalscorer with 24 goals, recording the lowest tally for a top goalscorer since the inception of the league in 1957. Below is a list of the top ten goalscorers for the season:
Player Team Goals Johnny Watkiss APIA 24 Joe Galambos Budapest 20 Doug Logan Pan Hellenic 17 Graham Barnett South Coast United 15 Herbert Ninaus Hakoah Tony Nincevich Yugal-Ryde 14 Jim Richardson Cumberland United Brian Tristram Prague 13 Peter Barnes Corinthian BESC 11 Vic Fernandez Budapest B. Kelly Cumberland United Les Scheinflug Prague
Attendances Below is a list of attendances by club:
Rank Club Attendance 1 APIA 150,000 2 Pan Hellenic 133,000 3 South Coast United 84,000 4 Hakoah 79,500 5 Prague 78,500 6 SSC Yugal 77,000 7 Budapest 66,000 8 Croatia 64,000 9 Cumberland United 54,50010 Canterbury-Marrickville 40,50011 Bankstown 38,00012 Corinthian BESC 33,500
Other competitions Ampol Cup The season began with the eighth edition of the floodlight pre-season night series (seventh as the Ampol Cup) on Friday 31 January 1964, culminating with the double-header third place playoff and Final on Friday, 6 March 1964 in front of 8,400 spectators.
Finals series
Final
See also 1964 in Australian soccer 1964 NSWSF season 1964 NSW Federation Cup
References