Northern Spirit FC - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Northern Spirit Football Club was a football (soccer)

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

club based in North Sydney

North Sydney, New South Wales

North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Sydney is located 3 kilometres north of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Northern Spirit entered the National Soccer League in the 1998-99 season. Its founding was inspired in part by the success Perth Glory was enjoying as a mainstream club (as opposed to the league's mainstay European migrant founded clubs), as well as an opportunity to tap into the previously unrepresented northern suburbs of Sydney.

History

On the field, the club had early success in the National Soccer League, reaching the finals in its first attempt, but the next two seasons were not nearly as successful, the club finishing 13th in both of them. The club recovered somewhat to finish mid-table in its last 3 seasons, but only managed to make the finals once more, in 2002/03.

During Northern Spirit's first season, then Crystal Palace owner Mark Goldberg

Mark Goldberg

Mark Goldberg is an English football club chairman and manager, who is currently in his third spell with Bromley F.C.-Business:Goldberg originally made his fortune in the IT recruitment industry, becoming a multi millionaire...

bought a 31 per cent stake in the club and secured an option for a further 35 per cent. Beset by Palace's financial problems, he relinquished his option to a group of players and coaches including Graham Arnold

Graham Arnold

Graham James Arnold is a former coach of the Australian national football team. He was appointed to work as an assistant to Frank Farina in 2000. The two replaced Raul Blanco, who was the interim coach in charge after Terry Venables decided not to renew his contract with Soccer Australia after...

, Robbie Slater

Robbie Slater

Robert "Robbie" Slater is a former Australian footballer and football pundit.-Early years:Slater, a red-haired midfielder, moved to Australia as a youngster and started his playing career in Australia, with various clubs in his youth before joining St George Saints in the National Soccer League in...

and Ian Crook

Ian Crook

Ian Stuart Crook, is a former professional footballer who began his career with Tottenham Hotspur before making 418 appearances for Norwich City. He was an England B international.-Club career:...

. The club was later owned by Rangers FC

Rangers F.C.

Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...

for a small period of time. Rangers temporarily changed the club's home colours to their own royal blue.

Northern Spirit's home games were played at North Sydney Oval

North Sydney Oval

-Development:* The first cricket pitch was laid on 6 December 1867, making it one of the oldest cricket grounds in Australia.* The first structure built, in 1879, was a simple pavilion overlooking the cricket ground...

and their first league home game (against Sydney Olympic FC

Sydney Olympic FC

Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian football club that plays in the NSW Premier League. It competed in the National Soccer League from 1977 until the league's demise in 2004, having won the championship in 1989–90, 2001–02, the League Cup in 1980, the minor premiership in 2002–03 and the...

) attracted a then Australian club football record crowd (for a non finals match) of 18,985 a record which stood until 2005 when it was broken by Queensland Roar

Queensland Roar FC

Brisbane Roar Football Club is a professional football club from Brisbane, Queensland, Australia competing in the Hyundai A-League national competition, playing their home games at Suncorp Stadium...

crowd of 20,725 (a record subsequently broken by other games). In the club's final season, Chairman Antonio Gelonesi decided to move the club to Pittwater Park

Pittwater Park

Pittwater Park is a rugby stadium in Warriewood, New South Wales, Australia. It is located 500 metres from North Narrabeen beach within the reserve of the area...

, on Sydney's Northern Beaches

Northern Beaches (Sydney)

The Northern Beaches is an informal term used to describe the northern coastal suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, located near the coast of the Pacific Ocean...

. The decision was motivated mainly by money, with North Sydney Oval

North Sydney Oval

not drawing enough people to make a profit.

After enduring financial problems for much of its existence, the club folded after the 2003/2004 NSL season.

Notable former players

Australia Graham Arnold

Graham Arnold

Matthew Bingley

Matthew Bingley is a former Australian football player. A utility who can play in midfield or defence, he has played over 300 matches in nearly 20 years at the highest level of domestic football in Australia...

Luke Casserly

Luke Casserly is a former Australian international footballer, who currently plays for Blacktown City in the NSW Premier League. Casserly was born in Sydney and attended St. Dominic's College in Kingswood...

Tony Faria

Antonio "Tony" Faria is an association football player. He plays left midfield and is currently unattached....

Craig Foster Adam Griffiths

Adam Griffiths

Adam Griffiths is an Australian professional football player who currently plays for Hangzhou Greentown.-Club career:...

Ryan Griffiths

Ryan Griffiths (footballer)

Ryan Griffiths is an Australian football player who plays for Newcastle United Jets.-Club career:...

Paul Henderson

Paul Henderson (footballer)

Paul John Henderson is an Australian football goalkeeper who is currently playing for Sydney Olympic.-Club career:Henderson started his career in club football in Australia...

John Hutchinson

John Hutchinson (footballer)

John Hutchinson is a Maltese-Australian football player. He currently plays as a central midfielder for the Australian A-League club Central Coast Mariners...

Adam Kwasnik

Adam Kwasnik is an Australian football player. He currently plays as a striker for the Australian A-League club the Central Coast Mariners.-Club career:...

Mark Milligan

Mark Daniel Milligan is an Australian football player who is currently playing for JEF United Ichihara Chiba. He was also the regular captain of the Australian Under 23 football team and has been capped for the junior Australian National team...

Matthew Osman

Matthew Osman is a football player. He currently plays as a right midfielder for the Australian A-League club Gold Coast United.-Club career:...

Mark Rudan

Mark Rudan is a former Australian football player who last played for Adelaide United in the A-League.-Club career:...

Jonti Richter

Jonathan Richter is an Australian professional football player currently playing for Queensland State League side Brisbane Strikers, where he plays as a midfielder.- Northern Spirit:...

Abbas Saad

Abbas Saad is an Australian former international football player.-Club career:Born in Lebanon, Saad moved to Australia and started a professional footballing career. A midfielder with a good eye for goal, he played in the Malaysian League for Johor and Singapore in the early 1990s...

David Seal

David Seal is a former Australian football player who is currently retired. He played as a striker.-Career:Seal started his career in the old National Soccer League in Australia where he played for Sydney Croatia, Marconi Fairfield and Sydney Olympic and was the NSL top goal scorer two years in...

Brett Holman

Brett Trevor Holman is an Australian professional football player. He currently plays as a attacking midfielder or left winger for the Dutch Eredivisie club AZ and the Australia national football team.-Early life:...

Robbie Slater

Noel Spencer

Noel Spencer was an Australian football player.-NSL:Noel played for his hometown of Wollongong from 1996–2000 and was part of Wollongong Wolves championship-winning team of the 1999/2000 season. After the championship win Noel left for Northern Spirit which he played for and later captained until...

Alex Tobin

Alexander Hugh Tobin is a former Australian football player. Tobin is the second most capped player for the Australia national football team with 87 'A' appearances, including many as captain...

Vuko Tomasevic

Vuko Tomasevic is a football player.He most recently played as a central defender for the Australian A-League club Central Coast Mariners before being released at the end of the 2007 season...

Alex Wilkinson

Alexander Wilkinson is an Australian football player. He is currently plays for Central Coast Mariners in the A-League...

Clayton Zane

Clayton Zane is a retired Australian international football player. His last club was R.S.C. Anderlecht, but he ended his career in late 2005 after being injured for two years.-Club career:...

Adam Foti

Adam Foti is an Australian football striker with Italy passport who so far has played for several Cypriot and Greek clubs. He began playing football aged six in Junior Clubs Terry Hils/Bellrose Raiders, Manly-Warringah, Gladesville-Hornsby...

England Ian Crook

Ian Crook

Ian Stuart Crook, is a former professional footballer who began his career with Tottenham Hotspur before making 418 appearances for Norwich City. He was an England B international.-Club career:...

(1998-00) Julian Watts

Julian Watts

Julian Watts is an English professional footballer, best known as a player for Luton Town and Australian side Northern Spirit who is now the manager of Hallam.-Playing career:...

Scotland Stephen Dobbie

Stephen Dobbie

Stephen Dobbie is a Scottish professional footballer who plays for Swansea City.Dobbie began his career with Rangers in 2002, but did not play in a first team match. He had more opportunities at Hibernian, whom he joined in 2003 and then St. Johnstone whom he joined, initially on loan, in 2005....

(2001-02) Ian Ferguson (2002-04) Stewart Petrie

Stewart Petrie

Stewart Petrie is a former Scottish football player who is currently assistant manager of Arbroath F.C. who compete in the Irn Bru Scottish Third Division.-Career:...

(2003-04)

Ireland Ben Burgess

Ben Burgess

Benjamin Kieron "Ben" Burgess is an English-born Irish footballer who currently plays for Notts County. He has been capped twice by the Republic of Ireland at Under-21 level.-Early career:...

(2000-01) Wayne O'Sullivan (2003-04)

Italy Nicola Berti

Nicola Berti

Nicola Berti is an Italian former footballer whose career spanned three decades.- Biography :In his early years, as a seventeen year old, his debut season was with Parma including the Serie C1 1983–84....

(1999)

External links

Oz Football profile

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.