# 1961 NSWSF season

The 1961 New South Wales Federation of Soccer Clubs (NSWSF) season was the fifth season of football in New South Wales under the administration of the federation since its breakaway from the NSW Soccer Football Association in January of 1957. The home and away league season began on the 15th of April with twelve teams, reducing the number of teams by two compared to the previous season. Sydney Prague were Federation Premiers for a third consecutive season after finishing first on the ladder of the twenty-two round regular season.
After defeating Federation Premiers, Prague, in the preliminary final, Hakoah went on to defeat reigning champions Canterbury-Marrickville 4–1 in the grand final to be crowned Federation Champions for the first time.
Other tournaments held this season once again included the Ampol Cup and the Federation Cup (this year renamed the 'Craven A' Cup). Prague were the Ampol Cup winners for the second time as were Hakoah in the Federation Cup.

## Clubs
### Changes from last season

* Number of teams reduced from 14 to 12.
* Pan Hellenic were promoted into the competition from Second Division for the first time.
* Granville AEK, Balgownie and Manly were relegated to Second Division.
* Corrimal United merged with Illawarra District Soccer Association club, Woonona-Bulli to form South Coast United
* North Side United–E.P.T. merged with Polonia to form Polonia North Side.
| Club | Ground | Colours | Founded | App | Debut | Last season |
| A.P.I.A.-Leichhardt | Lambert Park, Leichhardt | Maroon and blue | 1954 | 5th | 1957 | 2nd (preliminary finalists) |
| Auburn SFC | Mona Park, Auburn | Green and gold | 1957 | 5th | 1957 | 4th (minor semifinalists) |
| Bankstown SFC | Wiley Park | Green and gold | 1944 | 5th | 1957 | 8th |
| Budapest–South Sydney | Sydney Athletics Field, Moore Park | Red, white and green | 1957 | 3rd | 1959 | 6th |
| Canterbury-Marrickville | Arlington Oval, Dulwich Hill | Blue and gold | 1896 | 5th | 1957 | 3rd (winners) |
| Gladesville-Ryde | Gladesville Sports Ground, Gladesville | Gold and black | 1951 | 4th | 1957 | 8th |
| Hakoah | Wentworth Park, Glebe | Blue and white | 1953 | 4th | 1957 | 4th (preliminary finalists) |
| Pan Hellenic | Wentworth Park, Glebe | Light blue and white | 1957 | 1st | 1961 | Div. II |
| Polonia–North Side | Drummoyne Oval and North Sydney Oval | Red, black and white | 1961 | 1st | 1961 | |
| South Coast United | Balls Paddock, Woonona | Dark blue, red and white | 1958 | 4th | 1958 | 11th |
| Prague | Sydney Athletics Field, Moore Park | Black with red, white and blue sash | 1952 | 5th | 1957 | 1st (runners-up) |
| Sydney Austral | Sydney Cricket Ground No. 2, Moore Park | Orange, white and blue | 1952 | 5th | 1957 | 10th |
Source:
* ↑ As Canterbury Bankstown in 1943. As Canterbury-Marrickville in 1951.
* ↑ North Side finished 7th in Div. I, Polonia played in Div. II
* ↑ Corrimal United merged with Woonona-Bulli for 1961 season. Keeps Corrimal United's historical records

## Regular season
### Table and results

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Prague | 22 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 59 | 34 | +25 | 33 | 1961 Federation Finals |
| 2 | Canterbury-Marrickville | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 51 | 27 | +24 | 31 | 1961 Federation Finals |
| 3 | Hakoah (C) | 22 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 64 | 38 | +26 | 30 | 1961 Federation Finals |
| 4 | Pan Hellenic | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 46 | 36 | +10 | 27 | 1961 Federation Finals |
| 5 | Polonia–North Side | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 51 | 44 | +7 | 27 | |
| 6 | APIA | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 55 | 42 | +13 | 24 | |
| 7 | Budapest-South Sydney | 22 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 53 | 52 | +1 | 21 | |
| 8 | Bankstown | 22 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 41 | 40 | +1 | 20 | |
| 9 | Auburn | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 42 | 42 | 0 | 20 | |
| 10 | South Coast United | 22 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 42 | 55 | −13 | 15 | |
| 11 | Gladesville-Ryde | 22 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 35 | 49 | −14 | 15 | |
| 12 | Sydney Austral (R) | 22 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 25 | 105 | −80 | 1 | Relegation to NSWSF Second Division for next season. |

### Results

| Home \ Away | API | AUB | BAN | BUD | CAN | GLR | HAK | PAN | PNS | PRA | SCU | SAU |
| APIA | | 5–0 | 1–3 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–6 | 3–0 | 1–5 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 5–0 |
| Auburn | 3–4 | | 0–1 | 3–2 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 5–0 | 3–2 | 7–0 |
| Bankstown | 0–3 | 0–1 | | 2–3 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–4 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 5–0 | 6–2 |
| Budapest | 2–2 | 2–1 | 4–3 | | 0–0 | 4–2 | 3–4 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–4 | 5–1 | 9–1 |
| Canterbury-Marrickville | 3–0 | 1–2 | 5–1 | 1–3 | | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 2–2 | 4–2 | 2–0 |
| Gladesville Ryde | 0–4 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–5 | 1–2 | | 1–0 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 |
| Hakoah | 6–3 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 5–1 | | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 7–2 | 10–4 |
| Pan Hellenic | 0–3 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–5 | 4–1 | 1–1 | | 4–2 | 1–1 | 6–2 | 3–1 |
| Polonia–North Side | 3–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 4–3 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–2 | | 3–2 | 3–1 | 5–0 |
| Prague | 2–2 | 3–3 | 3–1 | 5–0 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 7–4 | | 3–2 | 5–0 |
| South Coast United | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 2–4 | 3–1 | 2–4 | 0–1 | 1–3 | | 7–0 |
| Sydney Austral | 1–6 | 4–4 | 2–3 | 2–4 | 0–3 | 2–7 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 2–6 | 0–2 | 1–5 | |

## Finals series

| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final | Final | Grand Final | Grand Final | Grand Final |
| Major semi-final | Major semi-final | Major semi-final | | | | | | |
| 1 | Prague | 3 | | | | 2 | Canterbury | 1 |
| 2 | Canterbury | 5 | | | | 3 | Hakoah | 4 |
| | | | 1 | Prague | (0)0 | | | |
| Minor semi-final | Minor semi-final | Minor semi-final | 3 | Hakoah | (0)1 | | | |
| 3 | Hakoah | 1 | | | | | | |
| 4 | Pan Hellenic | 0 | | | | | | |

### Grand final

| GK | 1 | Ron Brown |
| RB | 2 | Tom North |
| LB | 3 | George Nuttal |
| RH | 4 | Don Brown |
| CH | 5 | John Curry |
| LH | 6 | Geoff Campbell |
| OR | 7 | José "Joe" Amigo |
| IR | 8 | Brian Smith |
| CF | 9 | Johnny Watkiss |
| IL | 10 | Johnny Warren |
| OL | 11 | Barry Salisbury |
| Coach: ||
| GK | 1 | Heinz Wenzl |
| RB | 2 | Viktor Mach |
| LB | 3 | Jock Aird |
| RH | 4 | Ron Kearns |
| CH | 5 | Adolf Handorf |
| LH | 6 | Adolf Blutsch |
| OR | 7 | Peter Hrncir |
| IR | 8 | Moshe "Gerry" Chaldi |
| CF | 9 | Raffi Levi |
| IL | 10 | Ray Neal |
| OL | 11 | Karl Jaros |
| Coach: Karl Jaros ||
* NSWSF First Division 1961 Premiers
* Hakoah First Title

#### Notes

* ↑ Australian attendance record

## Awards and statistics
### Top goal-scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Les Schauman | Budapest–South Sydney | 28 |
| 2 | Herbert Ninaus | Sydney FC Prague | 24 |
| 2 | V. Wentzel | APIA Leichhardt | 24 |
| 4 | R. Levi | Sydney Hakoah | 22 |
| 5 | Robert Burgoyne | Pan Hellenic | 18 |

### Attendance

Below is a list of total attendances per club in all matches, both home and away.
| Club | Attendance |
| APIA Leichhardt FC | 114,000 |
| Pan Hellenic | 97,000 |
| Sydney Hakoah | 96,500 |
| Sydney FC Prague | 95,000 |
| Canterbury-Marrickville | 69,000 |
| Polonia–North Side | 65,600 |
| South Coast United | 52,000 |
| Budapest–South Sydney | 50,800 |
| Auburn SFC | 49,000 |
| Gladesville-Ryde DSFC | 38,000 |
| Bankstown SFC | 36,000 |
| Sydney Austral SFC | 23,000 |

## Other competitions
### Ampol Cup

Originally formed in 1957 as the William Kennard Cup, this was the fourth year to be sponsored by Ampol.

#### Final
### Craven A Federation Cup

This was the fifth year contesting the Federation Cup, named the Craven A for sponsorship reasons.