The 1967 NSW First Division season was the eleventh 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 league structure increased to 22 rounds of a home and away regular season, followed by a round robin group stage and closed with a grand final match.
APIA Leichhardt finished first on the ladder with 37 points, to become regular season premiers for the third time after winning their first in 1964. St George-Budapest and South Sydney-Croatia finished in second and third places with 31 and 27 points respectively. Pan Hellenic secured fourth place and a spot in the finals series, edging out Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs on goal difference.
The finals series was held throughout September with APIA Leichhardt and St George-Budapest qualifying for the grand final as the top two teams of the round robin stage. St George won the grand final 5–2.
The pre-season Ampol Cup was also won by St George-Budapest, defeating Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs 2–0.
Clubs Changes from last season: The division was expanded to a twelve-team league format. Corinthian BESC were relegated to NSW Second Division after one season back in the top league. Canterbury, Melita Eagles (via play-offs) and Polonia-North Side (Division 2 premiers) were all granted entry to the top division.
Club Ground Year formed APIA-Leichhardt Lambert Park Sydney Sports Ground 1954 11th 1957 1st (RU) Canterbury-Marrickville Arlington Oval 1896 9th 1957 Div. II Cumberland United Mona Park, Auburn 1964 4th 1964 9th Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs Wentworth Park 1939 11th 1957 2nd (W) Melita Eagles Mona Park, Auburn 1954 1st 1967 Div. II Pan Hellenic Wentworth Park 1957 7th 1961 5th Polonia-North Side North Sydney Oval 1960 4th 1961 Div. II Prague Sydney Athletics Field 1950 11th 1957 6th St George-Budapest Hurstville Oval 1957 9th 1959 3rd (3rd) South Coast United Woonona Oval 1958 10th 1958 4th (4th) South Sydney-Croatia Arlington Oval 1958 5th 1963 7th Yugal Sydney Athletics Field 1961 6th 1962 8th Notes
Table and results
Results
Finals series Round robin Final table
Results
Grand final
GK 1 Frank Haffey RB 2 Stuart Isaac LB 3 Roger Hillary RH 4 Manfred Schaefer CH 5 Morgan LH 6 Tibor Zuckerman OR 7 Herbert Stegbauer IR 8 Johnny Warren CF 9 Frank McColgan IL 10 David Cliss OL 11 Vic FernandezCoach: Laurie Hegyes |style="vertical-align:top;width:50%"| GK 1 Taylor RB 2 Cliff van Blerk LB 3 Stan Ackerley RH 4 Pat Hughes CH 5 Johnny Watkiss LH 6 Phil Bottalico OR 7 Campbell IR 8 Ricardo Campana CF 9 Archie Blue IL 10 Bill Kerklaan OL 11 John GiacomettiCoach: Mike Mazzina
NSWSF First Division1967 Grand Final winnersSt George-BudapestFirst Title
Consolation Cup The Consolation Cup was a new knockout series held for the first time in the league for bottom eight teams not competing in the First Division semifinals and the top four teams of the Second Division. Teams ranked 9 to 12 (First Division) and 1 to 4 (Second Division) competed in the first round and were joined by teams ranked 5 to 8 (First Division) in the quarter-finals.
Round 1
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
GK 1 Peter Fuzes RB 2 Stewart LB 3 Ian Hillsdon RH 4 Robert Fekete CH 5 Alan Marnoch LH 6 Dennis Yaager OR 7 Jones IR 8 Danny Walsh CF 9 Edmunds IL 10 Ray Baartz OL 11 Doug HoldenCoach: Tiko Jelisavcic |style="vertical-align:top;width:50%"| GK 1 King RB 2 Harcombe LB 3 Blacker RH 4 Zeman CH 5 Rootsey LH 6 Raul Blanco OR 7 Armytage IR 8 Miner CF 9 Garry Manuel IL 10 Les Scheinflug OL 11 HoggartCoach: Substitutes: 12 Tracey
Statistics and awards Top Star Award Soccer World reporters awarded stars out of six to players throughout the 18 rounds. The player with the highest stars was Alan Westwater with 4.38. Only five players, half the amount from the previous year, averaged four points or more. Below left is the list of all five players and below right is the team of the year:
Player Team Rating Alan Westwater Pan-Hellenic 4.38 Alan Marnoch Hakoah-Eastern Suburbs 4.18 Manfred Schaefer St George-Budapest 4.14 Pat Hughes APIA Leichhardt 4.09 Johnny Watkiss APIA Leichhardt 4.00
Top scorers John Giacometti was the season's top goalscorer for the third consecutive year with 22 goals. Below is a list of the top ten goalscorers for the season:
Rank Player Team Goals 1 John Giacometti APIA-Leichhardt 22 2 Johnny Warren St. George-Budapest 16 3 John Karyannis Pan-Hellenic 15 4 Ray Baartz Hakoah 13 5 Doug Logan Pan-Hellenic 12 6 Herbert Ninaus C'bury-Marrickville 11 7 Joe Alagich Yugal 10 Archie Blue APIA-Leichhardt John Keddie Cumberland 10 Gerry Hood C'bury-Marrickville 9 Johnny Watkiss APIA-Leichhardt
Attendances Below is a list of attendances by club:
Rank Club Total attendance 1 Pan Hellenic 98,500 2 APIA 95,000 3 Croatia 59,000 4 Hakoah 52,300 5 St George-Budapest 50,000 6 Melita Eagles 44,700 7 Canterbury 44,200 8 Prague 39,600 9 Polonia-North Side 39,100 10 Yugal 38,200 11 South Coast United 36,200 12 Cumberland United 27,500
Other competitions Ampol Cup The season began with the eleventh edition of the floodlit pre-season night series (tenth as the Ampol Cup), culminating with the double-header third place playoff and Final in front of 7,000 spectators.
The tournament continued the same point scoring and round robin system from the previous year, with 12 points for a win, 5 points for a draw and 1 point for each goal scored. The four teams progressing from to the semifinals from the group stages were St George and APIA from Group A and Hakoah and Pan Hellenic from Group B. The semifinals, third place play-off and Final were all maintained from previous editions.
Finals series
Final
See also 1967 in Australian soccer 1967 NSWSF season
References
Notes