Northern League One

Northern League One is a semi-professional soccer competition in Northern New South Wales. The competition is conducted by Northern NSW Football, one of two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Leagues NSW organised by Football NSW). The league sits at Level 2 on the Northern New South Wales league system (Level 3 of the overall Australian league system).

Northern League One

Founded	2014 1998–2013 (as Northern First Division) 1959–1997 (as Northern Second Division)
Country	Australia
Number of clubs	10
Level on pyramid	3
Promotion to	NPL NNSW
Relegation to	Zone Football League
Domestic cup(s)	National Australia Cup State Northern NSW Football State Cup
Current premiers	Kahibah (2025)
Website

The league was formally known as the Northern Second Division (1959-1997) and subsequently the Northern First Division (1998-2013).

Format

The competition consists of 10 teams, who each have a First grade and Reserve grade team. The regular season takes place over 18 rounds, with each team playing each other twice in a home and away format.

From 2024 promotion and relegation was reintroduced. The team in first place at the end of the league season are crowned premiers and promoted to the National Premier League (NPL). The team that finishes 11th in NPL Men’s NNSW will join the teams that finish second, third and fourth in Northern League One in a promotion/relegation play-off series to determine the 12th team in NPL Men’s NNSW.

From 2025 the team that finishes last (10th) is relegated to Zone League One, while the Zone League One champion is promoted to Northern League One with no play-off series.

History

After Sydney clubs broke away from the NSW Football Association in 1958, the Northern NSW Soccer Federation was created by Newcastle and Coalfields clubs.

An 8-team Northern Division Two was established with: Austral Dutch, Courtaulds, Jesmond, Kahibah, Kurri Kurri, Weston, Whitebridge and Young Wallsend.

Current Teams

The following teams are competing in the 2025 season.

Club	Nickname(s)	Founded	LGA	Ground	Location	Capacity
Cessnock City	Hornets	1907	Cessnock	Turner Park	Cessnock	1,000
Dudley Redhead United	Thistles / Pensioners	1896	Lake Macquarie	Lydon Oval	Dudley	1,000
Kahibah	Rams / Greens	1925	Lake Macquarie	Kahibah Oval	Charlestown	750
Lake Macquarie City	Lakes / Roosters	1912	Lake Macquarie	Macquarie Field	Speers Point	5,000
Singleton Strikers	Wildhogs	1978	Singleton	Howe Park	Singleton	1,000
South Cardiff	Gunners / Southy	1964	Lake Macquarie	Ulinga Oval	Cardiff South	1,000
Thornton Redbacks	Redbacks	1978	Maitland	Thornton Park	Thornton	500
Toronto Awaba	The Stags	1922	Lake Macquarie	Lyall Peacock Field	Toronto	2,000
Wallsend	Red Devils	1887	Newcastle	The Gardens	Wallsend	3,000
West Wallsend	Bluebells	1891	Lake Macquarie	Johnston Park	West Wallsend	1,500

Honours

NNSW Northern League 1

Season	Premiers	Champions	Score	Runners Up
2014	Maitland	Maitland	3–1 aet	Valentine
2015	Valentine	Wallsend	1–0	Valentine
2016	Lake Macquarie City	Wallsend	0–0 (4–3 (p))	Belmont Swansea United
2017	Cooks Hill United	Cooks Hill United	4–0	Belmont Swansea United
2018	Cooks Hill United	Belmont Swansea United	4–2	West Wallsend
2019	Cooks Hill United	Belmont Swansea United	3–2	Cooks Hill United
2020	New Lambton	Singleton Strikers	2–0	New Lambton
2021	New Lambton	Not Played Covid-19
2022	New Lambton	Belmont Swansea United	2–1	New Lambton
2023	Toronto-Awaba	West Wallsend	1–1 (4–2 (p))	South Cardiff
2024	Belmont Swansea United	Not Played
2025	Kahibah	Not Played

NNSW Northern First Division (1998–2013)

Season	Premiers	Champions	Score	Runners Up
1998	Budgewoi	Lambton Jaffas	3–1	Budgewoi
1999	West Wallsend	Dudley Redhead	4–0	Budgewoi
2000	West Wallsend	West Wallsend	1–0	Medowie
2001	Lake Macquarie City	Lake Macquarie City	2–0	Toronto-Awaba
2002	Toronto-Awaba	Dudley Redhead	1–0	Toronto-Awaba
2003	Newcastle University	West Wallsend	4–0	Dudley Redhead
2004	Phoenix Rangers	Phoenix Rangers	3–1	West Wallsend
2005	Phoenix Rangers	Phoenix Rangers	3–1	West Wallsend
2006	Dudley Redhead	Beresfield United	1–0	Dudley Redhead
2007	West Wallsend	West Wallsend	4–0	Lambton Jaffas
2008	Adamstown Rosebud	Adamstown Rosebud	1–0	Maitland
2009	Azzuri	Maitland	1–0	Azzuri
2010	Lake Macquarie City	Charlestown City Blues	3–2	Lake Macquarie City
2011	Charlestown City Blues	Charlestown City Blues	1–0	Lambton Jaffas
2012	Lambton Jaffas	Lambton Jaffas	1–0	Adamstown Rosebud
2013	Adamstown Rosebud	Adamstown Rosebud	2–1	Maitland

NNSW Northern Second Division (1959–1997)

Season	Premiers	Champions	Score	Runners Up
1959	Whitebridge	Kahibah	2–1	Young Wallsend
1960	Jesmond
1961	Merewether Advance	Merewether Advance	6–4	Jesmond
1962	Maitland	Whitebridge	2–0 (a.e.t.)	Maitland
1963	Jesmond	Mayfield United	7–2	Jesmond
1964	Weston Bears	Weston Bears	2–1	Dudley Redhead
1965	Hamilton Azzuri	Slavia United	3–2	Hamilton Azzuri
1966	Belmont Swansea United
1967	New Lambton South	Mayfield United		New Lambton South
1968	Cardiff	Cardiff	2–1	Cessnock City
1969	Maitland	Maitland	2–1	Mayfield United
1970	Maitland	Maitland	2–1	Charlestown RSL
1971	New Lambton South	Mayfield United	2–0	New Lambton South
1972	Mayfield United	Mayfield United	3–1	Cessnock City
1973	Edgeworth Eagles	Kotara South	2–1	Edgeworth Eagles
1974	Charlestown United	Maitland		Charlestown United
1975	Maitland	Central Coast United	3–2	Maitland
1976	Central Coast United
1977	Cessnock City	Belmont Swansea United		Cessnock City
1978	Belmont Swansea United	Belmont Swansea United	1–0	Belmont
1979	Hamilton Red Star	West Lakes	4–3	Hamilton Red Star
1980	Dudley Redhead United	Beresfield United	6–1	Belmont
1981	Austral United	Austral United	4–1	Doyalson-Wyee RSL
1982	Doyalson-Wyee RSL	Cardiff		Doyalson-Wyee RSL
1983	Cardiff	Cardiff	3–0	Austral United
1984	Austral United	Austral United	2–0	Wallsend
1985	Wallsend	Belmont	1–0	Wallsend
1986	Stockton	Cessnock City	3–0	Belmont
1987	Stockton	Cessnock City	1–0	Stockton
1988	Cessnock City	Cessnock City	1–0	Newcastle Macedonia
1989	Edgeworth Eagles	Edgeworth Eagles	3–2	Belmont
1990	Newcastle Croatia	Lambton Jaffas	0–0 (4–3 (p))	Newcastle Croatia
1991	Hamilton Olympic	Hamilton Olympic	0–0 (3–0 (p))	Lambton Jaffas
1992	Cessnock City	Singleton Strikers	1–0	Stockton
1993	Newcastle Macedonia	Cessnock City	4–0	Belmont Swansea
1994	Wallsend	Wallsend	2–0	Broadmeadow Macedonia
1995	South Cardiff	No Final Series
1996	Dudley Redhead	South Cardiff	3–2	Budgewoi
1997	South Cardiff	Lambton Jaffas	2–1	South Cardiff

Titles

Premiers		Champions
Maitland	5	Belmont Swansea United	5
Belmont Swansea United	3	Maitland	5
Cessnock City	3	Maitland	5
Cooks Hill United	3	Cessnock City	4
New Lambton	3	Lambton Jaffas	4
West Wallsend	3	Mayfield United	4
Lake Macquarie City	3	West Wallsend	4
Adamstown Rosebud	2	Cardiff	3
Austral United	2	Wallsend	3
Cardiff	2	Adamstown Rosebud	2
Dudley Redhead	2	Austral United	2
Edgeworth Eagles	2	Beresfield United	2
Jesmond	2	Charlestown City Blues	2
New Lambton South	2	Dudley Redhead	2
Phoenix Rangers	2	Phoenix Rangers	2
South Cardiff	2	Singleton Strikers	2
Stockton	2	Belmont	1
Toronto-Awaba	2	Central Coast United	1
Wallsend	2	Cooks Hill United	1
Azzuri	1	Edgeworth	1
Budgewoi	1	Hamilton Olympic	1
Central Coast United	1	Kahibah	1
Charlestown City Blues	1	Kotara South	1
Charlestown United	1	Lake Macquarie City	1
Doyalson-Wyee RSL	1	Merewether Advance	1
Dudley Redhead United	1	Slavia United	1
Hamilton Azzuri	1	South Cardiff	1
Hamilton Olympic	1	West Lakes	1
Hamilton Red Star	1	Weston Bears	1
Lambton Jaffas	1	Whitebridge	1
Mayfield United	1
Merewether Advance	1
Newcastle Croatia	1
Newcastle Macedonia	1
Newcastle University	1
Valentine	1
Weston Bears	1
Whitebridge	1

See also

• Northern Inland Football